There are a lot of churches here in Prampram, and they are a focal point for the community. Most schools are set up by churches, although children don’t necessarily attend the school associated with their church. The churches all hold services on sunday mornings, but also have services, bible study and prayer meetings on most other days of the week too. It’s nice to walk around Prampram on a Sunday morning as you get to hear all the lovely music coming from the different churches that you pass. I’ve been to the pastor’s church (Deeper Life Church) but I also wanted to experience one of the more lively services that I’d heard. After asking at school, I decided to go to the Methodist church, with Beatrice, one of my students. Church starts early here, so we arranged to meet at the tro tro station just before 8am.  In the end, Beatrice couldn’t go to church on sunday (she had to carry concrete blocks to the trotro station for her mother – you should see Beatrice – she’s tiny!). Anyway, Beatrice walked me to church and a lady inside welcomed me. The service started shortly after 8am, but with a very small congregation- they arrived in dribs and drabs over the next hour or so. The service was amazing! It started with singing praise songs. I didn’t know the words but could join in with the clapping and dancing! They even tried to get me to join in their dancing and hanky waving at the front! There were some readings, in dangbe and english, lots of praying, and several hymns – including some extras that the minister added when he felt like it. It was a communion service, very similar to those I’ve been to before, except the wine was served in individual tiny plastic glasses – like mini shot glasses! When it was time for the collection, instead of passing round a basket, everyone danced their way up to the collection box at the front with their money, like a conga! Towards the end of the service, the minister welcomed people attending the church for the first time and asked us to go up to the front. Being the only white person there, I was pretty conspicuous, so couldn’t get out of it! I ended up having to speak to the whole congregation, using a microphone, to tell them my name and where I’m from. Speaking some of this in Dangbe seemed to go down well as I got a round of applause! The service went on for over 4 hours!! Apart from my bum being slightly numb from sitting on a hard pew for so long, it didn’t seem that long at all. The two churches that I’ve visited so far have seemed relatively well off compared with the other houses and buildings in Prampram. For example they have electric fans and fairly modern sound systems. People in the congregation donate some of their very little money to their church as a tithe. Whilst this initially might seem surprising, it’s clear that to the people of prampram their church is a hugely important part of their lives, so I can understand why they do this.

Monday was a public holiday here so I decided to visit a hotel just a mile or so from Prampram, to go for a  swim. City escape was a lovely hotel, with a beautiful pool, AND even a shower to use too! A very relaxing day. But it makes me feel slightly guilty to go there because spending 10 cedis (about 4 pounds) on a swim is a luxury that most people in Prampram wouldn’t dream of splashing out on. The hotel may as well be a 100 miles from here.  On myway home I walked back down the main street and thought about how horrified/terrified I’d been when I first arrived in Prampram, but now that I’ve lived here for two months, it feels much more like home. I’m always glad to get back to Prampram, although admittedly that’s partly due to the fact that I’m relieved to have survived the trotro or taxi journey back!

Today at school we had a little party in class 6, and I gave my students some small farewell gifts. They enjoyed playing pass the parcel for the first time, and showed off their dance moves. Tomorrow is the start of the interschool sports competition, so we’ll be off to the park to watch and cheer on the Bethel School teams – keep your fingers crossed for them!

For anyone who has ever complained about my snoring, please believe me when I tell you that my snoring is nothing compared with the noise that the frogs in Prampram make. I was planning this journal entry last night, whilst being kept awake by the noise, wishing I’d packed some earplugs. I never knew something so small could make so much noise. I’ve even recorded the noise on my phone as evidence. Just as my head hits the pillow they start up their racket. And once one starts, a whole host of others join in with their replies, sounding like a noisy frog argument. Then it all goes quiet, and you hope they’ll finally shut up, but one chirps in again and it all starts all over again. We’ve had a lot of rain over the last few days in Prampram – really big window pane shaking thunderstorms. On a much more serious note, Ghana’s capital, Accra, has suffered major flooding. In Prampram the wet weather means that there are even more frogs around. Since my room is right next to some flooded farmland, I seem surrounded by the noisy creatures. I’m hoping for some drier weather to drive the frogs away, or that they’ll all get sore throats and shut up for a while.

At school the heavy rain has washed away parts of the classroom floors. With their usual dedication the students themselves have been repairing the floors, filling in the holes and puddles with more sand. We’ve also had an exciting visit from a van advertising a brand of instant noodles – they cooked noodles for all the children at school and gave out leaflets about the noodles and also road safety. I had one of those heartwarming moments as a teacher when several of my students got excited about being able to understand the nutritional information on the leaflet, as we’d been learning about food groups in Science. In ICT I took my students to the internet cafe for a little excursion and their first ever go on the internet. It’s been nice to see a few of them venture in here on their own too since I brought them. Over the last couple of days I’ve also taught class 2 at school as their teacher has been ill. This is a whole different ball game from class 6 as there are about 30 of them, their understanding of English is much more limited and they seem to fight with each other all the time! Anyway, we managed to get some work done in the end.

Last weekend I went on a trip to Shai Hills, a nature reserve. Managed to negotiate the public transport to get there ok, although I was nearly dropped off at the Shai Hills army training centre by mistake! Shai Hills is home to very cute baboons! I also walked to a cave which is a sacred site for the Shai people, who used to live in the area,until the British drove them out to nearby settlements. This weekend I’ve visited Tema, a local town, to go to a lovely hotel to use their swimming pool. It was a little piece of peace and tranquility right next to the sea, in a very busy town! The hotel is famous for being where Queen Elizabeth II stayed when she was entertained by Ghana’s first president in 1961. He even ordered that a new chalet and swimming pool be built at the hotel in her honour! For a hotel, the pool was pretty big, so I did a few lengths, and chilled out in the shade on the sunloungers. A bonus was the fact that the hotel had actual showers that I could use!! This is a particular luxury as in Prampram there is no running water, so I have a bucket of cold water for a shower! My time at the Bethel School continues to be a lot of fun! The children in class 6 are so inquisitive and always asking me lots of questions. Everyday when I get to our classroom they greet me by saying ‘madam, you are welcome’ which is lovely. They refer to England as ‘my country’ – they’ve told me I’m not allowed to call it ‘home’ since Prampram is now my home. The children have loved looking at English money, and seeing my flight ticket to get here (well, a print out of the e mail anyway!) and trying out my suncream. They are curious as to what my moles are on my skin, and wanted to know if they hurt! The only downside of this week was a trip to the doctor for a nasty mosquito bite – despite insect repellant, fly screens, a mosquito net and room spray, I don’t seem to be able to avoid them completely!