week 9-zambiaa

Had a beauts couple of days in Zambia.

I went on a elephant safari and it was the most incredible thing ever..

I stayed on a tiny island near zimbabwe gotten to by a little canoe and when we arrived there was noone else there! private islandddddddddd! It was so chilled out apart from at night time all the babboons from zimbabwe (across the river) would make so much noise!

Whilst i was there i went to visit the local village/preschool, it is a little shack with 80 children and only 1 teacher,the children were so eager to learn and so lovely. Once they found out i had been volunteering in ghana they propsed the idea of me coming back and helping out at the school. This means living on the island and travelling to the village everyday by canoe! It seems everything happens for a reason and it would be the most incredible opportunity so i have decided to come back out in May and volunteer with them for about six weeks and then travel around Malawi and Mozambique :) and am looking forward to it so much, as i'm now back in england and its cold and rainy.

I miss Africa already (its been about 12 hours) and african babies and african sunsets and african smiles, i had the most amazing life changing two months of my life and can't wait to go back.
xoxo

week 7/8-botswanaaa

Botswana is sicccccccccccck. They have elephants just casually strolling by the side of the main roads all the time. Whilst here we have stayed with some 'bushmen'-local people who live in the bush and still have a complet;ly primitive existence hunting animals and dancing round fires! It was an amazing experience to stay with them and so interesting to see how they live.We also went camping on the okovanga delta, getting there on tiny canoes was fun but once we had set up camp it rained the entire time!

At the moment we are staying in a little town just near the border of zimbabwe/zambia and we have been on a game drive (starting at 5.30am) and saw lions-and their cubs so cute! crocs, many elephants.....hippos, buffalos and warthogs- was amazing-see photos on facebook!This afternoon we are going on a river cruise-hopefully seeing more elephants/hippos/crocs.
And then tommorow we are off to Zambiaaaaaaa where we are staying on a tiny island in the zambezi river!
I can't believe im going to be home in less than a week :(! xoxo

week 6- alright brahhhh

Have had the a very busy amazing week!
It started in typical Catherine manner by me forgetting my bags at Joburg airport, i then had to get someone to help me get my bags back-all went ok until i realised i had to bribe them to let me back through!! i had absoloutly zilch money so had to pay him with the remainder of my milka chocolate bars hahaha.
This week we have been round South Africa...Capetown is so gorgeous, brighton vibe but hotter and in Africa!
We then crossed the border to Namibia.......such an amazing country. huge mountains, canyons and the siccccckestttt sand dunes! Last night i went to a Namibian nightclub...definetly an experience!

On Friday i went sky diving over the Namibian desert......10,000 feet. it was increddddible. so so scary but so worth it! The video of me doing it is hilarious, just me yelling fuuuuuuuuuuuck the whole way down.. will upload it soon..
I am having such an amazing time and have met some amazing peopleeeee
Next week we are going to Botswana and Zambia!
 I miss everyone xxxx

goodbye ghana!

I am waiting at ghana airport for my flight to Johannesburg and have about 3 hours to waste as i got here mega early, when i arrived i realized i had no money, and in typical this is Africa situation.....there is no cash point at the airport?! so i had to go on a random 15 minute walk......aaaaaah Ghana!
Had the most emotional last day at the orphanage, i miss the kids so much already and have had the most incredible 5 weeks, i feel they/this trip have made such an impact on my life and i definitely want to return!
Also my african mamaaaaaa jane gave me a gorgeous african dress as a goodbye present, it is amazing and i was very tempted to turn up at the airport in all my African attire.
I have just realised iv lost my memory card so no pictures or cute videos of Godwin or my beautiful dress. so guttttteedddddd :(.
On the plus side i have made friends with a Ghanaian pilot who says he will fly me straight to Cape Town..!
xoxo

week 4 & 5

Havent been able to update for a while because we've had a 5 day powercut! very annoying as means the fans dont work either so has been the hottest nights sleep i have ever had to endure!

i've been ill with a stomach bug-i went to the 'doctors' and they sent me home with a litre of lucazade telling me it would cure it... oh ghana.

Also this week Godwyn (age 1ish) has learnt to speak english and all he says is "im fine im fine" (ghanain philosophy that if you are not fine you will be by the end of the day) it is SO cute so im gunna try and video him saying it ha.,

after 4 days of trying to sleep in about 30c heat at night..me Josh and Jayne decided to go back to green turtle lodge for the weekend! was so good to have running showers and good food and fans!! the journey there was horrific with a preacher on our bus who stood up and preached for the whole 4 hours... thankfully i didnt understand a word he was saying so just listened to my ipod after a while haha. also on our trotro the mate (conductor) couldnt fit in the tro tro as there were 24 people (usually have 18) so he sat on the roof for the hour and a half very bumpy ride!!

At green turtle i got up at 6am and went on a canoe trip by myself down the river...it was so incredible and i felt like pocohontas....! i also got very sunburnt and bed bug bites all over my feet which are so friggiiiiiiinnn itchy!

Im gunna miss the kids and the tro tros and the friendly people (such as a man today who told me he liked my tan but i needed to dress like an african.. ha) also the sun/sunsets here are the most beautiful things i have ever seen.. the sun is 10x bigger than at home!

Also on our last night at green turtle i got up at about 2am and there was a crazy tropical lightening storm..no thunder and no rain but mad lightening...i sat on the beach for about 2 hours watching it and it was so incredible.

I only have 4 days left in Ghana before leaving for Johannesburg and am so emotional about leaving already, i love it here, and definetly want to return!

i miss everyone........ happy valentines day!!

xoxo

week 3-paradise

On Saturday night me and Sara drunkenly decided we wanted to go to the beach..So the next day we got up at 6AM and made the 8 hour journey (!) to the coast! It was the most gorgeous place i've ever been to-and we met some amazing people :)... we stayed in those huts..and that is the picture of the beach that i have hung in a hammock and chilled at all week aah. It was so remote that to get phone signal i had to walk about 10 minutes down the road into the jungle and then stand on a chair haha!
Also we went to another village called Busua and made friends with some monkeys and did some surfing....its so different here than cornwall haha-no wetsuits warm water and HUGE waves!
After a 10 hour journey on the way back with a maniac tro tro driver and me needing the loo the whole 10 hours it was so good to be home and so lovely to see all the kids!
Today i had a dress made by a local lady-its gorgeous and was only 10 cedis overall-for fabric and the making of-that is about 5 pounds so very very happy ha!
We have 5 new volunteers- a mother and daughter from america...a girl from mexico.. another girl from wisconson and a guy from london! They are all really nice and its good to have some more people so we can take the v early mornings in shifts!Also one of the volunteers is really ill and has supposed malaria-very scary!
This weekend we are going to a monkey sanctury and the biggest waterfall in Ghana (in the volta region) which is really tribal and different to the south where we are so am very excited!
I miss everyoneeeeeeee
xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

week 2- t.i.a

Time is going so quickly, cant believe its been two weeks since i arrived. I feel so at home here already!
Everythings going goood......it has got so so hot here and today we decided to hike up the mountain (hill) -bad idea very sunburnt!
Last night we went for authentic ghanian dinner-fufu which you have to eat with your fingers...i attempted it but was far too spicy!
we have also moved house to a new bigger house in the middle of nowhere....no running water or electricity yet though....aah this is africa!

 Have uploaded some photos on facebook but here is a video of mercy being cute :) xxxxxxxx

week one!

i am currently sitting in the local 'internet cafe' ( a tiny room with 5 very slow computers with mad sticky keyboards) with a  HUGE coconut that i brought at the local market that the guy hacked at with a machete so i could drink it. aaaaah africaaaaaaaaa!!!!
the first week here has been great :) we have a really nice house ...(although water and electricity aren't working so bucket baths and torches!!) and the kids are so so amazing!
We take it in turns each morning to wake the kids up, which means getting up at 4.30am!!! and then have to bathe them and help with breakfast and then walk them to school. We then have the day off till 2pm so have done various adventures in tro tro's (trucks that are meant to take 8 people but fill to about 20 each time) around the other villages and Accra. In the afternoons and evenings we spend time with the kids and help put them to bed. It's so heartbreaking as most of them sleep on the concrete floor without blankets or anything, so i was very emotional on the first day!!
It is SO hot and humid here and we have to drink water out of little plastic sachets which i always end up making a huge mess of.
Another  very stupid Catherine incident happened on Tuesday when i managed to electricute myself whilst putting my mosquito net up....i stuck the safety pin into the electric wire on the wall...que literal cartoon electric shock reaction. Lesson learned however, i just sleep with the mosquito net covering me instead of hanging it anywhere now hahaha
This weekend we are going down to Cape Coast to see cape coast castle and the kakum national park-a walkway canopy thing so really looking forward to that!!! :)
Will try to upload pictures soon
i miss everyoneeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Catherine xox

and im offfffffffffffff!!!!!!!!

All packed and ready to go!!! in 8 hours i shall be touching down in Accra, GHANA!!

(hattie being upset at our 3 month separation!)

wish meeeeeeee luck!!!!!!!!!!!

xox