about what i am doing

since i am here in guabuliga, northern region, ghana, for working, i want to show you a bit more about my work.
i am the project manger of an austrian NGO called "brave aurora". it started with the support of an orphanage, but today it is much more then "just" an orphanage.
for example we pay some of the salaries for the school teachers, since otherwise they would not get any money - and people would stop to teach.

madam judith, teacher of kindergarten 1 (as you see many kids, no desks)

for these 3 volunteer teachers we pay a salary (the house in the back is where i live)

we have two orpanages, this is the old one

 but i am not only working here, but also living - so also some "non-work-related" pictures are here

guy with a chicken

one of the elders from our neighbour village

 we try to support the families of the orphans, so that they can take care of their kids again - the goal is the reintegration of the kids. one way of supporting them is the microcredit program. we had many meetings with these people and tried to "educate" them a bit, to give tehm a feeling for money, the value and what they can do with it. it turned out to be quite difficult, since all of them are illiterates - they can neither read nore write. but after many meetings they understood better and better! see some pictures from the microcredit program

our watchman recieving a microcredit

our two social workers, who are mainly responsible for the reintegration, at the microcredit meeting

the contract, people who can not write sign with ink and a fingerprint

the whole microcredit group (such nice colourful dresses!)

where i live, guabuliga, is a small village. it is really necessary to leave it sometimes. for this reason i as well as the volunteers sometimes go to tamale, the district capital, 210 km to the south

in the trotro, the collective taxi, on the way to tamale. find the mistake in the picture!!!

 a funny thing are the trotros. they are minivans, and leave when they are full. most if not all of them are from europe, and many still have the advertisement from the former owner on it. so you see "tischlerei hans huber..." and many similar things on the cars!

there was a parade for a new chief...and suddenly many armed people. i could imagine how a riot looks

it i written on my neighbours house

donkeys enjoying the shade, outside my compound

some kids

andrea, a volunteer, introducing some new rules and our "evening programme" to our kids at the "kids meeting"

mariam, another volunteer, putting the rules up in the new orphanage (with dahamata, the host mother, on the left)

schoolkids cleaning the school yard

 in the beginning it seems funny to use a broom in the sand - but it really makes sense!

morning assembly in the school

some of the elders from guabuliga, and me, announcing something to the school

 last week we made a trip almost to the border of togo, see some pics

haha, i am really living in africa

it can happen that you sit on a rock alone...

...and after some minutes you are not alone anymore

what a view!

again, what a view!!

people carry things, which ever type, on their head

i belive i can fly...

...and i am not sure what she belives!! anyways, "star" is the nations favourite

this is the way we eat here...

...and these kids were really interested to see us eating in that very restaurant!

direction walewale is my diretion

a tailor in the market

boy enjoying rice

the rainy season and like this the farming season has started - people growing maize

women collecting firewood

 there are many things we want to achive in the future. one would be to open up a clinic in our village. there is actually a house which is used as a clinic in guabuliga, but due to a lack of doctors it is just open one day in the month. and this is always a busy day! so we are under negotiation with some NGOs to make it possible to have it open on a daily basis.

women in front of the clinic

baby having a rest

baba, our electrician. you just need to be creative!!

two of my volunteer girls left for austria again. it was a pleasutre to have you here mariam and magda, and you are always welcome again. come back small time!!! safe trip girls

i am used to people carrying things on the head - but sometimes i am still surprised!

hope you are all doing well! i am fine, right now i am the only white person around, because two of the volunteers went home and the other two are travelling a bit in ghana! but its fine also to be alone (even though a bit boring - come back soon, ladies!).
besides this i am fine, i can watch some of the matches of the european championship, even though it can mean driving for almost half an hour - but its worth it (just not if its a game like yesterday, italy:england).

wish you all the best, have a nice evening, take care sevi

crocodiles and so on

 see some pictures from tamale, the biggest city around (120 km to the south) and the capital of "northern region" where i live...

in the streets of tamale

at the trotro (colective taxi) station. people sell so much as you can see! and as always most goods are transported on the head

in a big compound in my home village guabuliga

one of our kids "harvesting"  - shaking the shea nut tree

a big insect visiting our kitchen at night

in the morning outside my room - done by ants

we just gave out microcredits. people were asked to idnetify their area of interest for business. unforunately most choose farming - as they say its all they know.

calculating with the farming groups the estimated costs and profit of farming one acre of maize, soya beans or ground nuts

the garden where our orphanage children are learning how to farm - picture taken from the roof top in my compound

last weekend we went to paga, the border city to burkina faso. in paga we went to a small lake where you have to pay a small entry fee - and you have to buy some alive chicken. the reason for the chicken is the appetite of the crocodiles - if they get hungry while you are too close to them they recieve a chicken and are calm again! but see yourself on the following pictures!

on the way to paga

some of the crocodiles were still small...

seeing the toursists (or knowing it will get some chicken?!)

...and some were quite big

we were close...

....very close!!

the front leg...

...and the rear one

it was pretty amazing to be touching a crocodile. and as you can imagine you see that they developed in a different time!

we saw how fast their head is moving when they recieved chicken...wow

we asked how often some one is bitten - and were told NEVER! i am not too sure if i belive that, but at least we all went away with all our legs, arms and so on...!

a baobab

"rainbow" was the best explanation we got - what is this?? it was already twice since i am here. and you see it also with your eyes, its not the fault of the camera

in paga we also visited a slavetrade sight. in the year 1704 three people from ghana, burkina and togo started buying and stealing people, they were kept as slaves and then sold to the south were european slave traders waited to buy them and ship them around the world. the europeans never dared to go as far inland as paga. many of the staves preferred to be dead to a life as a slave. they got killed while tryig to flee or were turtured to death. and even from the ships many decidet to commit suicide by jumping into the open water

th slaves had to create these holes and were using them as bowls to eat their food

some thousand people were kept here at  a time -for about 140 years. the people were chained to the trees in goups of about 5. and many people had to work as guards

today it is a peaceful place

and quite beautiful!

3/4 of the volunteers

truck driver taking a rest at the burkina border

 as you can see i am doing fine!! hope you are also all well!

good night and have a good sunday!

now i will lie down too!