Osu - Oxford street shenanigans....

Hi,

Went to Osu - Oxford street and in typical african style i now saw some crazy nollywood movie beef! kai! a taxi drove past a little girl was struggling to get out;... she now got out and was fighting with her family members and screaming LEAVE ME LEAAAAVEEE ME!!! i was stunned.... in untypical London fashion.... the people actually STOPPED TO HELP!! in London everyone would have walked off and minded their own business, sparing the occasional glance back to gather enough detail to tell their friends later... taught me something about the Ghanians a friend of mine told me a while back... during the day it is like everyone is your brother/sister they will try to help!
(saying that some people were actually trying to encourage the girls family to take her back! which was a lil worrying)

anywhoo... days are going by remarkably quick.... will soon be starting my work at the orphanage which should be really good.

Tonight will be going out... mmm i will tell you how it goes ooooo OOoooOOO

tc and talk 2 u soon oo

Day 2 and a 5GHC tip Hair do....

AKWAABA! i am starting to get used to the bumpy roads of ghana, and seeing the markets etc. the initial culture shock came in bouts of surreality. I would see a guy carrying tire parts on his head and think i am in Ghana. wow.

Yesterday fulled with 1 hour sleep i went to get some clothes to wear just for a day or two. LET ME TELL YOU GHANA is EXPENSIVE! wow! i never would have thought it... a pair of linen trousers and a top is what i settled with clothes wise and the trousers alone cost me 50 GHC! that is £25 for a pair of linen trousers that i actually have bought for £5 (they are in my suitcase in Libia probably missing me....)

Today i spent the day in the hairdresser wasnt as long as i expected it would be... but then maybe that is because of the chunky braids she put at the back... o well all the better for taking out easily afterwards... i decided to tip her 5 GHC cus she even washed my hair! and that was to be included in the 20 GHC (£10) That she was charging to braid my hair. man that is as cheap as chips! well fish and chips and mushy peas maybe you know what i mean.

I will start work at the orphanage from next week or the week after, but i am very grateful for these couple of days where i can get to know Ghana first before jumping into the working side of my trip.

For now i am tirred and may just nap... ooo need to remember to take more pictures! but without my pouch i feel scared to take it out!

ON some levels i really have learnt from not having my stuff here how some people feel like with nothing at all... i will really appreciate the things that i have (once i get it back!) a whooole lot more.

Peace, Lover, and XPRESSIONS

SN

xx

Day 1 Ghana

i arrived in Ghana this morning... and all i can say is wow... it was em.. a lot.

i will never take Air Afriqiuyah again! being cheap is never good for the soul! anyways....

first of all their flight was delayed by 2 hours. secondly when on the flight the pilot made some death defying drop that had me reaching for the persons hand next to me in fear...

FINALLY when i arrived at the airport it came to light that my luggage and many of the others who connected from London their luggage did not turn up in ACCRA! I mean what sort of nonsense....

i have not slept a wink but i am going to stay positive... even though i am not going to get my stuff back till thursday.... :(

thank God at least that i packed my dads little travel pouch thing...


i pray that this experience starts of with these lows... then turns really really positive! i also pray that i get my stuff back with no wahala! ah!

Funny though.... i am actually just thankful to be alive... so thank you God for journey mercies...

for now... need to wait till the sun rises a little so i can go to my hotel... was to dark and late for the person i am crashing with to take me... and their brother has now invoked the fear of arm robbers etc into my head lol

Hopefully there will be better news later today... abi joy cometh in the morning...

these three days will be helpful in a way- in terms of considering and experiencing what it is like not to have anything and having to make do on what you do have... lord help me!

regardless AKWAABA Welcome to Ghana! hmmm

tc xx

1 day till Ghana....tomorrow is D day

Ok so tomorrow i am flying out to Ghana whoohooo?! tbh i have noticed my blogs got shorter and shorter as the days got closer! i am excited but it is the flying hype that has got me shaking in my office sandals! I pray and hope the flight is smooth and there is no problem!

when i arrive it is going to be late so will prob just go straight to sleep! but we shall see... i am a bit confused about my landing times etc because of the time difference but i guess i will just get there when i get there!

for now ITS GHANA TIME BABY!!

love you all long time... i hope to blog as soon as i land tomorrow...

By the grace of God it will all be good news! :D

take care and see you all soon! xx

1 1/2 days till ghana...

man it is getting scarier and more real each day!!
My family have now gone to Wales so i am all byyy myself! It is such an empty house!

Nothing more to add today...

sigh

excited maybe... really...

nyt xx

3 days till Ghana...

3 days to go... what can i say more than my hands are sweaty mums spaggetti! ah!

PRAY FOR ME OOO! lol

7/6 days till Ghana!!

ooo i have 7/6 days till i jet off on that spaaceeshippp to sunny Ghana... it has come so quick it is quite scary! I had a little send of shindig on saturday which was fun! jst peoples chilling with peoples always makes me happy!

This week is not going to be no holiday for me either! i am going to be busy going here there and ever where in the lead up towards my trip. weds/thurs i will be in nottz for my girlies graduation!!! (sooo prroouddd of u dee and KG) den back in london....

ooohh random! did i say i made my own wax 2day and used it on myself!- no one wanted to volunteer to be my guinea pig for some strange reason! ;O( - and you know it worked quite well- so i am offering waxing services for anyone who requires them... but please note i am not responsible for any bleeding, burns or bumps.. it is all part of the fun after all :)

Anways where was i? oooh yes... so i am going up and down and all over the place when really i should be doing my portfolio! lord help me!

Just got in contact with someone that is in Ghana at the moment and i may hook up with her when i get there, also my friend has just landed in Ghana today so at least i will have peoples i know there when i get there!

For now it is go to sleep time! so goodnight

xx

some people through negative actions... motivate you to achieve more than you ever considered before... (10/11 days till Ghana)

ok, today.. i learnt a big lesson.... well not a BIG lesson but nevertheless a lesson... it was simply that... do not rely on anyone to a) always motivate you b) always believe in your dream c) always support you d) put their dreams and their needs before theirs... the only person i can promise you will always be there for you is God to be honest.

Take my singing for eg. i know i am not the best at it but because of what happened today i am even more motivated to work hard at it because i do want to use it as my form of ministry but also on a more humanly note i want to prove (in some senses) to those that second guess me that i am actually good at what i do! (i am not there yet ooo even writing that i cringed at the cockiness of it!)I know i am faaarr from perfect so boi... It is all good though... no love lost. Just want yall to know i am going to do my thang... gunna work hard on it... and i am going to make it... watch this space.... (*inspirational music reaches cresendo and up comes union jack and fire works*)

Anywhoo Ghana is coming thick and fast! i can not believe it is soo soon! Once again it is a nervous unsure day but God is faithful ooo i will be fine...

Goodnight (well thats mre civilised than usual... lol!)

11 days till ghana

ok the title of this countdown is getting a litttle boring! gosh!! But still, it is the best way to describe the main purpose of the bloggs...

checked out the airline website i am taking to see if i could see the inboard flights, unfortunatly they didnt show what they are playing which is a boo! anyone know anything fun to do in Libya? as i am stopping of there for two hours may as well find something to do!

argh you know when you have soo much school work to do that you can not be bothered to do it? sigh... lordy help me it is going to be a loong process! aint even hard just the longest! ah

anyways when something interesting happens i may consider writting longer bloggs... I may...

but for now you will be blessed with my mumble jumbled musings on todays happenings...

stay blessd

PS HAPPY BDAY GRANDMA SUE!! (her name is not sue...)

12 days till Ghana

still counting! i feel a lil nauseous hope it aint the malaria tablet! OR maybe it is my imagination thinking i feel ill because i read the leaflet that informed me of possible side effects of taking the tablet! i think that may be the case lol!

Any ways sleep time need to catch that beauty sleep so i can be looking flyyyy inna the Ghana... not thats the point of why i am going... but em *tense* ooo you know what i mean!!

stay blessd

xx

Thoughts arising.... (13 days till Ghana..)

so here i am.. still counting down...

nothing eventful happened today... actually i had my first singing lesson! whoop whoop! was good though! learnt some helpful breathing techniques! which should be helpful. Went over the song i sang at saturdays show to let her see what i was doing wrong and how to fix it so it was quite productive.

**LESSON**

Be careful what you watch on tv or read somewhere, or even when looking at the life of others because if you are like me it can really play on your mind for a loong time! Lord give me the strength to overcome the overthinking!
I though i was some weirdo for a while thinking about all sorts of scary-if-anyone-knew-they-would-be-afraid thoughts! They just used to pop into my head like a corn kernal-to popcorn sort of thing! I thought i was so alone in thinking like this until i found out EVERYONE gets these thoughts, only difference with them and me is that i over obsess about the thoughts and thinkk whyyyy meee LAWDD WHYYY MEE TAKE ME NOWW LAWD!! Instead of- as my mum says - considering the thoughts to be like birds- that they will fly and perch for a moment on your mind before flying off again if you shake your head i.e. not allow it to bother you- it is only if you begin to dwell on the thoughts and allow it to build a nest will they stay and get worse and more obtrusive! So, if you are thinking you are going crazy trust me you are not!! If any sort of nonsensicals, negative or scary thoughts enter your head just let it pass! It is not you. Its just a bird. Let it fly.

Peace upon your households!

xx

Scary picture... Cycle fun

I didnt realise how scary my pic was before! lool! I look like i am about to mug some1! shoot! i do smile in real life i promise... just in pictures i like the moody look? lool anyways...

went cycling today maaan that was fun! i felt so ALIVE! and so healthy! even had a banana AND a meal replacement shake! if that dont give me a 6 pack like ciara i do not know will! well... i know sit ups will but that wasnt where i was going....

sooooo i may as well say that i have exactly TWO WEEKS till GHANA zoop zoop! i woke up scared this morning! not going to lie! it is a different culture, country and environment and i do not know how i am going to survive! i havent been to africa for at least 9 years! OK now i am scaring myself further! it is well sha... i will come back black as the night and glowing :D


over and out
dark ninja xx

I LOVE AFRO HAIR!

OK, this is just a random non ghana related post just because i wanted to declare i LOVE NATURAL HAIRR!!!

i had a few brief moments of insanity when i wanted to try something new... so off i went to the black hair shop in Nottingham (the one next to the jerk chicken and pattie man in victoria center for yall who know the ends...)and i bought a hair texturiser...

my homie for life Dee i shall call her- hooked me up and texurised my hair!!! this was the second time i tried this! the first was done by KOFI lool! and everyone calls me crazy for doing it... i guess i was though as i lost a few chunks of hair which he says didnt have anything to do with his texurising skills....

Anyhoo back to Dee's trial- so it all went well except for the fact too much of the chemical was used on the front not enough on the rest of the hair so the end result was bits of chemicalised locks and bits of non chemiclised bits!! LAWWD i just had to look at my life (disclaimer- not dees fault btw i just have a very big head with a lot of natural toughness lol)

So me being me when my newly chemiclised hair was put in a weave i didnt take care of it so when it came out wow all the front was as low as a number 1 fade!

after a while i got so tired of all the bits and pieces of my hair so i just did an all over texturiser at the hairdresser this time and even then it wasnt done properly... :(

December 2009 i decided enough of this lukewarmness of the hair folicles- time to chop it all off and start from my nappy natural roots! so that is exactly what i did... told my mum to keep chopping lower and lower until i could not longer see the straight stragly roots of yesterday :) now i am in love with my naturalness and you know what if i ever say i wana try the texturiser crack again KILL ME!! :)

natural hair is beautiful! alot to handle but it gives you so much freedom to kink and create!! be free of the creme crack ;)

Only one issue i have with just rocking the natural look all the time is that people think i am youuuuuungg! i mean even with a full blown weave a man asked me if i was old enough to be buying paracetamol! the 200mg strength one!! nonsensicals!! So for now i will be rocking this fro for short spells until i find a do that at leasts adds 4 years to the age people think i am! ah!

for now me and my afro hair says byee byee

nigghtt xx

hmm (oh yeah 15 days to Ghana...)

hmm not a great day today... aint had many great days recently.

Anyhow, the Haiti fundraiser was good yesterday... although my vocals werent the best i just pray someone was blessd and i have taken it as another lesson. i realised i need to figure out if this is something i want to do properly, as i will need to be doing loads more events to improve my handling of nerves etc! cus that got me big time yesterday! i looove the stage though, the feeling of being there and singing off my love of Jesus it feels sooo liiivvveee! :D but yeh it will be a learning curve... but i hope i curve it because i do love to saaaAaaAng....


my gripe today is BOYS- why is it that the things that bug us so much do not even feature on their radar? And when we do tell them they give us that word "sorry" but do the same thing over and over again! argh! soo frustrating! gosheer! (i am 100% sure you wont even be reading this blog- another example of doing the same thing again... hmmmm ooo hmmm)

anyways as the Ghana trip draws near my mood fluctuates to be honest. some days i am scared, some days i am quite excited... other days i am just there! just hope it all goes well....

well this was quite a long blog... i guess i just needed to vent a lil! I may pop over to my homies Josephs blog for a little read...

goodnight now though!

pEACE lOVE and cHOCOLATE fUDGECAKES ...

XX

16 days till Ghana!!

ohh nooooooooo!! i missed a day! my baaadd!!! i was suffering from a serious case of the TOM woozaa! i really have to look at eve sometimes and just say... WHY.

nehu! tomorrow i will be performing at a Haiti Fundraiser and i am super dooper excited!!! I really pray that people are blessed by the event enough to release money from their pockets for such a worth while cause.

Please pray for me ooo that God sings through me and it is him not me that is glorified in the end! Amen!!

Wish me luck oooo!!!

19 days till Ghana

wow! i have been pretty regular with this bloging malarky! I am slyly impressed with myself!

ok my pre-ghana worries have been slightly aleviated- now that i know i can get my hair did for 10-20 GHC!! thats like £5-£10! shallow some may say- blessing others will say!

i am getting excited though, been watching some of the videos on you tube of the children in osu orphanage- just made me pray that God will allow me to have enough love to share amongst all of the kids! like seriously...

They are such happy children though... and there is a funny vid of one of them crying because they were on a high bridge- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ck3BQ4eNMWk&feature=player_embedded lool good times!

anyways... will chat to ya tomorrow as i continue my count down!

lots of luvs

MSZ

20 Days till ghana....

still counting down.... now getting a little anxious about random little things like security, arm robbers, malaria, TOM (!), heat, sweat patches....

Lordy i stress to much!

Finally got all my toiltries sorted and malaria tablets collected, all i have left to do is wait...

I found the coolest little application on ipod apps- and it has ghanian phrases on it, i learnt how to say (more like copy and paste into bb status) "do you come here often" and also "if you could be arrested for being beautiful you would be in jail" in Twi!! lool good times!!

*random factual moment* - can you imagine i got ID'd when i went to get a lottery scratch card AGAIN!!! you have to be 16 to get those things! she thinks i am 5 years younger than i am!! urgh!

Anyhoo for now--- Da Yie (Good night)

senseless death...

Even with my headphones in i can still hear the sombre tones of crime watch being watched by my brother and sister... another senseless death... another father, brother, mother sister murdered. For what? for a guy with a sexual fetish or for a "gang" related misconduct? it is geting so painful to hear of another life being taken. Even more so within the younger generation where it seems the total meaning of murder and death has been lost. How can a human being look at another human being who has thoughts dreams and desires and just snuff them out? Just like that. It sickens me. It makes my heart bleed. Only God can stop all this madness... God have mercy on us all...

21 days till Ghana....

Hi Blog world!!

I have just started up this blog mainly to record my journey to the motherland in written form... but hey why not go beyond that and just record my life in general... we shall see....

Anywhoo... it is the count down to my flight to sunny GHANAAAA. I will be jetting off on july 26th to work at Osu Childrens Orphanage http://www.osuchildrenshome.org.gh/) for a whole 46 days and let me tell you i am scared oooo! My mind is doing serious overtime about this that and another! Jeeperz! I would appreciate all your prayers boi!

I am sooo excited though! sooo excited and i can not actually wait to go! I have bought so much clothes and other stuff, was even considering buying a portable iron! lool! always an excuse to shop! Half the stuff i am taking i am going to be leaving with the orphanage so it makes me feel even more justified to buyyy including that £96 spend in primark.... (Lord knows how i did that)

Today i got my yellow fever injections and tomorrow i will be collecting my malaria tablets. I got both from superdrug- as they are currently doing their promotional 25% thingy where you buy stuff and then get 25% of your next shop if you do the online survey. I got the 25% off which is pretty helpful considering the yellow fever injection cost £47 and the malaria tablets are £30 odd! AND i got my back pack today for only £12 from Millets!! bargin hunting or what!

Join me as i count down my days to Ghana!!


Love and blessings

mzs

xx