Mike in Ghana with VSO

Mike's assignment with VSO working in Organisational Development (OD)

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Travel detail to get to Walewale - not for the faint-hearted!

OK, here's an updated entry for travel detail - one or two people have thought of coming out to Walewale to visit, but skip this entry if that's unlikely for you! Here’s roughly what’s involved.

HOW TO GET HERE.

1. FLIGHT
You would need to get to Accra (in Ghana) or Ouagadougou (in Burkina Faso). Ouagadougou is actually nearer to here, but see details below re visa. There are direct flights London Heathrow to Accra (BA 078 and BA081 – leaving Heathrow early afternoon and arriving in the evening, leaving Accra late at night and arriving Heathrow early morning). You may get cheaper deals on Internet by changing e.g. Amsterdam, Casablanca, even Dubai! – but these will all take longer. Search online for flights London Accra..

2. VISA
You would need visitor visa for Ghana which you arrange in UK. We considered the Ouagadougou route but were slightly put off by the need to contact someone in Surrey who acts as the Burkina Faso consulate in UK (and was on holiday at the crucial time) but everyone here seems to say that a 24-hour transit visa through Burkina is easy and costs £10 or so on arrival.

3. FROM AIRPORT TO WALEWALE
This would probably be the day after your flight, so you would need a hotel in the city you fly to. We have been recommended Queen Vic Guest house in Accra and can provide contact details.

From Ouagadougou, it’s an approx 6-hour coach trip, including an hour or so at Ghanaian border. The coach will go through Bolgatanga heading south for Walewale (beyond Walewale it goes on to Tamale) and hence will pass within 5 minutes of our front door. Careful co-ordination would be sensible to make sure bus drops you at the right place - “Moonlite Spot” on right (by the LIGHTHOUSE CHAPEL, WALEWALE sign on the left) after SSNIT office on right (Social Security National Insurance Trust) about one mile before Walewale – “spot” means “bar” - & call us - but the worst case is that you go to centre of Walewale, are met, and then get here in a taxi.

But if you fly to Accra, you have two choices.
a. There is an Antrak flight Accra to tamale leaving Accra at 6.00 am and arriving Tamale about 7.15 am. There is a website but you can’t book online - someone (e.g. we could do this given enough notice) has to take cash into the Antrak office in Tamale or Accra. You won’t find flights to Tamale airport (TML) via any travel search site, e.g. expedia, tripadvisor. Delays are frequent apparently. Tamale is about two hours by coach from here (though the airport is in the right direction, i.e. north of Tamale). Confer nearer the time to see if meeting you is possible. Otherwise you would need to find the coach going North which we can investigate. See www.antrakair.com/schedules.html for the air times (and fares on the same website). There are also now some afternoon flights on Fridays and Sundays (leaving Accra 3.45 pm, leaving Tamale 5.30pm).
b. The alternative is an approx 14-15 hour coach trip from Accra. Air-conditioned coach, and the air-con might even be working, probably packed, some pot-holed roads, stops every 2-3 hours but toilet facilities basic or basic minus. Ours left Accra about 2.30 pm and so we arrived not long before dawn. Again coaches to Bolgatanga and points further (Navrongo, Zebilla) pass within 5 minutes of here - you ask to be dropped at “Moonlite Spot” on the left after GES West Mamprusi District Education Office is on right, one mile after Walewale – “spot” means “bar (by the LIGHTHOUSE CHAPEL, WALEWALE sign on the right), & call us. The coaches go through Kumasi and Tamale before heading north for Bolgatanga and passing here.

Coach travel is very inexpensive. However it's advisable to book in person in advance . I think this can be done at either end - e.g. we could book tickets in Bolga and they should then be reserved for you to collect.

More info:
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Africa/Ghana/Greater_Accra_Region/Accra-2039506/Transportation-Accra-BR-1.html

WHILE HERE
Tourist attractions – that’s another whole story, depends on how long anyone was coming for and how ambitious. Mole National park, Paga crocodiles & slave camp, Sirigu pottery and basket-weaving, Wechiau hippo sanctuary, Tongo Hills. And of course Walewale market day every 3 days.

There are plenty of spare rooms in the house – empty rooms with concrete floors!, and sofas with sofa cushions – the living room has a ceiling fan. Alternatively an air-conditioned double room at Masagri guest house (the top place to stay in Walewale according to the Ghana Bradt Guide) is less than 5 minutes walk away & was about £8 per night when we were first here in October.

HOW TO GO HOME
Same thing in reverse. You might do it quicker if you got the 7.45 am from Tamale to Accra and then a day-time overseas flight – but the Heathrow flight leaves late at night so that’s not ideal in terms of keeping total journey time down though it could give you a day in Accra! Or you could get the afternoon flights on Fridays and Sundays (leaving Tamale 5.30pm) and by this means travel Walewale-home inside 24 hours.

If this has all put you off the whole idea, fair enough! If you’re still interested, we can discuss. It’s not expensive to phone UK from Ghana mobiles (but more costly to phone from UK. However I’d strongly recommend bringing a Uk mobile phone that can make calls in Ghana (you can bring an unlocked phone and then buy and insert a local SIM card, which would be cheaper calling in Ghana if you have or can get an unlocked phone).
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

The different paths to our VSO placements

THE PATH TO CHARLOTTES PLACEMENT

Jan 2009 - With 2 younger children still at university, Charlotte & I apply for short-term work with VSO. Both turned down - I think they aren't taking people short-term unless they have development experience.
(For more insights, see MORE INSIGHTS below).

Feb 2009 - Charlotte offers to go long-term and her application is reconsidered. I will be able to be more flexible (e.g. travel back to UK) if I am her Accompanying Partner (i.e. not volunteering).

April 2009 - Assessment Day, and Charlotte is accepted.

May 2009 - I start to wind down client work, because there is much to be done before we can go overseas.

June 2009 - Preparing to Volunteer course, for both of us.

Charlotte accepts placement in Northern Ghana. We have decided that I will go out with Charlotte to begin with before returning to UK after some weeks abroad.

July 2009 - Skills for Working in Development course for Charlotte.

August 2009 - Family holiday for 9 (Mike, Charlotte, Tom, Sarah, Peter, Abi, Anna, Daniel and Kate) in Normandy.

Sept 2009 - Anna's 21st party - we couldn't go abroad until after this.
The most common question in September is "Mike, how long are you going out for?" The answer is "I don't know - will decide that when we're out there". Final preparations and off to Ghana. Very busy getting ready to go, but when I'm out there I expect to have plenty of free time for a few weeks...
_______________________________

THE PATH TO MY PLACEMENT

Sept 2009 Day 2 of In-Country Training - I volunteer to assist VSO Ghana with Organisation Development. For more details, see blog over Oct-Nov 2009. I can't claim any expenses, but volunteers are very gracious at inviting me to stay overnight.

Dec 2009-Jan 2010 Back home, collect Anna and Daniel from university, back out to Ghana for 2 weeks over Christmas (see Charlotte's blog), take them back to university.

Jan 2010. Skills for Working in Development course for me.
Start official placement as Organisational Development Adviser.

So one irony is that I have ended up with exactly what I applied for - a short-term volunteer placement that doesn't clash with university holidays. (Business and Trustee commitments would also have prevented me coming out for 12 months).

The other irony is that I thought it unlikely that Charlotte & I would find work in the same place - she was likely to be in a remote deprived area like Northern Ghana, and I was likely to have a national role given my skills. But now I have a national role, based in the deprived North where most of the volunteers are, which is much better for supporting them than back in Accra, the capital city down South on the coast.
_______________________________________

MORE INSIGHTS - are available here (from our church website in Jan 2010)

What’s In, What’s Out.

The Shenley Christian Fellowship blog gives the opportunity for people in the fellowship to share what’s on their mind with a wider audience. This blog entry comes from Mike Cashman who is an SCF Trustee as Head of Finance.

I’ve just seen a burnt area of semi-forest in the Mole National Park in Ghana. The park ranger explained that fresh grass grows a few weeks later, strong and nutritious, and attracts the wild animals.

What does this have to do with the New Year, the call of Abraham, and being a husband, father, Christian, church member, and professional roles as well? Well, let’s see….

In September 2008 our Church Leader Chris Doig preached on Genesis 12:1, the call of Abraham which came when Abraham was comfortable and settled in Haran – Abraham heard God’s call and left his comfort zone. Later Abraham made a move to Egypt which appears to have been his own idea, and that didn’t work out too well. So - sometimes God calls us to move, and sometimes he calls us to stay, and it’s good to discern which way he is calling. In September 2009, after reflecting on this message, Charlotte (my wife) and I found ourselves in Ghana with Voluntary Service Overseas. Definitely out of the comfort zone.

We can apply this message about God’s call beyond physical movement. Sometimes we need to keep on doing what we’re doing – using the gifts he gave us in our various roles, e.g. Christian, husband, father, church member, professional roles, and indeed our roles in social, community and leisure activities (e.g. gardener, goal-keeper, unofficial agony aunt, devotee of our favourite TV series or soap opera). It may be a juggling act or a plate-spinning exercise, but we feel we are just about managing to fulfil each role. But sometimes there are things that just need to be removed from our lives – not to say they’re wrong, but they just need to go to make space for new growth. I’m not referring to temporary disciplines like giving up chocolate or TV for a while – I mean cutting something right out of your life. Sometimes a friendship is one that no longer benefits either party. (I hasten to add that I have no-one in mind personally as I write this!) Maybe that solo sporting hobby which dates from your unmarried life needs to make way for hobbies which involve the family more.

Our change was a little radical. We both removed many professional and community roles from our lives, trying to do this in an orderly fashion. For Charlotte this included teacher, parish councillor, magistrate, chair of Loughton Residents’ Association, school governor, school governor trainer. What Charlotte found hardest to give up was home and face-to-face contact with friends and family. What else had to go, at least for a while? TV, sweet things in general, newspapers, car-driving, on-tap hot water, to name a few. (Not as many as we feared – we’re glad that much of the time we have running water, internet, email and phone contact). But in working out how we would follow a call to Ghana, some things were the rocks of certainty – for example I would still be a Christian, still a husband, still a dad, still a Church member, but no longer do I swell the viewing figures for ‘Match of the Day’.

January – the month which for the Romans was the month that looked forwards and backwards – is not the only time we can assess this question, but it’s a good time to do it. What is in your life? What perhaps is worth taking right out, even if that is painful, to make space for fresh growth? What might God be calling you to do which is completely new? What fresh growth could occur when there is space for it? Or – as you look at how you are fulfilling the various roles God called you to, do you feel his pleasure and encouragement to continue on the same path?

Mike Cashman is an independent programme management consultant based in Milton Keynes, currently assisting with organizational development in Ghana on a short-term basis. He is married to Charlotte, who is the VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) Teacher Support Officer in Walewale, Northern Ghana. Mike and Charlotte have four children and two daughters-in-law, aged between 19-26.