Picorna Hotel Tamale

A 12 hour bus journey brought me to Tamale... man those *****ian films played a top note w**e "Grrrreat"... aft** more goodbyes to all the fab new volunte**s I had met in Ghana.
H**e for a work conf**ence for the Comic Relief education project. Met my director form the position on the ground I found myself at aft** slipping on the rainstorm socked path- an event I would like to forget- and the oth** organisations involved.
Tuning into the accents was a challenge, but, thrown in ...

This morning I informed Dr. Ross and Akua of my plans and they completely understood. Akua offered to drive me to the Kumasi STC station since she had to check in with her national service office. Apparently, every Ghanaian graduate must complete a year of service for the country, something similar to the mandatory defense training in Israel or China I suppose. Except for Ghanaians, this service is mostly humanitarian work from ...

Hey Everybody,
I am nearing the end of my week-long tour of Ghana. While large parts of this week have been spent in buses, literally driving across the country, everywhere we have visited has been very exciting. Last Friday morning, we left the University of Ghana.
Our first stop was the Aburi Botanical Gardens. It was a foggy morning, which added to the beauty of the gardens. Some the highlights included: a huge, hollow tree (which you can ...

The Peace Corps, I am told, can be a very lonely undertaking. Most volunteers are sent to small villages where they know no one and have a limited understanding of the local language. The loneliness is especially acute during holidays and birthdays, times when volunteers try to get together and celebrate. This weekend was Andy's birthday and for him, we were up at 4:30 on Friday morning. Andy (and most of his birthday's attendees) lives in the northern region of Ghana ...

Hi dudes and dudettes! Travel week! Woop! On Friday we left Swedru for Kumasi, and couldnt get a bus on saturday, so we stayed two nights there. We visited the quiet and green cultural centre and wandered round the city - chaotic but nicer than Accra. Travelled to Tamale on Sunday; the bus was supposed to leave at 10am... arrived in the dark and managed to find the ...

hello again!! as promise, a note on the NORTH!! The first week of November our program did a trip North as an introduction to our next class on community development. It was also a good opportunity to check out some NGOs. In preparation for the internship part of this program we had an 'NGO Fair' as an opportunity to meet some Accra-based NGOs prior to leaving for the North. The NGOs came to the Institute of African Studies ...

So, the news is true. I AM alive. I thought there would be no better time than on the 2nd month anniversary of my last entry, the day America goes to the polls, and my first time in an internet cafe in 2 months, to share with you this wonderful news. I'm in Tamale which is the Northern capital, and the hub of development and non-governmental orgnazations (NGOs) in Ghana. It also happens to feel a lot hotter, and a LOT dryer than in the South. Reminds me of Benin during the ...

This weekend Ali organized an overnight outreach to Bunkpurugu, a village northeast of Tamale, only about 3 km from the Togo border.  We left Friday and travelled north to Walewale.  Halfway there already, and we had only left an hour ago.  The next half of the journey would take five.  Needless to say, it was rather bumpy.  I was very thankful we were in a heavy-duty truck. In the storm, the tires still slipped off the ...