Favorite photos

I have been really lax in posting lately...actually I have just been lax all around. I thought I would just post a couple of my favorite pictures of people from my trip.

This girl was excited to have me take her picture. She came looking for me. I thought she was proud of the way she was carrying all the pots on her head... I was impressed... but that was not what she was excited about. She wanted me to capture the image of her with a kitten. It is funny the things that create excitement in our lives. The grace with which she balanced those pots was amazing to me but was everyday to her, having a kitten was a special event for her but was commonplace for me.

OK, For some reason I am not getting things to work on my blog...maybe it is the universe telling me I really should be taking care of the laundry or something so I will just post this and work on more later

This says it all

This picture is by far my favorite of all the shots I took on this trip. It speaks volumes about the situation in this small village in western Ghana. As I was walking arounf the village one day I came across this boy standing by a tree watching the kids from the school playing soccer (futball to them.) It just looked like he was standing there dreaming about being able to go to school and play with those kids. The reason he can't go to school? His parents cannot afford the 22-24 dollars a year for his tuition. Schools are not free in Ghana and it is impossible for many parents to raise enough money for their children's education. It breaks my heart. 

Market place and cooking

Wednesdays are the big market day in this area (Actually I think it is that day in almost every area I have been in, I wonder why that is?) We headed over to see the market that first wednesday that I was there. You could definitely buy cassavas- they were all over the place. But then again it is the main part of Fou Fou and everyone eats Fou Fou each and every night in Ghana so it is no wonder there was so much of it at the market. Plantains too.


These are palm fruit which is used in a palm fruit soup. There is a lot of pounding needed to make both palm fruit soup and fou fou

They let me try to help with the palm fruit soup but as I almost turned over the container twice as I pounded the women quickly got the stick out of my hands

Makiing fou fou is not always a happy thing but this woman made nice for the camera. 

Church of Christ Assasetre

The main reason why James was going back to Assasetre was to see the completed roof on the church there. Two years ago, on his first visit to the area, he was saddened to see the beginning of a church structure that the people could not afford to complete. He returned to the states with a burden to raise the money to finish it. The people of his church in Ohio and the one he grew up in in Kentucky rose to the challenge and gave enough money to roof not only this church but the one of John's in Half Assina. Pretty amazing. last yerhe went back to Ghana and brought them the money. And now here it was another year later and the dedication service was going to happen. You will see that the church is still not what we would call complete. The floor is still just dirt and the walls have no plaster but now people can worship there out of the glaring African sun or heavy rains. I hope to go back one day and see it all the waythey envision it but I know that it is not really the building that is important but the message they share there.



 

My home away from home

Cosmos and Millicent are the couple who opened their home to me for my stay in Assasetre. It is not easy to accomodate 2 people into an already filled home but they did so graciously. I loved all the color of the Ghanaian homes, no white walls here.


This ws the house I staye in. Out front is the porch. Inside there are 3 bedrooms and a living room

Here are my bathroom accomodations. The blue structure was a privacy area for bathing. With no running water I had to bathe from a bucket and use a cup to rinse. I found the privacy was not complete as a man came down from the trail on the right and I could see he could see down into my space and probably saw more white flesh than he wanted. From that day on I used a bathing suit for modesty. The building on the right is the outhouse. It was much better than I had expected, it had a seat and all. I had envisioned turkish toilets so this was a pleasant surprise.


This was Millicent's cook house. I loved how a number of women congregated each day and worked together on laundry and cooking. It makes me sad as I go about cooking on my own in my house.... I kind of like communal cooking. 

More house picts

This is the living room inside the house. James and I ate our meals at that table while the men ate outside together and the women and children ate at another area outside together. Quite different from family meals at home.

This was my bedroom. I loved all the color (purple and fuschia) and the an made it possible to sleep at night. Jay and I are subzero sleepers and so it is not easy for me to fall asleep when I am warm. I lucked out and only had one night in the village with the power turned off. To conserve energy all through out the country areas rotate on night time with no power. Because of the measle vaccine program going on while I was there they suspended the outages for 5 days. Boy was I grateful for that. 

People

This is James, my friend's Father in Law and the reason why I went to Ghana. James had been writing to Cosmos, a minister for the Church of Christ in Ghana and sending some support to him. A couple of years ago cosmos invited James to come and see the church in this western region of Ghana. He went on his own and was upset to see that the church did not have a roof and people were worshipping in a thatched hut in the middle of the building. He went home with a burden on his heart and he raised enough moeny to not only roof the one church but also another about an hour away from the one in Asasetre. Last year he brought his son and daughter with him to hand over the money. In the spring he got another invitation to come back in November to attend the dedication celebration for the new roof. This was to be his last visit to Ghana, the trip is hard and he is not getting any younger. I was lucky enough to feel a call to travel with him and photograph our time there and the work the people of the Church of Christ are doing there.

This is Cosmos and his wife Millicent. Theyare kind people who welcomed me into their home not knowing much about me at all. As you can see by the sign they are busy with many church services here at the building in Asasetre as well as 4 other planted churches in the surrounding area.

This is John with James. John is a minister at the other church that benefited from James fundraising. He was with us the entire trip, translating for us all along the way. 

Accra, part 2

Tito s a man that I knew of from my church at home. The kids in the Sunday school had been writing to him for a few years while he was in a prison in Egypt for converting to Christianity. This spring he obtained his release from jail and ended up in Ghana, after finding his home on Nigeria dangerous as his family wanted to kill him. I emailed Tito about my visit to Ghana and arranged to meet him for lunch one day. It was great to see him in person and hear about his work in Accra with kids living on the streets. We went to the beach so that I could take his picture to show the kids in the Sunday school.


Tito

Moses, my driver and Tito

This is my room at the Triple Crown Guest Lodge

This was my wonderful bathroom. I enjoyed this knowing that I would not have running water at my next home. 

Accra

I arrived in Accra and was happy to find Julie from the guest lodge waiting for me. When we arrived at the Triple Crown the whole area was dark. To save energy the whole country rotates with power shut downs. I was grateful that the hotel had a generator so I had air conditioning, a definite bonus in the Ghanaian heat. I had arranged for a driver while I was in Accra and Moses arrived bright and early on Sunday morning to take me to church. I planned on worshipping at the Lutheran church in Accra, St Paul's. Some things were so different while some things were so familiar. The worship books that they use are the same ones I used when I was little so it was like taking a step back in time. The service was long but I was glad to be there. Afterwards the women had made food that for a very small price ou could eat all you wanted. I just loved seeing how beautifully everyone was dressed. Not the casual wear from home. I was glad I wore a skirt.


St Paul's is a beautiful and very updated building with a large school attached.

The sanctuary is open with lots of fans to move the air.

Just check out some of the dresses on the women 

Tales of travel

Time to start with stories from my trip. Getting to Ghana is not a direct trip, I had a 7 1/2 hour layoner in Amsterdam airport. Now, if you have to hang out in any airport, this is the one. First I took a 2 to 3 hour nap on the lounge chairs in the comfort area. Every airpoet should have these. Then I went to the excursion desk and booked a 2 1/2 hour tour of Amsterdam. I love this city and hope I can go another time and spend a couple of days there.


Frst stop was a wooden shoe factory. It was interesting to see the shoes being made and fun to try a pair on.

Next we stopped along a canal and checked out the windmills.

We visited a number of areas around the city before heading back to the airport in time to catch my plane.
 

I am back

Just a quick spot to say I am home safe and sound. As you can see I was busy in Ghana... that is an Asasetre style food processor. More will follow. 

Heading to Africa!!

Tomorrow afternoon I leave for Ghana. No I won't be going on safari but this was my best me going to Africa picture. I am nervous, never having traveled so far on my own before but I do feel that I have been called to do this and I will be faithful. Nerves aside I am so excited. This is a real adventure and a sort of toe into the water, testing out if I am really meant to do this kind of thing. I can deal with the heat, the bugs and all but no running water? I can't wait to see what I am made of. For those of you who pray, please keep me in your prayers. For those of you who don't...START!! God is amazing and He has plans for you...find out what they are. Come back in a couple of weeks to see some of the photographs I was able to capture on my trip. God bless 

Almost time

Just one week to go!!! I am taking my larium, pulling out my bags cause Ghana here I come. In an effort to get ready I added a Ghanaian clock on the bottom of my blog so I can keep track of the time difference..not too bad, only 4 hours. How can that be? I will be a whole world away but just 4 hours apart? Hopefully that will help to combat jetlag.

Final Chihuly Night

This past Thursday I went in to see the Chihuly exhibit for the last time before it is taken down. Shelby asked to go and see it and so I kidnapped her after she got off the school bus and off we went to the Bronx. I won't say that Shelby had the same love for it that I do (As evident in this first picture) but we had a great time together. I was happy to visit with my "friends" one last time. I am going to miss them but look forward to seeing the new exhibits as they come in.


How much longer? Maybe I should take a nap.

Entering the Conservatory

Chihuly Silhouette

Feeling a little green Shelby? 

Columbus Day

Shelby had Columbus Day off of school and I took advantage of the free morning to get to the Celery Farm early to watch the sunrise. It was a quiet morning, not many birds, not a whole lot of color in the sky but it was still wonderful to be there and just enjoy being outside. Still a couple of my favorites came out to give me a thrill.


A King Fisher

An Osprey

A gliding Egret