The Tourist Ventures – Part III

As we approached Cape Coast, we saw a number of billboards welcoming President Obama, who visited the city last July. People here do love Americans, which is great for us!

Just outside of Cape Coast is a tourist attraction known as Kakum – a rope bridge “canopy walk” through a tropical rain forest. After a breakfast of Ghanaian doughnuts and banku, we ventured out amid the trees…and saw not one monkey. =( No matter, we still thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the greenery – up north, all is dry and brown this time of year.

View from a platform in the rain forest – it’s a good thing none of us was afraid of heights!

Our next stop was more sobering than enjoyable, as we toured Elmina Castle, where slaves were imprisoned for four hundred years. It was horrible to see the dark, airless rooms in which hundreds of people were crammed together, while all the time the free, joyous crash of the waves on the shore outside the castle walls was clearly audible. The slave trade in the castle didn’t end until 1870 – “How could such a wrong system survive until so recently?” I wondered, and was quickly reminded of places throughout the world today where slavery still exists. As long as there is sin in the world, there will be violence and unimaginable cruelty.

We went on to Accra, passing fruit stands where we got sweet little bananas and juicy pineapple. Accra is a humid, populous city, but we were able to take one last little walk together before going to the airport for the parting.

And Daddy and Benjamin landed just before a forecasted ice storm. I’m sure they’re still missing the Ghanaian temperatures. ;)

The Tourist Ventures – Part II

The purpose of our second day on the road was to get from Point A (Mole National Park) to Point B (Cape Coast). We wended our way through lovely countryside, stopping at an old-fashioned filling station to fuel our vehicle. The diesel was pumped by hand into clear measuring cylinders, then siphoned into the tank. Wow!

On we went to Abba’s home village, where we spent the night with his family. Since we arrived at 3:00 in the afternoon, one of Abba’s cousins – “Rey” – gave us a walking tour of the town, from the chief’s palace to the community health clinic (where scales – the first I’ve seen in Ghana – revealed that the exercise and Ghanaian food have been doing their job: I came purposing to put on weight, and am succeeding. Woo-hoo!) to a cassava farm.

As we walked along, we attracted a lot of attention, and Rey explained that the only obrunis the people ever see are on TV, “so you could be criminals, and people would still be happy to see you.” He was trying to say that they regarded us as celebrities, but I hastened to assure him that if it was any consolation, we weren’t criminals. ;) Ghana was beating Burkina Faso in their Cup of Nations (African soccer tournament) match, which was quite fun, as the town erupted into cheers each time our team scored.

Abba arranged for his family to prepare fufu for supper: what a treat for Daddy and Benjamin (and me)! We brushed our teeth out behind the family compound, spitting on the bare earth, and marveling at the panoply of stars overhead.

It was a good day.

The Tourist Ventures – Part I

“Have you been to the wildlife refuge?” locals kept asking me. “Have you been to the Paga crocodile pond?” “Have you been to –?”

No, no, no. I wasn’t doing ANY of the touristy things until my dad and brother came. Then we’d cram it all in, and I could start answering “Oh, yes: and it was so impressive!” to any further inquiries.

So when Daddy and Benjamin arrived, we planned a three-day road trip to take them back to the airport in Accra. On our first morning we headed toward Mole National Park, a large wildlife preserve that is reputed to contain lions and hyenas further in. However, on our little two-hour safari, we just saw a bunch of members of the deer and wild pig families…oh yes, and one family of baboons, and most spectacularly, elephants from within 100 feet.

And here I have a most amazing fact to relate to you: we’ve always seen elephants pictured as gray, but the ones we saw emerged drippingly black from the watering hole. “Oh, yes,” our guide said, “our African elephants are black. They just become gray when they roll around in dirt to protect themselves from insects.”

We were astonished. You learn something new every day.

Our safari guide assured us that this gray bull just rolled around in the mud

Jumper cables, anyone?

African art
Belts
Bibles
Cell phone credit
Clocks
Clothes hampers
Cushions
Dress shirts
DVDs
Electrical adapters
Eyeglasses
Flags
Flashlights
Grapes
Hats
Juices
Phone cords
Pita bread
Screwdrivers
Shoes
Soccer balls
Superglue
USB cables
Wallets
Watches
Wrenches

What do all of these have in common? They are some of the things that Daddy, Benjamin, and I saw street vendors in Accra selling – fearlessly they moved amongst the traffic, going from car to car, trying to make eye contact and get motorists to roll down their windows and shell out their money. And do you know what? These hawkers wouldn’t be hawking their goods in this style if they weren’t successful at selling things this way. Abba (who was driving us around) bought bananas, plantain chips, and water from these folks, and probably would have bought batteries or socks if he’d needed them.

This method of trading might be convenient for those in the car who can wait at a stoplight AND buy their groceries at the same time; but all in all I think the American way is a bit less stressful. ;)

Guest Post from my Dad

Well, Benjamin and I have been in Ghana about a week now, and are happy to announce that we have finally thawed out. Of course, 90-degree weather will do that to just about anyone, no matter how much snow you left behind.

Leah has kept us busy during our stay. We’ve spent time touring Pastor Tirumbu’s various ministries, both here in the city and out in remote villages. Benjamin and I were introduced to a village chief who, as a mark of honor, invited us to sit on his official seat with him and presented us with cola nuts and Ghanaian yams. I guess we are now honorary chiefs (chieves?).

While walking through town with Leah, I’m struck by the number of people she knows and greets along the way. It’s only a 5-6 mile walk, but on our first try, we spent more than three hours on the way, as we kept greeting people and being introduced by Leah. Everyone was excited to see that her father and brother were visiting. We have learned a few words in the local dialect, but don’t really understand the language or the grammar, and I feel a bit like a parrot. But it makes the Ghanaians happy to hear us speak their tongue.

Yesterday, we walked over to a compound house, where some student friends of Leah’s live. We got there just as they were finishing preparations for a meal of fried plantain and bean stew. They offered us some: we couldn’t take much, as we had a large supper awaiting us at home, but we sampled the fare and would like to report that it was delicious, as has been all the Ghanaian cuisine we’ve tried.

After being here, we can see for ourselves how well Leah is being taken care of, and how everyone looks out for her. The Ghanaians are very friendly, welcoming people – to her, and by extension, to her family.

Of course, the problem with visiting a new location is that you always want to come back. I guess we’ll just have to make plans to return to Africa in the future!

Note from Leah: please pray for us as we travel down to Accra this next week, taking in a few more of Ghana’s tourist attractions along the way. Likely I won’t have access to a computer again until Friday or Saturday of next week. Thanks for your prayers!

I think I’m in love…NOT!

One of the things tourists have to do when they come to northern Ghana is visit the Paga crocodile pond, a 5-acre overgrown puddle that is teeming with over 500 “tame” crocodiles (the locals claim they go swimming with the reptiles; of course, they keep the pond stocked with fish, and then charge tourists to feed the crocs with chickens). I’ve been saving all of the touristy things to experience with Daddy and Benjamin, so at last I traveled north and visited the famed crocodiles.

Five months ago, the Tirumbus hosted Grandma Gloria, a retired missionary who, with her husband, led Pastor Tirumbu to the Lord nearly thirty years ago. We spent hours together as she reminisced about her life in Africa. One of the things she made me promise to do when at last I would visit the Paga pond was to kiss a crocodile. “Why go all the way to see these crocodiles and not do something outrageous like kiss one?” she challenged me.

Grandma Gloria, here is photographic proof that I’ve kept my promise. ;)

Guest Post from Benjamin

Have safely arrived. Stop. Am somewhat jetlagged. Stop. No major problems. Stop.

Isn’t it nice to have faster communication these days? And the ability to distribute it to all who are interested is better than it was just ten years ago. How will information dissemination change in the next ten years? I don’t know, but meanwhile let me use this medium to express my impressions so far.

At about 7:00 PM on Friday the 8th, my Dad and I got to Dulles international airport, so as not to be late for the 10:00 PM flight. But due to winter weather in London, the connection point, the flight was delayed until 1:00 AM. Oh well, a five-hour expected layover provided enough cushion that we were not worried. When we landed in London, we had to sit on the tarmac for over an hour. Okay, a little worry started to set in as time wore on, but we were able to make it to the gate a good twenty minutes before the flight left. That was much less of a layover than we had been expecting.

The flight to Accra was slightly longer than the first flight. A look at the flight path told us that the plane in fact passed directly over our final destination. If only we could have jumped out there with parachutes….. Yeah right. We got to Accra about 10:00 PM GMT, and took about two hours to get out of the airport, due to a missing bag. Jason from SIM met us and took us to the guesthouse to spend the night. Our flight up north left early in the morning, so we had to leave at about 4:45 AM. So we had two consecutive nights of little or no sleep, in addition to being jetlagged. Oh well, C’est la vie.

Next morning's flight arrived about 7:00 AM, and we joyfully greeted Leah and Pastor Tirumbu. After loading our luggage, we drove directly to the Tirumbus’ house to eat breakfast, shower (yay!), and get ready for Church. While hot running water is not to be had here, cold showers are somewhat refreshing after the heat. For various reasons, I found it difficult to stay awake during the 2½ hour Church service, but I managed. However, I will not necessarily remember the names of all two dozen or so people to whom I was introduced that morning. At the house, lunch was served (Ghana’s food is very flavorful), and then we took a siesta: not normal in Ghana, but we were severely lacking in sleep. After that, we went for a walk until supper. At 8:00 PM, it was time for bed so that we could wake up at 5:30 the next morning for another day.

Note from Leah: It is wonderful to have them here! Thanks for all the prayers. =)

On the heels of the last post

Please pray that my dad and brother make it over here on time…snow is falling back home, and there are rumors of possible flight delays and/or cancellations.

May we trust God’s perfect plan no matter what happens!

Christmas in Ghana…and my beloved family

A Ghanaian Christmas, I’ve discovered, is much more about friends than about family as compared to a Christmas in the U.S. Where Americans tend to get together with their families and stay in their homes for the day, Africans are all about getting out and visiting each other. I was expecting to spend a quiet, festive day with my African family; but instead I found myself spending the morning chopping vegetables and washing dishes, helping to prepare a feast that was slowly nibbled at throughout the day by a stream of visitors who came to call on the Tirumbus. I’d purchased gifts for each family member, and ended up hurriedly presenting the gifts in the living room while three guests were eating in the kitchen.

Pastor Tirumbu presented me with my Christmas gift after family devotion on December 26, explaining that due to the busyness of Christmas Day itself, they usually exchange family gifts the day after. Oops!

The novelty of observing new traditions somewhat distracted me from the fact that I was away from my own family; but I had a dream a few nights later in which I was so homesick that when an amazing airline deal came along, I booked a surprise flight home, just to see my family briefly. Unfortunately, in the dream, I found I’d left my passport – which I didn’t need to return home since, after all, I was an American returning to America – in Ghana, and was going to have to pay exorbitant rush fees to get a replacement passport and visa so that I could finish out my year according to my supporters’ expectations. =D

Well, if I can’t go home before June, at least a little of home can come to me…and that will be in the form of my dad and brother, who will be with me in just FOUR DAYS!! Please pray for their safe travels and for the arrival of all the luggage they’ll be bringing. And oh yeah, praying that we’ll handle the parting OK at the other end might not be a bad idea either. ;)

One last little thing about Christmas in Ghana vs. America: where my family had a 30-inch snowfall, I experienced temperatures that peaked in the 90s and 100s (even today’s high is expected to top 96 degrees!). Regardless of location, however, Christmas is about the coming of our Savior. Praise the Lord that Jesus is God in Ghana and in America, that He died and rose again and now reigns on high!

New Year’s Eve – Then and Now

Four years ago I participated in a New Year’s Eve service in the very church I’m now attending. My journal from that time states that my friend Liz and I went to the “service, where the decibel level on the sound system was in the red…. Then began a song – sometimes their language, sometimes English – that lasted at least half an hour! One enthusiastic girl in our row induced Liz and me to go up front with her and ‘dance,’ which for me meant walking in step and keeping track of the double clap that came at such an odd time…. The song was followed by a sermon…. The pastor would read his notes in English, and then the interpreter would accompany his words with enthusiastic gestures, so that we felt as though we first heard and then saw the sermon. At 11:30 came a 10-minute break, which we took advantage of to slip out and…pray in the new year as a team, African praises echoing in our ears.”

This year:

* The decibel level was not in the red (although it was still fairly loud!).
* I knew most of the songs. (Also, by now I’ve realized that it’s not one song going on for half an hour, it’s song after song without any break between – hence the rotation between various languages.)
* I didn’t dance up front. (I’ve realized that actually, most people DON’T dance up front; but there’s plenty of movement in the rows, and people who want to dance up the aisle feel free to do so.)
* I had the double clap down pat. ;)
* The sermon wasn’t interpreted (but this year’s speaker supplied his own gestures).
* I stayed in the service until it ended at 12:30 a.m.

But the biggest difference is that where everyone was strange four years ago, save for the members of my team and perhaps one or two others, this year I looked around at a room full of familiar faces and friends, and exchanged warm smiles with those with whom I made eye contact.

How can God give us so much love to share?!