This will be my penultimate post before departure so I shall take the moment to say a massive THANK YOU to everybody who has donated so far. I am always amazed by your generosity.
Some more good news is that my insomnia problems disappeared mysteriously a few nights ago. I fear they may come back though. Have a look at this - it’s a video of the Ghanaian Giant Black Millipede. This one is a baby apparently.
Ghana has lots of interesting bugs, most of them tend to be rather large. Here are two more oversized nightmare bringers, the Emperor Scorpion and Giant Scarab Beetle.
Personally, snakes don’t bother me as much but here is a picture of what Ghanaians call the fifteen foot snake - the Black Mamba.
It’s called the fifteen foot snake after the amount of steps the average person takes after being bitten by one before dying! The Green Mamba is also found in Ghana and has the same nickname.
That’s all for now - back in a week or so, just before the final push.
I should also point out that I have added email subscriptions to the site, so if you wish to be receive an email when I have made a new Journal Entry you can do so. The link is just on the menu on the right.
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watch out jb you might get bitten by a snake leaving you paralysed then scorpions will come and sting you some more and beetles will crawl through your skin and devour you from within!!!
sounds painful - would you like to come and visit me?
Just one more week to go; you must be getting pretty excited. At least I am on your behalf.
Bugs creep me out though. Icky things.
Yer I can’t wait to go tbh. Had a phase where I was nervous a few weeks ago but now feel totally cool about the whole thing. I am looking forward to two years of summer
I saw that millipede and it brought back memories of sly sharing that eels video - just imagine!
awww man - took me years to forget about that. Thanks.
Crazy shizzle with old Alexander Litvinenko, funny that we were talking about that reporter then it all hit the news.
Eels was sick.
Hi Jon,
I’d love to hear more about your experiences once you get to Ghana.
How did you become involved in volunteering and why Ghana?
Have fun jb! It’s amazing what you can stumble across on the internet while ill and unable to sleep.
You are doing something many of us (well, me) have thought of but are unlikely to have to guts to actually do. You leave on my 25th birthday - I dunno if that augurs well or not!
Good luck!
Hello Carol
That’s my mum’s name, I thought she had found me! I didn’t chose Ghana so much as it chosing me. I knew I wanted to do something for other people, something different and something more rewarding than I was. I applied to VSO and then you receive various job offers from around the world. I was offered Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana initially. I could have turned them all down and wated for something else but the job description in Ghana seemed just what I wanted. We will see.
Jonny D! Hello mate, yes the internet can be a bit like that. The largest small world in the world.
How’s things? What are you up to at the moment?
Happy Birthday.
Jon
Nope Jon,
I’m not your mum.
Just a curious student in Australia who is only just becoming aware of the situations people live in compared to my own and feeling incredibly ignorant. So for now I will just be nosy and ask a million questions which of course you are free to ignore.
What was your job description?
What will you be doing in Ghana?
What do you know about the lives of the ‘Ghana Witches’?
Who will you be assisting and how?
Ummmmmmmm ok thats not quite a million, I have to go think of the rest
Carol
Hello Again,
I was a Senior Support Engineer for a small company in Buckinghamshire, UK. I used to work as an ‘Outsourcd IT Dept’ for small companies in the local area. I might be advising companies on their IT, fixing the computer for a home user or installing new networks, along with managing around 30 small networks at the same time.
In Ghana, from what I have been told, I will be teaching IT to disabled Children. The level will be equivalent to an NVQ (this is like 14-18 year olds in the UK).
I may also be helping to set up the course (as it is new) and oragnise/improve the existing setup.
Finally, I will be teacher training in order to make the project sustainable. There is a local teacher who lacks the IT knowledge to run the course.
All of this may change when I get there, VSOs invariably take a while to find their role.
I don’t know much about the Ghana Witches. I have read stories about some women being otracised and even killed by their communities but I don’t know how much this still occurs.
I have received a lot of help in my prepartioons from VSO. Their training is outstanding. Their is also a VSO office in each country in which VSO works, who provide assistance to outgoing Volunteers. The community of Volunteers in each country also use each other for support.
I hope those answers are ok for you? Great foor me to thiink that at least one person is genuinely interested - as I have forced this site on all my friends and familly.
Ony joking folks :p
Hey Jon,
From what I can gather, being accused of witchcraft and then ostracised from their villages is still a huge problem for many women.
Yes I am definately interested and cant wait to hear about your experiences once you get there.
It is hard to imagine teachers not knowing how to use computers, we take computers, education and just so much for granted here.
Sounds like you have a lot of work ahead of you. There will also be many rewards, I’m sure. Watching the faces on those kids once what you are teaching them kicks in and they understand it will be amazing.
The kids will end up teaching the teacher
Hey Jon,
Me again, yes I know, I really need to get off this computer.
Anyways, I found a blogger in Ghana http://karenpalmerinafrica.blogspot.com/
Just thought I’d share.
Hey Carol - you’re like my number one reader
i wil have a look at that thanks. in the meantime if you want a really fascinating read from another VSO Volunteer try this one
http://www.mirandadillon.blogsource.com/
It’s compelling reading.
Cheers
Jon