Apologies

I know I know, I the point of a blog is for it to be updated.
I'm sorry I haven't written in a while.

And I'm sorry that this entry is going to end very quickly.
I really haven't been in the space to write about everything that has been going on in the past little while. I haven't quite debriefed my experiences for myself yet. But when I do, there will be a new entry.

But I will give a brief update on the more general activities that I have been participating in.

The last three weeks in the village were chanllenging, amazing, beautiful, sad and rewarding. I went through a lot of ups and downs in those three weeks and I'm incredibly sad that my time with my village family is over. My departure included hugs, laughter, well-wishes and a Fanta party.

The group and I were then off for travel time. This section of the program gives participants a chance to see more of the country and to learn about the past, the present and the future of Ghana.

First we learned of the past. We made our way to Cape Coast and we toured Cape Coast Castle. We learned of the architecture, Ghana at that time and of the horrible history of the slave trade in Ghana. We entered the dungeons where slaves were kept for a minimum of 6 weeks and we walked through the door of no return.

After Cape Coast we headed to Tamale, in the North. Tamale is where Mark and I will be doing our work placements once travel time is over. We spent the week there helping to prepare for a Christmas party that is hosted every year by Dr Abdulai, a great man who runs a free medical clinic. The party itself was a bit intense. I also visited my work placement, Anfaani Children's Home, and met the children and some of the staff working there. I also spent the majority of our time in Tamale recovering from a particularly nasty bout of malaria. Not a fun experience.

We then headed to Mole National Park. I'm pretty sure every white person in Ghana was at Mole while we were. It was bizarre. But we saw warthogs, baboons, antelope, monkies and ELEPHANTS! I love elephants and I felt like a kid in a candy shop when were stood about 20 metres away from them.

We then left at 4 o'clock in the MORNING to head for Nkoranza. We arrived at Operation Hand in Hand, a community for abandoned disabled children. It's a beautiful place which would explain why it was booked up. So the Flock moved to another hotel (run by the same management).

The next day, Caitlin and I made a rather spontaneous decision to go back to Kasseh-Ada to pick up our Christmas/Birthday packages. There had been complications with mine and I had to go pick it personally and if I didn't before Jan 2nd, they would send it back to Canada.

It was great to come home and see my family (who I had been missing very much).
We spent a day relaxing with Dinah (our host) and her neices and nephews who were with her for Christmas vacation.

We left the next day. December 31st/my birthday was really intense and I'm still not quite ready to write about it. You can read about it on Caitlin's blog though.

I've also posted new pictures on Facebook, as has Amanda.

I will write again when I'm settled again.
We're heading to an Eco village and then to Kumasi (boo!) for a retreat before we head off for our work placements.

I miss and love you all!

Peace
Aryn