Dear Friends and family,
Great Weekend!
Ghana won again! They beat Nigeria last evening 2-1.
Nigeria scored first and then Ghana tied it with less than a minute
before the half. In the second half Ghana scored and Nigeria did
not. Lots of noise in town and yelling and screaming in the
house. It is fun to watch!
Congratulations to Giants' fans! It has been a long time
coming. Sorry Patriot fans. The fact that the Giants train
at SUNY Albany kind of had us hoping that they would win. You all
know that we are not great sports fans.
Saturday we hired a car for the day - $60 including the gas (which is
very expensive here). We traveled to a nearby town named Lateh
which has a famous fetish compound. They have a branch in New
York City but this is the worldwide headquarters. It is really
just a few buildings. We did not stop but took a picture of the
exterior. We then proceeded over the mountain to the Shai Nature
Reserve. We tried to visit it four years ago but the roads had
been washed out. A park ranger had to accompany us in the car and
he (Simon) was great. We first visited the area near where some
of the rangers live and saw several baboons and got very close to them
- recognized a few faces so we took lots of pictures. Because the
roads are still bad we left the Reserve, drove several miles to another
entrance and entered again. We visited a cave where the Shai
tribe hid from the British. Of course, we had to climb a hill and
half crawl or squeeze our tiny bodies through the crevices. The
kings bedroom looked very small and uncomfortable. Bats were
hanging from the very top - we could barely see them, although they
were flying around. The cave really smelled awful and the rocks
that we climbed and had to lean against in the crevices were wet and
slippery - we just loved it!! When Joan alighted from the cave
she noticed her arms and clothes had this brown stuff on them -
alas! It was bat DUNG!!!! What to do?! They didn't
have any sinks nearby - so we trudged down the 230 meter hill wiping
our hands on the trees - thinking - what kind of disease we could
get from this? Ahhh! We had our trusty little alcohol wipes
that took care of everything - we shared them with Vera (Nyarko-host
teacher) and the driver. We saw huge boabab trees, which is
considered the tree of life because of its many resources and
uses. Disney uses it as the model for their tree of life in the
African Adventure exhibit. We saw antelope and birds.
Because of the dry season, many of their more exotic were at watering
holes further away. They do controlled burning so that new grass
will grow for the animals to eat in the dry season and it keeps the
grass lower so that the animals can be seen. The rangers
live on the reserve to also protect it from poachers. They are
well trained in sighting the animals that we would not see - the
antelope in the distance.
We stopped at Dan's Bead factory - this was located along the
roadside. Although he wasn't making beads that day, he was
selling them along with some other interesting African crafts. He
sells to Ten Thousand Villages ( a fair trade chain with a branch in
Albany) - we of course support The Mango Tree in Ballston Spa on Rt. 50
- another fair trade import store owned by a former Peace Corps
Volunteer - Chris and his wife Kim - they also have a language
institute - check them out!! Back to Ghana!
Next stop was the Cedi Bead Industry in Kpong - we were there 4 years
ago. An amazing place! Mr Cedi himself was there to give us
a great tour of the entire process for making all kinds of beads.
The business has been in his family for over 200 years..He has been to
the US and Europe demonstrating African Bead making - including
Portland, Oregon. Some beads are made with crushed glass from
recycled bottles. Mr Cedi has become a glass blower and has been
commissioned to create African Ashanti chief's necklace for a museum in
New Jersey. It was exquisite and priceless! The outdoor ovens are
made of termite clay - we took lots of pictures - again!
On the way home we stopped at a huge outdoor market to do some grocery
shopping - Vera is very good!! She wouldn't buy the pineapples
that we saw because she could tell they weren't that good - they looked
ok to us - but they weren't sweet enough. When we arrived home
after our great adventure, we headed for the shower and got rid of more
dung.
Alas! There is no water again! Back to the buckets.
It went off at about 3pm on Sunday - thank God we got our showers.
Church on Sunday was without a priest - they have the same problem we
have! However, our service was 2 hours long - hmmm - 90% in Twi
and 10% in English. Sunday was spent on lesson plans and getting
ready for the "football" game.
"The Friends of Akuffo Tom School Complex" - our NGO, turned over
$1,200 to the school last week to be used for windows in one of the
Junior High School classrooms. The school has hired a contractor
who is to come some time this week to install them. This will be
a big help during the rainy season and for security purposes. We
did this after consulting with our Board of Directors via the internet
- to keep us legal. The cost per room is approximately
$1,500. They have a large "wish list" of other items including
white boards, wiring, plastering... Of course we will take
pictures of the process.
We both tutored kids today during their lunch period. Both are
very poor in English and reading skills. It is difficult for them
to keep up in all their subjects.
We are doing more work with teachers, talking to them one on one about methodology and use of the "library" as a resource.
Still having a great time. Ghana plays again on Thursday (we
think) in the Semi-Finals. The Finals are next Sunday (again, we
think).
Love and Prayers,
Joan and Harry
P.S. - Don't forget the rain dance!
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