Accra, Ghana

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Dear Family and Friends,

We are sitting in our hotel room in Accra, Ghana, having arrived last night.  There was nothing eventful about our flights (other than not crashing) except that we have become ‘platinum’ American Airlines members, which British Airways partners with.  That means we get to go to the airport lounges for all the people who sit in first or business class or are just frequent flyers like us. We enjoyed the rather tasty free food, drinks, Internet, TV’s and comfortable surroundings while waiting for our flights.  I’ve got to say how much we enjoyed this in the normally spare LAX and Heathrow Airports.

Karen enjoying the free & tasty food, Internet, TV’s and comfort of the LAX British Airways airport lounge.

The new system of fingerprinting and picture taking for new people entering Ghana has slowed the entry process down considerably.  The last time we’d gone through there it took an hour and a half.  We wiggled through it in 45 minutes this time.  Perhaps they have learned that when all of the airlines are landing they ought to have all their people in the booths. Luckily I was prepared and read my magazine while standing in that long line.

Once through customs and baggage checks we waited another half hour before the Novotel bus deposited us at the hotel and we got checked in.  We were in bed asleep by 12:30 AM, trying to make up for the only two hours of sleep I got on the plane rides.  The phone rang at 9:15 AM telling us that we had to be somewhere at 10.  I was happy that I’d showered and washed my hair the night before, but there was still no time to get breakfast so I grabbed a granola bar I’d brought from home and used a hot chocolate packet (not nearly as good as US hot chocolate) from the room and I was off, getting to the meeting a half hour late.  Because this is Africa it is customary for meetings not to start on time, except this time it was me who made us late; I guess Africa is beginning to affect me.

Our meeting was very interesting.  A local man, also a member of the church, thought up a latrine idea that beats any septic system even in the U.S.  All the waste is disposed of and eaten up by bugs so that not even clean-out is required.  It is a very simple design.  The costs to build are also reasonable.  The church will probably use this design in latrines they build for any third world country in the future. We are going to be doing latrines in Liberia and will no doubt be using this design when we develop that project, which we will turn in during this trip.

When we arrived last night we saw Don Ipson in the lobby.  He is another Short Term Specialist who is assigned to Ghana.  We often see him here when we travel through.  He was here also to see this latrine design and will take the information back to our boss Matt Heaps for Church evaluation. 

Explaining his new latrine design—no smell, no clean-out, simple and incredible design, which solves a big waste problem in third world countries.  Waste becomes fertilizer

Without having to go to a waste treatment plant.

After our meeting we went to the Church office building and visited more with Daniel to discuss various problems associated with our work in Sierra Leone and Liberia.  Then we were also able to say hello to Elder Sitati.  He invited us to dinner so we’ll be able also to visit with his wife.  We are very excited to spend an evening visiting with them—such lovely people. 

Tomorrow we leave for Sierra Leone for two weeks, then Liberia for one week and then back home again.  I realized one of the things I don’t like about these trips is all the times I have to pack and unpack my suitcase.  I guess I’ll be doing a lot of that this trip too, but if that is the worst of a trip, I’ll take it…

Interior design, quite an improvement over latrines in  present-day schools or homes in Africa.  He even has an          

American toilet design with toilet seat, lid and flusher!                                             

(not shown)  What a concept!

 This is all prefab and can be done in one's own backyard.  He designed this system (he is an engineer) after having problems with his own septic system.

Love, mom & dad, E/S Greding, Jim & Karen