Last Day
Today is the last
day with my host family and at Lorge JHS.
I feel a little sad about the prospect of leaving as I’m just getting
into the swing of Ghanaian life and compound living. When I arrive at school the children are
happy to see “YenMah” wearing traditional Ghanaian dress.
Goodbye to the children
Goodbye to Bridget
Education in the Community
Mid-morning we
head over to the local Mother & Baby Health Clinic in the Kongo/Logre
region which is running an education programme to promote the consumption of
green leafy vegetables. While waiting
for the Chief of Kongo to arrive I get to meet some of the local mums. Much to their amusement and my dismay, their
babies all cry when I go near them! Some
look absolutely petrified when presented with a white face! Despite this being a slightly depressing
experience it makes the mums and me laugh.
Medical Staff
There is a real sense of community at the gathering and the Medical Centre staff look very efficient in their uniforms. After the arrival of the community leaders there is music and dancing and an opening prayer followed by the Women’s Drama Group who act out a story about two families and the benefits of healthy eating.
Local Women's Drama Group
Midday, we travel
by motorbike to meet the rest of the Experience Challenge team, the other host
families and the AfriKids teams for a debrief session. It’s great to see everyone again and we all
enjoy swapping stories of our time spent living with our families. After lots of positive feedback, photos are
taken and we say our final goodbyes.
The Experience Challenge Team & Host Families
Som, Shakira, Jacky, Catherine and Jane
with the AfriKids Team
Debriefing Session
Sharing Stories and Feedback Session
Final Farewells
Our Community Project
Our next stop is for lunch at the AfriKids office before going on to the Gbeogo School for the Deaf to paint one of their classrooms.
Our next stop is for lunch at the AfriKids office before going on to the Gbeogo School for the Deaf to paint one of their classrooms.
The children greet
us in sign language and, for the first time since I was 9, I am able to use
sign language, not as an alternative to getting caught talking in class, but to
introduce myself. It is certainly going
better than my spoken Fra Fra and Nabt!
While we paint the
classroom some of the children come in to watch. After we’ve finished they sign “thank you”
and teach us how to sign “good morning”, “good afternoon” and “good evening”,
etc. It’s a rewarding moment and the
children are genuinely pleased with our painting.
Return to Next Generation Home
Back at the NGH
it’s time to have another good long “faff” around with the contents of our
cases, sorting out the gifts we’ve brought for the children at NGH and
everything we need for our last day in Bolga.
I’m delighted to see I’m not the only person who has used the “Ziploc
bag” approach to packing.
Meeting Mavis
The inquisitive
little Mavis comes in to see what we are doing.
We draw puppets onto brown envelopes for her to play with. Mavis doesn’t say many words, here is her
story…
“Mavis is three and half years old, she moved to the NGH in June 2011 after being found in the village of Samburugu, locked in a room, abandoned and uncared for. Her family believed she was a spirit child, a traditional belief that babies and children are possessed by evil spirits and ‘not fit for the world’ which leads to infanticide.” AfriKids
After suffering
years of abuse, having little social interaction and suffering from malnutrition
and severe anaemia, life is turning round for Mavis. Now used to wearing clothes, potty trained and
slowly learning to speak, Mavis will soon start school and has a safe a loving
environment to grow up in. She is one
of the lucky children.
Learn more about
the Spirit Child Phenomenon on BBC Radio 4 (28 minutes in)
Dancing the Night Away
Before dinner we sit chatting and playing games with the children. Their homemade welcome sign reads “Experience Us and We Experience You!”.
One thing we all experience is the children's love of taking photos as we're all relieved of our cameras so they can pose for snaps. When the music starts we all take to the dance floor. I try out some of my new African dance moves which prove to be a great source of entertainment to the children. As they mimic my dancing, I realise I am dancing like a crippled chicken! 
Dinner arrives from Laadi’s, including one of my favourite West African dishes “Jollof Rice”. After dinner the children put on a concert… it’s loud, seriously loud! The loudspeakers are so big someone is standing on top of them to do their performance. The children are fantastic singers and dancers and the AfriKids team explain how much they have grown in confidence since being at the home.
See the NGH children in action.. click here
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