Hi All,
GHANA WON THE OPENING GAME OF THE AFRICA CUP!
The opening ceremonies
were quite extravagant and beautiful. They had all the regions
represented with dancers, masks, drums, musicians in a wonderful
choreography. They made formations of the map of Africa with the
16 participating nations and even a person kicking a soccer ball - it
was incredible. We watched the game with the landlord, her
children and other occupants of the house - even little children.
They went wild when Ghana scored - they beat Guinea in the final two
minutes of the game by a score of 2 to 1 - the women were screaming and
dancing in the room - fun, fun. Traffic in Accra was totally
congested for hours after the game. Ghana plays again on Thursday.
We don't think you are
rain dancing!!! We have not had running water since Saturday.
Vera gets water from the stream for us to bathe. You see people
head loading water everywhere - even old people. We feel guilty
that Vera has to do extra for us although she sometimes has children do
some of it. We are very careful to conserve.
Our baaaad - we have sheep not goats that are running around our compound.
For those who asked -
We are at the Akuffo Tom School Complex in Akropong-Akuapem, Eastern
Region of Ghana. We are about 40 miles northeast of Accra, the
capital. We are in the hills so our weather is cooler - yeah -
than Accra. We have had a breeze most days and it does cool down
in the evening. During the day it is sweltering for our hikes to
and from the school.
Another question was
about pen pals from Koda - the Shen middle school that has supported
our endeavors. We have letters from the Koda Student Council that
we will have the students in Akropong answer very soon. Joan is
working on writing assignments now and trying to figure which students
would really benefit from the exchange. The age discrepancy and
ability of the students is tricky. We know that when we start
this the kids here will go wild with excitement about having a pen pal
in the USA. The kids at Koda will be surprised at what a day is
like for a Ghanaian student - Imagine head loading huge buckets of
water twice a day - before school and after - then washing clothes by
hand, ironing, cooking, helping at the market or farm and doing
homework - and never complaining about it!!! This starts at the age of
6, when you learn how to sweep and do other chores like take the goats
or sheep out and take care of younger siblings. The letters will
be fun.
We thought we heard
rain during the night, but it was just the wind blowing the banana
trees with their giant leaves banging against each other. The
height of the dry season is upon us until March.
Vera made fufu for us
yesterday and Joan helped to smash the cassava and plantain in the
mortar. She steams the cassava and the plantain and then mashes,
adding water and making a ball. The ball is placed in a bowl with
a groundnut soup - its very sticky, doughy and good - a little heavy
and very filling - believe it or not, Harry couldn't finish it!!
It is great that some of you are forwarding this because we cannot add anymore names to our "Africa" contacts.
Someone asked if we
had to pay for computer time - yes - but it is very cheap - less than a
dollar each time we use it - our lifeline is worth every penny spent!
We plan to go through
the 501c3 documents tomorrow with the administration. For those
who asked - we created a public charity which makes donations to
"Friends of Akuffo Tom School Complex" a tax deductible contribution in
the USA. Many of you already know we have been working on this
for 2 years and it came through just before we left for Ghana. We
are very happy about it.
Have to go and many
thanks for all of you who are writing to us - we love it. It does
take a while for us to pull up letters so please don't send any
attachments or pictures. It is s-l-o-w.
Love and prayers,
Harry and Joan
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