Life on Camp

The only thing I'd heard about Ghana that stuck in my head was when I friend who'd been here described it as the 'sweatiest place on Earth'. I think she might have been right. I've been in Budumburum - the Liberian Refugee Camp in Ghana - for about 2 days now, although I'm feeling so settled it seems like I've been here much longer. My arrival in Accra, the capital, had both good and bad omens. I was sitting next to a Ghanaian on the plane, who gave me his number and also, after I asked him if there would be any cash machines in the airport, insisted on giving me some Ghanaian cash just in case! Then, while standing in the immigrattion queue (hot and tired and wanting a bad and a fan) I realised that my visa wasn't valid - by extending my stay in S Africa It's expired. Was nervous going up to the desk, expecting some frustrating African beaurocracy, but I guess the guy either didn't notice or didn't care - he just stamped it. It was interesting that the only poster in the hall was welcoming all visitors to Ghana, except peaodophiles and other sexual deviants, who are not welcome, are subject to strict punishments, and should go elsewhere. Found out later that homosexuality is punishable by 8 years in prison (by the way, another of the volunteers says she drove past a stoning by the side of the road last week). The bad side was that both the taxi driver from the airport, and the hotel, saw a tired tourist late at night and tried to totally rip me off. They wouldn't haggle at all, knowing I had little choice, and wouldn't even banter or be friendly. I had to pay the taxi, but ended up finding another hotel (the hotelier prefered to send me away rather than budge on price, at 10pm in an empty 1* hotel). That kind of thing happens all over the world, but I hadn't had it in Africa yet, so it caught me off guard and annoyed me. Everyone I've met since then has been lovely. The refugee camp is a really friendly place. It's not what you would imagine a refugee camp to be: it's been here for about 15 years, and has 45,000 residents in mudbrick houses, although very densely packed (I think it's about 1 square mile). The biggest surprise for me is that there are shops and stalls everywhere. The Liberians can't get the papers to work outside the camp, so they've got their own thriving little economy going on (although not enough to support the camp - most still need handouts). The organisation I'm working with - Children Better Way (www.childrenbetterway.org) - is only one of a number on the camp, including the UN (although they're pulling out because the situation in Liberia seems to have improved). I'm with 14 other volunteers from around the world, all of whom I already really get on with. CBW runs a number of projects on the camp. They run the most affordable schools here, the only free wells, a library, micro-loan scheme, sanitation services, and HIV/AIDS counselling/education.

I'm mainly going work with the school (shovelling sh*t with the sanitaion crew didn't appeal), helping with maths and hopefully also helping develop a behaviour policy (they're the only school on camp that doesn't use corporal punishment - possibly because there are always international volunteers there, who won't stand for it. The drawback is that the kids' parents are quite heavy handed with them, so nothing the school can threaten them with will deter them. So I think they need to develpo the use of praise more and I've come here armed with lots of stickers. Of course, I'm saying this without having spent a day in the school yet, but the volunteers who've been here a while agree with me).

I'm also going to work with the HIV/AIDS team. I went out with them to see what they do yesterday, when they were doing 'outreach' - approaching random people in the streets and educating them about HIV/AIDS and other STDs, and showing them how to use condoms. It was a wierd experience, and interesting seeing people's reactions - they're more open about discussing such things here, but still abit embarrased, the young men want to act 'cool' about sex, but underneath they want to know about it. The problems encountered were shown buy a guy who told us he didn't believe in HIV, it's just a conspiracy by America and the West to try and stop Africans from having babies.

Can't wait to get started - I'll keep you posted when possible...