Dec 19 Monkey Sanctuary & Mt Gemi in Volta Region

Now for the entry I should have typed last Sunday, the 19^th of December, after coming home from the last of my adventures in Ghana.  Early Saturday morning William, the other driver the Crosby’s employ, came to pick us up. Happily when my downstairs housemate, Christy, came home Friday with her visiting friend Brittany, they decided to join me  for  a trip to Volta mountain region of Ghana, about four hours’ drive north of Accra. Again we went in the school van, so had plenty of room to spread out and even lie down if we wanted.

We passed many  towns with colorful market day crowds, and poor villages with mud huts and thatched rooves at best.  As expected the roads mostly rutted with “potholes” that might be three feet deep, so the drivers swerve all over the road to try to spare the vehicles.  Even the best driver (and passengers) will still come home with black & blue marks from banging into the doors or seat edges. I’ve still got a big bruise on my left arm from when I was lying down to spare my back, and I hit the back of the seat in front of me.  But the scenery was worth it, beautiful open areas, with trees of various sizes, with mountains  rising in the distance. We first went to Gemi  Mountain, one of the tallest in the country. Since this was William’s hometown he knew how to get close to the top before we had to hike the last bit.  It was a spectacular view to look down and see different towns, and some fields even, and the lake & rivers connecting. Of course it is Africa, and a hot hike, but when a breeze came by on our way down, Christy took a picture of me with my arms spread enjoying the breeze completely.  Like most tourists, I’d learned to take along lots of water and a few sandwiches for food, so we took a break for lunch before next heading to the monkey sanctuary near HoHoe.

These places I was fortunate enough to see are not like American tourist attractions. No big tourist brochures or signs telling you how to find them (or that they even exist). This was a small village about the size of my church campus, on the edge of a jungle. The “guide” was dressed casually and spoke excellent English, giving us small bananas and telling us about the village history and how they came to consider the small monkeys sacred (now an endangered species) and protected them.  Two large busses of school children had just left, so the monkeys were not as hungry and didn’t care to come out in droves. About fifteen or twenty monkeys of the 300 came out  and got acquainted.  If I held the banana unpeeled as the guide demonstrated, a few came right up to peel part of the banana and grab a piece before scampering off. I made the kissing sound like they make, and eventually they gently climbed up my leg and sat on my forearm to get some of the banana. It was so neat, and I could have stayed there an hour, but the peels did start getting me messy and we had other places to see. I sent one picture with my last blog entry, and I’ll send another now probably.  I have hundreds of pictures, and I have a hard time choosing only four per entry, so I’ll sign off before telling about Wli Waterfall  and the rest of my last trip.

Just looking at the pictures again makes me sad I don’t have anyone close by to remember these things with. It was a remarkable God-given opportunity I cherish, even if I don’t chose to return.

  

December 24 Back Home

Although I'm back home in Harrisburg, North Carolina, this will not be my last post about my African adventure. The days before I flew home, and the flight itself are stories I want to share, but since Jeremiah picked me up at the Charlotte airport Monday, I've immersed myself in unpacking and enjoying the Christmas season. My daughter in law, Liz drove in Tuesday and they will stay until after the Christmas Eve service tonight. Ivy came over Wednesday for dinner and to make Christmas cookies, so it has been a blessed Christmas homecoming!

My travels last weekend into the mountain area of Ghana, and reflections since arriving after a VERY long flight are things I want to share before I close my blog, so stay tuned for my next post after Christmas. My address is again 4158 Center Place Drive, Harrisburg, NC 28075, and my new cell phone (Verizon, off Jeremiah's account) is 704- 818-7998. I don't anticipate getting a landline soon, if at all.

So, my friends, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and restful celebration of our Saviour's birth.

As always,
Diann

December 16 Cape Coast travels

Thursday, December 16 It’s about quarter to six, so it will soon be dark. I woke up  more than twelve hours ago, out of habit not the alarm on my phone.  My first overnight stay in Africa except my home in the “Palace”. Yesterday my second travel out of Accra was to Cape Coast, the most visited place in the southern half of Ghana and about four or five hours trip. Happily I had company, Lynn Tawiah is the fifth grade teacher and has a family here but I think she felt sorry for me when my companions changed their itinerary and couldn’t go as planned. Again the Crosby’s driver, Issac, drove us in the school van and I was able to relax and enjoy the trip. The two sites to visit near Cape Coast are the slave castles and the Kakum National Park which houses one of seven canapé walks in the world.

Elmina Castle is the first known European structure of fortification in Ghana, built by Portuguese in 1482 as a trade center for ivory, gold and later slaves. It’s tragic history reminded me of some scenes at the Holocaust Museum in Washington. Although the castle is in sad disrepair, the sense of the tens of thousands captured and sold into slavery pervades. I was interested to learn it was the Portuguese and Dutch who began and profited in establishing the international slave business. It existed long before America bought any slaves, but we allow ourselves to take most of the blame. Thousands of captives of the Asante tribe were sold by that tribe, hundreds put into a single room with little or no ventilation or sanitation, and fed little. Later the other tribes captured enemy tribes and sold them on a regular basis.  Female slaves were separated from the males, and the foreign “governor” of the castle selected any he chose to use for the night. At least the pregnant slaves were taken to a separate house where they were allowed to give birth and nurse their children; the children were “released “ into the general population and today account for the lighter color of much of the area’s people. “Problem” prisoners were put in a separate room where they were starved to death and dumped into the ocean. There was nothing humane, and the hypocracy of having a Christian church in the midst of the courtyard was never questioned. Eventually the Portuguese were defeated by the Dutch, who continued the lucrative slave business, and eventually the British defeated the Dutch in Ghana and abolished the selling of humans. The English used the castle as a training center for their military presence, and are credited for beginning the basic education of children in southern Ghana. The tribes in central and northern Ghana were able to keep the English from gaining control of their areas, and today those areas remain poorer and significantly less educated.  Seeing it for myself made it a poignant history lesson, so I’m attaching two photos of the castle. One shows a school group beginning a tour, the other shows my smiling face in one of the last days here.

Next we went to lunch; I’ll tell you about the restaurant another time.  We didn’t appreciate our good fortune in having a big meal at the time; we were not so lucky at dinner time; and an interesting rural setting right off the main road to the National Park. The Kakum National Park, more specifically it’s  canopy  rope bridges were not to be missed. I have never had a fear of heights, and it is more inclosed than I expected, perfectly safe and quite an adventure. I’ve had a hard time selecting just a few pictures to put in this blog entry; it was so very high up, and most of the time when I did look down I couldn’t see the ground anyway. Although it is a rain forest,  it was not as humid as I expected, and of course there were no animals to be seen in full daylight.  My friends were very disappointed in the extreme rise in prices in the last few months (eliminating possibly of future class field trips), it was worth it to me. I wore out a set of new batteries taking pictures this week, and will have to get more before my trip Saturday and Sunday to the Volta region.

As  said earlier, we stayed overnight in a hotel. The roads  on the trip there were  all riddled with severe potholes, and driving in the dark can prevent avoiding them. It’s about a four hour drive, and we went to a hotel one of the other teachers recommended. It was not at all like American standards (even a Red Roof Inn), but tried to charge American prices:  another story to tell later.  Food was equally expensive, so I ate little except the cookies I brought from home, and we left shortly after the sun came up. It’s not like you see large clean restaurants along the road, and Issac did not feel it wise to buy much from the local vendors except bottled water. By then I was worried about having enough money to pay for the gas and Issac’s time, so we pretty much drove straight through except for several traffic standstills. We got home safely well before lunch, so all was well.  I’m already making more cookies for Saturday’s trip, and have gone to the bank to get plenty of money since the whole cost of this one will be for me alone to pay. You can’t buy memories like this, and I’m so grateful for the company I’ve enjoyed on my first two trips!

Well, it’s almost time for my internet connection to open, so I’ll just copy this Word document and paste in the selected photos. What a wonderful way to end my time in Ghana: sightseeing I can never repeat!

Enjoy your Christmas activities, and keep me in your prayers as I hold you in mine.

God bless us, every one!

Boti Waterfalls, Dec 13 trip

Dec 13  Boti Falls (yesterday)

Now I have both the time and the story to continue. Monday, December 13 after we went to the Abori gardens we traveled for another hour to go to Boti Falls, further north and very much worth the trip. “Tourist attractions” here are not like our parks and sites in America; you drive on potholed roads to get to places hardly even marked by signs, and then we were the only ones visiting. Perhaps it is busier on weekends, but I doubt it; even Issac had not been here before. There's a photo below of Robert & Erin (upstairs housemate), me and Issac the driver at the falls.

The falls were “discovered” more than two hundred years ago by a foreigner. It’s nothing like Niagra, but it is so secluded and peaceful.  As legend goes the two falls (see last photo) are from two rivers that joined and then separated again, and thought to be female and male. When it is especially rainy the two falls join again and a rainbow appears, then when the rivers subside, there are two falls again. They empty into a relatively small area and quietly run off in a deep stream you would hardly notice because of the vegetation around it. The guide took us over some rocks to a place we could actually go behind part of the falls (another photo). Erin slipped on the rocks, and we went no further. My classes got all misty and I put my camera away because I was afraid of slipping and breaking it.

The guide we hired knew all the history, and even took us to an area above the falls (about a fifteen minute drive away).  It was to an area one would never know to travel too, and after we got out of the van it was a fifteen minute walk up and down hills and rocks to “Umbrella Rock”. I climbed the ladder quickly and enjoyed looking out over the valley, but I couldn’t see the falls. I’m feeling adventurous, and so far haven’t suffered the effects on my aging body.  On the way back down to the van we passed an empty village with a special tree. Ghanaians are still superstitious, especially the non-Christians. The tree had not just one trunk, but about six feet off the ground had three separate cores that went straight up and were of equal size (see photo below): this was an omen of something. Next to it was a flat stone about two feet square; supposedly it was not carved by human hands but had been divided  into four equal sections. Each section had a precise graphic symbol, about two inches deep. Nothing was said about the symbols meaning anything, but the rock was made in heaven and sent down. Sounds a little too much like John Smith’s Book of Mormon, but it attracks little more than local lure.

Although I thought we’d stop for lunch or something to eat, we drove home with several traffic delays. Erin and I had brought a few sandwiches and cookies, and some bottled water, so we shared that with Robert and Issac.  Issac stopped to get some roasted corn from a street vendor, and I enjoyed an ear too. It was not like American corn on the cob; it was much drier and had no butter or salt to moisten it, but a cross between that and something like the “old maids” of popcorn.  What the heck, I was hungry and gobbled it down. We got home around quarter after five, so it was still daylight and I was too tired to make dinner. More cookies and some leftover pineapple and I laid down to watch whatever DVD I could find.

Today is my day of rest, and early tomorrow I go to Cape Coast, the “must see” recommended by the other teachers. Happily the fifth grade teacher, Lynn Taiwah, called and plans to accompany me. I am so excited about having company to share it with, and Issac will drive us again. The biggest expense of yesterday’s excursion was the gas, roughly $25 American money, and entry fees and paying Issac was about that much again. What a great investment, and now with Lynn to share most of the expenses this next trip promises to be just as memorable.

God’s beauty surrounds us if we take the time to look.

Love to you all,

Diann

Abori Gardens, Dec.13

Yesterday’s adventure was a wonderful investment of time! We left around 9 am to go to Abori Botanical Gardens, about an hour or two north of Accra. The only one left in my house, Erin,  joined me , and her fiancée Robert came too, making the trip that much better. Issac, the Crosby’s driver, drove us in the school van. I remembered the first part of the way from a trip two months ago to “Children of the Light”, a ministry for the very poor in a rural area run by one of the teachers at my school.

It’s a beautiful county once you escape the city; lush mountains, open valleys and always the sun.  Although many of the people do not want you to photograph them, when you are driving by in a car you can take photographs quickly and sort through them later.  The homes in these villages, for they can not be considered a town by any means, are shacks, some made of bricks that are just sundried clay (not baked in a real kiln), many of scrap metal and bamboo.Heavy rains could easily destroy most of the homes.  Termites are prevalent in the country areas,  I saw several huge “anthills” five feet high, so not many structures are wooden. We drove through several towns, small cities actually, and saw the madness of market day. One of the photos in yesterday’s blog was taken in the market as we tried to drive through the street. Shoppers and vendors were everywhere, even in the street, and you just had to honk your horn and wait until they moved. I was so glad Issac was driving, he’s patient and willing to navigate around huge potholes without too many jolts; getting in a tro-tro or taxi is taking your life in your hands even in daylight. Only once did I cover my eyes as a car came directly at us as we passed an exceedingly slow vehicle.

We made it to the gardens, and hired a guide who showed us around some of the huge plant sanctuary. It’s 120 years old, and has plants from around the world (ones that can survive the heat, that is). They even had a Norfolk Island Pine, which they use as a Christmas tree sometimes. There is a Presidential Garden where world dignitaries have planted small trees that are now huge. Most of the original trees of the land have died, but there was one HUGE tree that is over two hundred years old, and it’s base has big folds that look like a stone wall (see photo with me standing in a "fold"). We went to the spice garden, which isn’t a garden at all (well, none of it is really, it’s all trees). There were cocoa trees of course (photo of a pod not yet ripe), and cinnamon trees (another photo of a row of trees), we crushed bay leaves and all sorts of aromatic spices growing there. Many plants that I can’t remember the names of have medicinal purposes and are used for folk cures. There were philodendrons that I call “Devil’s Ivy”  that had leaves as big as the trunk of my body.

One of the most interesting trees was originally a cedar. A parasitic vine grows up trees for support and looks beautiful for years, but it slowly covers all the branches and leaves and kills the tree. We went inside one “holey”  tree and it was beautiful. Most of the cedar had decayed, but you could still see some of the bark and wood grain. The vine was still alive, and there were several holes that let natural light in. The tree was easily 75 feet tall (see photo of the inside of the tree).

This opportunity to travel has been a real blessing. I want to post some pictures of the garden, so will write another entrie later to tell you about the Boti waterfalls.

My last week begins: Dec. 13

The last day of school for the students was Thursday, and the teachers had to come in Friday morning for a meeting. By Saturday afternoon almost all the teachers had been taken to the airport; even Tim Crosby had left . Like most schools, the last week before Christmas break  was in constant flux. I never knew from one hour to the next where I would be, or if my room would be in us to house exams.  It was unsettling for me, and my room was not really as organized as I’d hoped when I finally left  Friday.

My travel plans for the next week became unraveled since Thursday. My companions to Cape Coast overnight trip on Wednesday had a change of plans, and the family I hoped would accompany me to the Volta area had to cancel on another overnight  trip for Saturday.  This morning (Monday) one of the three people going to the Aburi Botanical gardens and Boti Waterfalls had to cancel because she was sick. At least Erin and her fiancée are still going. I’ll send some pictures tonight if I have the energy when we get back. The Crosby’s drivers  are taking me (and anyone I round up) on all these trips, so that’s a relief to me. I’m waiting now for Issac to pick us up, but the internet connection ends at 7 am, so I’ll send this tonight.

I have been doing some Christmas shopping, it’s always fun to spend money, and some of the inexpensive uniquely African gifts are quite nice. Things like hand carved nativity sets, African cloth dolls and glass beads are at the craft markets, and bartering is half the fun. Saturday night I went to a craft bazaar sponsored by a German-Swiss school, and there were some really beautiful things that were out of my price range: real Kenta cloths (colorful woven tribal cloths), silver jewelry very well crafted, clothes of batiked fabric, African drums.  Three other teachers were going, so having company made it that much more interesting,  and we got something to eat there too.

Well, I’ve got to put on my sunscreen and sneakers. This week is so different from the other weeks, and gives me some time to “transition” into my return. God has been good, and I’m ready to come home.

Talk with you soon,

Diann

December 5

In another five days most of the teachers will be on flights home even Tim Crosby. Although I wish some of them would be here until I leave, I can understand their rushing through the last few days of school in anticipation of seeing friends and family as soon as possible. It has been pretty hectic this past week at school, trying to help the music teacher with the Christmas program (which was last night). It was all her diligent working with mostly the elementary students, each grade preforming a  few songs with simple props. I would not have had the patience and sanity to pull it off, so the least I could do was help as much as possible. I was to exhibit some of the students work, but that was a bust. There was neither space for the portable room dividers brought from school at the last minute (my request of ten days ago was lost, which is not unusual for life in Ghana), nor time to put up much which few would have ever seen anyway. I am not built to function with these last minute changes and by God's grace I didn't voice much of my frustrations. If this is the worst thing I encounter this week, my life is easy. I intentionally took a lot of pictures at the dress rehearsal at school on Thursday, so didn't even take my camera along Saturday.

Christine, the music teacher, is oriental, andhas a family of several young children; she's a quiet person who wouldn't upset a sole. Before Joyce Crosby knew she (Joyce) would be leaving Ghana before Thanksgiving, she asked me to be on the Christmas program committee. I mentioned before in an earlier blog how I drew about seven large drawings of the nativity figures, and had students work on Christmas projects to display at the program. Well, the room at the hotel where the program was held was much smaller than anticipated, and less than 250 chairs could fit in the room once the stage was brought in. I was asked to see the next act was always lined up ready to go as the class before actually preformed. If there had been a "wings" to the stage or even an extra room to line up the next class perhaps it might have been easy. Parents were standing in the aisles the students were to enter through, and some parents even took the students seats when they got up to preform, so the students had no where to return to. I was glad to see the whole thing finished, and I'm sure Christine got her first good nights sleep in weeks last night. And the thing that I've come to realize is this is typical here, no one is solely at fault, and the same frustrations will accompany any activity in Africa. This is one thing I not miss.

Over the past three Sundays I've been visiting different churches, and today I went to a very large church much further away than any others that I've gone to by myself. It was about a half hour's taxi ride to get there, it wasn't really in Accra. I learned from the past I would be better to pay extra to have the taxi driver return at a set time and pay extra for my peace of mind. It worked great, and I wasn't as afraid of not having any idea were I was going. The driver, Toni, spoke fairly good English and I enjoyed the conversation on the ride to the church. On Saturday when I took a taxi to help set up for the Christmas program the taxi driver said he could take me to the Mensvic Hotel but twice took me to the wrong place. It really didn't matter much, cause after I got there all we could do was wait for two hours for the things that didn't get delivered as promised. Anyway, back to the church: the sermon was good, and I recognized most parts of the service. As with all the churches I've gone to here, there were one or two songs that lasted forever and all the people rocked and danced in place for about five minutes each time. I was the only white person in a congregation of about two hundred, but Ghana really is a friendly country, at least in the daylight!

Early Saturday I went with some friends to the art market I visited when I first got here, only this time I actually bought stuff! I'd gone to a smaller market last weekend, but this one was amazing, and I was comfortable bargaining prices down on somethings. There were beautiful baskets and primitive wood carvings, but I have to consider my limited suitcase space. So far mostly I've bought jewelry (or beads to make jewelry), fabric, or painted cards; I've enjoyed the shopping so much. There are two art bazaars next Saturday after most everyone else leaves, I may go just to look by myself. One is sponsored by a hospital, the other by a foreign school. My adventures are shaping up nicely too. On Monday, December 13 I'm going to the Abori Gardens and Boti waterfalls with two other people for a one day trip. Wednesday and Thursday I'm to join two other people at Cape Coast, the one "must see" trip to a slave castle and canope walk a couple hundred feet off the ground in a coastal forest (that's a two day trip). Saturday and maybe Sunday I'm going to a monkey sanctuary; a family from school may join me but maybe not. The Crosby's driver will drive for all of these, so my comfort level is greatly increased! I really haven't gotten out to see much, so this is a fitting end to my time here. The school gave me a nice bonus, so the travel is possible. . . a gift from God to see the country I've lived in for three months.

Well, it's Sunday night, my best time to make phone calls back to the states. This week will be so in flux I don't even have to do lesson plans. I'm hoping to see the second and fifth graders at least twice Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Thursday is only half a day, and that's party time anyway. Friday was supposed to be a teacher workday, but about half the teachers are flying home. So there's my schedule in a nutshell.
I'll write later.
Enjoy the ADvent time of preparation,
Diann