This weekend came and went too quickly! Saturday morning Regine (the German volunteer), Senyo (my host brother) and I all went to the village of Ziavi which is about 15 minutes by shared taxi. I'm not sure if I've talked about taxis yet but they are pretty great. You can get a ride to anywhere with in the town for 35 pesowas (roughly 20 cents) and if you want to go outside the town it costs you about 50 pesowas. It also means like the trotros you'll be fitting as many people in as possible. I've done 6 passengers not including the driver (and these cars are like really old, small mazdas). But I digress...the three of us went to Ziavi to check out the cocoa plantations. We didn't get much of a tour of the plantations as there really isn't much to see but we ended up at the chief's house (each tribe has a chief) drinking palm wine. We then walked around the village, saw a wedding, met a few locals and headed on home. It was a fun little outing though much like everything in Ghana you could not have expected where the day would take you (YOLO).
A good friend once told me (*cough* Lauren Shanley *cough*) that it takes 3 weeks to break a habit or addiction. Well I can tell you that I don't believe it! I have now gone 3 weeks without eating chocolate and I think I crave it as much if not more than before. Since most plantations are family owned, all the cocoa beans here are dried for a week and then sold to the government who then sells it to chocolate manufacturing companies all over the world. Cocoa is Ghana's biggest export, their cash crop so to speak, yet they don't produce any chocolate. Ironic and for me very sad!
Sunday I went to church here for the first time (honestly for the first time all year). I have heard Ghanaian church is something to be experienced and I have to say it was a little crazy! I think the best likeness would be gospel church on steroids. There's so much singing and dancing and drums and keyboard - it's great! I didn't understand much of what the pastor said but it was still enjoyable. After church a few of us went to Tsito, a nearby village where some volunteers from my program work and live at an orphanage. When we walked down the path the children came running out, grabbing my hand and giving me hugs. They were incredible sweet and wanted to play and talk to you and be your friend. There are 30 kids ranging from 2-19 years and some of their stories are heartbreaking. But you'd never know it from their faces. I'm not sure if it's just the trusting nature of children or the fact that these kids just wanted to be loved and cared for but they were some of the most welcoming and friendly people I have ever met - always laughing, always smiling. It yet again struck me just how lucky I and those around me have been...
On a different note, we have no electricity and no water (the internet cafe has a backup generator). I knew coming to Africa I may not have either of those luxuries but now that I've been accustomed to them this is quite a pain. Bucket showers, flashlight reading, candlelight dinner etc etc. I'm not a fan of bucket showers so I've put off taking one and just wash my face and whatnot. As we say here I'm Ghana clean. I think tonight I am going to cave and do the bucket shower. Bah. Our generator at the hospital failed today which meant 200+ people just waiting to see one of the three doctors. I've heard it can be like this for a week at a time - I hope it's not the case this time!
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