One week to go!
on Working in Tumu (Ghana), 06/Feb/2011 12:38, 34 days ago
One week to go, and hopefully we now have everything we want to take with us. There remains some doubt in our minds as to whether we have covered all bases but let's go for it and start to pack our cases. We have put aside four days to pack, unpack, pack, unpack until we have everything in one small plastic bag - as if!!! All the medical issues now covered, upper arms potholed, dental treatment completed - more expensive than anything else and all medicines etc ready for putting in the cases. Clothes ironed, kindle loaded, Boots and Superdrug emptied of sunscreen, mosquito preventions etc. Motor cycle helmet collected (as you can see) and all forms filled in (nearly, still got to fill in the insurance and claim the injections fees) so we should be ready. Cal, the Teacher Support Officer (TSO) has been invaluable in supporting us from afar as her emails have given us a good feel for what we need and we are looking forward to meeting up with her and Charles, the Community Advocacy Support Officer (CASO) in Tumu in a few short weeks.Ghana is a great place for football as many of you know from the World Cup last year and the success of many Ghanaian footballers in various European Leagues, but not many of you will know that the local team in Tumu is called Tumu Liverpool FC! Unfortunately the relative isolation and difficult transport links can make getting to away matches a little bit more difficult than boarding the train from Lime Street to Euston to play at Stamford Bridge. We hope to watch some Tumu Liverpool FC matches in the future and really enjoy Ghanaian football.We have made excellent links with former colleagues at Hampshire Local Authority, particularly Carolyn Hughan and Maddy Thompson and everyone at the Havant Local Office, and set off for the Sissala East District Education Office with invaluable educational materials of the highest quality to allow us to support our new colleagues in many key areas of education, leadership development and coaching. We have also benefited from great advice from Alison ( a teacher at Grovelands) and Andrew Berry, who have lived in many different African countries and we go to Tumu knowing a lot more about the challenges and joys we will experience. Thank you to you all.We will be leaving next Sunday from Heathrow and look forward with great anticipation to our in-country training at VSO Accra before heading 1050 kms north to Tumu. Let the journey begin!!