Kumasi, Ghana

Posted by pertorkelson | Filed under Ghana

My daily life in Kumasi continues. It’s been lots of work during the past week and not much spare time, but last Sunday (29 Oct) I went to a hotel here in Kumasi called Rexmar hotel together with Sadat and his girlfriend Elizabeth. We spent most of the day there swimming in the pool and having lunch. It was nice to do something different, and get away from the daily life routines.My work since the last post has included all various assignments; I’ve been visiting different schools including Nuriya Islamic School, I’ve been working in the office writing various records (activities, expenditures, incomes, donations etc.), I’ve also written a portfolio of SYDD as well as designing ID cards. I’ve interviewed a 22 year old boy who is now working as a teacher with SYDD non formal education (evening classes). The evening classes are really fun and I’ve been teaching basic English to illiterate women together with Issah (Mr Abu’s brother) and Paul. Most of the women are Muslims and the lessons are every weekday evening between 7:30-9:30 pm in Aboabo. There are no lights in the classrooms, so we have bought big rechargeable lights which we use. The work this past week has also included things like running errands in Adum (downtown Kumasi), visiting a parents meeting at a Presbyterian school (I was attacked by 40-50 children here asking me different questions and begging for money), attending an HIV meeting discussing the situation in Ghana. Like I’ve said before, I really appreciate that there are different kinds of assignments all the time.

Begging for money is quite common here in Ghana, but it’s mostly children who say it right out “give me money” and when I stop for a minute and start telling them that they should keep on going to school and try to get a job, then the majority of them listen and agree by nodding.

It rained a lot this past Wednesday (1 Nov), so the evening classrooms down in Aboabo were flooded with water. As we couldn’t teach that evening, I suggested Paul that we should go to Rose’s Guesthouse and watch some Champions League football since we usually teach every weekday evening and don’t have any time for anything else. I enjoyed watching FC Copenhagen-Manchester United, and it was fun to watch a Swede score (Allbäck). We also played some pool at the place.

One thing I haven’t told about before is that I walk a lot here (Viktor, I miss our morning/evening walks in windy/snowy weather, hehe). If the taxis take too long time or if they are a bit too expensive, then we just walk instead. Most of the times it’s ok, but when the sun is strong like yesterday and it’s above 30 degrees Celsius it sure is pressuring your body.

My daily life continues…

Click here for photos

Permalink | November 4th, 2006

2 Responses to “Kumasi, Ghana”

  1. Viktor Says:
    November 5th, 2006 at 11:46 pm

    Yo silverspoon!

    Hoppas allt e lugnt, poolen såg soft ut. Misströsta inte vad gäller promenaderna, när det stundar skitväder här hemma så ska jag dra ut dig på en 1½ timmas powerwalk i slask.

    Sköt om dig!

  2. Anki Says:
    November 11th, 2006 at 12:25 pm

    Hej min käre son,
    Härligt att Du får uppleva så mycket och att Du är så nöjd med tillvaron. Förstår att Ditt enda par skor snart är utnötta eftersom Du kostar på Dig en taxi lite nu och då, eller Du och Paul sparar till en fan? Så här i Mårten Gås tider regnar det och blåser naturligtvis också lite. Vaknade i dag morse och fick gå ut i morgonrocken och binda fast presenningen lite mer (även om det blev på mitt lilla speciella sätt) som är på gaveln mot Kustvägen. Kul när det rör på sig även här.Det var kul att prata med Dig i tisdags och det tyckte även lillebror, som verkligen var i pratsjuk. När han kollade hur länge vi pratat trodde han displayen visade fel.

    Du får hat så bra, men take it easy. Ge även Dig själv lite tid, även om det är svårt när man ser hur mycket man kan ge av sig själv till andra.

    ´Puss och kram Mamma

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