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Thursday 15 June 2017

The only way is Tolon

Now on week eight of our journey in Ghana, it is safe to say we have well and truly settled in and adopted this new lifestyle very well. Each day that passes brings it challenges but also successes.
I hope this post will answer some of the questions from family and friends or future volunteers as to how life is as an International Service volunteer in Tolon, Ghana.

Most mornings around 6am you are woken by the call to prayer, drums at the cheif’s palace or the sound of what you would expect to hear at a farm! In reality it isn’t far from it, outside your room there are goats, cockerels, sheep and guinnea foul to name just a few, but at least no alarm is needed for these early mornings. Ready to start the day you will scramble out of your mosquito net to walk to the family long drop (toilet) to ‘free yourself’ as the Ghanaians call it, then you will go to the compound and fetch water for a refreshing bucket shower. When passing through the compound you will be greeted by your host family who will have been up for hours already and started their daily chores. After showering in the cubical in your room, breakfast will be served which is usually bread and tea or Milo (hot chocolate).

After breakfast, on the weekends, washing is usually done either by yourself or your generous in country conterpart who can see the struggle when you do it alone. Scrubbing  your clothes can become tiring fast for those not used to hand washing, but instead using a washing machine. Once the clothes have been hung on the washing line, they will be dry in no time, pretty handy when you are in urgent need of clean clothes. 




On a week day when you have work, you will cycle to the office after breakfast. The Cycle to work is one which can be enjoyable but also deadly depending on the condition of your bike that day. If all is working well then on you go, while being greeted by people you pass and becoming the entertainment for the children on their way to school. The kids will shout “Silminga (white person) what is your name?” everyday, you would think after 8 weeks they would remember your name! If your bike has been besieged upon by the kids then you may have a flat tyre or something else wrong with it which makes the journey a dreaded one. However a positive is that the heat from your body as you struggle to make it to the office works as a good iron for your clothing, as your shrits will be wrinkle free by the time you arrive at your destination.



Work begins at 9am and finishes at 4pm everyda. The first thing we do everyday is our roses and thorns (one good and one bad feeling or experience that you’ve had the previous day). This is a good way to start the day because it really makes you take the time to reflect on your experiences and how you feel, it also makes you aware of how the others on your team are feeling. Next a plan will be made for the days activities and the work will be  handed out between the group so that everything can be completed before 4pm.

Lunch is at 12 everyday, and after being here for a while you will have sussed out the good places to get food but also the places to avoid. The popular lunch meal at the begining of the trip was fried rice from our favourite roadside stall but after a couple of team members got themselves dodgy stomachs after one day we decided to give it a miss! Our new favourite lunch meal is fried soya which seems to agree with everyones stomach.





The work we do varies every week, however the 6 communities we work with in the tolon district are what our activities usually circulate around. An example of this work may involve contacting Masloc (our motor king supplier) or meeting with them in order to move forward with arranging the purchase of another motor king for the other communities. However not all week days are spent at the office as we also facilitate events such as financial and rice training for the women, which is very enjoyable because it also gives you the chance to bond with the woman in your community.




Once the work day has finished we either go straight to the tailors, as we always have material to get new garments made, or we will go to an area where we can relax and play music until it is time to go home for dinner. When you go home the kids will be playing outside the front of your house and will run over and insist on taking your bike and carrying your bag to your room. Once inside the compound, you will be greeted by mainly the host women who will be cooking dinner which is nearly always TZ and peanut soup and ask about your day at work.

If you are really getting into the Ghanaian lifestlfe (as a woman) you will get changed into a top and wrap a beautifully coloured cloth round your waist, when you get home and then begin cooking. Some host families cook for their volunteers but others cook for themsleves which is great because you get to learn how to cook traditional Ghanaian meals which is food such as Jollof rice, TZ or YAM which is everybodies favourite! The UK volunteers better prepare their families for a Ghanaian cook up when they arrive home!







There are too many things that go on in one day here in Tolon to be able to sqeeze them all into one blog, but I have covered the basic day to day routine of us volunteers. I hope this has given some insight into how we are living here in Ghana.






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