All three are from the States; Kate and Paulina just visiting for two weeks, to do a bit of community work. Although they are the first to admit that they are fully aware that they haven't helped a bit! They have enjoyed the experience though, and their pottery skills have improved... the local women have been keen teachers.
Kate is a Marketing Manager at Johnsons & Johnsons, (she was in Cape Town in 2007 to run the Two Oceans half marathon!). She is Belgian, but grew up in America. She stays somewhere close to New York – I seem to think New Jersey; is that anywhere near NY? Will have to look that up too when I get home! Or I can ask Stephen – he's from NY.
Paulina (aka Pollyanna!) is lovely – cheerful, funny, has a crush on every cute guy she meets, regardless of race or country of origin! She is a born comedian, and had us in stitches with a story about the length of the church services in Ghana.
Amber is on a two year contract, also an American. She is here as a business advisor, and has almost reached her halfway point. She lives in a women's compound, her comment being "you can't be fussy" so I guess it's not too easy. When she arrived at the the potters shed, the locals were charging next to nothing for their wares so the first thing Amber did was put their prices up! And taught them about customer service and other business skills.
Jacques – the beautiful blonde blue-eyed Belgian boy who runs the fish farm on the banks of the Volta Lake. Oh wow! Not what I was expecting to find in the middle of nowhere! Literally, we hadn't seen another car for miles! He is wanting to start up a hotel with horses, hikes, fishing, canoes, bird watching – the farm overlooks the Volta Lake and the views are incredible. I hope he makes it a success!
Adi – of Adi Lake resort. He and his wife used to own the whole of the Abadi Idyll Resort, but they have recently divorced and split the property. So Adi has the newly named Adi Lake Resort, and his ex-wife runs the Babs Hill Resort, up on the hillside. Shady and cool, under the trees, a very relaxing spot, and she is of course lovely, in spite of her ex husband! He is an ageing overweight shirtless old German who clearly thinks he has a way with women! (Quite possibly he does?) He has a lovely resort, would do nicely in Knysna, but it has none of the touches that one would expect (like good food and clean toilets, for starters!)
Bernhard & Sabine of Wli Falls Resort. "The German Couple Will Welcome You" is what the signpost down the road says, and they certainly do! Bernhard was a bus driver, and Sabine a physiotherapist in Germany, when they headed off on a road-trip through Africa, in a camper van complete with shower and loo. They didn't get any further than Wli Falls, and I can understand why! Bernhard later went back to Germany to fetch the little one-seater Nissan Micra that they now drive – he drove it all the way to Wli! These two made an impression, they are a lovely couple.
Stephen and Yao – Tech4Ghana. Yao is a Ghanian who I think used to work in IT in Accra, and has bought a pice of land running from next door to the Wli Falls Resort, up to the waterfall. He is trying to replant the rainforest which is being cut down tree by tree, by chainsaw bearing locals. It's traumatic – the sound of those saws starting up at the crack of dawn... so he's planting more trees, as well as a rice paddy, pawpaws, cocoa, coffee, tomatoes and herbs. The main house he and Stephen are planning to do up a bit so that volunteers at the computer school can stay there. I think there was talk of an upstairs movie house too?
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