We all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.

Who doesn't want to be happy? Every single person on this planet shares one aim in life. Of course it's the most important aim too as everything we do in our lives is done with the hope that it will make us happy. Some people (I wish it was more) are just happy. They are happy with how their life is... And how do you think this proportion of people live, the people I am talking about haven't got anything material wise. They hold on to what is truly important, meaning family, friends, laughing and loving the people around you.
Before I went back to Ghana in November, I went back to my Sixth Form College (KGV) and spoke to some of the students about Larabanga. Two of the students I had the pleasure of talking to were Jemi Moore and Chloe Fisk and since then they have both completed a 24 hour sponsored silence for Larabanga Life Project. I was over the moon when I found out as it really shows that the stories I am able to tell really are enabling me and others to make a difference to beautiful lives. This is what Jemi has wrote, telling you why she decided to help out.
“I decided to do a sponsored 24 hour silence to not just raise money for those who are suffering in Larabanga but to also raise awareness about the conditions which they are living in. Kelsey opened my eyes to what was happening in Larabanga and it made me want help and get involved as much as I could, that is why me and a friend did a sponsored silence. Once I read Kelsey’s Blog and discovered that 38p could buy a child a basic pair of shoes I was amazed at how much a little donation could help, because giving a child in such conditions a pair of shoes can work miracles, as it can help prevent them from stepping on sharp objects and injuring themselves as well as prevent them from getting infections.
I feel as though the sponsored silence went well but I feel as though I could do better. I aim to do more fundraising in the near future for Kelsey and her project (Larabanga Life Project) to help people realise that giving even just as little as 38p can help a child in so many ways, which we take for granted every day.”
Other fundraising recently... Nathalie held a quiz night and raised a fantastic £261. She is heading back to Larabanga at Easter time to take donations and see how the building is getting along. Of course also to see how much the children have progressed too.
I received a message from Larabanga recently too "Everyone in Larabanga is saying thank you for bringing the first medical supplies, they are proud of you, thank you Kelsey". I feel accomplished when I hear things like this as me teaching them how to use the medical supplies has meant that they can continue to keep cuts clean and treat themselves in the appropriate way. Of course now too, the children are going to the toilet in a clean environment and are able to wash their hands, keeping bacteria at bay! Small things like this are essential for a child to be healthy and all children have the right to be healthy.

"I don't think of all the misery but of the beauty that still remains." - For me this is huge, it's so easy to concentrate on all of the negative aspects of life and even easier to forget about how amazing life really can be if you let it be. There are so many obstacles in life, we all know that but it's how you overcome them that matters because at the end of the day, being angry at the world is not going to change the way it is, you are the only one that can make your life worth it. By making your life worth it, make someone elses life better and make them smile, even if its only for a second. If you find something that motivates and inspires you, that is what you have to hold on to all of the time and then you will succeed.

First Aid & a Toilet

I’ve now been here for a couple of weeks, everything is in full swing. Getting to know all of the children again is lovely, each one of them has a completely different personality and they all deserve the very best out of life. 

On a completely unrelated note, I’ve never heard so much Westlife being played… It seems crazy to say that Westlife is so popular in Ghana hahaha! I wonder how it began? 

This is one story that the First Aid supplies have helped… Fatahia is 16 years old. She attends Mole Junior High School, the distance from Larabanga is verrry far and she walks there and back every day in the scorching heat. It wasn’t that she came to me with her injury like most of the others but I was walking through the village to see somebody and I caught a glimpse of her knee. Her skin had been completely ripped off and she just had some cloth to cover it. I asked what happened and she told me that whilst she was walking to school, a motorbike had hit her and the driver didn’t even stop to apologise or

help. She visited the CHPS and she found out that her health insurance had expired which meant she had to pay 10 cedis for it to be dressed each time. This is a lot of money, money she doesn’t have so I told her I would come back. Just by looking at it I knew that it was becoming infected, yellow gunk had covered it. When I went back, as I was cleaning it I could see something black embedded in the wound. I put some drawing paste on and covered it so the next day it had come further out and I was able to retrieve it. It was a piece of metal from the motorbike. I have been going to dress the wounds every day and it is getting better. I also gave her, her own first aid kit and explained to her how to use everything so she can ensure if something happens again, it will be clean and infection free! I was able to do this because of the generosity of lots of people :)

 I have also been giving out First Aid kits to families within the community and explaining how and when they should be used, I think raising awareness of how simple First Aid can prevent infections is definitely worthwile! I remember when I was packing all of the supplies, thinking of how hard it was going to be to get them all here but now I have done it, it's incredible to see the positive affects on peoples lives because of something so simple and readily available to us.

 

So now, the toilet/handwashing facility that has been built. I am so so happy about this, as I hope you all are too as this is how the donations have been spent, to improve sanitation. It is giving the children somewhere private to use the toilet and to wash their hands. Usually they just go anywhere which for one isn't good for the environment and also them, its not hygenic so this facility is fantastic! It has been  lovely to see lots of people from the community coming to help and to see what's going on. It has been painted and tomorrow, the children are going to print their hands on the walls, to put their mark on it. 

With regards to the football kits that were kindly donated, I received a gift one evening, from the football team, they had organised between them to bring me 6 yams from the farm. But of course if I could, I would bring them back and give them to the football teams that donated the kits! That just shows they really do appreciate it! I will upload the pictures of the teams in the kits when I can, it has taken hours to upload these ones haha, they're worth the wait though. 

 

Long awaited... I'm hereeee

First things first, all 5 of the cases arrived in Ghana, I had a feeling that there was going to be at least one missing. The flight from Istanbul to Accra seemed so long, although it was only 7 hours, I slept, I watched a film and I read but the time didn’t seem to go any quicker. I arrived in Accra and met Ibrahim, we went to stay somewhere for the night. It was right next to the airport so I hardly slept and at about 2am, I started to hear arguing. It was so loud and seemed serious, it actually involved an “Obruni” (white) who had had a misunderstanding with a prostitute, it was horrific to hear the things that were being said and just the fact she was so desperate to get her money. I had problems with immigration because I didn’t know the address I was staying although in Ghana people don’t have street addresses. They have P.O BOX’s, people always use each other’s too so how are they to know the exact place I am staying? Then when I collected all of the luggage, I had to pass some guys that were checking luggage, he ordered me to open some of the cases and was asking me what was inside, I told him and then he said I had to pay tax for the football kits… Just a way of getting money out of me clearly but a guy came over and told me to leave.

I have been in Larabanga for a few days now after it took 3 days to get here. I am actually already missing home, it’s different this time because I am the only foreign person in the village, the other times I was here, I was with the other volunteers. I met with the chief when I got here, Ibrahim had to translate of course but he blessed the work that I we are doing in Larabanga.

Unfortunately the internet situation means I cannot post as often as I wanted to but I will try my best. I think I forgot how hot it gets here, my skin is so sore because I have burnt and I have a blister on my finger from sharpening pencils, teacher problems haha! They couldn’t believe it when they saw how many suitcases I had bought, they have been so so so grateful to you all, and want everyone to come to Larabanga to see them. I think it has hit me again, if not harder... How hard it is to function here, for me anyway. I am constantly dripping with sweat from head to toe, I have two bucket showers a day but still it doesn’t feel enough. Even now, I am sitting inside to write this but I am sooo hot.

I have given out the clothes to the children who they fit and they all look so smart in them, they were incredibly happy! I took two football kits to the team Larabanga Shooting Stars. They were all trying to be the first to get one of the tops haha and I gave the captain the picture and letter from Camille and the team, they loved it. It baffles me how they train so hard in this weather, I move my leg an inch and I’m sweating and they’re running around pushing their bodies to the limit. Although, everyone in the village works hard physically, fetching water from the dam several times a day (mainly the girls). I guess they are used to it like everyone says but still when you’re here and you see them doing it, I just think, don’t you get fed up and just want to go and lay in the shade. Saying that the shade doesn’t even help sometimes because it is still hot. The lowest it gets is 25 0c and that’s at around 4 am. I have so much respect for them and what they do in their daily lives because at the end of this trip, I can go home and enjoy a comfortable life.

On Monday I took some of the medical supplies to the CHPS facility here, I knew what I was giving them was going to help but I didn’t realise how much. I was so shocked when I was told by a member of staff that they didn’t have ANY gloves at all. That is terrible at the best of times but with this Ebola outbreak looming that could have been catastrophic. So all of the gloves everyone donated and of course other things have been gratefully received. I have been quite impressed to see that there are posters around about how to prevent Ebola, that was something I was wondering about, but they are in perfect English which the majority of people don’t speak so that is quite an issue. I hope there is no need for anyone here to have to know about the symptoms but the risk is there so we have to act.

We had to take one of the little girls Rafatu to the chps because she wasn’t eating and had a high temperature. She has malaria. I was horrified when I was told but it doesn’t seem to be that much of a big deal, it’s just normal to everyone here. I have mentioned on my blog about a young girl named Yakutu who has a problem with her legs, donated was a pair of ankle supports which I fitted for her and she said that they relieved a lot of pressure from her legs which is fantastic!! One life changed.

MARSHMALLOWS- A lovely lady Tracy gave me some marshmallows to bring with me for the children, we toasted them by the open stove, and they were all amazed by them. Some of them ended up in the stove and some were charcoaled but they enjoyed it.

I have mentioned this on Facebook briefly but I want to tell you more, we are in the process of building a hand washing facility, toilet and place were the children can wash. We decided that this is top priority right now because of the risks of Ebola. This is going to be accessible to the children and young people that are under our care, this means that they will be able to go to the toilet in a clean environment and be able to wash their hands straight away. This is were the Poly Tank comes in, because in Larabanga there is no running water, this is the only way to enable the facility to work. It is a huge black container basically and you fill it with water. We will pay someone to come and fill it with clean water and then again after each time it runs out. I have worked out that the Tank holds 10 drums of water which costs 50Ghc and will last around 2 months so approx. £12 every two months means they can keep washing their hands. Even though I have been here before and experienced what it’s like, I guess when I go home I do kind of forget and get used to home comforts again. Like having a clean toilet/bathroom in your house, running water… the list goes on.

I have been asking Ibrahim questions about the children here, about their stories. So last night he said he would gather some of the older girls so they could tell me themselves. Two of the girls were happy for me to record them so I did although it’s not great quality you can hear them telling their story. This is a huge deal for them as they are not used to talking to people about their problems. I will be writing their stories on the page “Stories behind faces”. By June 2015 I want to have found someone who will sponsor the Secondary education of a 16 year old girl called Mumuna. What she goes through on a day to day basis is astounding, I don’t know how she does it. Look out for her full story.

On behalf of the community I say a huge thank you to each and every one of you who has supported the work I am doing here, they are all so grateful. I wish you all could have the privilege of seeing their faces light up.