We made it!!

After having spent the night in the African rainforest and having hands-on experience with ‘ants in our pants’ (picture us running wildly through the jungle forgetting about the peril of snakes and slapping at each other to get rid of the hundreds of ants that were biting and stinging us through our clothes..), we are now in Elmina, an historical slave-trading city by the coast. Time for a final blog update!


Keeping in mind that pictures speak louder than words, I will let them tell the final chapter of the Ahunda Boso school project (although I have a feeling that we will be seeing more of each other).

Let me give you a summary of what we – we are in this together, I could never have done this without your help! – have achieved over the last weeks:

- put in a cement floor in the largest of the 4 school buildings
- completed the walls of 1 of the 4 buildings
- plastered 3 of 4 buildings, interior + exterior
- put in doors and shutters on all 4 buildings
- provided strong locks for all shutters and doors
- painted the interior + exterior of all 4 buildings, including woodwork

As a bonus, we also constructed 2 large water tanks for rain water, allowing the children to drink during the day, keeping them concentrated for school!

Since this is a joint project, the initials of all of the sponsors have received a place on the wall, as well as the handprints of all of the school children (the kids thought it was somewhat strange but fantastic to have their hands painted and then actually press them against the neatly painted walls – some even tried to get in the queue twice!).

To prepare for the final ceremony – in which I was ‘enstooled’ (named after the stool that I was placed upon and which is now wrapped up in towels and duct tape to survive the journey back to Oslo) as Queen of Development – we held a huge community clean-up, placing dustbins all around town and picking up litter to ‘beautify the place’.

In the afternoon we celebrated by drawing pictures with colour pencils and crayons, something which was oddly unusual for the children, quite a few didn’t really know what to do or how to start. But now that we’ve got them started, I doubt they will want to stop!

On the day of departure, it was Christmas-come-early and each class received a ball and a frisbee. After that, each kid received their own balloon, producing many genuine, big and beautiful smiles. The bubbling positive energy of the whole community and the feeling of change in the air were so tangible, that I felt assured that this project was just the beginning of an important journey bringing new opportunities for all the people of a little African village called Ahunda Boso….



Thank you all so much!

Time for Celebration!

Time for another update on the Ahunda School Project! Only a few days have passed, but each day is packed with activities and it seems like ages ago since my last post. Thank you again for your generosity it is fantastic how involved you all are! We are now only 2390 nok away from completing the entire project :-)

Not long from now I will reach the status of expert in African construction. I find myself walking around the city of Ho, with my SAP rugsack on my back. It contains a dusty (that is the common condition of most things here) laptop as well as: paint thinner, padlocks, bolts, a price list paint and metal rods, concrete nails (it’s getting heavy by now) and last but not least, some mosquito spray. What I lack in blood and tears, I certainly make up for in sweat! It’s hard work, but it pays off and I’m pleased to say we are still on track!
On Tuesday we bought up 5 stores worth of paint, loaded them in a truck and headed to Ahunda, which sounds easy but took an entire day! I was happy not to participate in Wednesday’s trip: buying up all the wood in Ho. They didn’t come back until after sunset!
It’s amazing what some paint can do, the junior high school is actually transformed from a gloomy ruin to a bright and neat building, fit for the learning of chemical elements and mathematical formulas.
The carpenters have finished the door- and window frames which have been plastered into the building for extra durability. The masons had to take a break today, not because they are enthusiastically religious, but rather because ‘hard work, we tired’. And right they are.
Tomorrow we’ll talk with the ‘water tank guy’, he’ll use 10 bags of cement to make 2 large water tanks that will collect rainwater and provide the kids with drinking water, something they do not have today. They bring water from home after carrying it (on their heads) from the village tap where it can be bought from the village ‘water man’.
We are all aware that the final deadline is next weekend when we will celebrate with a grand ceremony followed by a football match – how else would one celebrate such a great accomplishment?! We have invited the team of neighbouring Waya, mostly because we have a remote chance of winning (not all our guys have shoes) and also because they host a volunteer too, making it a very international happening.
In the meantime, the progression of the project called for a little taste of Ahunda entertainment. On Wednesday, I was working at my PC when I noticed some suspicious movement outside my Guesthouse. I opened the door to find some twenty community members starting to beat their drums and clap and sing enthusiastically. Pretty soon half the village was there, laughing and singing and even shaking some of their abundant behinds.. I have recorded one of the songs on my mobile phone, to become my future ringtone!
Life outside construction also continues to teach me the Ghanaian way. This weekend, emotions soared at the funeral of Van Dyke’s Auntie, north of Accra in Sogakope. I had been invited to the ceremony, together with around 500 family- and church members all dressed in black. Let me tell you, I felt like a white reflector and was happy to coincidentally be wearing brown.. When the corpse arrived, Auntie was decorated with lots of lace, beads and plastic flowers. The women danced around her coffin wildly (at times I was reminded of the chicken dance), singing and waving their handkerchiefs. They were accompanied by a swinging brass- and jazz band, New Orleans style! Tears and laughter mixed and I was encouraged, although uncomfortable, to take pictures of everything. This was surely quite different from the European way and I have to say, I wouldn’t mind such a party sending me off when my time comes!
Coming home to Ahunda today, I had planned a little celebration of my own: a bottle of cold Coca Cola! Last week, I was, rather absurdly, honoured with an old and dented freezer!! A great idea here in the tropics, but it generated so much heat, that I could not use it than anything else than a table. That is, until Evelyn took it into her room. Because it’s old, it doesn’t freeze very well but cools fantastically, so it has become very popular with all our neighbours. Today it must have been having a good day; I had to cut the bottle open with a penknife to get out my frozen coke!
Very refreshing…

What a (construction) site!!

First of all I’d like to extend a huge thank you to the fantastic support we’ve been receiving from the ‘homefront’! The response has been absolutely overwhelming and I am deeply touched by the enthusiasm and generosity of all of the donators, thank you so much!


About one week after I sent out the message about Ahunda Boso, we have been able to put together the amazing amount of 36 209 nok (around 4 500 Euro)! We are now only 6 500 nok away from being able to complete the project, something which I had only dreamed of, but never thought would really happen.


So, what has happened since my last post? Apart from the fact that I almost stepped on one of the world’s most poisonous snakes, the green mamba, only good things have taken place and we are making very quick progress!

Yesterday, Monday, the masons arrived with the 4 a.m. bus from Accra. While they were setting up camp, the carpenters had to send their tools to Ho to be sharpened, since we had been without electricity for 2 days (it was a regional power cut and while the tools were on the way, we got ‘lights on’ again). In the meantime, Van-Dyke (my counterpart) and I went to the crazy Monday market in Mafi Kumase to buy the cement and the metal rod needed to complete one of the buildings. They sell almost everything at the market; it is a fantastic mix of people, goods,

animals, sounds and smells, enough to capture your attention for an entire day! We filled the rest of the day with improving business relations with the workers (making sure that they understand that this is a community development project, not a commercial one) and preparing for today.
All in the African manner – focus on the people, not the time.

Today was a different story all together, African time had suddenly been transformed to European time on the double!! Van Dyke and I started the day at 6 a.m. on a tractor to collect 100 pans of stone. I felt like James Bond’s Martini – shaken, not stirred.. We arrived in a very stony village where the women showed their skills of carrying things on their heads, even 25 kg of stone!! (I wonder why we do not carry things on our heads in the western world. Really, it is very practical, leaving your hands free –the baby is strapped to the back- to farm or cook) Sylvesta, the financial secretary of the committee, made sure to count the pans of stone, with stone, of course..

When we arrived back in the village, it seemed that almost everyone was there; the masons were already starting their second wall of the Kindergarten building, the women supplying them with water to mix the cement with (carried on their heads of course) and the men digging a pit to gather sand for mixing with the cement. The electrician was hacking away at the walls to fit the PVC pipes into the plastering (this was their own very pro-active idea) and the carpenters were sawing, hammering and chiseling window frames for all the buildings. Of course the children were wild, they were moved to an alternative classroom, but with no walls in that building and a true spectacle to be watched, it was impossible for them to remain calm. They were even more intrigued when we tried to get their handprints into the wet plastering as a way to remember the project by. Unfortunately, the cement was too hard already so we changed plans and will let them dip their hands in paint before trying it again.

Of course all the flexing of muscles led to growling stomachs, so the women set up camp to cook for all the men and adding to the major buzz on the school ground. I myself spent the day sitting on wood to help the carpenter who ‘have no clamp, my leg is clamp’ (it looked very uncomfortable indeed), walking around taking pictures and admiring the speed and dedication of the workers, having a meeting with the painters and finally pulling on my rubber boots to have a look at Van-Dykes piece of farming land (more details on food in my next post!).

Again, thank you all so much for making this happen. The project is proof that change is possible when we all work together!

I will sign off now and get ready for another busy day tomorrow – at 6 a.m. the painters and I will travel to Ho to buy the painting equipment.
Besides, this laptop screen is attracting a wide range of creepy insects, time to log off!

Update from Laurette :)

Good news - the electricity is back, and so is Laurette! She just called me to give me a brief update - things are moving ahead quickly now. Here follows her SMS that she would like to share here on the blog while we wait for her own update:

Hi! It's a fantastic day, so much activity! I went on the tractor to buy stones and when we came back, the whole village was at the school. The masons have done two outdoor walls already and the women of the village are bringing water in buckets on their heads to mix with the cement. The carpenters are very busy and the electrician is hacking away at the wall to integrate the cables in the wall. And the painter just arrived to start the junior high school. This is so amazing, wish you could be here to experience it yourself! :-)

On behalf of Laurette
Jan Tore

Electricity problems in the Volta region

Since this blog is the only source of information for a lot of Laurette's contributors, supporters and friends - I know you are curious to see a new update. Unfortunately there is currently a power failure in the region where she stays, and both internet and mobile phones have been out of order for two days.
However, Laurette will update the blog as soon as she is able to - most likely on Thursday as she will be in the nearby city Ho that day, and since this is the place she has to go to in order to access internet.

In the meantime - THANKS SO MUCH to all of you who have contributed during the last few days to the school construction project!

On behalf of Laurette
Jan Tore

We believe..

If you are looking for a place where people believe: come to Ghana!

Never have I seen such a high density of churches or met such devout Christians.

Having arrived in Ghana on a Saturday evening, I was lucky enough to witness people going to church on Sunday morning. On a day to day basis, African women already dress in fantastic fabrics, often in layers and always very colourful (typical Laurette style!). But it doesn’t even compare to Sundays, when they put on the most stunning dresses in order to praise the Lord. That they have to walk 30 minutes on a dirt road (every truck that passes creates hideous dust clouds) in the burning sun does not seem to bother them.

So I was prepared this Sunday, when also the people of Ahunda headed for their houses of worship. Luckily, I brought a dress and even put on my high heels for the occasion.

Man, Harlem would have been jealous! The swinging singing talent that comes naturally to these people is amazing! The ‘mamas’ roll their hips and wave their handkerchiefs and it is just impossible to sit still. It is undeniable that these people know their beats! Their music – often loudly played at the market and for promotions - is almost exclusively Gospel and is super funky, rockin’, high beat, must-move-my-body music. Seriously, Snoop Dog would be jealous!

As I said earlier, the people of Ghana are true believers, not only on Sundays.

In fact, if God had had his own marketing company, I’m sure it would have been run by Ghanaians! Drive through any town or village, no matter how small, and you will find plenty of proof for this. How about:

“Gods Way Bus Stop” – I wonder where you end up..

“God haircut” – I love it! But how would that look on women?

“God and Sons” – they sell mobile phones, in case you were wondering

“God knows modern fashion” – I never doubted that! (see photo of blue/white shack)

“He lives, odd prices”- well, I’m sure even He can get confused sometimes

And of course there is glory all around as well:

“Great Glory Units” – the best hardware store in town!

“Glory Oil” – well, where would you refuel your car?!

“Glory Mart” – I will never buy at another supermarket again..

I spotted great reassurance on this battered old truck heading out of town. Above the windscreen, it says: “Relax, God is in control”. Good to know.

I wonder if they tell you that at the “Too Late Madam Patience Funeral”…

Another person Ghanaians think very highly of is none other than the one and only: Barack Obama!! With relatives from Ghana, he chose Ghana as the first African country to visit (he stayed at the Holiday Inn by the airport, in case you were wondering). This most certainly paid off and American flags and pictures can be found absolutely everywhere: in tro-tro’s (local minivans), on bags, cookies, schoolbooks and even woven into fabrics as

demonstrated in this picture of the lovely committee member ‘Sista Mary’.

One last sign to entertain you: