I'm here, in this sprwling shanty matropolis - it's taken me 37 minutes to log on and get to this page, so please excuse the fast typing and bad spelling...
where to start, in fact i hav eno idea what day it is or if i've been here two or three days. the flight into Accra was fine and i was picked up at the airport safely by Ikando, a good sign that the organisation is as sound as I hoped and thought it would be. after a sleepless night fighting with a mossy net I was met by Nathanial, then Laura the boss lady from Ikando. Nathaniel took me 'round Accra to find a sim card and change money - he talked for a with in his native language to a guy from the house and leaned to me saying, "don't worry, we are not planning to sell you!", a sense of humour, great - I think. However I've never felt more alien in my life than arriving on the streets of Accra, it's like every film or documentary time a hundred. SO busy, butstling with peolpe smartly dressed, so clean against the dust and smells of burning plastic that is strangley pleasent. Shops coloured with advertising posters, tyres, friut, cloth, cosmetics, sim card trolleys and tourists trash; "eh heh? Ladydeee!". the drive to Buduburam settlement is long and dangerous in the stalling old Toyota - we are stopped by some serious looking cops who ask us to empty the boot twice to look at the spare tyre ... you think a Nigeria parking attendent is bad... I'm staying at the Holiday Feeling 'Hotel' on the outskirts of the camp. I had a loo and air con so bloody marvelous, much needed when I had my first dose of the trots in the middle of the night, no to worry tho' I shared the experience with a dying cockroach - I know how he felt. I was met that night by the wonderful Simon and Hannah who are as godsent as Ralph predicted they would be, and happilyt in an atheistic way, totally on my wavelength. They've been here for 5 months and despite some awful begginings have made a place for themselves here and will be missed when they go next week. which brings me to the school the timer is saying 9 mins to cut off, how can i do it..!) Budu to describe needs a poets sensibilities, a sprawling shasnty town held together by good will and rocky dusty pathways. it too bustles, like Accra there are businesses everwhere as the Liberians and Sierra Leoneans try to carve a living. of cours here it's on a smaller scale, shacks are workshops and lean to's are cafe's, but again the people are smart, dolled up in mostly donated clothes from the west, women's hair pristene as are the men's shoes. The school stands out bright and orange - a square compound surrounded by classrooms, 9 maybe, american style, small benches for three small bums at a time. I'm out of time now but just to say I have already met people with the most awesome stories of how they are here and how they want to leave. they all hate being refugees and all have great hopes. the school is still on xmas break but Monday sees my first day of term along with them. PS had my first spider, had to ask a lady to get rid of it for me - how stupid I felt - so much for 210 quids worth of hypno therapy
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