10 ways to have fun in Tolon

Its not all work and no play in Tolon. If you ever find yourself in this area of the world, here are a few ideas of things to keep you busy...


1) Cycling

Cycling around has been a highlight for a lot of our volunteers. In the heat, it’s so lovely to have a breeze as you pedal along the road. Many of the volunteers don’t cycle at home, so it’s a refreshing change that I’m sure some of us would like to keep up after the 3 months. Having said that, it’s easier here because of the lack of hills. We cycle everywhere – from getting to the office, to early morning trips exploring, our bikes have proven invaluable.


2) Katinga market

Every six days is the Katinga market day and from Tolon to Katinga its about 15-20 minutes in the bus. Every market day we close the office at 12:00pm. We go market to buy a lot of things that will make us more comfortable or happy. These things include fabric, pears (known in the UK as avocadoes), yam and other things. We are always happy because its lots of fun seeing all the colour as well as the chaos of the stalls.


3) Cooking

We’ve all been pushed to the limits of our imagination when it comes to making food. The real challenge is making varied dishes with the limited ingredients that we can pick up from the market. It’s always fun to cook together at the weekends and have what we call a feast. Our personal favourite is avocado on fried bread. Hunting for ingredients is all part of the fun. Next week we want to try make pancakes for Roses birthday so we’re on the lookout for flour, milk and baking powder.


4) Spending time in our host homes.

Generally, everyone spends the evenings with their host families. The UKVs have been struck by the importance of family in Ghana, so evenings sitting in the home have become an important part of the day. All of us have a multitude of children in our homes, so evenings can often be spent being lovingly attacked by kids who love to have their picture taken and being picked up.

5) Owari
       
We have discovered a local game, called owari, and have spent hours trying to figure out how on earth it works. Slowly we’re picking it up, moving small beads at the right time to the right place, and we have even planned a tournament soon. The UKVs are still baffled by the concept of the game and continue to the get thrashed by the ICVs. But they certainly try hard and in Tolon there’s always plenty of time to practise and pick up the patterns of the game.


6) Getting clothes made

One of the things the UKVs are amazed by is the multitude of colour that you see in the clothes. We feel so bland when we look around at the uniqueness that comes with the clothing in Ghana. We decided that we needed to change this and the only way was to get some clothes made for ourselves. We chose fabrics at the market and have all had outfits made. Now no one can accuse Joel of being boring in his new dungarees and Sara & Salma could be spotted from a mile away.


7) Card games

It’s amazing how many hours you can spend going around in a circle collecting and discarding bits of paper. We’ve spent many an afternoon playing games by the school, under the shade of a Shea nut tree. In fact, we’ve just started a league for one of our favourite games and Joe is miles ahead in the lead.


8) Community events

Although we can’t boast a lot of community event experience so far, there’s certainly one that we all remember and loved. Last Sunday afternoon we all went to a dance competition at the chief’s palace. On our arrival, we were not disappointed as we saw over 300 people crowded in a circle, cheering on whoever was brave enough to dance for the chief. Our very own Joel took the challenge and got up to show us his moves. The crowd could not contain themselves as he shuffled up to the chief’s chair to accept his blessing to dance. We were all incredibly impressed by the drummers, who played their hardest in the heat for over 2 hours. The dancers often throw money at them to show their appreciation.


9) Reading and films

When the evening comes in, but it’s still too early to go to bed, we use the opportunity to catch up on reading and films. We could almost open a library with the amount of book swapping that’s gone on. You can be sure that they’ll be a lot of discussion in the office about our various books and films. Veganism has been a topic of interest for the UKVs. Not a day goes by when we don’t discuss animal welfare with our resident vegan, Joel, having already persuaded 2 of us to become veggie.

                                   
10) Playing football
                        
Playing football is one the games we play in Tolon. We often go beside dam underneath the mango trees to play after work. But alas, one day Dan, Samantha and Rose were playing in front of their office during a break. Unfortunately for some and fortunately for others Rose kicked the ball a little too hard and it is now firmly lodged upon the roof. Bye Bye football…