Reflection

 Baba, there must be something about that name, I always fall for them.. I had never met this little boy before, when I was painting with the children he wandered in to see what all the commotion was about but didn't say a word for a good few hours then he would start following me and before I knew it I was tripping over him. A beautiful, curious soul.

Williatu provided me with some of the most precious moments of my trip. She smiled and hugged me when we passed each other during the day and used her enthusiasm to help me teach tired 4-10 year olds. I can't thank her enough for the lessons she has taught me, I pray that she continues to grow into the strong, independant woman that I can already see blossoming. She taught me that it's ok to be afraid, she was so nervous as she tried to read for me the first time. She is 14 and struggles completely reading basic words. I found it difficult giving her my 100% attention because of how many children there are who all needed help and it didn't help her confidence when another child would come over intrigued about what we were doing. Nothing is private at all. It just isn't, in England, we are all used to the fact that if you need extra help at school you get it straight away. Throughout her school life which I doubt started at the correct time, she has blended into the background like every other child, learning difficulties are not acknowledged in Ghana. They probably aren't acknowledged in many developing countries but they really need to be. Williatu could be the one human being with the ability to create a life saving medicine... You may think it sounds far fetched but why the hell not, it's true. Just because of where she has been born, she hasn't had the sufficient start in life and as sad as it may seem, she unfortunately has to live in Ghana and she has to go through their education system. I remember one time, it sticks in my head. We were reading together and we were concentrating on the word "was", she was so determined to master it. And she did. It took about half an hour of repeating the word and sounding it out phonetically... Thank you to Donna Ball for giving me some tips on teaching phonetics, it really helped this young girl. I can't get it out of my head, how happy she was to be able to read the word, I could see in her eyes how proud she was of herself and I was incredibly proud of her. I have been inspired more by young people like Williatu more than grown adults my own age. The drive and enthusiasm is a sign that you should never give up, regardless of whatever situation you find yourself in.

I always seemed to be meeting new babies every day I was in Larabanga, of course these are beautiful memories but I can't help thinking about the quality of life they are going to grow up to have. Joy doesn't come from material things I know that, but to an extent we need money to get along in life. It's sad but it's true, it makes my stomach turn to think that getting an education and being who you want to be relies on money. Just look at these faces... They are 4 out of millions of children that are being born into poverty, they don't have a choice in the matter do they? Nobody asks to be born. Hold on to the saying "Everything happens for a reason" but there is only so long you can. What is the just reason behind suffering? Why wasn't I born into poverty? Why weren't you? Thank your lucky stars that you have everything you need and more. By the time these babies reach their 1st birthday, its already a milestone for them, the infant mortality rate is through the roof in Northern Ghana. I have friends and family who have children of their own and when people ask me if I will have children, the faces of these babies pop into my head. Why bring more children into this world when there are so many that need saving? I have so much respect for people who have adopted children from struggling nations. People mock the likes of Madonna but surely the life she is giving her children is better than what they would have otherwise. We live in a world where we don't know when the next disaster is going to come, but it always does come. Why not make differences to peoples lives and make them smile, even if it's only for a second. 



Zainab, I love this picture. Simple things excite me, like the dress Zainab is wearing in this picture was actually my younger sister Caris'. It's crazy that something my sister has worn in the summers over here in England is now being worn by little Zainab in Northern Ghana. It's so lovely. Sometimes I sit back and think to myself about how lucky I am to have shared such special memories with these beautiful children. Each time I saw them they always had the biggest smiles on their faces, Zainab always laughing alongside her friends. She has just a great aura about her, when in her company she always cheered me up if I wasn't feeling well. If I was too hot she would run over, pick something up and start to fan me to cool me down as well as hysterically laughing at me because I was always bright red aahhaa.











Musphira, possibly the most photogenic child on the planet. Every photo I have got of her is beautiful, her smile is so bright. This photo is one of my favourites.. Here she is modelling some of the clothes that were donated for them & she is rocking the Hello Kitty hat, I am so glad I got to take over some hats because I always worried about the heat. It was crazy hot for me and sometimes I could barely do anything in it so I thought that surely it isn't good for them to have their heads exposed to the sun all the time so here is the solution.

Mother, an incredibly intelligent young lady. I didn't recognise her from my last trip so I was curious to find out why she had become a part of the project. Her dad was killed by a buffalo only 3 weeks before I got there, but look at the smile on her face. He was hunting to feed his family, so what happens now? With nobody to provide food for her and her family? There is no support system in place in Ghana, at all. I couldn't believe how happy she was, all I had given her was a second hand dress and some supplies to help her with school and she was over the moon. Every day she came to my classes and as each class passed she left me thinking. Her answers to questions stunted me. Even the questions she would ask me, she also helped me a lot with the younger ones with the language barrier. Girl power!!

Look at this face... Ayisha was trying to get my camera but ended up taking a sad selfie instead. If you can't fall in love with this face then I don't know if you ever will. She has come so far in the small time she has been on this earth. When I first met her she was so weak and never said a word, she had malaria but since then she has become stronger and stronger. I couldn't be happier for her, her voice just sounds like happiness. Like a little doll but at the same time she rolls around in sand and scuffs her knees day in day out, best of both worlds...

This is me looking very tired during my first day back in Larabanga, after travelling for over 3 days. Rest wasn't an option when I got there, I had to say hello to all of the precious faces I had missed over the 7 months between my trips and what a welcome it was. The first face I saw was Sakaah, an absolutely charming young boy, I was collecting my bags and he was came out of nowhere behind me. I think I scared him as I just grabbed him and was screaming. Probably down his ear... aahhah my bad...

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.