Amansie West Project

Monday, April 13, 2015

It poured rain Saturday night, so hard in fact that I had to bring in my clothes off the balcony to dry inside.  It rained most of the night so that the next morning it wasn’t so hot when we went to church.  Today it was hot again, but I think the rainy season does help a little bit.  Air conditioned cars help a whole lot more…

 

Today we left at 8 AM, drove to the Amansie West District office and picked up Cheslyn, who is our representative from the District.  While driving out to the areas to check out where they dug the wells, I began reading the hygiene training program of the group that we hired to help us.  They gave Dever’s the report of what they called ‘phase 1’.  This is where they trained the District and then went into the villages to assess how the communities were doing.  They helped them form water committees and encouraged them to begin saving their monies.  They are not used to women taking leadership positions, so they had to make sure that at least 2-3 women were on every committee.  They were especially pleased when one woman was named head of the water committee.  Next they will present the PHAST portion of the hygiene training to the District so that they can begin their teaching, but it will be overseen by this group.  I liked what I was reading, but one is never really sure about sustainability until a few years have passed, and the training is everything.

You could see that it had rained as we drove in those monstrous water puddles; occasionally we forged our way on some foot paths in the car because the ‘road was impassable’.  The only mishap of the day was when we were coming home and someone rear-ended us and dented our bumper.  Just another blip on the screen of our day…

The puddles were a couple of feet deep, but we didn’t get stuck. 

In one area Jim didn’t think they needed mechanization and wanted them to change it to hand pumps—we shall see.

Cocoa seeds come from the tree to the right of the picture where the lady is holding up the pod.  In the pod are many seeds, but they have to remove the stuff around them.  Then they put them out to dry, pulling out the dry ones and putting them into bags where a man comes to purchase them by the kilo.  After that, most of it is processed in other countries, but some of it is done in Ghana.  They pulverize the whole, dried seed, which then becomes the powdered cocoa, or at least that is what they tell us. 

Drying racks for cocoa beans.

 Drying cocoa seeds.

One of the ways that communities have to raise money for water projects is for the heads of the community to take 1 kilo of the product and sell it and put it in the bank and that seems to work very well.

We arrived back at the hotel in mid-afternoon.  We have to leave this hotel in the morning (I am weeping).  We will be checking out a new area to see if we will be doing another large water project and will be staying at another place.  Tomorrow, another adventure; I am way too happy here.

Love, from Kumasi

PS: I found out that the fruit above the cashew nut tastes a bit like lemon, but perhaps not as sour.  Because the process for getting the final product of a cashew nut, most people just eat the fruit above it; professionals are the only ones that bother processing the nut into what we get to purchase and eat. Apparently it is quite involved.

A few more pictures...

We notice these paper badges on Primary children wherever we go--they can hardly wait to become a missionary.

These boys were playing soccer with that orange, and Jim played with them.

Little African girls often take this pose...perhaps they are models...

Pictures, Kumasi, Ghana

We enjoyed the pool at the hotel for a short time on Friday.

Going to Church at the home/chapel at a new Branch.

Karen with the man of questionable age...

Church sign board at the Branch.

The girl getting baptized and her mom.  The tall Elder is from Nigeria, the other from Idaho.

The very nervous lady about to be baptized (twice).

The front of our hotel, above and below.

Hello from Kumasi

Saturday, April 11, 2015

Two unusual things happened during the night.  I slept through for the first time since we’ve been in Africa and the first since I’ve had this cough.  On the other hand, Jim was awake all night with traveler’s diarrhea.  He fell asleep towards morning.  We called Dever’s to tell them not to come for us today but they showed up anyway, having missed our call.  But as all couples here, they had plenty of other things to do, and happily went on their way.  As for missing this day, it is the best day to miss.  Today we will read, watch TV (pretty good for Africa—they actually have some movies to watch that aren’t too bad), and walk around the hotel and take pictures.  I also took this opportunity to wash more clothes—why do I love to do this so much?  I don’t know, but I love to hand wash them, hang them out and check for them as they dry.  A weird fetish of mine—perhaps a nostalgic look at my past when we hung our clothes on outside lines when I was growing up.  I was also taught how to scrub my clothes with a bar of soap like they do here in Africa—it really is quite effective.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

I slept through the night once again.  E/S Dever picked us up at 7:45 AM to attend one of the two Branches that they have been assigned to.  Neither are very close to where they live.  We arrived at the rented church, which was a former house that someone owns.  A man and his wife decided to let someone rent their larger home since their children were all gone.  It turned out that the church ended up being their renters.  Soon afterwards his wife joined the church, and a few months later he also joined and eventually their grown children.  They were already a terrific Christian couple, so they added a great deal to the Branch.  We learned that she is the R.S. President and he is now a counselor in the Elders’ Quorum, and that neither of them has been a member very long, just a few months!  They are such great and dedicated people.

This very old man is reported to be: 95, 115, 135 years old!  His grandson is 75 and the Branch President so you do the math.  He is missing most of his teeth.  When he got baptized recently they had to have the Elders carry him into the font.  He does not speak any English.  The Elder sitting with him is from Tonga.  Maybe we’ll see him again if we visit his Island sometime this year.

They speak a combination of English and Twi in their meetings since some of the members speak no English.  After church they had a baptism--the wife of one of the members and a girl. There were four Elders: they were from Tonga, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Idaho.  The Tongan Elder was being transferred to another Branch for his last 6 weeks.  Who knows, we might run into him in Tonga if we go there sometime later this year.  It was a very friendly Branch, that Elder Dever says associate with each other outside of church and are very good friends.  When the Branch was first formed the young Elders had to conduct meetings because there was hardly a Priesthood holder there.  Now they can take care of it all themselves.

Most Africans do not swim and are afraid of water.  This lady was really afraid, so you can imagine how upset she was when they had to baptize her twice.  The man in white next to her is her husband and the one that baptized her.  The girl was also baptized but didn't seem to be as concerned as the lady was.  The Tongan Elder is on the left and the Ethiopian Elder on the right, looking at the picture.  

They have to climb into the tank from a ladder.  It is kept under a tarp and they have benches so people can sit and watch.  This is held outside the home/chapel on the front patio area.

Jim is still having some trouble, but we hope to be able to travel tomorrow to check out the area where the projects are being worked on.

 

Love, from Kumasi

Off to Kumasi, Ghana

Friday, April 10, 2015

This morning we got up early, went down to breakfast, packed our bags and left for the airport.  On our last trip we drove to Kumasi, but this time they put us on a plane.  It is only a 30 minute flight and apparently they just began a new airlines called Starbow.  I could tell it was new because the plane was new.  It was about a 50 seat turbo prop plane.  We haven’t flown in a turbo prop for a very long time. 

Starbow, a new airline in Ghana—turbo prop plane.

Dever’s were a bit late picking us up, but a kind lady at the airport let us call to see if they were coming.  Apparently they had us booked on an older airline, and when this one began they changed our flight and Dever’s didn’t realize it.  They drove us to the Golden Bean as opposed to the one we stayed in last year, the Golden Tulip (where I got sick eating a salad).  The lobby was not nearly as grand, but we could see right away that it was a very fine hotel.  To sweeten the pot, when we arrived they said that they were overbooked and apologized for putting us in an upgraded room!  I think she tried not to smile when she said it!  We did not try to hide our excitement.  This room actually has a separate living room—the rooms are not large, but there are 2 TV’s, a soft mattress, and we have our own balcony.  The Internet is as fast as it is at home. We are more than a little giddy.  The Church also gets a discount here.  I am doing a happy dance.

The icing on the cake is that we’ll be here long enough to wash clothes and unpack!!!  I am so happy to unpack!  We will be even more grateful for this hotel because it is hotter here than it is in Ho.  It is really, really hot!  So when we come back after a long, hot day we will be even more pleased with our circumstances.  I realized they probably won’t like our wash hanging on the railing on our private balcony because people are walking around down below and might spot it.  Hope we don’t get into trouble…

Our private balcony, with our wash hanging on the railing (hope they don’t spot it from below).

Jim watching TV in our ‘living room’. 

Tomorrow we’ll be checking out our old project, then go to Church on Sunday, check out more of our old project, and then head to the new area Tuesday.  Here we will change hotels and it will be a long few days looking at every spot where they want a water project.  In Ho it seemed that everyone wanted more or a different system than the one we have already turned in.  After all the requests come in and we get costs from our contractor, we’ll decide if there is anything that we will do differently or not.  Here in Amansie West District, it seems that we will not have this problem. 

In the afternoon we took a swim in the pool with perfect temperature, although it probably could have used a couple more feet of water.  Who cares?  We’re enjoying every minute of our leisure time.

Dever's came back to the hotel to have dinner with us.  There are such great couples here!  We enjoy them so much and they are doing such a great work.  Humanitarian couples and others on the ground are essential to any success we might have.  We learned while here that our ‘boss’ has been changed yet again.  We’re getting used to it.  We look forward to seeing what our ‘interim’ boss will add to the program.  With each new change some news idea usually unfolds.

 

On a funny side note, we are always reminded that we are in Africa.  We went to dinner at about 6:00 but were not allowed into the dining room because that was ‘reserved for those having the buffet’, which we decided not to have.  We could order off the menu but there was no really great place to eat except for the dining room.  After wandering around and not finding anything Jim finally talked the wait staff into letting us eat in the dining room.  When we tried to order off the menu, we found out that almost everything on the menu was not available.  So then we asked what things were available so that we could finally order.  After a very long time we got our food, probably an hour.  Then we wanted to order dessert—again, none of the dessert items listed were available so they let us eat a piece of chocolate cake off of the buffet; they finally came up with charges for that but actually decided to give it to us for nothing because of all the trouble.  Next time we’ll just have the buffet—only in Africa, or as we all say, T.I.A.=This is Africa.  We get such a giggle sometimes.  Our shower head is removable, but the holder is about half way up our bodies instead of above our heads (tee, hee).  I love it here!

Back to work tomorrow.

 

Love, from Kumasi, Ghana

Just pictures, Ghana

Joseph took this picture...I have my 'tree' with me--it's hot of course.

Above and below, the grand hotel we stayed at one night in Ho, Ghana.  Above the workout room and in front the pool, half full of water and green.

Huge hotel, huge property, but hardly any customers.  A catch 22: no money for services, then customers don't return.  But they kept the power on with their generator at our request, replenished the water tank after water ran out in the middle of the night.  The food was good.  But the air conditioner barely kept us from sweating the night away and the mattresses typically hard.

This area has only salty water, so we are drilling a borehole away from here and piping up to this water tank.  They already have water points.  The good water is far away.  

Joseph said that this picture was painted by some organization.  Obviously it would be a dream of an African woman whose husband would carry the burden while she was pregnant.  In the background the pregnant woman is lying on a lounge chair while her husband is bathing the child.  We told Joseph we'd e-mail this picture to his wife...

Clarence said that we had extra time and asked if we wanted to hike up to Tagbo Falls.  It is a 45 minute hike and I like to hike, but not in the humid heat of Ghana!  We decided it was a lot easier to take a picture of the Falls...

Back to Accra

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Today was so pleasant.  We need little moments of comfort to get ready for the next discomfort.  We woke up a little later, had our breakfast and departed for Accra, stopping again at the Royal Senchi Resort for lunch, arriving at the Church office in the mid-afternoon.  It rained on the way home, which helped wash off the amazing amount of dirt stuck to every part of the car, including the windows.  We picked up some money to take to E/S Dever because we’ll be flying to Kumasi tomorrow morning to meet them, departing at 8 AM for the airport.  Then, back to work.  Clarence will be meeting us, driving up to translate for us in a new District where the church is considering a new water project area.

I have never had my camera ready to take this picture except today.  Of course, it was raining.  But if you could see through the rain, you’d see a beautiful complex.  When Elder Gay (Craig Nielsen’s brother-in-law) served in Ghana he began doing private projects with friends.  This is just one of his legacies.  Someday I’ll get a better picture.

Below: fruit plate at Novotel.  The pineapple is like eating candy.

When we arrived at the Novotel we again got this wonderful fruit platter, a call from the manager, a stop-by from hotel staff to see how things were.  They are trying hard, but then, as I said before, the price went up.

While eating dinner a couple of nicely dressed ladies came over and introduced themselves to us saying that 'they were Mormon's too.'  They saw my badge.  Both ladies were Ghanaian but one of them lives in the U.S. in Georgia where she went to school.  They were there for an art exhibit I think of a relative--their brother.  His art was quite good, typical African.  Too bad we don't have money to buy his lovely art.

Some beautiful flowers at the Sky Hotel in Ho above.

Below, fruit on a palm tree.  Clarence wasn't even sure, but thought it was an edible fruit--the ones on the left are obviously ripe.