Ghana Update #6

Yes... bitter-sweetly, we are back in the US and getting settled into our new home in Richmond, VA. Today was our first day of medical school orientation - lots of new people to meet and seminars to attend. It's great! 

Praise the Lord for a smooth overnight flight leaving at 11:00 pm on Thursday, August 5th, a delicious dinner of Jollof rice and Kontomire served by the attendants of our United Airlines plane, and a safe landing earlier than scheduled at 5:35 am on Friday morning!

We are grateful to be near to family and friends once again, although we miss many attributes of Ghanaian life and of course all the wonderful people we met there. We wanted to share a few final events from our last few days in Ghana (and pictures too!). Perhaps some of you have been waiting in suspense for the revelation of those photos promised in the last email - particularly those of Alli with the large rear. Here we go - memories and photographs...

1) Alli had her hair braided on Tuesday morning...no, afternoon... no, BOTH! It took every bit of FIVE hours for Kwoku, an exceptional hairdresser and friend of a clinic volunteer, to finish the doo. Whew! By zooming in on the wedding photo below you can see the final product. She's aiming to keep the braids through orientation week at least. Ah, the tangible memory of Ghana.  

2) Monday night of our last week in Ho, We joined the other American volunteers at their house for a feast of Jollof rice, fried chicken, salad, and fresh pineapple. Linda, the clinic volunteer and cook for their group, is a talented chef and lovely lady. While we watched her whip up a huge pot of Jollof, we learned a new Ewe word: Kanzo, which means "the burnt rice at the bottom of the pot"! Who knew? Alli really likes it.
 
3) Sunday night, we made a fajita meal for Mami Augusta, Daniel, and the girls in the house. We tried to buy cheese and tortillas at the local supermarket, but all the potential spots to find those items (maybe 2 or 3 locations?) were closed on Sunday, so we made do with what we had and what Mami already had at the house - spiced black-eyed peas (like refried beans . . . sort of), onions, peppers, and chicken with Ghanaian spice, rice, fried plantains, chopped tomatoes and onions (like salsa) and gaucamole (made from avocados - which they call pears - we had bought at the market). They complimented the meal and they helped us greatly in preparing it. It was wonderful to sit down like a family to share the meal!
 
4) Wednesday afternoon, before catching a Tro-Tro (the least expensive form of public transportation), Reverend Bankas held a farewell ceremony for us at Lilimed clinic. We were honored to receive their thanks for the medication donation and time we spent in Ho. The thanks truly goes to them - those who stay and continue doing great work to meet the needs of under-served villagers and city-dwellers. 

5) We arrived in Accra at around 8:00 pm. A kind gentleman Jeremy talked to on the way down got off with us at our stop to be sure we met Paul safely. Paul ran across a major road at night to meet us at the Tro-Tro stop (basically an exit ramp or shoulder of the road - it was dark!) Then we ran back with him to take a taxi to his family's place, where we spent our last night in Ghana. 

6) Thursday morning, we attended a wedding in Accra. Paul was the best man, the groom a good friend from Sierra Leone and Bible College, the bride a beautiful woman from Benin. As Paul spoke to the guests after the wedding certificate was signed, "Let's clap for this great couple from the United States of Heaven." Hallelujah for cross-cultural marriage!  

     So...we were first invited to come to the wedding. Then after the ceremony asked to pop the champagne during the reception. It seems most Africans have this way of making you feel at home. We were surprised to be announced as missionaries and American travelers to Ghana during their wedding celebration.  

That's all for new experiences. Here's a bit more explanation of the photos included in this email: 

* Clearing the brush in front of the termite mound in Hodzove. We joked with the kids afterward and suggested they charge a small token from anyone who stops to view the mountain of mud - a tourist attraction of sorts. Check out the before and after shots.

* Vodafone Cafe photo below kind of captures the air-conditioned amenities of the cafe providing "the fastest Internet connection in Africa" (or so they claim!) It is the spot where all the Yovus converge! in this photo, John Barber (the coordinator for the Massachusetts volunteers,www.ghanaact.org) is the one sitting on the far left front row of computers.
 
* Included below are the photos of Alli dressed up as "queen mother" for the ceremony and also a group shot of the American volunteers, villagers of Saviefe, and the actual Queen Mother of the community. She was selected for the position at the age of 14 and is now in her mid-20's about to begin school at the University studying nutritional health.
 
Wow! So many memories and so little time. We will be setting up a Picasa site soon to share our whole collection of photos. Look out for that update shortly. 

Anyiboboe children without a school

Second mobile clinic village where many urinate blood (Bilharzia)

Body-moving at church service

Buying Fanyogo (Ghanaian bagged ice cream)

Dressed up as the 2nd queen mother

Paul as best man for friend's wedding

Popping the champagne at the wedding

The termite mound before Paul cleared the brush

The post-clearing termite mound

Vodafone cafe (a taste of home)

Yovus and villages with the actual queen mother of Saviefe

Ghana Update #5

Ndo ("good afternoon"), Dear Friends and Family,

We hope you are all doing extremely well. We are soaking up every minute of our final week here in Ghana. Wow - God has blessed us with an incredible array of experiences over the last three and half weeks and we have nearly 2,000 photos to accompany them (No worries - they will all be posted for viewing when we return to VA). Here are a few - a taste of life in the Volta Region:

1. (deka) Monday through Thursday we set out around 7:00 am with the Lilimed volunteers and evangelism team to set up the mobile medical and eye clinic in the villages surrounding Ho. Monday we went to Anyiboboe - a community of approximately 500 people. 

    We actually returned there today with Reverend Bankas for him to continue his planning with the village leaders concerning a school building project. Bankas first visited Anyiboboe 5 years ago. While he was coordinated with the chief and his counselors to bring the clinic, he expected to find the village more developed. Lo and behold, 5 years later they still have no school! It is less than an hour outside Ho and the children (~180 in number) do not go to school! It is rather hard to believe.

     So, Bankas is partnering with the people and another organization to erect a school and a clinic. Hallelujah!

2. (eve) Jeremy and I worked at the medication table all four days - we learned a lot and are  grateful for the chance to become familiar with those medicines commonly used in mobile clinic outreaches such as this one. This role also required us to learn more Ewe (such as the numbers used in this email) in order to explain the prescriptions to patients as we filled them. While the work was satisfying we are still certain medical school is the place for us, not pharmacy school!

3. (eton) Thursday and Friday evening were filled to the brim with music and dancing! Whew! These people can dance and they can dance for hours on end! Reverend Bankas' church (Christian Life Center or CLC) had a program to introduce their choir and celebrate gospel music on those evenings with the final dedication of the CLC choir on Sunday morning. Bankas asked us to share the sermon and "bring the Word" at each of those gatherings - what an honor! It was encouraging for us to be reminded of the reasons and the ways we can worship God through our preparation and the music. Each gathering was 3-4 hours long and required much "body-moving" as Reverend Bankas put it! Thank the Lord our camera has a video function...

4. (ene) To continue on the "body-moving" strain, Saturday was a day of dancing to go down in the Powers' family history. We ventured to a village called Saviefe with four other American volunteers to attend the Chief's 75th birthday party. 

    There a woman approached us in a traditional costume - cloth wrapped around her, large clay beads around her neck and wrists, white powder paint on her face and hands, kerchief around her head, a thin cane in hand, and... BIG bottom. It was easy to see this last feature was not natural and we chuckled to ourselves. Jeremy pointed to me and volunteered, "She wants one just like that!" 

    Before we could say another word, the older woman took my hand and we were jogging through the village, skipping over rocky paths and between flower patches to get to her house. As we ran, she shouted to the ladies we passed in Ewe - probably something to the tune of "I'm going to dress this "yevu" (white lady) up like my daughter (with the big badonkadonk)!" So they prepared me in the entire garb (minus the white paint) and I took part in the ceremony as the second "queen mother." It was an experience of a lifetime. We will surely include a photo of this with the following update... oh, the suspense!

Well, these have been rather lengthy so we will leave it at that for now. As an ewe lesson, we've included the numbers to ten below.

5. (aton)

6. (adin)

7. (adrin)

8. (egni)

9. (sieke)

10. (ewo)

Just two more days in Ho and then we're off to Accra to attend a wedding (in which Paul is the best man) Thursday morning before flying out at 11:00 pm that night. We should arrive at Dulles at 6:30 Friday morning. 

 We love you all so much and look forward to hearing from you and seeing you soon. We've greatly enjoyed our trip and we come home with fresh resolve to live our lives in "true fasting" (Isaiah 58:5-9). 

Ghana Update #4 in Pictures

Language Lesson in Sukaya

The longest football match ever

Departing for Ho

Lilimed's donated van

On the way up to Mt Gemi

At the summit

Cross at the top

Ote Waterfall

"Red-Red" - our favorite dish

The pharmacy in Anyiboboe

The pharmacy in village near Kpeve

Ghana Update #3

Efoa? That means "How are you" in Ewe, the primary language of the Volta Region. We're writing from the Vodafone internet cafe in Ho. A/C and internet speeds faster than we experience on American soil - wow! Let's go back a bit to catch you up on the rest of our experiences in Tamale, as well of the travel to Ho.

1) Sukaya village - that is where we laid our heads on Monday night after an afternoon of playing soccer and schoolyard games with the children. Alli spent some time going through photos learning the Konkomba (the language in that village) words for everyday objects. She only remembers two words because most of them were four syllables or more. Such a language makes for smart kids (who learn Dagbani and English as well). 

2) Jeremy was the referee of a two and a half hour football (soccer) match! 

3) In the words of Reverend Bankas (to be introduced soon) we "dashed" down to Kumasi on Wednesday. We had one night there staying with a dear brother who opened his family's home to us. Alli and Paul ventured out with Kwame, our host, to Bantama. He informed that that area is the liveliest in town. On a Friday night, traffic will be terrible until 2 am, on account of people dancing in the streets! Kwame also said that its called the "Florida of Ghana" because political races always come down to who wins that part of Kumasi.

4) Then we "dashed" down to Ho on Thursday to meet the dynamic Reverend Bankas at the Metro Mass bus station. He swept us away in the Life for the Living Medical Clinic's bright yellow van, donated since we were last here in 2008. Reverend is full of joy and hilarious idiosyncrasies that make him so easy to love. He makes us laugh a lot.

5) In Ho, we're staying with Mami Augusta, the matron of the clinic. She is trained as a medical assistant and will be serving as the prescribing provider at the medical outreaches this week. We've been blessed by her hospitality and great food! 

6) On Saturday, we went to Amedzofe, a village wherein there exists a beautiful mountain and waterfall very close to each other. Breathtaking vistas and refreshing waters all in the same blessed town!

Today we went to Anyiboboe for the first medical outreach clinic. For the first time in Lilimed's history Reverend Bankas has organized to pair evangelism with the medical service, meeting both the spiritual and physical needs of the people.