It’s Wednesday afternoon, and I’m doing a quick update now while I have some free time and power. I’m sure there will be many more photos taken over the next two days, but I suspect my next update won’t be until I get home on Saturday as the rest of this week is going to be rather hectic!
My final week here in Kokrobite got off to a busy start, with Monday and Tuesday seeing the last of our breast cancer awareness activities, as well as the work in schools which has continued at the same time. On Monday we had a big procession carrying a banner into Kokrobite village, and gave out leaflets to the community there to invite them for free screening on Tuesday at a temporary clinic set up in the Kokrobite Pentecostal Church. Here’s a rear view of my part of the procession (must remember to straighten up while I’m walking!) and an ‘official’ video of some of the work.
Daily Life
Kokrobite Village is sustained by fishing. The fishing boats go out at night and come back in the morning with their catch, As we were giving out leaflets I was lucky enough to watch a fishing boat returning from its night’s work, being hauled up onto the beach by an army of men, the village women waiting to unload the fish and prepare them ready to cook and sell to the community. I learned that no fishing is done on Tuesdays because there is a superstition here (Ghana is full of superstitions) that if you fish on Tuesdays you will catch a mermaid (maame wata).
I was also treated to kosua ne meko by one of the ladies , a food commonly seen being sold on the beach. It’s basically a hard boiled egg that’s cooked buried in hot sand rather than in water (they eat a lot of eggs here) which you break open and stuff with hot pepper sauce and and slices of raw onion. A sure fire way to awaken your senses in the morning!
Walking back through the village was a stark reminder that until the infrastructure here in the villages improved there just isn’t anywhere to dispose of rubbish. Locals say it’s because the politicians (and the police) are corrupt and money just doesn’t get spent on what it should be spent on-hence the roads are in such bad condition.
Later on Monday a few of us went into the village for a drink before dinner to a place where there’s a ‘safe’ spot for swimming and there was actually time for a quick swim. The Atlantic ocean is quite wild here, and the waves have a habit of knocking you over, but it’s very warm and lovely to swim in if you can stay on your feet long enough to get to the right depth!
The Goodbyes Begin
It was my last session at one of the schools I’ve been working with today and I was presented with a beautiful card made by the children and signed by some of the staff with some lovely messages. I also had to sign their wall, which is apparently a tradition!
I can’t believe my 4 weeks is almost over, it’s gone so quickly. Tomorrow (Thursday) is going to be a busy day with sessions at three different schools, plus my final teacher training workshop. Then it’s out for dinner and goodbye drinks in the evening (there are two others who are leaving at the same time as me). So I’ll save it all up for a big update when I get home.
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