A Mighty Change

By assignment from the Area Presidency, Gregg and I went to Cape Coast to represent them at a youth production called "A Mighty Change."  This pageant occurred August 28, 2010 in each country of the West Africa Area; and in some cases, at several locations within a particular country.  The same pageant was occurring in Accra simultaneously with the one we attended in Cape Coast.  The Cape Coast production included youth from 3 stakes and 2 districts (about 1200 youth).  

As we traveled to Cape Coast we took 1200 neon green t-shirts imprinted with "A Mighty Change" to be given to each young participant as a remembrance of this day.  The production ran for about 2 1/2 hours.  It was well done with a very professional sound system.  The venue was the very prominent town square which had  been prepared with chairs for the audience, mats for the youth to sit on, and canopy coverings for all.  There was a nice cement stage with stairs.  The curtain was suspended on a rope and worked by manual operation of the stage crew.  The costumes were colorful and handmade. Our favorite was the sheep.  The play depicted scenes from the Book of Mormon, including Ammon protecting the King's sheep.  

We were particularly glad about this performance for 3 reasons:

• Youth from a large geographic area were able to get together with other youth who believe as they do.
• These youth will remember the truths of the Book of Mormon from the scenes they portrayed.  
• The whole thing succeeded due to a strong coordinated effort by local Priesthood leaders; pulling something together that was very nice.     

Gecko Catch and Release Program

There are the cutest little white geckos here.  We have found a couple inside our home.  We really don't mind them, but due to the very effective fumigation program, they don't stand a chance at co-habitating with us. 

The most memorable was the occasion when we were getting ready for bed and Gregg said, "there's either a new pattern in the middle of our bedspread, or that's a gecko."  And indeed it was a gecko.  I grabbed a plastic bowl and sent Gregg for a piece of cardboard.  With my lightning quick reflexes, and coming up from behind (as suggested by Gregg) I captured him under the bowl.  We slid the cardboard underneath and then released him outside in the bushes.  Boy was he fast!  As he dashed off, Gregg commented, "I hope you live a long life, who knows, maybe one day you'll end up in an insurance commercial."

The other one was a religious sort, dashing behind the picture of Jesus Christ for sanctuary.  Gregg was out of town in Sierra Leone, so I was on my own for a successful capture and release.  

We've included a picture of a 4 inch gecko that lives on our back porch. 

Helping Hands - All Africa Service Project

August 21, 2010 was the All Africa Service Project.  Members of the LDS Church from all across Africa donned yellow vests and gave their Saturday for service in local community projects.  Gregg and I worked with the OSU Ward and cleaned up the OSU Market with local OSU Tribal group.

Our bright yellow vests had two green hand prints and read, "Mormon Helping Hands"  and "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."  Everyone was very happy to wear these vests.  Gloves were a must as you will see from the description of our project.  I was given a pair of bright yellow gloves which was just the ticket. 

We met at the OSU Ward Chapel and later discovered we would embark on a 2 mile hike to and from the OSU Market.  With Gregg's 5 week old knee arthroscopy and my plantar fasciitis, we were quite the limping duo on our hike.  

The OSU Market desperately needed our help.  They sell everything from recently made charcoal to fruits and vegetables.  There were even a couple of "hair boutiques" complete with a chair for the client and a portable hair washing station.  Some people appeared to live there.  They had some less than desirable showers and we were warned not to go near one wall as that was apparently the bathroom facility.

We filled numberless black garbage bags full of garbage and trash.  The OSU Tribal Stool (tribal council) had arranged for a garbage truck to haul it away.

 

The funnest part were the little children that apparently lived at this location.  One two year old girl followed us around and "adopted " one of our brooms that she wanted more than anything.  The children were quite happy to jump right in and begin helping.

At the end of the project, Gregg was completely soaked with sweat, not a dry stitch of clothes on him (high humidity in Ghana).  We treated ourselves to a meal at a "fast food" restaurant, which in Ghana usually means fried rice and chicken in under 45 minutes. 

Sierra Leone

Gregg just completed a three day trip to Sierra Leone.  It's a two hour plane ride (that's the easy part, especially on Kenya Airways which is quite nice).  Gregg calls the entry into Sierra Leone at the Freetown airport the second most exciting border entry of his life.  The first being the Andes mountain pass between Bolivia and Peru... but that's another story for another day. 

Arriving at the airport requires a walk down the stairs to the tarmac and on to the one gate airport.  After clearing immigrations, Gregg found himself facing an old disheveled man in a white lab coat asking to see peoples' shot records.  Gregg, having forgotten his international shot record (yellow card), discreetly hung back until a lady who had forgotten her shot record was hauled off into an office.  Seizing the moment, he stealthily slipped into baggage reclaim and customs vowing to never again forget his yellow card.

After clearing customs, Gregg stood in a long line to buy a ticket for one of three types of water taxis.  At this point he discovered that the airport is on an island requiring a 30-60 minute boat ride (depending on how high the seas are) to reach Freetown and the mainland.  Gregg chose the larger ferry with air conditioning, a stewardess, and refreshments.  Granted, it was slow (60 minutes) and bumpy, but the creature comforts were appreciated.  Unfortunately, there's a 30 minute bus ride from the airport to the harbour.  Arriving at the harbor he found numerous vendors offering raw fish, raw shrimp, and other unattractive food items to quell the hunger of weary travelers.

Arrival in Freetown presented an aging city with very narrow streets and people everywhere.  Everyone had something to sell and apparently, the tall white guy wearing a white shirt and tie was the perfect customer.  Gregg was met by a local church employee and they began the slow, arduous car ride up the mountain to the "best hotel"  in town.  Freetown is built on a series of steep hills covered with many narrow roads, most of which desperately need repaving.  Dodging potholes is the pastime of the local drivers. It is the rainy season and it did rain every day, sometimes very hard.  But it was very green and pretty. 

Gregg took a three hour car ride to Bo, Sierra Leone to see the LDS churches there.  The road to Bo was surprisingly new, but the cars needed to share the road with the goats, the people, the bikes, the chickens, the tro tros (vans used like buses) and many children.  It was interesting to see the many little villages along the way. 

Sierra Leone is about 40% Muslim and Gregg saw many mosques and often heard the call to prayer as Ramadan was just beginning.  Because the Muslims fast from sun up to sun down during Ramadan, there was quite a flurry of activity at the markets before sunrise and after sunset.  He found all the people, Christian and Muslim alike to be helpful and friendly. 

On his return trip, the Mission President asked Gregg to escort 5 brand new Elders headed to the Accra Missionary Training Center.  They chose to take the small speedy ferry. Gregg got a bit uncomfortable when they were all required to don a life jacket before the trip started.  The seas were calm and it was a much faster ride (30 minutes).  None of the eager, wide-eyed missionaries had ever been on a boat, an airplane, or ever left Sierra Leone.  At the airport one missionary became distraught when his checked bag disappeared down the conveyer belt, as his mother had instructed him not to let the bag out of his sight.  He repeatedly asked Gregg if he would ever see that bag again.  Sure enough, it showed up in Accra.  None of the missionaries had ever gone through customs or ever filled out any of the necessary paperwork.  Fortunately, most of them spoke passable English and Gregg was able to patiently work them through the process.  All arrived safely in Accra and Gregg turned them over to escorts from the MTC.  Mission accomplished. 

Shopping and Food Preparation

My three favorite places to shop for food currently are:  

• Shop Rite - which is a modern foreign owned supermarket where you can find many South African products as well as local FRESH MILK and yogurt, in the new and modern Accra Mall (it makes Gregg happy just to go there because it's somewhat like shopping at home - high roof, big open space, and a movie theater),
• Koalas - a small old and quaint Lebanese grocery store with the very best bread and hummus in Accra, and

• Ruth's vegetable stand - a wooden structure filled with laundry baskets full of produce.

Once home, I begin the necessary task of soaking all the produce in Clorox water. That takes me about an hour wearing my yellow rubber gloves. The more things you buy, the longer it takes. For example, if you buy eggs here, they still have "interesting things" on them - so they require soaking followed by scrubbing with a little brush. Gregg has developed a recent aversion to eggs. I offered to make an omelet the other day, and got a "no thanks." And I have given up my lifelong love of eating cookie dough (because of the raw eggs).  Also, eggs must be thoroughly cooked -- no sunny side up here.  But it's all worth the prize of staying well.

Interesting New Things To Buy at the Store

I suppose every place has the basics you would buy at a grocery store. Coming from the United States, there are those food items that I would normally expect to find. We can't find any of them here; such as, cottage cheese, Quaker Oats, buttermilk, sour cream, chocolate chips, bacon, turkey, ham, and Fritos to name a few.

However, what a wonderful opportunity to learn about new things! Plantains, casava root, African yams (they are white and not sweet), Jungle Oats, Chakalaka in a can, TEXAS rice, Lion soup mix, Tiger/Tiger boiled chick peas, Blue Dragon Sweet and Sour sauce, hot vegetable curry in a can, Jungle energy crunch (granola), boxed milk on the shelf (not refrigerated until open), and many more interesting things and fun names.

My kitchen pantry and freezer look like a United Nations food supply. We have ice cream from Belgium, jam from the Netherlands, boxed milk from France, frozen chickens from Brazil, Satay sauce from Malaysia, canned vegetables and fruit from South Africa and coconut milk from England. The drinkable yogurt (like is common in Europe) and fresh milk are actually from here in Cantonments, Accra, Ghana.

We've eaten out a few times. Mama Mia's Italian Restaurant is great and one of their specialties is Peter Pan Pizza (no peanut butter, just toppings not all of which were identifiable). I took the safer route and just ordered swordfish; the portion completely covered my entire plate. It was fabulous. We went to Le Magellans (French/European) and had a wonderful seafood platter. We passed on the escargot - we've seen snails here that are the size of baseballs. Locals sell them on the side of the road.  We enjoyed some great Irish stew at Ryan's Pub. We are looking forward to eating at Captain Hook's Seafood and Chickin Lickin (apparently a fast food restaurant).

We are actually eating well, just different. Gregg, however, is now 20 days without potato chips or soda. His hands have quit shaking and he seems fine (just kidding).

Arrival in Accra on 20 July 2010

Thirty-five years after Gregg and I got engaged (to the day), we moved to Africa. Arriving in Accra, Ghana for the second time at Katoka International wasn't nearly as daunting. The best news is that June, July, and August seem to be the best time to be in Ghana. The breeze blows off the ocean dropping the temperature to the low to mid 80s.

I was prepared for the lines at immigration, but not for the disappointment that 3 of our 4 bags did not make the connection in Atlanta. Our flight was 3 hours delayed departing Salt Lake, and we literally had to run to a different terminal in Atlanta to make our flight to Accra. As we arrived at the departure gate we could here our names being paged overhead, and as we stepped into the plane they closed the door. Had we missed that flight, it would have delayed us two days.

After filing the paperwork for our missing luggage, we filed more paperwork for our "unaccompanied household goods" which had been air freighted to Ghana, hopefully waiting for us somewhere.

A wonderful missionary couple, Linda and Arlyn Peterson were there to meet us and took us to our home and provided us with a wonderful hot dinner that night. Without a change of clothes, Gregg resigned himself to the fact that he could not go to work without his white shirt and tie. Fortunately, our bags arrived the next day, but what an experience to reclaim them! We took our paperwork to a customs office remote from the international airport. We parked in a dirt parking lot and worked our way to the customs office. We were led into a room filled with luggage; we were asked to identify our bags amongst the sea of lost bags. The customs official acted like they were going to open each of our bags for inspection, then looked at us and sighed, saying words to the effect, "neither one of us really want to do this." She had us sign for the bags and released us. We then worked our way past the many people who wanted to help us with our bags, for a small fee.

We were fortunate that our household shipment arrived about the same time we did and was delivered Friday, August 23rd. A long flatbed truck arrived with three large wooden crates. They pried off one end of each box with a crow bar. Then about 8 porters hauled the individual cardboard boxes into the house, mostly on top of their heads. They were all speaking a local dialect and we couldn't understand a word they said. It truly made us feel like we were on safari. As we did not ship much, the assimilation of our goods into our home went quickly and helped us to "settle in." I'm sure this will "feel" like home soon.