The journey is just beginning

I am now at the AIRPORT!! Waiting for the first flight to Istanbul, I can't express how relieved I am that all the cases have gone through with no problems. This is just the beginning of an amazing couple of months making people happy! What is the best way to be happy?? It's to make others happy, there is nothing more rewarding and as you can see in this picture, the luggage has been a struggle but it will all be worth it when I see the beaming smiles on my arrival. That's when I will say it was all so worth it...

It all feels so unreal that 7 months or so ago I was in Ghana and had changed my flight to go back to Larabanga for another week with Madi but now I am going back again. I mean, were does time go?? I think I will probably arrive in Larabanga sometime on the 28th, so it's a long journey!

Now it's 01:20 am in Istanbul, I arrived safely and have come to a hotel for the night, I definitely need a good rest before tomorrow, it's going to be a long day. I feel so strange and a little nervous now as when I think that I am actually going back to Ghana, I realise that I have already spent 5 months there and I think back to how live was. I seemed to fit in quite quickly but it feels like I am going to start from the beginning although I know I'm not. If that even makes sense, sorry!!

Well I will keep you all updated with how everything goes! Thank you again everyone, I mean it :)

Captured by the spirit

Recently, I have been thinking of Larabanga and everyone there, more than usual. I call that place my home and I am counting down until the day I get back there, the community spirit is infectious and being back home in England there is none of that, it’s a strange feeling… Living in a country with most of your friends and family around you but feeling more at home in a village where you spent a matter of weeks. Saying it was a life changing experience doesn’t even come close. Those few weeks have made the project what it is, sleeping on a roof under the stars… I never realised I could be captured.

When Nathalie was in Larabanga she took some mosquito nets that had been kindly donated, in the picture (left), Ayisha and Mukarama are discussing how to use them, they are so inquisitive, working things out for themselves, having to rely on each other without having the security of their parents to guide them. They guide themselves. 

I had the most encouraging news from Larabanga recently too, a young boy called Baba, paying his school fees, I have been very impressed with his progression, his English has improved from nothing!! But even more heart-warming and encouraging is that at the age of 4 years old, he goes back to his village (Larabanga) and he speaks the English he can and he helps the other children to learn too. The spirit of the children never fails to leave me speechless and with more than a few tears in my eyes, that is why we are going to succeed in shaping their future.

One way that we are planning to do this is through a project funding site called Kick Starter, currently we are perfecting how we are going to present the project on the site, we need it to be perfect so a lot of working is going into getting it ready… Watch this space.

How do you start the future?

Since returning back from Ghana in February, I have been searching and planning for ways to create a brighter future for Larabanga and reflecting on how this chance opportunity has captured my visions and changed my life completely.  

Raising awareness back home has proven challenging throughout the past months, trying to express my memories and concerns through social networking and word of mouth. Being a teacher, a friend and a foreigner with a first aid kit within the community made me realise that when I return I don't want to be a glimmer of hope, I want to be their way forward and their voice within this world that they seem to be lost within. 

Research has been my main priority recently, finding people who know what they are talking about and who are willing to help. I had started my new job and got talking to one of the customers about the project and that conversation has been the best conversation to date, it has given hope and a way forward for the project. Jay introduced me to a networking site called LinkedIn... and WOW! I have been completely overwhelmed with how much information I have come across whilst using it, I have found it to be an invaluable tool for me, allowing me to engage with and access a hell of a lot of people who work within the field that the Larabanga Life Project falls in to.

I have not only used LinkedIn as a source for research but the Internet as a whole, I have even been in touch with  Nigerian doctor who gave me fantastic information that is set to help one of our children, 10 year old Yakutu.

Yakutu

She is thought to have Sickle Cell disease and whilst I was in Ghana, I seen her in such severe pain, shouting "why, why, why". I could hear her pleas coming from inside her soul, this bright, loving young girl has been given no help up to now, with the community not even knowing what the problem actually was. I now know the steps we need to go through in order to move forward with her condition. 

Step 1) Diagnosis.
With the only cure for Sickle Cell disease being a Stem Cell transplant it is going to be a long and hard journey for everyone involved but the more me and my team put into the planning and research, the more positive and effective the outcome! 
 I am not a medical professional but my hours of foraging has brought plenty of people who are to the surface for me, which is perfect, contacts are power nowadays. 

Another source of information for me has been books, I visited a small second hand book shop close to where I live, looking for some African Literature. I came across a fantastic find, a very informative and complicated book about Malaria, I am beginning to read it whilst typing the majority of the medical terminology into Google, Malaria is rife and I need to know more about it to be able to help combat it within the community.