Hi - It’s us again!
We really can’t believe that it’s been 4 months since we left the UK. So much seems to have happened, despite it only feeling like yesterday that we left !

Since we last updated you, Anne (who we shared the bungalow with) has returned home to the UK. Anne was a volunteer with CMS (Christian Missionary Society) and was here for about a year helping the Anglican Diocese with their project development work.
When we first arrived in Cape Coast, Anne was a great help to us in explaining how things worked here, where to find places etc. which really helped us settle in.
We enjoyed having some really good conversations with Anne during the time she was here, especially about faith issues, and we learnt a lot from her.

At the beginning of August we were visited by Leah, a UK photo-journalist from USPG (the church based organisation that our placement was arranged through). Leah was filming / photographing in Ghana for USPG’s lent resources. She also filmed us at our places of work and interviewed us about our EEP (Experience exchange programme) experiences so far. I (Steve) spent a couple of days with Leah helping her with all the equipment she needed to carry with her and chatting with the crowd of inquisitive locals which often gathered whilst she filmed.

A few weeks ago our friend Helen came to visit. We travelled up to Accra (the capital) to meet her. The journey to Accra itself was very interesting as there was a catalogue of misunderstandings all along the way !
However, a highlight of the journey was that soon after leaving Cape Coast on the bus, a passenger towards the front of the bus stood up and announced that we should pray together for a safe journey. He went on to pray aloud whilst the other passengers bowed their heads before joining in with a hearty ‘Amen’ at the end.
It was very unexpected (to us) but a great experience to be part of.
Not sure what the response would be if we did the same on the Mickleover buses ?!

Whilst in Accra we took the opportunity to see a bit more of the city, as we didn’t see much at all when we first arrived in Ghana.
We walked through the area called James Town situated between the main city and the coast where there is (guess what ?!) another fort and lighthouse. It was an interesting area to walk through, a busy community with many people and children out and about on the streets, like so many of the urban areas here.

We also visited the Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park. Dr Kwame Nkrumah was the Gold Coast’s first African Prime Minister and a leading figure in Ghana’s struggle for independence. There was a small museum (which was closing just as we arrived, although the gatekeeper who was more than happy to take our entrance fee didn’t mention this !) with many pictures of Nkrumah throughout his life.
It was nice to spend a short time in the small park as it felt like a haven of tranquillity within the noisy, crowded, hectic, polluted, mayhem of the city.

Further down the road from Nkrumah Memorial Park we passed Independence Square (otherwise known as Black Star Square). It is a huge empty concrete parade ground centring on Independence Arch. Sadly, what first sprung to mind when saw it (as others have commented) was the likeness to Maccy D’s golden arches !

We had a great week with Helen, and enjoyed taking her around Cape Coast and the local sights and giving her a flavour of our life here. You can see the view we had of part of Cape Coast from Fort William (which is an old lookout post near the castle which used to be used for signalling, but is now a lighthouse).
Helen also came along to experience a Ghanaian church service at the Uni Interdenominational Church (U.I.C.). Like so many things here, we find it so difficult to fully describe in words (even with the help of the odd few photos) the experiences we are having. But so hopefully Helen’s video clip of the service at U.I.C. will give you more of a feel for the liveliness and joyfulness of the worship.

In the couple of days before Helen returned to the UK we ventured North of Accra into the Eastern region to a town called Koforidua, from where we could visit Boti Falls (twin waterfalls). We were taken on a walking tour of the area around the falls, which also took us to Umbrella rock (which gave a great view of the surrounding area) and the ‘Miracle Palm’ which was unusual in that the trunk divided into 3 separate trees.
The journeying went well, with the exception of the Tro-tro breaking down part way to Kofuridua, but fortunately it was a very convenient place for it to happen as it was a main road in an urban area. The driver hadn’t disappeared for very long before he returned with a mechanic. We added ‘RAC’ to the mental list of things about UK life that we so much take for granted. It wasn’t much later before the fault was fixed and we had all squeezed back in to our seats for the rest of the journey.

Update from Steve
It is now the summer vacation so I am keeping myself occupied preparing lessons and resources for next term. I am enjoying trying to introduce more practical elements into my lessons, as most lessons tend to be taught purely as theory.

As think I’ve mentioned before, I’ve got involved with the building of a new counselling centre for the Mothers Union in Cape Coast (this was one of the projects that Anne was working on during her time in Cape Coast). It will be a counselling and vocational training centre for teenage mothers in this area. Last week we started preparing for the next stage of building work. It has been a long time since the last stage of the work was carried out (digging and casting the foundations) so much of the soil dug out to form the foundation trenches had fallen back in and needed to be removed.

To help with this the Mothers Union enlisted the help of the local prison, who provided a guard and 4 prisoners to carry out the work. I now see why they call it hard labour ! The men started work just after 8:00am and continued until 3:00pm (probably the hottest part of the day) with only a short break for something to eat. However, the work they did was fantastic and has really helped to move things forwards.
We plan to use students from Cape Tech that are studying Building Construction to help with the work on site. This should help to give the students valuable practical experience and also keep the labour costs down for the Mothers Union.

Update from Vicky
A few weeks ago a visiting team of Americans spent the week in the Eye-Centre. They were two surgeons (who between them carried out around 80 surgeries - mainly cataract plus a few cases of pterygia) and an Optometrist.
They brought some donated equipment with them, which is great as we now have a phoropter head in the refraction room and the eye-centre now has a retinoscope.

I’ve just about got used to life at the eye-clinic without the Optometry students since their course has restarted after the vacation. However, I have now become involved at the university helping out with the 4th Years ‘Orthoptics’ module (Optometry is a 6 year course here). The uni has a shortage of Optometry lecturers and there is currently no-one to teach Orthoptics. So, on the understanding that anything would (hopefully !) be better than nothing, I somehow ended up agreeing to lecture Orthoptics!
I’m finding it a challenge, and I have been terrible company for Steve (as I am permanently on the lap-top preparing for the next lecture) but I would actually have to admit to almost enjoying it a little !

So that’s us pretty much up to date we think.
Thanks for following our progress ….
Hope you are enjoying the latter part of the UK Summer … we’ve heard you did have some sun after all ?!