Girls Just Ghana Have Fun

Ankasa Nature Reserve

2009-04-02T05:57:00.006-06:00

Last Saturday we took a trip to Ankasa Nature Reserve with our friend from church, Wilson. It was a beautiful rainforest. We took a long hike through the forest. Sometimes we were walking on a nice path, and other times we were climbing under and over tree trunks. It was a beautiful day and area. We were a little disappointed because we went to find elephants and didn't see anything but a snake.

I took a million pictures because I couldn't believe how green it was.

Amelia with our friend Wilson.

Amelia standing between the un-grounded roots of a very large tree.

This is a picture of the guide who took us through the forest. At first I was a little concerned about walking into a thick forest following a man holding a machete. I got used to the idea quickly and became even more comfortable when I realized that the primary purpose of the machete was to clear the path of spiderwebs and brush, and not to keep wildlife away!

Our friend Wilson.

After our hike, we ended up on this nice dirt road. We walked down this road about ten minutes before arriving back at our taxi.

Bamboo Cathedral

2009-03-30T09:51:00.006-06:00

This is the "Bamboo Cathedral" at Ankasa Nature Reserve. The bamboo was really huge.

Amelia, our friend Wilson, and the guide, by the bamboo.

Walking down into the grove.

By the bamboo bridge that wasn't strong enough to walk on. I wonder why they don't take it down and reduce the temptation to walk on it.

Our Visit to Kojokrom

2009-03-30T09:28:00.003-06:00

Last Thursday we went for a visit to Kojokrom with our friend Wilson. It's not too far away. It took us about twenty minutes to get there on a tro tro. It is so green here in Ghana. Here are some kids playing outside.

I thought the railroad tracks were really cool.

Amelia walking into Wilson's sister's house where we ate a delicious dinner of rice and stew.
Amelia holding Wilson's nephew. His name was pronounced Ahh-bay-you. I have no idea how to spell it.

This is Wilson's sister Grace. She was really, really nice.

Our friend Wilson with his nephew.

Kids Downstairs

2009-03-30T09:10:00.009-06:00

These kids are always playing or learning at the bottom of the stairs. They are really cute and yell hello to us all the time. They like to give us fives.

This is me with the Elizabeth's friends. They always sit at the bottom of the stairs and try to teach us Fanti. We just smile and wave.

Workshop Week 10

2009-03-30T08:47:00.005-06:00

This is our training workshop. We taught ten people the workshop and eight of them were trainers sent from Cape Coast. They will be teaching the Career Workshop to the people between here and Accra. They were pretty fun to teach. In the picture from left to right is: Anthony, Grace, Patrick, Amelia, Patricia, Knight, Lorenzo, Richard and Bossman. Another man, Joseph, wasn't able to come on Friday and wasn't in the picture.

Here they are, hard at work! From left to right: Grace, Lorenzo, Anthony, Patricia, and Bossman.

Kumasi

2009-03-24T05:29:00.004-06:00

Kumasi is where most people from the Ashanti tribe live. We visited a cultural center where we saw a few different things the Ashanti people make--fabrics, wood carvings, paintings, brass work, and pottery. It was really cool. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take many pictures there.

A Day at the Beach

2009-03-24T04:21:00.009-06:00

Ernest, me and Moses with a few boys we met at the beach.

Race on the beach.

Kristen brought a frisbee with her and it was a hit. These boys kept wanting us to take their picture. We told them that we would only take pictures of the boys with clothes on. That made a few of the naked boys run get dressed.

Relief Society Birthday Meeting

2009-03-18T05:44:00.005-06:00

Is this what your Relief Society birthday party was like?

Fun Times

2009-03-18T05:21:00.006-06:00

I am in love with this child. She is the cutest child in Africa. She refuses to smile though. She doesn't speak English at all. I guess maybe she doesn't speak any language. Anyway, I love her and want to keep her. Oh, and I don't know her name. Maybe I should find that out. Also, I promise Idon't wear the same shirt every day. I noticed that I am wearing this shirt in a lot of pictures. I only wear it once a week.

Kristen with a girl we don't know (in the purple) and a girl from the ward, Comfort. (That may actually be Comfort's sister Dorcus. We always forget which is which.)

Here is a Google image of a typical Ghanaian woman carrying her child. We see this every single day numerous times.
Here is little William, a random boy who wasn't too shy to let us practice with him. The nice girl at the top ran away from me when I tried to put her on my back.

Kristen and William. He looks a little more secure on her. That is probably because she has had lots of practice at home carrying people on her back.

Yep, that's right. Kristen can carry me on her back. It's amazing what you can do with a bed sheet. I'd like to say that we are both truly amazing. Oh, and just so you know, after this, we were trying to undo ourselves and we fell into a camp chair and broke it.

Our House, in the Middle of our Street

2009-03-17T07:16:00.005-06:00

This is our apartment building. The bottom floor is the Internet cafe we use sometimes. The middle floor is a clinic and the top is our veranda. The very, very top the roof where people who live around us hang their clothes to dry.

We like to stand on the veranda and look at people below, especially when they don't know we are watching them. Creepy huh?
This is behind the building in the courtyard. We don't use these stairs to get to our apartment but we live on the third floor just past the opening you can see at the top.

This is to the right of the last picture. These are the stairs we use to get to our apartment. 'Lisbet the seamstress sits under the landing on the right, just out of the shot of the picture.

The door at the end is the entrance to our apartment.

Peeps we see daily

2009-03-17T06:50:00.008-06:00

Here are a few people that we see every day.

Beezus in her position as "Director of First Impressions." She registers people for the Workshops and keeps things organized.Bishop Adjei is the manager of the Employment Resource Center.

Bishop Dzikpe is a volunteer at the Resource Center.
Bishop Mills is also a volunteer.

Patriarch Mensah. Brother Hayford Brother Affrifa, the stake family history consultant
Moses cleans the church. He is a very nice boy and is preparing to go on a mission soon.

Moses in action. I don't know this guy's name but he is very nice. He takes care of the lawn around the stake center.

This crazy looking lady is Elizabeth (pronounced 'Lisbet). She lives in the courtyard of our apartment building. Not in the courtyard, but right by it. She is a seamstress. We really like her but she doesn't speak English very well, she always tries to give us Fante lessons and sometimes she asks us for money. On her birthday she sent a little boy up to our apartment to ask for a present. We gave her an old shirt of mine. She seemed happy with it but we have never seen her wear it. She probably sold it or something.
This is the fried rice lady. We forgot her name. We don't see her everyday, maybe only twice a week. She makes the best fried rice and fried chicken we have had here and she is very nice. We especially love it when we go to get fried rice and we have to wake her up from her nap first. Life here is very laid back.

Prince's Family

2009-03-17T06:21:00.006-06:00

This past weekend we went to Tarkwa where Prince's parents live. It took about an hour and a half to get there in a tro-tro. It is a mining city and it is very pretty. We had a good time there.

Prince's brother Edward and his friend Eugene. They are at Prince's mom's cell phone shop.

Prince with his parents, Rob and Sophia.

Prince's sister Dorcus.

Fufu is Prince's favorite food.

We actually like fufu now, especially if it is mostly plantain. It is easier to swallow that way. Kristen and I agreed that this fufu was the best we have ever had.

The bus ride home.

Some of our Friends

2009-03-10T07:29:00.010-06:00

Wilson is a nice guy we met at Institute. He smiles all the time and is very nice.Solomon is in our ward. He is also very nice. He is the ward organist.

This is Beezus's little sister Abigail. She is very cute and we love her.

We don't actually know this lady, but we like plantain chips. That is what she is selling.

This lady is carrying bread on her head. We eat this bread for lunch every Monday and sometimes Tuesday. We call it "Head Bread."

The Swimming Pool

2009-03-10T06:47:00.006-06:00

Some people may say that Kristen and I are mental. We say that we are resourceful. We get so hot here sometimes so we decided to make a swimming pool out of plastic, tape and rope.

We worked hard for several hours to make our pool. We connected three pieces of plastic together with tape. It was a great tape job if I do say so myself. (Also, that is my bed, for those of you who wondered what I sleep on every night.)Look how happy she is. She is excited for the pool.

More happiness and/or excitement.

We rolled the rope into the sides of the plastic then taped it up nicely.

We have a large balcony which really facilitates the making of a pool. What else are you supposed to do with such a large area?

We worked hard to secure it to whatever we could. We were so excited for our pool.

Here is is almost finished. We just had to fill it the rest of the way. We were so proud of our pool and so happy to have it. After filling it part way, we got tired of it and went to take naps. This was on a Saturday. We didn't want the pool to get dirty on Sunday so we put my bedsheet over it. It was fine all day on Sunday. On Monday while we were teaching a workshop, our landlord called and told us that we had left a tap on and that water was dripping off our balcony. Of course we knew that we hadn't left water on. Our pool had broken.

Kristen went home to try to salvage something. The rope had come out on part of it and the water had leaked all over.

This is off the side of the balcony where the water was leaking.

This is the end of our poor, sad, pathetic pool. And my stupid sheet is really dirty, dang it.

Workshop Week 8

2009-03-10T06:33:00.004-06:00

This was our smallest workshop so far. From left to right, Amelia, Constance, Rose, and me.

Independence Day Adventures

2009-03-10T06:01:00.008-06:00

March 6th is Ghanaian Independence Day. We celebrated by going to Jubilee Park in Takoradi to watch the parade. It was a fun parade, it lasted thirty minutes or less.

Sometimes random parades start in the street. As the music comes, more and more people join the parade until it becomes huge. There were two or maybe three that happened on Independence Day, but they sometimes happen without any reason. People hurry and put on their costumes and then run to join the parade.

In this picture, you can see the costumes better.

In the evening our friend Prince took us to Busua beach. It was about a forty five minute drive. It was worth it! Busua Beach is very beautiful.

Two Workshop Groups

2009-03-04T05:16:00.004-07:00

Week 7 Group (from left to right)
Sadio, Selina, Amelia, Kenneth, Francisca, Joseph Smith Andam, and me

Week 6 Group (from left to right)
Frank, me, Daniel, Amelia, Richard, and Evans

Random Happenings

2009-02-24T07:30:00.013-07:00

We were at the church on Monday morning and the missionaries came by to leave their bikes while they went to the Internet Cafe to email. We were just sitting around waiting for Bishop Adjei to come open the church. Kristen had the brilliant idea to ride their bikes, so we did. Mine had a sweet bell on it.

Yesterday Prince took us to a hotel nearby that has a few strange animals. First of all, just so you know, it is called Hotel Messiah. Righteous huh?

Look at the cute baby monkey. It was so little.

I want this monkey to be my baby. When I grow up, no human children for me. I'm adopting baby monkeys.

This monkey is ugly and I don't want it to be my baby.

Spiritual crocodiles anyone?

This is Amelia. She is sweet and innocent. Look at that nice face.This is Amelia's fufu (in the blue bowl). Fufu always comes with a meat. Amelia didn't know what the meat was, so she asked. The answer wasn't what she wanted to hear. See below to find out what the meat was.

Ever heard of a grass cutter? The Greater Cane Rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) is one of two species of cane rats, a small family of African hystricognath rodents. It inhabits Africa, south of the Saharan Desert. The cane rat lives by reedbeds and riverbanks. As humans move into such territories, the cane rats accepted plantations and cultivated areas. Cane rats can grow about two feet long in the longest individuals and weighs a little less than 19 lb (8.6 kg). It has rounded ears, short nose, and coarse bristly hair. Its forefeet are smaller than its hindfeet and supports its weight on only three toes. Cane rats live in small groups led by a single male. They are nocturnal and make nests from grasses or burrow underground. The oldest cane rat can live more than four years. If frightened, they grunt and run towards water. They eat grasses and cane and since they have tastes for cultivated foods, they make serious agricultural pests. So far, their conservation status is lower risk.In the country of Ghana and other regions of West Africa, the Greater Cane Rat is usually called a grasscutter or cutting grass. In both West Africa and Southern Africa, it is considered a delicacy.

A.K.A. a LARGE RAT!! I ate a large rat. By the way, I got that picture from Wikipedia, we don't know that guy. I was terrified at first but since Prince had bought our meal, I felt like I should eat just a small piece of the rat. It wasn't bad tasting, but the fact that I ate it makes me dirty and gross. I think Kristen judged me for eating it. Well, she ate cow intestine. I'm not sure which is worse. We are such babies.

Elmina and Cape Coast

2009-02-24T06:06:00.016-07:00

We went to two nearby towns to see old European castles that were used for holding slaves.

This first castle is St. George's castle in Elmina. It was build in 1462 by the Portuguese, then later seized by the Dutch, then the British. They all took part in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. This castle is the oldest standing structure in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The men and women were always separated. This is part of the female slave dungeon. There were a few different rooms, but none any better than this. They were given food twice a day. They were held here for sometimes months at a time.

This is one of the rooms in the male slave dungeon. The dungeons in Cape Coast castle were bigger, but we didn't really get any good pictures beacause they were so dark. In Cape Coast castle, about two thousand men were held in four small, connected rooms. The shortest time anyone was there was about six weeks, the longest was several months. They were given food twice a day and they never left the dungeon, except if they were going to be killed or put on a slave ship.

The two tunnels above lead to the Room of No Return. This is the door the slaves went out of to get into boats that took them to the slave ships. It is the Room of No Return because once a slave entered this room, they never returned to their country.
The structure behind me is a Catholic church that the Portuguese built in the middle of the castle. Ironic isn't it?

The area around the castle is very beautiful.

This is Fort St. Jago, near St. George's castle. It was originally built as a church by a Portuguese missionary but the Dutch took it over and used it for military purposes. We didn't go inside it.

This is Cape Coast Castle. It is quite a bit bigger than St. George's Castle but it has the same history.

There were lots of cannons at both castles. The castle passed hands so many times they must have needed a lot of artillery to protect what they thought was theirs.

Kakum National Park

2009-02-23T07:53:00.008-07:00

We went to Kakum National Park on Saturday. It was really beautiful and is famous for its long, swinging rope bridges. The walk begins after a thirty minute hike through a beautiful rain forest.Kristen with our friend David.

Our first glimpse of the bridge. There were seven total.

Each bridge was connected by a platform around a tree.

Our favorite Ghanaian friends. David and Prince.

The four of us as we finished our journey above the jungle.

Another Football Game

2009-02-18T08:58:00.003-07:00

Prince took us to another soccer game. It was fun but the best part was all the cute kids we met.
Our adorable new friend, Howa. Kristen taught her a game and she picked it up immediately. She is a smart little girl. I kind of wanted to steal her, but I guess that would be wrong.

Prince brought some of his friends to the game too. As you can see, they are very friendly. The one next to me is David, the other is Wisdom. Seriously, that is his name.

We would write more about the game, but we were too distracted with the kids. I think Eleven Wise lost this week.

Nzulezu (the stilt village)

2009-02-17T05:19:00.011-07:00

Waiting to get into the canoes.

This is near where you pay. It was really cool looking but we got tired of it because we had to wait for about 45 minutes before we could get life jackets.

Still waiting, but at least the ocean was pretty.

These are not the canoes we rode on to Nzulezu, but Kristen and I wanted to take them for a spin on the ocean while we waited.

This is the village school. Cute huh? I don't think Kristen learned very much while she was there.

The local bar, and apparently the gift shop.

Nkroful--Birthplace of the First Ghanaian President

2009-02-17T04:41:00.004-07:00

This weekend we took a trip to Nzulezu to see a village that was built entirely over the water on stilts. We drove in a tro-tro (large van) for two hours to get there. We first went to Nkroful (the birthplace of Kwame Nkumrah). On the way to Nkroful, our tire was flat and needed to be changed. This first picture was taken while we waited for the tire to be changed. In this picture is me, Danette, Bishop Adjei (center manager, and in charge of us), and Amelia. We got up at five in the morning to begin our crazy day-trip that ended up taking a lot longer than we planned!

This is Amelia and Beezus, waiting for the tire to be changed. This is a picture of me in the tro-tro. These vans are crazy and the drivers drive like maniacs. The vans hold 12-15 passengers safely, but often people are jammed into them (particularly in town). Our first tro-tro on Saturday fortunately held only twelve. It's strange to get in a van with complete strangers. Also, both of our drivers on Saturday were pretty safe. This is Nkroful. This town is really small and we only stayed for about 20 minutes.

Here is the museum where they tried to charge us five times as much as the Ghanaians because we were foreigners. We were too mad to pay the money. It was a really small museum anyway. In the picture is me, Amelia, and Beezus.

Some cute little boys in Nkroful

From Our Balcony

2009-02-12T11:12:00.008-07:00

This is a post about the things we see everyday. This is the view from the balcony where we live.

This is a picture of a guy that is sometimes passed out drunk on our stairs. He scares us to death when the stairwell is dark. Last night I walked upstairs from the internet cafe by myself (very close) and the guy was on the stairs and I almost hit him with my bag even though he was entirely unconscious. I was mad at him for scaring me! Anyway, usually he isn't completely unconscious and says, "You are white, you are white. Canada." We have no idea why he says that. Usually people say "Where you from? Obama, Obama." It's really weird. Actually, everyone here loves Obama. They even have a song about him.

Here are some cute boys; they were having fun until they ran into the gross ditch!

Football Game

2009-02-12T11:09:00.007-07:00

Yesterday Prince took us to a football game at Sekondi Stadium. It was pretty fun. He is friends with the stadium manager so we got in for free. Not that games are expensive. We would have paid about $2 each. The game was fun and the Sekondi team, Eleven Wise, won 1-0.

This is Prince's friend Murial. I don't know why Ghanaians don't always smile for pictures.

Concessions at the soccer game.

I know I look like a clown, but don't pay attention to that. The thing I am holding is a muffin that tastes like corn bread. It is called Rock Band. I am not even kidding. How it got its name I will never know. I want to taste Guitar Hero.

Cute kid.

Lots of Rock Bands.

This is the bathroom in the stadium. Gross huh? I guess you stand over it. No thanks.

This is on the way back from the stadium. Ghana really is beautiful. And the sun is amazing right before it sets.

Kristen's turn to drive. I was petrified the whole time, but we arrived safely back home. She is a good driver.

Our Sekondi Adventure

2009-02-12T10:01:00.013-07:00

Sekondi is the town right next to Takoradi. One of our friends we made at one of the workshops took us there last weekend. We went to the soccer stadium that is the pride and joy of everyone around. It was pretty nice. It is the nicest structure we have seen since we got here, besides the temple but including all the churches.

The Sekondi Football (Soccer) Stadium

We asked why the sign is also in Chinese and they told us that it is because the Chinese built the stadium, like that was a very reasonable and logical explanation.

Dope Testing

Cute girls?

Our favorite friends: Prince, me, Joana, Kristen and Beezus

This guy has to mow the whole field with a push mower. Lucky for him it is self-propelling. Kristen wanted to mow it so badly and kept talking about it until Prince asked the guy if she could. She was so happy.

Prince let me drive his car. Driving in Ghana is strictly defensive and pretty scary.

Homemade boat anyone?

This looks like Nephi's boat.

This is Fort Orange, built by the Dutch in 1640. They used it for lots of things, including keeping slaves. This is where some slaves were before they were boarded into ships and sent away. Most of the slaves from Ghana went to Brazil or the Caribbean. Anyway, now people live in part of it and there is a solar powered lighthouse on the top.

View from Fort Orange.

Fort Orange Lighthouse

Another view from the top.

Also from the top.

These are both Sekondi Fishing Harbour. For some reason they wouldn't let us take pictures there, but we sneaked a few from a distance. It was really cool. There were tons of fishermen folding their nets, tons of fish and tons of boats.

Making Fufu with the Taylor's

2009-02-12T10:00:00.009-07:00

We are posting a lot today because the internet at the church has finally started working again. We don't like to use our jump drives in the cafes because we don't want to get viruses. Here is a post of our Sunday dinner experience a week and a half ago. We went to eat with our friend Beatrice's family. While waiting for the food to be prepared we met several very cute children. We couldn't resist taking a lot of pictures and they loved to see themselves on my camera!

We were preparing to eat fufu for dinner. Apparently that is the most traditional meal here, because people always insist on making us some. At first it wasn't so good, but it has been growing on me. They make fufu out of plantains and cassava. They pound them down in a big bowl at their feet with a heavy pole that is about four and a half feet long and about six inches in diameter. Amelia and I tried to help, but we were much less efficient than Beatrice and her sisters. Here is a picture of the plantains and cassava before it was pounded.

Here is a picture of the bowl that they crush the cassava and plantain in.

Here is our attempt at helping. After I helped for about thirty seconds Beatrice asked me to stop because I was making her tired. Apparently I didn't know how to pound the vegetables correctly. It looked to me like her sisters did the same thing as me!

Beatrice's family usually only makes fufu as a special meal once a week because it takes so much time and energy to prepare. Several other families were making fufu at the same time--they all prepare it in their apartment courtyard.

Here is the finished product: fufu with light soup

It was pretty good after all. I was able to finish mine completely and Amelia came really close. If you don't eat it quickly it seems like it grows. Amelia couldn't believe that she kept eating and it didn't get any smaller!

Last Beach

2009-02-12T09:52:00.003-07:00

We spent the day at the beach a few weeks ago. It was rather fun and very pretty. We went with Beezus and our other friend Joana. That's pretty much all there is say.

We Hate Malaria

2009-02-12T08:47:00.009-07:00

Kristen got malaria. She was very, very sick, as you can see from the pictures. She looked like death. She threw up numerous times. When we went to the hospital, we didn't know if the malaria would kill her or if the facilities would kill her. They were taking her vitals and she almost passed out so they decided to put her on an I.V. I was skeptical because this is Africa and the hospital was scary looking. I didn't know which was worse, dehydration or the possibility of getting AIDS. In the end, she was so bad off I decided to just watch everything they did and
make sure everything was new. Fortunately there were no problems. Everything came out of new, clean packages and the nurses wore gloves. We got there on a Saturday afternoon and we had to spend the night there because apparently the doctor doesn't come in on Saturdays. He wasn't going to be in until Sunday morning.
For some reason we are having trouble arranging this post, so please follow along carefully. The first picture is what death in an African hospital looks like. The second is Beezus and Kristen. Third is me enjoying an orange, Ghanaian style. They cut the top off and suck the juice out. The fourth is after Kristen used the scary African toilet (see below). This shows the room we stayed in. There were five beds across, another across from us, and about three cribs. No privacy at all. Scary picture number five is Kristen feeling slightly better. I had to beg her to let me post this picture because, well, look at her. She is scary looking. She is very embarrassed about it, so no comments about it please. The next is me with Beezus the next morning. She was so good to us. There is no food at the hospital (that is probably a good thing, fufu wouldn't sit well after staying the night in that hospital.) She brought us dinner the night before and breakfast Sunday morning. She is a doll. The next one is the three of us, kickin' it in the hospital, waiting for the cursed doctor, who was a real jerk. Also, he was wearing shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops. Very professional. Pay close attention to Kristen's paperwork (there are NO computers in the hospital). They thought we were missionaries. Also, note that at the top of the paper it says, "Latter-day Saint." Occupation: Missionary. The last picture is the outside of the hospital, taken a few days later after her check-up. Also interesting to know is that we have a friend who used to work there and when we told him that we had gone there, he said, "Oh, that is a nice hospital." I would hate to see the bad ones.

Our best friend Beezus

2009-01-23T13:22:00.007-07:00

This is our best Ghanaian friend Beatrice Taylor. She is the volunteer receptionist at the Employment Center in Takoradi. She is great. We started calling her Beezus and explained Ramona and Beezus Quimby to her (see Beverly Cleary for details). I think she likes her new name. At first we just called her that behind her back, but then we decided to get it all out in the opening. She likes to call Kristen, Katia. I have no idea why. She is a hoot and we love her. She is the one that taught us to balance things on our heads. She can practically break dance and not drop things from her head. Also, she thinks that our hair is made of rubber.

Tour of Accra

2009-01-23T12:43:00.007-07:00

Here are some things we saw when we toured Accra with Bishop Oware.

This is Amelia and me drinking from a fresh coconut. It tastes nothing like our coconut, by the way.

Lydia's Baptism

2009-01-23T12:34:00.006-07:00

Lydia was in our first career workshop this week. She was baptized on Wednesday night with her husband. She is a great girl and we have loved working with her!

Here's a picture of two of the four elders in our ward, Elder Rappleye and Elder Lewis. They are the ones that have been teaching the lessons to Lydia.

Our First Career Workshop

2009-01-23T12:13:00.008-07:00

This is our classroom where we teach the Career Workshop. This is our first batch of students. We really became good friends during the week.

Also, Here are our friends from left to right:
Top row: Amelia, John, Prince, Sophia, Francis, and David
Bottom row: Patricia, me, and Lydia

How do they do that?

2009-01-23T06:00:00.007-07:00

Our friends from Accra

2009-01-20T05:13:00.006-07:00

Amelia with Emmanuel

Volunteers at the Center (the guy in the middle was taking the workshop)

Yahaya, Amelia, Kristen

Afua and Zak

Afua, Kristen, Mawuena, and Abigail.

Cool Shirt!

2009-01-17T08:50:00.001-07:00

Do you like this shirt? We saw this man in the distribution center in Accra and asked to get a picture of his shirt. He asked if I wanted one. I don't really know what he meant--if he was going to make one for me or give me his....

Street near the ERC

2009-01-17T08:49:00.008-07:00

Here is a video of us walking through the streets of Accra! This was just about two blocks from the ERC (Employment Resource Center). This is pretty much a good representation of what we see everyday.

The Center Managers

2009-01-17T08:49:00.007-07:00

Bishop Alex Tanhoh, one of the Center's Associate Managers.

Fred, the other associate manager.

President Peter Atobora Brown, the Africa West Regional Manager for the Employment Resource Centers (president because he is in his stake presidency)

The entrance to the Employment Resource Center in Accra

Our Apartments

2009-01-17T08:48:00.001-07:00

Here are the two homes that we have lived in for the last couple of weeks. The first is called the Pink Hostel and is pretty little compared to the second. The second apartment is where we will be staying for the next three months. We live above an internet cafe on the third floor. Our balcony looks out on three different streets. That's great except when there is a funeral party going on (yes that's right, a funeral party) and there is loud music playing all over the place! Last night we had such loud music that we couldn't really sleep and our beds were vibrating although the music was about a block away. Anyway, our new house is a lot bigger. We are missing our consistent flow of water and A/C from the Pink Hostel! Our showers were a little bit incomplete this morning!

(We are having trouble downloading the videos, but we will try later.)

We are finally posting!!

2009-01-17T08:35:00.002-07:00

We have been having a heck of a time finding a computer that has a USB drive hook up. We finally found on and it is slower than heck. We are hoping to post more often because we take so many picture, but we'll see how it goes. Right now we are writing a few things, but we may not be able to post pictures for a few more days. Stick with us and you will see some great stuff.

Ghana really is rad

2009-01-13T04:39:00.005-07:00

(fu fu)

(Amelia scared to eat fu fu)

(Don't judge us okay?)

(By the hostel)

(view from airplane)

(another view from the plane)

We got here on Sunday morning and we were fairly trashed from all of our travels. However, when we first saw Africa from the airplane, we were taken aback by the beauty. We saw an amazing sunrise, more beautiful than any we had ever seen. We must have been flying low because we could see Senegal below us. It was so awesome. The ground was gray-brown and there was a small winding river below us. Anyway, it was beautiful. We were surprised as we flew into Accra that there were so many trees and that everything was green.

Leaving the airport, we drove by the temple and stake center. We quickly changed out of our white trash travel clothes (emphasis on white) so we could attend the last part of sacrament meeting. Later, after a good nap, we found the energy to explore a small part of Accra for a while.

We are loving it here, although we are having trouble finding food that we like. Yesterday we ate Ghanaian food for the first time. We tried fu fu and banku. Picture this: bread dough and fish in thin soup. You eat with your hands and you don't chew, you just swallow it right on down. Honestly, the taste wasn't that bad. The soup was good but spicy, the fish was salmon and rather good. But, the texture wasn't that great and one of us may have gagged once before giving up altogether and leaving some food in the bowl.

We are staying in a place called the Pink Hostel. It is rather small but it is growing on us. Today we are going to the temple and the grocery store. We like it here in Accra but are excited to be more permanently situated in Takoradi. We will be going there on Friday. We taught part of a workshop yesterday and are excited to do more.

Also, quick disclaimer: Don't judge our appearance. The power goes out here frequently and we are ugly. Okay. Ugly. Lay off. The humidity makes our hair frizzy and it is hot and we sweat a lot. So no judging. Can't we all be brothers?

Ghana is Rad!

2009-01-06T21:40:00.013-07:00

We haven't actually been to Ghana yet but we are really excited. We are spending the week in Salt Lake for more training. Although the days seem really long, we have been entertaining ourselves during our down time. Here are a few pictures of the fun activities that have already taken place. We love the group that we are with and we are sad that we are all going to different countries. Stay tuned, we promise this blog will get really cool next week.

Here we are smashed into a serving cart in the church where we spend the better part of our days. The ride was surprisingly comfortable.

Mimi, the internship coordinator with LDS Employment Resource Services, who we think is awesome.

Most of our group in the room where we spend pretty much all of our waking hours.

Out to dinner with all the peeps.

Stay tuned for more awesomeness. Thanks for reading. We hope it won't always be this boring.