Volunteering in Ghana - organising update

Hopefully by tomorrow at noon I will have my travel arrangements secured. I emailed Travelhouse UK agents on Saturday morning as they organise Ghanaian International Airline flights. Unfortunately, one cannot get access to their return flights beyond March 2009 from their website so if you are going to Ghana drop an email to Travelhouse or GIA themselves. The former's agent's got in touch with me within a half hour and found a flight leaving Oct. 16th from London Gatwick-Accra returning August 15th and valid for 1 year - price: £617, €777, or 2079 Polish zloty. I've put in the Polish zloty price as that is the currency I have been earning over the past few years.

I just need to reserve it tomorrow morning and then I can tick that box on my list of things to do.

Regarding medical insurance, I thought I would head into USIT in Dublin citv centre today to see if could get a hold of one of their under-30 cards and a basic medical insurance quote. Unfortunately, they have 2 policies which are both costly. The cheaper Silver policy costs €330 and though it covers 10 months, I am uneasy about spending such money for insurance. If one breaks it down it's probably not much more than €1 a day for the period I will be away, but with vaccines on top of that I'm watching the bank balance.

I have booked in to my home health clinic in Banagher this Friday to get yellow fever and typhoid jabs as well as a prescription for anti-malaria tablets.

I also have to get my 3 month holiday visa soon and should ring tomorrow to find out if I can volunteer with this or whether it is essential I have a business visa. I've heard differing stories so need to get on top of it tomorrow morning.

Dorota has arrived safe and sound in Germany and has started integrating with Inter-cultural youth exchange volunteers. Her partner at Edwenase Rehabilitation centre is Italian. They leave for Ghana on Thursday from Berlin with KLM.

I studied Twi for a while today but really need to dedicate more hours to it from now. Maybe I should have a look for an online forum to see if I can find any Ghanaians willing to share their language skills......hmmm, time to publish this, browse elsewhere and then hit the sack.

Flashpackers stay home!

Well, as Dorota enters her 11th last day prior to departure from Berlin for Accra, the coming week will hopefully see me have a return plane ticket in hand and vaccines in bloodstream as part of my own preparations. I'm also waiting to be sent an invitation letter from a local organisation so I can get a 3 month business visa and then all will be set - apart from the packing that is.

After reading an interesting article recently about flashpackers (backpackers with a colossal amount of tech gear in their rucksacks), I've decided the most sensible thing is to leave behind my laptop. It'll only be a nuisance to carry around and consume time that could be better spent learning Twi and meeting people in Kumasi, playing the guitar, not to mention the detrimental barrier to communication that it poses between couples.

My laptop has it's time and place - but this time and place will be best served with my friend Gerald, who has been thinking of getting a laptop for a while. He'll have a free one for a year now and can then decide whether he wants to splash out on his own. And I'll have pain free shoulders when I transport my luggage.

So that's one load less to think about mid-October when I am wedging stuff into my bag. Now, how about the digital camera? yip, no need for that either I think. If I'm desperate I can always get a disposable somewhere. MP3 player that I got from a friend en route to the Mid-East last year? Well, it's very handy for language learning and doing interviews, and most importantly is tiny and weightless. Mobile? Hmmm, well it's also weightless and small and a must for emergency contact, so best bring that too. For sure nobody will pinch it even if I left it behind somewhere as it's falling apart.

On a less tech but still on the bulky side, the classical guitar will also have to be left somewhere in Ireland. I already managed to find a grateful new owner for my acoustic guitar in Poland prior to travelling to Dublin. Hopefully I can pick up a cheap one in Kumasi to avoid losing my mediocre talent.

Knowing that I will be away from TV, my laptop and the multi-faceted digital assaults one must endure in Dublin for a year is quite therapeutic. I'm looking forward to meeting more people face to face and not on facebook! Surely that is the proper foundation for inter-cultural networking.

The Masterplan

My pet hate is procrastinating. Therefore, I have decided on the following:

VACCINES - Get them this Friday in Banagher clinic

FLIGHT - Take the British Midland €813 return offer

ACCOMODATION - Bank on Dorota's organsation helping out

VISA - Request invitation letter from organisations I have been in touch with and hope that I will get a business visa.

Let's see if the Masterplan pans out as easily as I wrote it down!

Costs of vaccines for Ghana

Got a good phone call from Banagher health clinic the other day. It seems like I will only need yellow fever and typhoid vaccines as I am protected from Polio, Tetanus, Diphteria and Hepaitis A up to 2011 (due to going to Haiti in 2001). So instead of lashing out up to €250 the costs have now fallen to:

Administration - €28
Typhoid - €30
yellow fever - € 35

I have yet to find out what anti-malarial tablets I should take, but all in good time.