Dear Family and Friends!!

It just happened again.  We just spent an hour writing our letter and we have lost it!!  To say that this is frustrating is an understatement-- Especially since we lost part of our last letter also.  We should have used drums.

We have heard about Haiti.  However, we did not know about it until last Friday.  We have seen one newspaper article but no TV coverage.  The TV here at the internet is usually covering Football-soccer.  The situation in Haiti sounds awful!

Breakfast on Saturday was tuna sandwich—no mayo.  Saturday morning we went to Korforidua—the capital of the Eastern Region and where we had to go to use the internet six years ago.  It is about an hour away by tro-tro.  Veronica joined us.  The tro-tro was the nicest that we have ever used and not overcrowded—very unusual.  When we got there we went to our favorite book store.  However, they were not yet open so walked through the open market.  There are hundreds of stalls with everything for sale.  Veronica was able to find shampoo and we bought a new frying pan for Vera.  The stalls have dried fish, smoked rats, vegetables of all types, shoes, cloth and clothing, and lots of plastic wear.

Lunch was at a nice African restaurant where Harry had Jollof Rice with fried chicken and Joan and Veronica had ground nut soup with a ball of rice and Grass Cutter meat—yummy for Joan, not so much for adventurous Veronica.  What really turned her off was finding some meat with the hair still attached—it had not been burned off properly.  Grass Cutter is a bush meat that reminds us of a groundhog.

After lunch we returned to the book store and purchased some school supplies and books to supplement what we have found at school.  We picked up some Legos and puzzles for the very young children.  While in the store we met a man who owns a limestone mine and supplies limestone for cement throughout Ghana.  He happened to be going to Akropong with his wife and offered us a ride in his air conditioned Dodge truck.  Of course, we said YES!  We learned that his wife is from Akropong and they were delivering furniture.

We also watched Vera do our clothing in the morning.  We have told her that we want to hire someone to do it but she insisted on doing it this week.  She promised to have someone by this weekend for us.

Saturday evening we played Bananagram with Veronica.  Joan won as usual!  Veronica showed us a “Fast Scrabble” and Joan still won.

Sunday morning’s breakfast was a macaroni salad with tomatoes and lettuce.   We attended Mass at St Paul’s here in town where we have gone before.  The 8:30 Mass started promptly at 9:40.  There was abundant singing, clapping, and waving of hands.  The readings and homily were in both English and Twi but everything else was only in Twi.  Mass ended at 11:40.  It was a bit much for Harry but Joan loved it!  The people were happy to see us again—in spite of our liberal views.  The priest had come from another village where he had said Mass earlier so we had to wait our turn.  We met two volunteers from Project Abroad—one from Ireland and the other from Denmark.  They told us that the “obronis” get together on Wednesday evenings in Mamphe—the next town over at Mama’s.  We are going tomorrow night with Veronica.  She would be afraid to go alone and it would not be a good idea to try to do so.

Sunday afternoon was for lesson plans and rest.

There was a flurry of activity in the hallway at 4:10 Monday morning.  WATER WAS FLOWING IN THE PIPES!  Up to this time we have had bucket baths.  We got up and helped to fill the large barrels that were nearly empty.  We had mentioned to Vera that we probably had one more day of water.  Harry stood in the shower (we have no sink) and collected the water in a bucket and passed it to Joan to pour into the barrel.  It took about an hour to complete the task.  In the meantime Sammy and Naomi, who live on our floor, were busy filling theirs.  Vera was filling hers and Veronicas.  Veronica slept through it all.  Harry took a shower right after and then we went back to bed until 6:10.  A wonderful start for the week!

Classes went well on Monday.  We have six classes when we are team teaching.   A friend has asked if they have a lot of repeating of what the teacher says—Yes for primary school, less as they get older.  They are now trying to get the students to conceptualize material.   The government is making so many changes with regard to curriculum, more testing, and requirements for the students that it is very frustrating for the schools.  They keep changing the books because someone finds mistakes in them and that cancels out the required texts.  It is a bit of a nightmare.  The texts that we have sent have been a help.

Today, Tuesday, we spent most of the morning sorting the books which “Friends” has sent.  They are now divided by topic and arranged by class.  The library books have been separated and will go up to the library another day.  The library needs to be sorted and reorganized because the “librarian” did not keep up with shelving.

Today was another fine day until we lost the letter we just wrote.  We have tried to recreate it but it never comes out the same.  Next time we will talk about what we do in our classes and some of the specific kids.  The kids love to have the “obronis” as teachers—we are a novelty, even if we are old.

Thanks for your notes.  Keep us up to date with the news because we are in a vacuum here.