Ghana map from the internet. The orphanage was in Bawjiase, just north and west of Accra the capital
Another map from the internet.
Caroline at home sorting through some of the donations for the orphanage. She went to Ghana first, at the end of May. The rest of us went the end of June. She wanted to do something really different. She searched online and chose to volunteer at an orphanage. The rest of us tagged along.
Exactly 50 lbs of donations in the bag she took.
6 more suitcases full of donations for the orphanage the rest of us took. All of these things, including the suitcases, were donated by family, friends and people in our community.
Accra, Ghana - 2 taxis to carry us and all the luggage to the trotro station. Caroline met us at the airport in Accra, bargained with all the taxi drivers we needed and arranged our hotel stay too.
Each bag weighs at least 40 lbs!! There was another guy with 3 suitcases on his head as well !!!
Trotro station - trotros are vans or small buses that leave as soon as they fill up. Very inexpensive public transportation. Some are safer, more comfortable and less crowded than others.....
We will travel for 3 weeks and then return here to the orphanage to volunteer for 3 weeks after Jim goes home. We just stopped by here for a few hours to visit and to drop off the suitcases of donations.
Suitcases safely delivered to the orphanage. We will be back to volunteer in 3 weeks. "Mummy" on the left directs the orphanage. Her name is really Emma Boafo Yeboah. We later got to know and LOVE all those babies!
A back road
Riding on a trotro. That's Jim there on the left.
Riding on a trotro (notice baby on mother's back and guy standing up outside the door.... ) This trotro was really pretty bad and really crowded!
We drank only bottled water or from many many bags like this (500 ml). You bite off the corner with your teeth. A bag like this costs 3 to 5 cents. Bottled water is more expensive and harder to find sometimes. A soda (300 ml) costs about 40 cents.
Cape Coast is 165 km west of Accra. It has a lot of history including a huge slave castle built in 1653, now a World Heritage site.
Cape Coast
Cape Coast Slave Castle
Cape Coast Castle
View from Cape Coast Castle
Cape Coast Castle Male Slave Dungeon. Geesh how can we be smiling.
Door of No Return.......
Fishermen at Cape Coast
Fishermen Cape Coast
Cape Coast --Takobell Fast Food and Takobell Breakfast! These are very typical little shops. I think they were closed because it was Sunday.
Crab Statue, Cape Coast
London Bridge in Cape Coast. Hmm I'm not sure why it's there. And what's with those artsy window frames?
Fishing boats on the water
Green Turtle Lodge -- Beach !!!
Green Turtle Lodge. Yes we used the mosquito nets there. Solar electricity. Notice the tiny little fan on the bedside table. "Room with fan."
Composting Toilet at Green Turtle Lodge (except Jim thinks they are not really composting)
Caroline sharing a Star beer with Dad at Green Turtle
Green Turtle Lodge Swordfish with pineapple salsa mmmmm!!!
We got SOAKED in this rain storm. We discover that our bags are NOT waterproof.
A roadside stand
The Kumasi market is said to be the largest outdoor market in Africa. YES we walked around in there.
Kumasi Market - the aisles here are VERY narrow. And the stalls are only about 3-4 feet wide. See the woman walking with something on her head? She is probably moving very fast so you need to walk fast or squeeze out of the way. There are LOTS of people walking fast through here carrying all sorts of things on their heads, maybe a basket of chickens, pans full of you name it etc.
Kumasi Market has a railroad track right through the middle of it......
Edge of Kumasi Market
KUMASI --This museum has the famous fake Golden Stool, which was given to the British who for decades believed it to be the real one. The Ashanti managed to keep the real Golden Stool, the ultimate Ashanti symbol, to themselves, thus ensuring their pride and survival as a people. The Golden Stool is so sacred, the King is not allowed to sit on it. Neither should the Stool ever touch the ground. According to legend, this sword sticks out of the earth exactly where the Golden Stool descended from heaven, thus marking the beginning of the Ashanti people. It is said that should the sword ever be removed, the Ashanti kingdom will cease to exist. Mohamed Ali tried and couldn't pull it out. They sacrifice a sheep in there every 40 days. The darkness there is the blood. The liquor bottles are also there specifically for the shrine.
This is what the sword looks like. It's not very big! But no one can pull it out of the ground.
Kumasi
KUMASI Hospital -- Sign as you leave says "Good Bye Stay Healthy"
Tamale - Main Mosque. Tamale is in the northern part of Ghana and is much more Muslim than Christian.
AIDS posters are common throughout Ghana as are posters frankly encouraging condom use.
AIDS Prevention Poster. Much more to the point than you'd see in the US!
Tamale has LOTS of bicycles
Street scene Tamale
Street scene Tamale - more bicycles!
Fufu with Chicken that we had in Tamale. This is a very typcial West African dish, eaten by hand. I couldn't eat it with my fingers because the sauce is really hot temperature. Ghanaians say "You can trust your fingers but you can't trust a spoon."
Mole National Park - Wart Hogs. They just hang around and eat grass, day and night.
Mole National Park - warthog!!
Mole National Park - Baboons! All over the place. They can be bothersome but never bothered us.
The "rocks" in the lake are ELEPHANTS! Mole National Park
An AMAZING example of camoflage, there is a huge elephant standing RIGHT THERE in the center of the picture!!!! Way too close!! Our guide cocked his rifle and threw a log to make it run away. (Congratulations to Lisa who actually took this picture!)
Caroline watching the elephants
Elephants with Adrienne and Kathy
Elephant footprint
Elephant at Mole National Park
Elephant Mole National Park
Warthog at night
African Sculptures
Anomabo Beach Resort (paradise!!)
Anomabo Beach Resort and Jim
View of Anomabo Beach Resort from Weda Lodge
Breakfast at Weda Lodge above Anomabo
Caroline can have fun anywhere! She made that green bag herself.
Adrienne and Jim waiting for a trotro to Cape Coast. Waiting for the trotro is a lot like hitchhiking except you have to pay. We rarely paid over a dollar for a ride anywhere.
Shopping in Cape Coast
Kakum National Park -- there are suspended bridges between the rainforest treetops.
Caroline on the one of the seven hanging bridges at Kakum
Guy from Weda Lodge carrying my bag to the road where we need to catch the trotro to Winneba
Waiting for the trotro to Winneba and Lagoon Lodge. We dropped off our stuff there and then took Jim to the airport in Accra to go home......
Goats are ALL OVER THE PLACE in Ghana
Koala Supermarket in Accra -- a taste of home (or at least of Europe)
Bye bye to my Jimmy. The rest of us stayed for 3 weeks to volunteer at the orphanage. Do I look hot, dirty, (and sad)?
ORPHANAGE -- Rita age 10, Caroline, Charity age 11 and baby Jessica
ORPHANAGE --is located out in the country and they have quite a few buildings. Our bedroom was there on the corner of this building.
My bedrom shared with Adrienne and Lisa
The "Infirmary" where the older babies spend most of their day
View from the Infirmary. My room is in the building on the right and is also where we feed the babies at night and where the babies sleep with the older girls.
The porch for where the preschoolers meet during the day
Preschool playroom
Classrooms for older kids. Some kids from town also attend this school.
Inside of classroom for older kids
Classroom
"Educational Tit-Bits" for teachers
Play Area
Toilets (little rooms with holes) on the left. The square building on the right is the water source. The water tank is on top and there is a little faucet on the wall. The water is not pure enough for volunteers to drink but the children drink it.
"Lucky Store" down the road a few minutes from the orphanage where up to 8 volunteers can live
Emmanual is the volunteer coordinator. He was raised at the orphanage. He is also in charge of most of the farming and much of the general running of the orphanage. He's sweet and fun but he works so hard and gets very little sleep. As of 2008, he has started up a camp for orphanage kids to play football (I think this means soccer.)
BACK Left to Right -- Kobi, Caroline, hired mother, the accountant, Nurse Margaret, Katherine from Germany, ?, Lisa, Adrienne, Mister Ata. FRONT L-R Samuel, Daddy, Cornelius, Mowgli, Kiliku, Prince, Sister Agia who prepared food for the volunteers, Akus and Prince's sister
Kids playing a "mother may I" type game with Mummy
Mummy and Daddy with Rita and Akus. They run the orphanage and are trying to run a self-sufficient farm. There are about 137 children there. They get no money from the goverment. They get some money from an organization in Spain and donations from churches and benefactors in a number of countries. We met some wonderful German women who had provided money for the building where our bedroom is as well as other projects. The children here are safe and have at least 3 meals/day. They receive an education. And people genuinely care about them.
This hired mother takes care of young babies and also severely malnourish Martin in the green shirt. She earns between $12 and $30 a month.
Typical day with the babies. Yes those mattresses are very dirty.
Kwaku is about 18 months old. I took a little video of his first steps! He's such a sweet and peaceful, friendly kid.
Kwaku can walk!!
Mister Ata (pronounced Missah Ata) The "ata" syllables usually indicate a twin but he doesn't seem to have one; his twin may have died. He's a really cool, fun kid -- as cool as his name.
Adrienne with Mister Ata
Mowgli -- He's probably older than the other preschoolers but is pretty immature. He probably has some learning disabiilties. He can be so sweet and nice and then turn around and snatch away toys from kids and be very mean. He also bites sometimes. He is a challenge.
Phillip is about 18 months old. He is robust, cheerful and very active.
Phillip is very attached to Sister (Mama) Agnes. She must have cared for him when he was an infant.
Sister Agnes takes a nap with Nana Kwame. Phillip likes to sleep near her, usually in a weird position. He's there at the top with his foot on the wall.
Phillip sleeping near Sister Agnes. The box contains Nana Kwame's clothes and diapers.
AMA - How old is she? She arrived soon after we did at the orphanage. She was abandoned in a market in late July 2006. She has a full set of teeth, can sit up and feed herself very well. She weighs nothing and has swollen feet and hands, typcial of severe malnutrition. She smiles but don't try to take away her food! How old do you suppose she is? The orphanage is guessing 18 months. I think she may be closer to 2 years. What is her life story?
Ama with food. Her nickname is "Grandma" maybe because her face is so thin.
Phillip stealing Ama's food. She is not going to like that!
Ama eating porridge
Nana Kwame -- his mother was "derranged" and impregnated by a man who disappeared. He is now 10 months old. He doesn't feel well. His head itches all the time and he has a rash over much of his body. He's fussy and throws his head back. He likes to be carried and held. He has fevers sometimes and is quite anemic. Doesn't seem to gain weight. I doubt he weighs more than 12 lbs. Made him easy to carry around!
Nana Kwame has a lot of itching especially on his head and a weird bumpy rash all over. The doctor prescibed antibiotics for his rash but I don't think it helped.
Margaret puts some soothing lotion on Nana Kwame's head
Me feeding Nana Kwame as much egg (and rice) as I can get him to eat
Me with Nana Kwame. He was a fussy baby who liked to be carried around, plus he is so light, so I carried him a lot.
Margaret the nurse cuts Nana Kwame's hair while he sleeps
Caroline with Nana Kwame in his piglet outfit
Nana Kwame smiling !! It's so nice when he feels this good.
Nana Kwame --the belly button like that is very common in Africa and is not a medical problem. He is 10 months old. So skinny. He just doesn't seem to gain weight. He has been tested for AIDS and it was negative. The pink/red piece of cloth will be his diaper. The blue plastic will then be wrapped and tied around it. I brought SOOOO many cloth diapers and it took a long time to see them in circulation. I began to see more of them the week or so before we left.
Hot sweaty me with Nana Kwame. Look at that crazy pink fabric diaper hanging out of the plastic cover thing.
A sweater used as a diaper (This is Phillip with his fat legs). You can see the plastic thing they use as diaper covers. They call the diapers "napkins."
Nana Kwame carried African style
Nana Kwame smiling again!
MARTIN -- arrived while we were there in July. His mother gave him to some boys playing soccer while she went to the market. But she never returned. He is probably about 18 months. Very lethargic and sad looking. Won't make eye contact. Very skinny arms and legs though his hands, feet and maybe his face are swollen. He has a relatively big belly and no hips. These are all signs of marasmus -- severe malnutrition. He can wear a very tiny diaper. We did see improvement over our 3 weeks there as he got a bit more energy, became more repsonsive and even almost smiled. Sometimes he stores food in his cheeks. It's almost as though he doesn't have the energy to swallow it.
Nurse Margaret, known as "Mummy Nurse" with Martin. She is so wonderful and has many years experience in pediatrics. They are so lucky to have her. Her husband and children live in Accra so she only sees them on the weekends.
Margaret feeding Martin. Margaret said that a healthy baby can transform to look like Martin in about 6 months of malnturtion and it takes another 6 months to recover. For example, a healthy breastfed baby might be weaned if mother becomes pregnant. 6 months later, if not fed properly, the baby could look like this. What is Martin's story? We will never know. How old is he really? 18 months as they are guessing?
Mark (volunteer from Ireland) holding Martin. Martin does like to be held. Looks like he has some food in his cheek.
Close-up of Martin's foot. Swollen hands and feet are a sign of severe malnutrition
Kiliku with Sister Agnes. She is paid between $12 and $30 per month to help with the babies, do laundry etc.
Kiliku's real name is Kofi Larty (sounds a lot like Coffee Latte) but Kiliku is a nickname regarding his big belly. He's 2 1/2 or 3 years old. His mother died and his father couldn't care for him. His father and younger brother come to visit him sometimes. Word is when he arrived at the orphanage, he looked a lot like Martin. He has a huge belly but has lots of energy and plenty of charm. Great dancer! We all adore him.
Kiliku
Kiliku feeds his baby
Mark is giving some of his own dinner to Kiliku
Kobi looks about 12 but is 16 years old and appears to be autistic. He doesn't speak but sings and makes clicking sounds, often with his hands over his ears. He usually roams around the orphanage but sometimes he is locked in a room. The Arlington County shirt is definately one of the donations we brought!
Kobi had a fever and had to take malaria medication, the yellow stuff on the front of his shirt. He needed a shot too, for fever. Mark helped to hold him down for the meds and then comforted him afterwards.
Me with Kobi. One day I was walking with Kobi holding his hand. Someone ran over and shewed Kobi away and told me to wash my hands. Maybe they think autism is contagious?
This is little Kobi who loves the little purple chair and carries his baby in the back of his shirt.
Kobi in his "window shopping" shirt
Kobi carrying his baby on his back -- in this case it's something big!
Natalie (volunteer from Germany) gets some help carrying Kobi from a neighbor shopkeeper, Adelaide.
Kobi sleeping on Natalie's back
Caroline and Adwoata. The "ata" in her name means she has a twin. Adwoata and her twin brother, Kojoata are about 16-18 months old and may have rickets. They don't use their legs properly. She moves about by sitting and then scooting herself forward with legs crossed. Kojoata will crawl but only uses one knee. Just before we left he began to crawl using both knees.
Adwoata -- Her nickname is "Queen."
Adwoata
Kojoata - Adwoata's twin
Lisa and Caroline carry the twins Kojoata and Adwoata
Caroline feeds Adwoata some egg
Caroline and Kojoata, Adwoata's twin. He was kind of a blob, but he responded to having a lot of attention and some extra food and became Mr. Personality!
Adwoata in Caroline's bed. Caroline took her home a couple of times to give her extra attention and comfort.
Adwoata, in a nice leak-proof paper diaper, is comfy in Caroline's bed
Kwame - not walking yet. High energy, happy baby, cute as can be. At least 18 months old. Looks about 9 months old to me.
Kwame
Kwame and Lisa
Kwame's Bath
Kwame and Phillip in May when Caroline arrived. They have grown!
Twins Akusi and Akus keep track of each other. They are 2-3 years old. Kids this age can wander freely around the orphanage. They do have "school" in the mornings. They are heading towards the classrooms for older kids.
Akusi and Akus
Akus
Jessica
Matilda after her bath with powder on her. She had a teen mother who we heard may now be in jail for abandoning Matilda.
Matilda
Matilda learned to walk!
Matilda and Kwaku. Both of them seem remarkably healthy.
Cornelius. He looks so soulful here but is very playful. He has bowed legs maybe caused by rickets. Children need just 10 minutes of sun per day to get enough vitamin D to avoid rickets. These kids are outside in the sun A LOT. But maybe he is malnourished enough or has another problem that his body won't process the vitiamin D properly? He also had a pretty bad case of ringworm on the other side of his head but that is nothing serious.
Natasha is so cute. Her mother works at the orphanage.
Gladys' mother also works at the orphanage. It's nice that the hired mothers can bring their own children. I think that they get free meals too but I'm not sure.
Priscilla and Adwoa. Adwoa was found in a trashcan with her umbilical cord still attached.
Priscilla and Adwoa
Samuel has one leg shorter than the other. Some voluteers donated money to buy him a special shoe that will adjust as he grows up and allows him to walk more normally. He's a very athletic kid though and can keep up with everyone. His mother works at the orphanage.
Jessica and Kwame want to come out and play with Samuel and Kiliku. You can see Samuel's short right leg
Painting at Lucky Store where the volunteers live
Kobi and Kiliku painting
Mama Mary feeds Adwoata and Matilda. Looks like some egg today. They usually get an egg only 2 times/week.
Ata is playing with a metal car he made. He has a twin brother. They are known as "Junior Ata" and "Senior Ata." Which is this? Green clothes? Probably Junior. Senior Ata usually wears brown.
Kiliku with a balloon
Kiliku in a paper diaper. Very unusual for him to have any diaper on. In the USA he would be in "pull -ups". In Ghana he is expected to be potty trained, especially hard when he frequently has diarrhea. I'm really not sure how old he is. Probably 2 1/2 or 3 years old.
Kojoata, Kwaku and Matilda
Me holding Ama. She weighs nothing. That is not a good thing.
Phillip and Ama with an older girl, Georgina. After school the older kids often come and play with the babies. Sometimes an older kid is sick and will take a nap in the infirmary during the school day and will usually end up helping with babies too.
Me with Nana Kwame in my lap, Cornelius and Adwoata.
Neighbor boys
Adrienne with Kiliku, Patricia, and Rita (This is one of my favorite pictures)
Irish volunteer Niamh with Kojoata who loves to point and shout!
A pile of older girls and babies
Caroline helping Kiliku get ready for bed (which is just a straw mat on the floor with no blanket or pillow)
The two boys on the left sleep together every night here on a mat. Kiliku has his mat on the right. Maybe they all wet the bed and so they sleep on the mats?
Evening baby feeding. At 7:30 PM the babies are fed milk, Milo (cocoa) or porridge. Then they sleep on those mattresses with older girls. The girls don't like them to have too much to eat because they pee and poo too much. We volunteers want to get protein and food into the babies. A dilema. Of course we volunteers aren't the one's who spend the night with the babies, and we don't have to get up at 4:30 AM and then go to school. Sometimes the older girls would make it difficult for us to have access to some of the babies. But it helped us to at least understand why. These babies are always fed with cups.
Rita, me and KojoAta -- the 7:30 PM baby feeding time is also a lot of fun. The older girls are very goofy and funny. Rita is only 10 years old but knows everything about caring for babies.
Rita, Natalie and Ama. Ama wants her milk but enjoying the fun.
7:30 PM is baby feeding time and bedtime. The older girls are assigned a baby or two to care for. There is a lot of playing around. Somehow they all go to sleep eventually, on these mattresses on the floor. There is way too much playing around for me. Jumping over babies sleeping on the mats, wrestling, loud laughing when babies and these older girls need to sleep.
Caroline has Ama ready for bed with Georgina and Yaya
Goofy girls
German volunteer Natalie with Ama and Priscilla
Fun at feeding time
Fun at feeding time. I realize the older girls should have milk too.....
Natalie from Germany feeds Ama with Priscilla and Rita
Rita does Adrienne's hair and all the girls are playing at the babies bedtime
Acus and Kiliku have their babies on their backs
Caroline and Margaret with Nana Kwame and Jessica
NO ONE wanted to miss the World Cup US vs. Ghana game. GHANA WON!! The kids watch TV on Friday and Saturday nights too.
Natalie, Caroline and Abiba
Iris from Germany with Nana Kwame and Kwame
Josephine's rice lunch
Kobi and Josephine
Josephine and baby
Nap time for preschoolers. Mister Atta (red shirt) and Kobi (yellow shirt) and Kiliku (white shirt)
Caroline and Adwoata
Caroline Adrienne and Adwoata
Caroline with Kiliku, Adua and Martin
Lisa with Kwame
Well, it's all part of life right. And part of a volunteer's job for kids this age.....
Adrienne walking with preschoolers
Kathy and Kiliku
Kathy with Nana Kwame
Adrienne carries Adwoata
Mowgli and Adrienne
Kobi and Cornelius with Lisa
Kobi, Adwuoata and Kwame with Adrienne
Adri and Lisa with Kiliku, Kobi and some other kids
Fingerpainting in the preschool
Breakfast time for....
Lunchtime. Some of the babies can feed themselves. Adults can squish and wad up the rice in their hands to make it easier to stuff into the baby's mouth.
Time to eat
Sister Mary feeding babies porridge or baby cereal
Sister Agnes feeding babies
? and Kwame eating rice
Kiliku, Akus and Cornelius washing hands
Lunch time for preschoolers. Adults wad the rice into a ball for some of the kids to make it easier to eat. Looks like jollof rice (rice with tomato sauce.) There may or may not be extra protein source with the rice such as egg or a tiny bit of fish.
Lunchtime for preschoolers
Lunchtime for preschoolers. Sometimes there is only one cup to share for drinking water. Looks like 3 today!
Breakfast for volunteers -- nescafe, milo(cocoa), tea, bread, peanut butter.
Lunch for volunteers. We open the plastic containers to see what is on the menu today. Will it be yam, cassava, rice, spaghetti, fried plantain? Will the sauce be palm oil laden "red red" a little egg in it maybe some fish? Will there be some small pieces of chicken in a bowl, or maybe some hard boiled eggs? Lisa on the left is drinking purified water out of a plastic pouch.
Iris feeds Martin some of her meal (Looks like hardboiled eggs and fried plantains, and a piece of chicken.)
Mmmmm! Yams and red red sauce, heavy on the palm oil! This sure gets tiresome after a while......
Yams. One really looks like a giant's foot!
Fish heads for dinner didn't go over well with the volunteers....
Bath time
Babies get a bath I think most every day, Then are waxed with beeswax and powdered with some sort of soothing white powder. Maybe they are bathed twice a day -- first thing in the AM and then again about 4 PM.
Kiliku's bath
Kiliku's big belly
Kiliku at school
Adrienne and Kwame
Lisa with Abiba and a boy
Ama with an empty bowl
Me helping Cornelius put on his slippers with Kiliku, Mister Atta, Akusi, Akus and Josephine. There is a boy behind us ironing something!
Me with Mowgli, Mister Atta and Cornelius
Sunday morning drumming and dancing in a schoolroom
Kids in a classroom playing a pan as a drum using the canes that are used to discipline the students.
Girls including Rita carrying Kojoata. We are probably waiting for the trotro to Kasua to go to the market (to buy fabric!) and to use the internet.
Priscilla and Rita make fufu
Kiliku pretending to pound fufu
Kwame pretends to make fufu
Mister Atta and Kiliku pretend to make fufu using rocks as yams
Kids playing with a wagon (Left to right --Mowgli, Mr. Atta, Cornelius, Kiliku)
Nap time
Another Nap Time. At least these babies are not lonely.
Wenke from Germany holding Ama and Martin. Mother Mary is sleeping on the mat with a baby.
Iris from Germany with Nana Kwame, and Mark from Ireland feeding porridge to Kwame
A girl with Philip
Daddy with his shotgun. He's probably heading towards the farm. Why is he carrying the gun? I have no idea.
Some neighbor kids came to Lucky Store just to read books. First they had to go down the road to get water and stopped by on their way back.
Neighbor boys with a jug for water.
Bernard holding sweet Kwaku
Bernard in sunglasses holding Kwaku
Cows in front of Lucky Store where the volunteers live
Akunta, about age 8, was kidding but he said "I will slit my throat!" and waved the knife. Playing with a knife is just one of those weird things you see. This is better than the day I saw a preschooler waving around an even sharper knife (which I took away). We let Akunta keep cutting his stick....
Lisa with Matilda
Adrienne with Nana Kwame. He likes to throw his head back like that.
Boys playing a game with bottle tops and stones
Mr. Ata, Kuliku and Mowgli entertaining themselves
On the last day of school there was a soccer game --boys who live at the orphanage vs. boys who live in town but go to school there. The orphans won.
Girls don't play football. They are here cheering, singing and dancing on the sidelines.
Charity, age 11. She is just such a neat kid.
Junior Ata and Senior Ata are identical twins. Which is which??
Kiliku with Ama
Eric with Akus. Eric is a Ghanaian doing community service at the orphanage.
Jump rope
Babies sleeping on the dirty mattress. It was a bit chilly that day but maybe the sheet should be under them rather than over them.
Adrienne and Akusi head for the Infirmary. Akusi got so tired at the "Our Day" activities so Adrienne rescued him.
The baby in pink is a boy named Yao. He was an orphan but was soon given to a family.
The security guard enjoys wearing his santa hat!
Kiliku carries his baby on his back
Kids had day off school to clean up the grounds for some important visitors. The teachers "helped" by walking around with canes in hand.
Kids cutting the grass with knives and machetes
Lisa Adrienne with Mister Ata
Caroline with Akunta, one of her favorite boys
Hanging out in the Infirmary
Caroline with Kojoata (a boy in pink. They don't care about "pink for girls" in Ghana)
Caroline with Adwoata, Jessica and Kwaku
Rita, Charity and Patricia in front of Lucky Store where the volunteers live.
AtaKakra with Rita. AtaKakra is a quadruplet. She has 3 brothers. I think their mother died at birth. I met some missionaries in Cape Coast who think they may have taken care of those quadruplets when they were babies. I never did find out.
Goofy boys
Kids on the last day of school called "Our Day."
2 girls dressed up at the orphanage for "Our Day" last day of school
Very weird poster at the orphanage. A Delorean car? And look at that house!
Protected rainforest behind the orphanage
Pineapple
Giant Leaf
A water storage tank
I almost died laughing when I read the last line of this kid's essay
Baba used to live at "Lucky Store" before leaving for Burkina Faso. He will soon eat that snake. He had eaten a dog the week before. Before he left, he wanted to eat his cat but didn't because the volunteers all loved it. See the green bunny radio? He worked as a nightwatchman and had a gun that shoots rubberbands.
Baba's snake and bunny radio
Down the road from Lucky Store
Caroline and her friend, Gladys, at the market. Caroline bought fabric from her several times.
Our favorite seamstress down the road. Stores VERY often have religious names.
Seamstress with sewing machine on her head
Neighborhood store with the owner, Adelaide. We bought LOTS of things from her such as candy, crackers, instant milk powder and soap.
The "Egg Bread Lady" down the road from Lucky Store where the volunteers live. In the evening she makes omelets served on small bread loaves. She usually has hard boiled eggs too. She is the best option when the evening meal isn't quite what you feel like eating.
Neighbor kids playing a game in the evening called "Ludo" sort of like the game "Sorry." Some of these kids attend school at the orphanage.
Neighbor kids by the side of the road in the evening selling oil for lamps
Antoinette helps Jim call his mom from her "office". These Space Telephone stands are all over the place in Ghana. Calls in Ghana are very cheap but to the US it was about 75 cents/minute.
Caroline and Antoinette who is 14 years old.
Lisa calling home from Antoinette's phone
Antoinette, at her "office"
Antoinette
Caroline pounding fufu with Antoinette's sister
Fufu dinner at Atoinette's sisters house
Fufu dinner at Antoinette's sister's house
Caroline (the pan is empty....!)
Ready to go to Antoinette's church
Me in my new African outfit
Church --at a local school. Our service was very loud but the service in the classroom right next to ours was even louder and more energetic with drumming and singing. And there was another loud energetic service going on out in the school yard!
Kids from the orphanage hanging out at Lucky Store
Adrienne and Adwoata at Lucky Store
Lucky Store where the volunteers live
Dancing at Lucky Store where the volunteers live. It was a going away party for Iris from Germany.
Me dancing with all the young African guys
Satellite internet at Kasua. Works best on a sunny day.
STC bus station in Accra. These buses are more like greyhound buses, a step up from the trotros in comfort. But they are more expensive, likely to be running late and often involve a lot of waiting around. And can you stand those Nigerian movies they show? Sometimes it's just easier to go hop on a trotro which will leave as soon as it fills up.
Kanishie Station in Accra
Kaneshie Trotro Station in Accra
3 girls on a trotro
The trotro has 2 workers - the driver and the guy who waves out the window to get customers and collects the money. This is the money collector.
Kathy on the trotro
Landscape
Photo out the trotro window
I was surreptitiously taking pictures out the trotro window when I saw this lady taking a picture of US. So I got out my camera and took a picture of her. We all were laughing.
Interesting signs! "Pray Without Ceasing Haircut", "Precious God Refrigeration and Air Conditioning". Signs like this are all over the place in Southern Ghana which is heavily Christian. Northern Ghana is more Muslim and it is reflected in the names of businesses.
Eco currency? Interesting.
Nestle on the march in Ghana. Accra Natl Cultural Centre. Nestle has huge presence in Ghana. I have been boycotting them for years because of their marketing practices, especially regarding baby formula. Regulations established by pro-breastfeeding organizations must be working because I never saw a single advertisement for baby formula. But I saw PLENTY of other Nestle advertising.
Circle, Accra
Nestle on the march
Accra Traffic
Sign saying "Lord J Homeopathic Clinic" and a nice looking trotro
Shops in Kasua
"King Jesus Fons" in Kasua
Businesses along the road
Jeans for sale in a tree, Accra near the internet cafe
Internet Cafe in Accra by Koala Market
FAST internet in Accra!
Good place to buy souveniers in Accra
Lisa and Adrienne at the National Cultural Centre market
Great xylophone player I didn't get to hear for very long when I was whisked away to look at some for purchase
Guys I bought my xylophone from
Colin Powell. He knows the capital of every state in the US and the slogan. "Virginia is for lovers" "Michigan the Great Lakes State - Lansing the capital, Detroit, Escanaba, Cheboygan (but he didn't know Ann Arbor). New Mexico Land of Enchantment. Albuquerque but the capital is Santa Fe. ETC! He was a rather annoying "friend" at the Natl Cultural Center but we got a kick out of him and bought some things from him.
Mural in the market
White mannequins at the Accra Airport
AMSTERDAM -- Rijks Museum
Amsterdam -- bike parking structure with at least 3 levels
Hotel Prinsenhof at Utrecht and Prinsengracht. We loved it!
Gay Pride Parade in the canal. Boats with dancers and very loud music. Parties in the streets.
Belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream!!
more street partying
"Pancakes" (really crepes) at Hansel and Gretel cafe
Didgeridoo player on the street in Amsterdam. He used the sticks to make cool, interesting rhythms. He's set up right near an ATM machine where people have to stand in line. (When i first saw him setting this up, I thought, oh dear, that's a bong.....)
Small boat and windmill at the open-air museum near Arnhem showing a collection of old farms, mills, houses and workshops
Cool ride-on toys at Outdoor Air Museum
Poffertjes being made at Open Air Museum
Poffertjes. Um. They look better than they tasted....
Outdoor Museum sculptures
Laborer's house at Open Air Museum Arnhem
Open Air Museum Arnhem
Tram at Open Air Museum Arnhem
Someone collects barf bags from airplanes
Someone collects people's shopping lists......
Indonesian rijsttafel "rice feast" dinner in Amsterdam. It would be worth going back to Amsterdam just for this. (or to Indonesia!) Each and every bite was incredible.
Kathy the world traveler heading home
Catching the tram to go to the train station to go to the airport to fly home after 6 amazing weeks
Screen on the airplane showing plane flying over Sahara desert. Awesome. (We actually flew to Amsterdam; I borrowed this photo from someone else)
Dulles Airport, VIRGINIA USA
Sanitzing our feet! (Caroline and Adrienne)
Julia and Lisa
