March brought with it the celebration of a very important person’s birthday in Ghana, on the 22 March 1988, a certain Thomas Leonard was born! What Tom didn't realise was that on your birthday it is customary for the person to get 'ponded'. This basically means every person who saw Tom proceeded to pour any liquid they could find on him, this meant he walked around all day, soaking wet, smelling of beer, coke and raw eggs! It was a great day, not least for the fact that a friend of ours made a chocolate cake which, after three months of no chocolate, tasted like pure heaven.

This month we also travelled to Mole National Park, a very beautiful place where one can see elephants, antelopes, snakes and many other species of wildlife. There was a swimming pool which overlooked the watering hole where all the animals came to drink during the day. Early one morning we set off on the safari walk with our guide who was carrying a gun which wouldn't have taken down a dog, never mind a rampaging elephant. It was a fantastic experience and we sat literally six feet away from the elephants as they drank and washed in the watering hole.

We have made friends with some Dutch nurses who work in the local hospital and they were kind enough to take us to the local hospice where we had chance to chat to the patients and experience what a Ghanaian hospital is like. We hope to continue going there andtry to help in whatever way we can.

We were invited to a wedding between one of our Canadian friends and her Rasta fiancé. The wedding is much different from the ones we are used to. We bought new smocks for the occasion and we were both given jobs according to our talents. Nick played guitar and sung with a Dutch friend during the ceremony and Tom, with his history of playing Prop-forward at Rugby, was given the job of bouncer, which he enjoyed immensely! The wedding also had a musical interlude by a xylophone player who was absolutely breath-taking which led to an impromptu dance by the whole congregation halfway through the ceremony! The first dance, as one would expect from a Rasta man, was Bob Marley - One Love.

Lastly, it is tradition in Ghana to have a picnic on Easter Monday, but little did we know that when we got to the park it was jam packed full of people with music, dancing, drinks bars and food being given out. We spent the day with two of our Ghanaian friends, their wives and their children with lots of people joining us throughout the day.

We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Hania on taking over Dave as head of XVP and we feel it could not have gone to a more competent and deserving person. Well done!