Sunday, June 26, 2011
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Living at Twindrase
I have decided to write about individual experiences and observations I have rather than write this blog chronologically. To begin with let me paint a picture of my lifestyle out here in the countryside:
I live with 30 other volunteers at one of three volunteer houses in Ghana. Mine is in Twindrase. The many amenities include no running water, no air-conditioning, electricity which is iffy at best, 3 inches of nasty foam to act as a mattress, and bizarrely, satellite tv (although it is very weather dependant.) I have 3 other sweaty grown men in my room who also share the burden of not having a washing machine or shower.
You may be asking yourselves, how do I keep clean and wash my clothes then? My initial answer would be with great difficulty. There is one tap where we get dirty water from a water tank. (Leaves and bugs are common sights in the water) Using this dirty water, a combination of buckets and whatever soap is on hand, we manage to have cold showers and wash our clothes. I must admit that I have yet to wash my clothes. When looking at the veterans who’ve been here a while, you can tell washing your clothes hardly makes a difference. Our greatest ally against smelling completely savage is deodorant at the moment.
Every morning we are supposed to leave the house at 8:00am and head off to our projects in multiple Tro-tro’s or taxi’s depending on the number of people. (A post will deal with transport in Ghana – it’s crazy) However due to Ghanaian efficiency we tend to leave between 8:15 and 8:45. Ghana runs by GMT. However, unlike in England where this means Greenwich Mean Time, in Ghana, this acronym stands for Ghana Maybe Time. Similarly, my phone network MTN is really an acronym for “Most Terrible Network” offering coverage only in very specific and hard to find spots around Ghana.
After our projects, we tend to arrive back to the house by 3:30. Washing, napping, cooking, the occasional film then lead us to bed after what always ends up being an exhausting day.
I live with 30 other volunteers at one of three volunteer houses in Ghana. Mine is in Twindrase. The many amenities include no running water, no air-conditioning, electricity which is iffy at best, 3 inches of nasty foam to act as a mattress, and bizarrely, satellite tv (although it is very weather dependant.) I have 3 other sweaty grown men in my room who also share the burden of not having a washing machine or shower.
You may be asking yourselves, how do I keep clean and wash my clothes then? My initial answer would be with great difficulty. There is one tap where we get dirty water from a water tank. (Leaves and bugs are common sights in the water) Using this dirty water, a combination of buckets and whatever soap is on hand, we manage to have cold showers and wash our clothes. I must admit that I have yet to wash my clothes. When looking at the veterans who’ve been here a while, you can tell washing your clothes hardly makes a difference. Our greatest ally against smelling completely savage is deodorant at the moment.
Every morning we are supposed to leave the house at 8:00am and head off to our projects in multiple Tro-tro’s or taxi’s depending on the number of people. (A post will deal with transport in Ghana – it’s crazy) However due to Ghanaian efficiency we tend to leave between 8:15 and 8:45. Ghana runs by GMT. However, unlike in England where this means Greenwich Mean Time, in Ghana, this acronym stands for Ghana Maybe Time. Similarly, my phone network MTN is really an acronym for “Most Terrible Network” offering coverage only in very specific and hard to find spots around Ghana.
After our projects, we tend to arrive back to the house by 3:30. Washing, napping, cooking, the occasional film then lead us to bed after what always ends up being an exhausting day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)