getting ready to leave on Thursday
Arriving in Ghana on Friday
Welcome to Ghana!
Street scenes in Accra on 3 hour drive to Cape Coast on Saturday
At Cape Coast, Ghana
Cape Coast, Elmina Slave Castle
Elmina Slave Castle
entrance
Exile Room
sign reads "slave exit to waiting boats" point of no return.
our group at Elmina entrance
beach at Cape Coast
fishing boat harbor
on the way back to Accra
tall bicycle matt saw
waiting in Accra airport flying up north to Tamale Sunday morning
getting on 17 seater plane to Tamale...a little nervous.
aerial view from plane. notice the compound set-up of the mud huts.
Cynthia and Paul Napari just got married 1 week prior to our arrival. He greeted us at the airport and was our initial point of contact and she was a wonderful hostess...by the end of the week, we'd gone to the market with her several times, buying souvenirs, fruit, bread, fabric...and then she arranged to have us all fitted and had custom native clothing made for us. matt and i had white to match ( like they're wearing here) because it symbolized a time of celebration since we were a married couple.
at Tarikpaa Baptist Church. the women and men sit on different sides in any gathering.
we liked the drum set! it matched the blue walls of the interior
our guest house in Tamale, called the GILLBT Guest House (Ghana Institute of Linguistics - Literacy and Bible Translation)
just before we arrived in Ghana, the new currency came out...instead of 10,000 Ghana cedis = $ 1 U.S. it is now called just 1 Ghana cedi to about $ 1 U.S. (this made it a lot easier to do conversions...i was the team treasurer)
at the Tamale market on Monday. matt with a man who sold him his first African smock.
two women making kente cloth
you don't see this much in the U.S.
we liked the blue wall and the little cat
main street in Tamale
in the local market
school children!
at our favorite restaurant in Tamale...we ate hear 3 or 4 times. Chicken and rice every time.
30 cent cokes and fantas here. you have to drink it there in order to give them their bottles back.
at the World Vision Headquarters on the day we get to meet Adam
African Culture calls for formal meetings regularly, so first, we started with the District Executive Chief of the Savelugu/Nanton District. We had to seek his permission to go into the Tampion Village to meet Adam
cute children while we await meeting the village cheif in Tampion
native drummers of the Dagomba Tribe. it was said that they communicate to the chief with these drum beats along with vocal calls. They are communicating the entire history of the Dagomba and those who are drummers learn when they are young and pass it on to their children.
meeting Bawa Yahaya for the first time. He is 21 years old and lives in Tampion (Adam's village) and works for World Vision. Bawa is a Child Welfare Supervisor and has translated and written Adam's letters to me for the entire 6 years! it was so great to get to meet him. we are awating to hear if he is accepted to the institution (University) within the next couple months!
village chief and elders filing in to join the ceremony of meeting Adam Inusah at Tampion on Monday July 9, 2007
the line-up of boys I was to "select" Adam from. World Vision wanted to have fun and see if i could pick him from a group of children, based on the photos they've sent me over the years! it was exciting because I knew I could do it!
there he is...waiting patiently (this was THE hardest part for me, having to see him up there, and even making eye-contact with him but not being able to greet him yet)
still waiting
then I get to play along and try to guess which one he is...
i got it!
the head teacher picking him up
i was overwhelmed and so happy to meet him
then Adam got to come sit with us during the ceremony!
he looks happy
the crowd was enormous...matt kept saying it was like 15 rows deep. we were told the village had 4000 to 5000 people and i think they were all there. we were the 1st sponsors to come visit a sponsor child in Adam's village, so they made this a big deal. we were honored
chief and village elders
Adam
ritual was to dance to the drummers...so we all got out there and danced. Adam did a great job. i know he was very nervous. the smocks all the men wear have pleats, which are made to twirl when they dance.
people and children everywhere, even in the trees
we received gifts! matt's and mine matched since we were married!
we got to meet Adam on our 2 year anniversary, July 9th, 2007. the had a nice anniversary card for us!
photo with the chief! Matt said he noticed Adam a little nervous getting that close to the chief
the village gave our entire group native clothing! very nice!
where's waldo?
after the ceremony, we were able to go to Adam's compound to visit and give gifts
Bawa and Paul from World Vision were there to help translate. Adam is in 5th grade and is learning English. He can understand it better that he can speak. it didn't matter to me, i was just glad to be there! He is a very shy boy
in Adam's father's hut
outside in the compound, you can see where they cook
Adam's hut on the left and his father's on the right
they have a dog called "Empty Hands" and we learned she just had pups. A man crawled into this opening to retrieve the puppies so we could see them.
Inusah Adam in chalk above Adam's door
i liked his dad's door, so we took a picture by it.
me with Adam and his parents. he is an only child
a soccer ball I mailed him a while back. i remember seeing it in a photo he sent and it looked deflated a little and i wondered why. it got punctured on the way so they could never fully pump it up. but you can still see they played with it. since it had a hole i asked if i could take it home. they said i could. i didn't feel so bad b/c i just gave Adam 3 soccer balls and we gave 6 to his school. it is really neat getting to have back a ball i sent him and he used!
Bawa has a gift of eggs (customary for them to give a gift of eggs when someone visits) As a team, we received a lot of eggs on our trip from many different villages!
getting the soccer ball.
Tampion.
walking back to the van
not wanting to leave
i asked Adam if any of his friends were around. he looked and then went out into the crowd to find someone and he came back with this boy! His name was Sayibu.
the scar on Adam's cheek is a traditional marking of the Dagomba
back at the guest house. playing cards
gas station.
cows or oxen crossing the road
in Kushibo village, tuesday, seeing the church being built that our team raised the funds for.
Audrey with the children of Kushibo
women carrying goods on their heads walking from the city to their village
termite hills, everywhere. about 8 feet tall!
a real "cow boy" Curtis, on our trip, informed us this is where the term "cowboy" originated. from small boys who herd cattle. they were happy and would smile big when we'd waive as we drove by! hard lives for young boys.
children would wear beads around their waists in order to word off something, can't remember exactly what
plastering the church
meeting in the shade of the tree
speaker on bike, going to be used for the crusade in their village that night
by the church in Kushibo with the school building in the background
Tuesday afternoon, we got to go back to Tampion to be present at Adam's "Good News Club" meeting. It is a Bible Study class, through World Vision for all the sponsored children to learn Bible knowledge and songs! great experience to be there and a great environment for those children!!!
chalkboard
and illustrations
they'd organized a Bible trivia game to start off, between Matt's team and Mary Emma's team. My team won 26 to 19! We were very impressed with the knowledge some of those children had of the Bible and we are so glad Adam gets to be a part of this Club!
Having to leave Adam for good this time. it was hard. because of time, we had to turn down getting to see him and his team mates in their soccer jerseys, which means we probably would have gotten to see him play soccer for a minute! darn it! i'm sending one of those new disposable video cameras so we'll get to see him play that way!!! i'm glad i thought of that otherwise i'd probably still be upset.
one last picture
waiving bye, i made sure Bawa had him in the front of the crowd so i could waive bye to him as we left. it was very hard to say good bye and leave.
Wednesday at Tarikpaa, we drove past babies being weighed at a make-shift clinic
good wall with drawings
a good portrait of these two girls. so many of the young girls were responsible for carrying the little babies on their backs.
another good portrait
children at Kushibo outside the school where we held Vacation Bible School for 4 days
some of the older children's school supplies
back at the guest house doing laundry
dirty red water from all the red dirt
Tuesday night at the crusade revival in Kushibo. that night 11 people accepted Christ. it is important that we continue to pray for their strength and commitment as they are most likely looked down upon in this predominantly Muslim community.
that night 11 people accepted Christ! (initially 7 and 4 later that night). it is important that we continue to pray for their strength and commitment to Christ as they are most likely looked down upon in this predominantly Muslim community.
Thursday, back at the church at Kushibo
teaching Vacation Bible School
Cheryl handing out stickers
"Oware" a popular game of counting
a "car"
singing songs
matt squatted down to take a photo, so they did too!
after Vacation Bible School
happy meal toys
gifts presented to the school at Kushibo: lots of crayons, pencils, school supplies, and soccer balls!
buying fruit with Cynthia in town
meeting some missionaries from the states. they've been in Tamale for 6 months of 3 years and are there through the IMB (International Missions Board)
Paul Napari on his motor bike
this is clark (later i realize it is really klerk) i told him i liked his shirt cause of the rooster on it. he said, "should i take it off and give it to you?" i said, "no clark, i just like it!" then he said, "should i have one made for you when you come back next year?" it was just funny how he took the compliment. they are so generous when they hardly have anything. a good lesson to learn from!
Friday morning at the school building in Kushibo
matt's favorite boys, Yaku and Zachia they were "cow boys"
playing soccer during a round at Vacation Bible School. we used "evangeballs" where the colors on the balls resembled salvation. black=sin, red=blood (of Christ), white=Christ (perfection), yellow=streets of gold (in heaven), green=growth (as a Christian). they all play and then gather around to learn the lesson. they'll be reminded of this as they continue to play with those balls!
giving the boys a little cow and a little horse! my favorite boy was the little one on the right
Schwali took an instant liking to Matt. the first day he held his hand and would pick off specks of dust form his white t-shirt (taking care of him). later, Matt gave him this tiger
the little boy i liked!
salvation bracelets
Matt with Zachia
the girls carried their books on their heads!
Matt doing what he does best!
Ghana Institute of Linguistics - Literacy and Bible Translation GILLBT we wanted to get copies of the new Bible (old and new testaments) translated into the Dagomba language. they'd just released them 3 weeks prior to our visit! we bought 2 and will give one to Adam.
a baby chick just running around our feet
photo store
88 cent Walmart recorder = hours of entertainment for these boys!
beautiful!
the group bought Zak and Pastor Mohammed the nicer Pastor edition of the new Dagomba Bibles, complete with Black covers and gold leaf edges! They loved and appreciated them so much! Pastor Mohammed used him to preach at the crusade.
Chicken...
and rice
we all wore our HCA t-shirts the last day, Saturday
interior of the church in Kushibo
good portrait of this little girl
chart
school room
oldest age school room we taught VBS in
when we arrived the last morning, God placed Matt's and my favorite children at the place we got out of the van. we learned it was hard to give gifts away when many children were around and we'd brought our 3 last big gifts, hoping to be able to hand them out. it was perfect timing, no other children were around and we were able to give the three children some toys. it made us so happy cause we'd gotten to know them over the past few days coming to their village!
then we got a good picture with them!
handing out toys
Matt showing them how a kaleidoscope works
checking out their toy "car"
walking to see the chief
holding a baby girl
matt had a friend
Elizabeth praying over the sick chief of Kushibo.
he wanted to take a picture with us!
children outside the chief's palace door
inside the chief's compound
one of the chief's many wives
they were cooking
mud huts
pounding
paths
drying herbs on the roof
a hoe
how they carry babies on their backs, usually with a piece of native fabric
thought she was really pretty.
this little girl helped us sing songs and hold up our story cloth every day at Vacation Bible School.
this boy was 15, he goes to Junior Secondary school in a different village and is in Kushibo on the weekends, so he missed Vacation Bible School. He approached me with many questions about Christianity. He needed a English Bible and i'd just that morning given 20 away to Bawa, then i thought i could give him a salvation bracelet, like we'd passed out at VBS, only to realize all the extras were all back at the guest house waiting to go to Tarikpaa Church. I was so sad I had nothing to give him. I just encouraged him to attend the church once it was finished being built and the pastor could guide him there and would have a Bible for him. Later he introduced me to his brother who had received a salvation bracelet and he agreed to share his salvation bracelet with him! that made me happy. this was a special boy, i was so proud of his commitment to Christ and his desire to learn from the Bible
snapping
old building in Tarikpaa
bathroom
waiting for closing ceremony at Tarikpaa Church
receiving gifts of traditional clothing from Tarikpaa Church
Presenting gifts to the churches at the closing ceremony
Simon Paul, my favorite boy in Tarikpaa. he asked for my water bottle the first day and so I gave it to him and then later we gave him a little nerf football. His brother Elijah is in the purple.
Saturday night, Cynthia prepared us dinner at her house. we ate in the courtyard.
it was very nice
fruit for dessert! bananas, oranges and mango
"Gye Nayme" national symbol meaning nothing is possible without it being God's will.
certificates congratulating us for the work we'd completed that week in Tamale
After picking out fabric and getting fitted we tried on our clothes that Cynthia had made for us all.
Matt's and mine were matching white because we were married.
with the extra fabric, matt had a hat made
so did the other guys!
Pastor Mohammed and Clark riding away on bikes in the pitch dark on the crazy streets of Tamale. i was worried but they made it fine
going to church at Tarikpaa Church on Sunday morning
our group in gifts of clothing from Tarikpaa
Paul and Cynthia ready for church, matching again
this is how their Sunday School would meet, in small groups
Meshach, a little boy in Tarikpaa i liked on the last day.
the church choir walking into church singing
inside
offering
Cheryl giving "proclaimers" solar-powered audio Bibles in Dagomba language
i gave Meshach an HCA t-shirt and a pair of socks as we left
Zak Fusini and Zach Read. Zak was with us most of the week
Job and Matt. So was Job. They are all related to Paul Napari
Me and Zak
Simon Paul and his Father and Mother
huge arena where the African National Soccer Cup is going to be held in spring 2008. Tamale, Ghana
close up
driving to Kumasi, Ghana
they are trying to start controlling where people "free" themselves and are providing more places to go.
bananas on the head
while we waited 30 minutes for road construction.
more views to Kumasi
Barber shop on the street in Kumasi, one of matt's favorite rare sightings.
"Aseda House and Fousaa Hotel Ltd." is what this sign is supposed to read...we drove around 45 minutes trying to find our hotel.
view from our 4th floor hotel window
nice buffet dinner at hotel that night
chicken, rice, fried rice, some beef, pasta, and fish pasta
the best thing ever, fresh fruit and strawberry ice cream! YUM!
waiting Monday morning for bus, they were on Ghana time and were 2 hours late.
we just waited
wooden stop sign and that is ice cream he is carrying on his head. there is some sort of insulation on the top
roads in the village we performed hut-to-hut evangelism
Pastor Kwaku in Kumasi.
me trying to pump water from a bore hole well.
Matt likes the little guy in the blue button up with his hat inverted!
night view from hotel window
Do Not Urinate Here, Tuesday Morning
Views in Kumasi
Kumasi
Ashanti Palace another Gye Nayme symbol
peacock
Pastor Kwaku at Palace taking us on a tour.
rice bags
a $450,000 U.S. church being built in Kumasi. all funds being raised by natives
after lunch at church
in village we performed evangelism in
coming back from hut-to-hut
me with my translator, Frank. he lives in Kumasi
Matt with Mr. B from A Life Church in Arlington and his translator
children in village
drawings in school walls
address on school wall
us with Daniel. he was 21 and from Accra. Working with Pastor Kwaku's group
Cheryl and son Zach
showing of the Jesus film, Tuesday night
we prayed for the rain to stop so the film could be showed and God stopped it about 1/4 mile away from our destination!
raised hands symbolizing acceptance of Jesus. then they went and signed up for accountability
Ghana just celebrated 50 years of Independence this past March!
on our bus going to the Kumasi airport Wednesday morning.
street views in Kumasi
Matt "window shopping" at Kumasi airport!
our 50 seater plane which took us back to Accra.
at the Accra market. our favorite antique vendor with a wooden boat we wish we could have brought home
Pastor Emmanuel who went with us to the market in Accra, with Cheryl
our favorite! Pastor Mohammed!
Matt and Zach in the Accra Airport
We're back home!
