Several new Rules to live by

My new rules for Africa are:
Always walk in the shade
Walk about 60% slower than you normally would
Eat when offered food...it may not happen again for some time
Drink a dam full of water (before breakfast)
Whenever possible...lie down!

Things are really not that bad. It's pretty special here.
I'm busy falling in love with the kids, though I had to learn a large lesson. Penny doesn't know how to control 5-6 year olds!!!
The cane is used with such frequency here (we don't talk about this...it's an accepted cultural thing) that, when the new Obroni or Blafuno (white person) walks in...it's heaven on a stick and the kids go crazy!
So...I'm a complete failure with the little ones. I felt completely defeated by them within 2 days. Luckily, the years 3-4 and year 5s are the most delightful kids of their age I have ever met.
They're keen to learn and seem to respond well to new information or new ways of doing things.
So...thank God...I've moved to those classes full time. It just means more prep time, which is small price to pay for not leaving the school every day in tears!

I'm cheating a bit this afternoon. There is no power at the house and I have a lot to work on, so I have come to a place called Pram Pram which has a hotel ...WITH A POOL! and internet connection. It's a fine place to spend a couple of hours. Most places with pools will let you swim for about $1-2 dollars and hang out in a (small) degree of comfort.

The teachers her are paid about $30 dollars a month. It's very hard for them to live and impossible for them to get further education. They are constantly asking for sponsorship to Australia. Though, they are just asking and are fine when you reply that you really can't do that.

It's a sleepy place, Africa. Everybody seems to pass out at some time during the day. Even the teachers put their heads on the desk and go to sleep for a while if the kids have work to do...hard to get used to that one.
The other volunteer from Pram Pram and I go into Tema, the closest big town, to get the weekly budget tomorrow after school. It's good having someone close by, though we are very careful not to live in each others's pockets...it stops you from talking to the locals, which really defeats the whole purpose.
Still no photos..I know....still working on this. Sorry.

Aparently, we are headed for a town on the west coast at the weekend. It's past the slave forts and into the coast between Cape Coast and Cote D'Ivoire. The man who runs the school I'm at also wants to take us up into the Ashanti region for a couple of days.
I was invited to the naming ceremony of his new daughter yesterday. I thought it would be just like a Christening, but at 6am the whole town turned out...amazingly all dressed in white, to welcome Sofia. I just sort of wandered up, only to discover that I was seated next to Mum and Dad and had some sort of role to play. Oh Oh! They were all wonderful and the ceremony was lovely, full of warnings to the devil to stay away from this young child or the community would hunt him down and take their revenge....and they would too! I felt really priviledged to be included. These are amazingly generous people...especially when they have absolutely nothing.

I have held onto the donations from home for a while. As with all places..it's a bit difficult to get a handle on the politics of what is happening and I want to make sure that nothing is wasted and that the children get the biggest benefit from people's generosity. Time will make this all clear I am sure.
Very early morning and night time are the most amazing times here. The world seesm to move in the dark all along the busy roads and all you hear is "good evening...how are you...I'm fine" all in one sentence before you even see the person it's coming from. by that time you have gone past and of course, calling back "good evening....I'm good....how are you?"
It's a bit distracting when trucks full of people on the back, slow down so they can all get their formal greetings in..".blafoni blafoni blafoni...how are .....etc."
The ?"funniest" thing.. (not the right word) is when little babies. beautiful children, see you for the first time (and sometimes the second and third) and burst into tears because they've never seen a blafoni before....white ghost!! Makes me feels like a real bully! We are well out of town here and the expats and westerners really only live in the city. It's only the volunteers who make it out here really.
The night is noisy, cars, trucks, people speaking right next to you without you knowing they are there...until about 10 and then.....silence. It's a beautiful big, velvety sort of silence and then there's always that sky. Oh my goodness...Australia has a big sky...this is deeper and darker and yet brighter all at once. You seem to fall into it's clarity.
I'm glad I'm falling for some of the charms of this country...the harshness would make the whole thing too hard for an old girl otherwise. And on that note...... catch you later xx