A Newsletter from Gill Norris in Nkwanta
May 2008
Dear All,
We have swiftly passed through the mango season here. The trees are laden with fruit one minute and bare the next. Everyone is trying to sell mangos, you can buy 30 for about 5p. They are very stringy and get between your teeth, the secret is to suck the juice which is really sweet.
After receiving money from the UK, I am busy trying to buy all the materials for the next stage of building for the new school. It is proving difficult to get cement, It can be purchased locally, but the cost is very high. If I can buy from the factory there is a saving of about £700, but getting the company to send details is hard. I hope to go to Accra soon and confront them face to face!!
The school building is huge, the Sports Centre is the largest building in the district, the school will dwarf this by at least 50%. Nine classrooms, staffroom, library, office and store in the shape of an E. It will house over 300 girls when fully operational. I have suggested to the trustees that we look to finding sponsorship for the girls throughout their education. It would be about £300 a year to cover all the costs if we managed to sponsor every child. I am sure that the trustees would be interested in your thoughts on this idea. We would still need to raise some money to carry on our normal programmes such as the Award scheme and teacher training, but after the school it may be time to move away from infrastructure. However, we still need to raise a lot of money for the building to be completed.
We held very successful skills days at the end of April. Two American women joined with local artisans to run courses in art, calabash painting, biscuit making, carpentry, tie & dye, crochet, sewing and wood craft. The children really enjoyed the chance to do something creative. We supplied all the materials and paid the local artisans some money.
When we take the children on expedition, we visit a remote village called Kyllinga. There is no alternative but to walk for 2 hours to reach this village. It has no lights, no road and is very poor. We invited a group of children to visit us for wild life films, football and cultural dancing. They interacted with Nkwanta children and stayed the night in one of the schools. It was a good experience for all, most people here do not travel, the majority of children in Nkwanta have never been to the capital or seen the sea only 350kms south. So any interactions with different areas is welcome.
I was invited to the Queen's Birthday Party at the British High Commission, always a boozy do. I went on my own and listened half heartedly to speeches until the High Commissioner welcomed the former president!! After the formalities I set off in search of Ft. Lt. Jerry Rawlings. Finally tracking him down, I boldly introduced myself telling him how much the people from Nkwanta admired him. He invited me for a photo shot, hope I can get a copy from the BHC. He is still a very handsome man with bags of charisma.
On a sad note, my monkey was attacked and killed by a dog. He was a very friendly animal and loved to play, it was distressing to see him in pain, luckily he died quickly. The school children dug a grave and buried him with some ceremony. Funerals here are big business. I recently attended one for two children who had drowned in the river. It was a bizarre experience. Everyone was dancing to pop music before the service started, when the preacher stood up, everyone started wailing. The MP gave a speech denying that he had caused their deaths in order to gain power for re-election! A visiting priest of the ‘alleluya' variety ranted about evil acts causing the deaths and everyone needed to repent. There were no words of consolation for the parents (one father, two mothers). The school children gave a tribute then called the register. They called the names of the dead and one child said that they had gone away, the names were them publicly struck from the school register.!
Huge thanks to all who collected items and loaded the container. I could single out individuals to thank them for their help, but I was not there, so may miss someone out. I believe it will have left port by the time you read this. It will be like Christmas when it arrives!
Let me know any news, it is always good to hear from the ‘old country'
All the best, Gill.
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