SOS Orphanage

Today we got to sleep in, which was just as well as I was chatting with Vanessa and Natasha until late last night via Apple Facetime - works well on the iPad but does need a WiFi connection to get enough bandwidth. Just after 9am we rolled out of the hotel to head to the SOS Orphanage in the neighboring city of Tema. It took just under an hour to arrive. SOS has a number of Orphanages around the world, and this one was the first, and now the biggest in Ghana. It has 15 houses, which is home for 8 to 10 children between 0 and and about 15 years in each home.

We visited a number of homes, at first the kids were shy, but it only took a few minutes for them to come out and play. They were fascinated by our camera gear, and we soon gave up trying to hold onto it. We handed them over to the kids who took hundreds, if not thousands of photos of EVERYTHING! Photos of photos, photos of the LCD on the back of cameras, photos of us, photos of them, photos of pictures in their house. One boy even turned on video mode and proceeded to interview each of us with a pop quiz :). If they didn't have a camera, they were taking our hand, or hugging our legs, or asking for piggy-back rides - they were all over us, but polite at the same time.

Now, I should explain, I'm the kind of guy that wives complain never show any affection in public. So the sudden onslaught of attention was personally quite intense. My personal real estate had been well and truly encroached and taken from me :). But it was for the right reasons, and they're kids.

We played a game of soccer with the kids, and then the team kindly let me hand out chuppa chumps that I had brought to all the kids. It didn't take long for the kids to catch on, and like circling sharks, I was soon set upon :). Kids are the same worldwide :). The team was great, they ensured everyone had one chuppa chump each, and that there was enough to go around for everyone. There were a lot of very satisfied faces sucking lollipops for a few minutes after that. We had lots of other gifts for the kids too, but we handed those in for the orphanage to hand out later as there was a chance there would not be enough to go around.

Next week we visit another orphanage, and we have more Chuppa-Chumps, so I'll share that experience with the team and we can all give them out. I was grateful to get to do it once as it meant I got to share something on the day too.

Thiago from Brazil has a natural affinity with kids, but he had the girls in hysterics and lining up for Salsa lessons with him. I don't think any one of them didn't line up for a dance and 5 minute lesson, yet every one of them was doubled over with laughter and squeals of delight watching.

I have photos, but Internet is not working too well tonight, so I may have to upload those separately.

After that we headed back to the markets, I was tough as nails this time around though, and paid a max of one third the initial asking price. I picked up a few souvenirs this time around, and politely ignored most sellers.

We arrived back at the hotel at 7pm, and need to leave the hotel at 6am tomorrow morning for the boat cruise on Lake Volta.

- Keep on Rockin'. Dwight

Location:Accra - Tema Motorway,,Ghana