A Happy New Year

This is a very quick posting to welcome you back to my Blog and to wish you a very Happy New Year. My stay in England was very hectic and longer than I originally planned due to being proper poorly over the flight home and the first few days. I had a wonderful time and am extremely grateful to my family and friends who welcomed me home so warmly and provided such luxurious hospitality. I ate everything I had craved, even though I had to wait a few days until my system could accommodate it all!

I have a few stories to tell from my last days here and the journey back up to Nadowli last weekend, but my holiday in England is not part of "Adrienne in Africa" so will not feature here. Watch this space for another year of life in Ghana and more of my thoughts about my experiences here in Nadowli. I am seeing my role differently a year on and can bring more wisdom to the way I approach things. I have greater energy at the moment and feel renewed, so I hope to achieve more of what the Ghanaian people want from me rather than what I think they need. Here's to another exciting and fulfilling year. I wonder what it will bring for us all.

The Last 2011 Goat Tale.........   I squeezed the last things into my rucksack on my final afternoon here in the house, before I walked to catch the tro tro to Wa. I was checking that everything was turned off and the louvre windows were tightly closed in an attempt to keep the worst of the Harmattan dust out for the next 5 weeks. Suddenly, I heard the most awful bleating and calling from the veranda. I ran to see what the commotion was about and found an extremely pregnant goat looking at me through the doorway. I thought I recognised her from a previous encounter and she clearly needed help! As I came out of the door she led me around the corner where her equally pregnant friend was howling with her head stuck in an empty paint can left by the builders. Her small horns were wedged under the rim. Fortunately she couldn't see me and I was able to extricate her out of her predicament. Instantly they both ran off, but not before my friend turned and called something that felt like "Thanks". I could imagine they both gave birth minutes later following the shock of their experiences! Of course, I removed the can to a safer place before I left the house on the first stage of my journey home. Even in those final minutes my life here is full of wonder and unexpected excitement. It is that, the friends I have made here and the role I have found to be useful that have drawn me back to my home in Nadowli.