still in ghana

hi everybody!

i hope you are all doing well?

if you read where i started the blog (i wrote in german) you will see that i will not always write regularly in the blog...and thats exactly what happened now! the break was longer than planned though!

i want to show you a few pictures from my past months.

one of the major happenings in my work was the planning and then execution of the "water project". through solar panels, provided by the NGO i am (was) working for, were installed and transformed the water supply of the whole community to solar power. like this all community members (around 6.000) have daily access to clean and fresh drinking water.

welders create the construction for the panels

the location is fixed

and the work continued.

 the whole project kicked off in the end of feb - when i was on holidays. since then the water is flowing...you will see a picture later on.

with the volunteer (and more important my good friend) baeeo i went to akosombo. its a place where a river comes from lake volat...through the akosombo dam. it was built through the time of kwame nkrumah, ghanas first president, around 1958 - and its still ghanas main source for electricity.

sunrise

these are tilapia (ghanas most common fish) farms. they have nets deep down and the fish lives in the river...but is all time available

on a boats tour...

things are sold everywhere - and the head is often the market stand!

 baeeo + rastaman! he is a great wood carver

my bag with one of rastas works

broken arm in my village...from local doctor

i had some visitors...was a great time guys, thanks for the visit!!!

we went to see crocodiles again - also with my girlfriend

...and the guests!

my house is built!!

when i came to ghana i signed a 2 year contract...and it expired in the end of april. in february i began to build a house...now its almost finished. i will go back to the village tomorrow, the carpenter was supposed to fix all doors, the women of the community came out to do my flooring...i hope its all dry so that i can live there now! i will finish the house and then i will show you pictures...from the start till the end. this particular picture was taken some 2 months ago. by now its a real house!!!

monkeys enjoying mango

 one day a heavy storm hit the village. many roofs were destroyed and people lost a lot. it was really tragic.
our water project was really lucky since a part of a roof flew inside the fence to the solar panels - but did not damage anything. but it was really dangerous - for the panels but also for human beings. imagine if this sink plus wood hits you...crazy.

part of a roof inside our solar park

some of the damaged houses the next day...

in some houses up to 4 rooms lost the roof...

 ...and the farming season is about to start. this means that people have to use the money they intended to farm with for their repairs - and will not have enough money to buy seeds and fertilizer. this will lead to less yield which again will lead to hunger - i hope i am wrong.

the storm also hit the electrical polls - for almost a week there was no power in the village

in most churches in ghana jesus picture is white - in guabuliga, where i live, he is black!!

rainy season is coming closer...it gets green again

mr. joe iss a great person! he has a spot (bar), filling station (petrol station) and a shop. since walewale is about 30 minutes away and there is no public stansport, has has to use his motorbike mostely to get his goods. he has to go through deep sand, its a long and dangerous journey. unfortunately mr. jos had a motorbike accident some years ago and lost part of his left leg. so he always travells with his bike to walewale for shopping. like this he has to feed the 2 wifes and his more than 12 children, send them to school, buy clothes,... its a very difficult life!

you try mr. joe! well done!!!

keep on trying...

pounding fufu

a spider in my kitchen

my bro came from accra and we did some few more shots for the documentary

guabuliga - the village where i life

huge mango tree in the village

this is the clean and safe drinking water - possible through our water project! there are 5 places like this in the community

some children we reintegrated during my time in ghana

rainy season is approaching

to make it easier for the people to take the children back into their houses we support the families, e.g. through micro credits. it should make them financially independent and enable them to take care of the children themselfes.

madam salamatu does shea butter and shea oil extraction

madam azara does trading with the micro credit money

may business be always well!!!

i came to ghana on the first of may 2012 with a 2 year contract. it expired on the 30th of april 2014. a small celebration with all the staff of braveaurora took place in the house where i stayed for 2 years.

has been a really nice time...the evening, but even more the 2 years

after that i went with my girlfriend to the coast.

at cape coast castle

and at axim beach, in the west of ghana

mensch ärgere dich nicht - ludo

what a great name of the shop

at the kakum national park

strange palm tree

hanging out with my other brother in tamale

its time for me to move on soon...but for some time i will still stay here in ghana. i will finish my house and then put up more pictures. and i think quite soon i will also come back to austria - at least for some time!

hope you are all doing well, kind regards