Wednesday was day of contrasts. Spent the morning in our first proper team meeting on the Cadbury project (not its official title but the accepted shorthand). There has been so much to-ing and fro-ing, initial community introductions, data gathering, practical accommodation issues and so on that we have not had time to think about the next steps in the project. So the three long term volunteers – Danielle, Jill and I, plus Shirley, our Tamale evacuee, met Thelma the VSO project officer in the Community Development office with the seriously bright blue walls. We discussed the data gathering, our experiences of the communities we had visited and the teams we had been working with. There are big problems in these communities. Many people in them tell us that they receive visits from other NGOs and charities that come and make them promises and are never seen again. One of Jill’s communities was very pleased when she made her second visit as, for them, this was unprecedented. We are concerned that they do not see this project in the same way and that hope that they will receive help. Their biggest problems stem from receiving too little income which has various causes.


After the meeting I returned to the house, changed clothes, collected my luggage and returned to town to get a tro-tro to the airport. I spent last Christmas in Ghana, but this year I intended to be in the UK. I got my first air conditioned tro-tro, smart smoother ride, slightly faster (even with a short stop for one of the passengers to buy three of the biggest paw paws I have ever seen), but slightly less leg room than the standard ones. They took my luggage free of charge so that was a bonus. I had made sure I was in good time so got out a couple of stops early at had a burger and fries at the Accra Mall. Suddenly you are in a world of fast food, big 4WDs, ex-pats, satellite TV and smart wealthy Ghanaians.



I am wrote this in the departure lounge at the airport in Accra, taking advantage of the free wireless broadband but had to post it in Berkshire as the service dropped at the crucial moment. This will be my last post before Christmas so I would like to wish everybody reading this a very happy Christmas and apologise for not ending any Christmas cards (again!). I would also like to thank everybody who has commented on the blog this year. It is good to hear that somebody is reading it!