Ghana Update #2

After a great weekend in Accra (local market on Saturday, church at Messiah Baptist and World Cup Final on Sunday) we set off for Kumasi by bus on Monday. We're traveling with our friend Paul Nyama, a recent graduate of the Maranatha University College in Sowutum, Accra. A few highlights from our journey:

1) We had an ambitious Monday morning visiting Reverend Enoch Thompson and his family (the amazing folks who hosted us for our first week in Ghana two years ago) before heading off to the bus terminal. We arrived just in time to catch the 11am bus, which pulled out the station at 10:50am - trends are changing . . . Africa-time now means 10 minutes early!

2) Construction on the road from Accra to Kumasi (the two biggest cities in Ghana) made our progress on the road labored at times. Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy.

3) In Kumasi, we met with friends and friends of friends to go dinner at Abusua ("family" in Twi). To get there, the six of us piled into one sedan style taxi cab!

4) Tuesday we got a large dose of the Asante people's history. We visited the Prempeh II Jubilee museum, named after a 20th century Asante king. At the cultural center we witnessed artisans carving drums and making kente cloth. Finally, we toured the former palace, now turned museum, filled with relics including the first TV used in Ghana (circa 1965). The British offered the palace to the Asante royalty after the Asante king gave the British a fake golden stool. Instead of accepting the gift, the king chose to purchase the building in the event that the British discovered the stool was a fake and came to reclaim the gifted palace.

5) Wednesday morning we traveled to Tamale with Reverend Asare, who picked us up right on time at 10 am. We are staying at the Radach Memorial Center - a guest house and conference center founded and built by Asare. In route the Reverend bought a massive amount of plantains at the roadside just outside Kumasi - certain produce is much cheaper in the central city.

6) While here in Tamale, we've had lots of freedom to walk around the city, meet people at their homes, love them, share our faith and offer to pray for their needs. The hospitality of the people here is amazing. One Muslim gentleman welcomed us into his home and after learning we were Christians, proclaimed in broken English that he would convert us to Islam before we left. We talked for a while with other family members translating and parted ways in good faith - different faiths, that is!

7) Reverend Asare runs a non-profit called Markaz Al-Bishara, meaning "Center of Good News (or Blessing)" in Arabic. It is involved in the city and surrounding villages building schools, hiring teachers, providing micro-loans to women, donating goats to children to help pay school fees (a "living bank"), etc. We have been very impressed with the people and their committment to serving their neighbors.

8) We've been eating some delicious food. "Wache" is a local dish that combines brown rice and black-eyed peas. If you add tomato stew and gari, you have a delectable combination for lunch.

We spent last night in a village called Sukaya, without running water or electricity. Another full day and its nearly midnight - we'll sleep now and write again soon. Over the next two days we'll be traveling to the Volta Region, with another night in Kumasi to break up the trek.

Ghana Update #1

We arrived in Accra midday Tuesday, and we’re elated to be back in West Africa. Of course, the people are as friendly, generous, and hospitable as ever. Smiles and laughter abound as we attempt to say “Thank you” and “God bless you” in Twi, one of the local languages.

Even in the first few days, we’ve made abundant memories. We’ll attempt to capture their essence through our words and photos:

1. After applauding the pilot’s smooth landing and walking once again under the “Akwaaba” (welcome in Twi) sign into the airport, we were greeted by several immigration officers, who were friends of our hostess. They guided us through the customs and to retrieve of luggage before heading outdoors to meet our hostess herself, the amazing Rose Kotoe! 
2. With Rose’s nephew Gideon in the driver’s seat, we navigated the Accra streets swiftly and stopped amidst errands to get local food to eat in the car – grilled plantains, fried sweet potato with shito (a sauce made of dried shrimp, onion, oil, and red pepper), and bananas (smaller and sweeter than those in the US) 
3. Gideon is a great man and an excellent driver! The traffic in Accra is horrendous at particular times of the day secondary to construction on the ACT highway (the road we’ll take to Tamale), which has been underway for 8-10 years. This inconvenience causes Gideon to take a necessary and extensive detour to get us home in a more reasonable amount of time (instead of the three hours that it took us one evening). We cannot complain about the lengthy travel time too much though, as it provides more time to talk with Gideon about Ghanaian culture and the family.

4. The house is a small urban farm with chickens, pigeons, rabbits, dogs, and fruit trees (tangerine and mango) in the backyard. The chickens lay eggs continuously into a tray which makes for easily obtainable fresh eggs!
5. Mama Rose prepares us a true “breakfast of champions” – fresh eggs, brown bread toast, oatmeal, and hot tea.
6. Wednesday morning as we left for the Manna Mission hospital, I (Alli) went to hug Mama Rose as a way to say goodbye and thank you when our lovely host literally ran away from me shouting, “No, no! I’m too dirty! No!” She was quite huggable in my opinion, but she was worried because she had been washing dishes and not had time to shower yet. Jeremy thinks I should try it again when he has the camera ready so we can catch this dynamic scene on video.

7. We have been to the Manna Mission Hospital for two days now and will return tomorrow for our final day of service and orientation to the mission hospital environment. During our first day, we took a tour of the Manna facilities with Lucy, a young accountant who is about our age, which helped us to immediately connect with her. On the 30 acre plot, Manna has the hospital with its many wards and surgery theatres (or surgery rooms) as well as a primary and junior high school, a two-story church, several computer training classrooms, a canteen (cafeteria), and 30-bed house for missionaries and medical students.
8. At Manna we are helping in the pharmacy by inventorying the drugs. While we would have loved to visit and love the patients at the hospital, we have enjoyed talking with Christine, the pharmacist and learning more about the drugs used here. Lucy told us that most of the medicines are provided by mission groups and private donors, while others are bought here in local pharmacies.
9. On a totally different note, we have continued following the world cup while here in Accra ad the men in the house are faithfully following it to the end. Of course many people are upset about the Ghanaian team’s close loss against Uruguay. They are also proud, as it was the first time an African nation competed in the quarterfinals. One article in the local newspaper encouraged people to see it as a victory for the country, demonstrating that Ghanaian players are competitive with the best from around the world. The same article said that the loss was due to the “HAND OF THE DEVIL” – they take their football seriously! By the way, no one has said anything to us about beating the US and the victory that may have signified for Ghana … are they trying not to offend us?! The US is getting better too…

It is getting late here – nearly 10 pm (four hours ahead of Eastern Time) – and we plan to keep our habit of getting good sleep! So we will say good night for now and hope to write again soon.