Day 15: Ghanaian Hospitality

Since our arrival in Ghana, Abby and I have been welcomed over and over. But now that we have been in the village of Akutope-Avuto for a little over a week we are realizing that Ghanaians are very gracious and hospitable people. Almost everyday we receice a small gift from a village member to express their graditude for our service. We love these small acts of gratitude, it makes us feel so welcomed and so appreciated by the village.The small gifts are continual reminders that God will always provide for us, in one way or the other. We will leave here feeling incredibly humbled!

After a visit to introduce ourselves to Auntie Lydia's brother, he thanked us for the visit by sending us a large bag of mangos (which we told him was our favorite fruit)!

Also we asked Auntie Lydia's nephew to take us to town on Saturday so that we could find ourselves some Coca~Cola! George was extremely surprised that we loved coke so much! So a few days later he sent us an eight pack!

On top of these two wonderful gifts, the chief came and set up a TV in our small apartment because he was concerned that we were bored at night time.

In addition, one of our fellow teachers has spoiled us to the max! Everyday she brings us a local juice made from soya beans and nut of a boaboab tree.

And lastly, many villagers have given up an afternoon of their time, so that they can take us through the village or to an event of some sort.

Thank you Ghanaians for your hospitality. We love your country!

Day 14: What to do with cornflakes and no milk in Africa?

As we were buying supplies for this village, we were given a box of cornflakes but no milk. For the past week, Taylor and I have pondered this dilemma of how to eat our cornflakes when we don't have any milk.

This is what we came up with!

1. Pour dry cornflakes into a bowl, add a dash of salt and consume!

2. Sprinkle liberally on a fried egg just to give it a little crunch

3. When your rice and beans is slightly dry, just add some cornflakes and its a whole new meal!

If you have any other suggestions comment below....we still have half a box left!

Day 11: Becoming an elder....

Today is a national holiday in Ghana and our school put on a ceremony to welcome us and the computers. 

The students displayed the tribes traditional dancing, accompanied by the traditional drumming. 

The village decorated us with traditional beads. We each received two braclets and two necklaces. For this area it's a great honor to have two of the traditional beads, because it symbolizes having the status of a village elder!

The cheif of Akutope-Avuto and Abby watching the students display their new computer skills.

Abby and I with our Auntie and the village cheif. Auntie is our hots in this village and she has been cooking and looking out for us.  



Day 10: It's the small things...

We are almost finished with our first week in the village. It has been incredibly rewarding to be with both the students and the teachers each day as we teach them more and more about the computers. They are all such fast learners!!

As Taylor and I are growing accustomed to life here, we have realized how much we appreciate the small things like:
-running water
-having a washing machine (in the USA because here we have to wash our clothes by hand)
-forks
-a reliable source of electricity
-a western toilet with FOUR walls
-a shower head (versus a bucket)
-good food
-a roof over our head
-AC (I hope you are all enjoying that luxary in the USA)
-food that you can chew (versus swallowing whole)

So we ask you, what are the small things in life that you appreciate? We'd love to know!

P.S. We were just handed a newspaper by the chief and we were featured in it presenting the computers to the schools. Throughout the article they expressed constant thanks to the donors of the computers. So thank you all again!!

Day 6: The first day of school!

Our first village is the village of Akutope-Avuto which is where Auntie Lydia grew up. We arrived yesterday afternoon and got a tour of the school. The village community has really taken responisibility for their children's education. Last year they raised enough money to build a brand-new building with a computer lab!

Setting up our new computer lab!

The building engineer, George, was very excited for our arrival and the beginning of the ICT program.

Our classroom!

Our first group of students. Everyone was eager to learn and took good care of the laptops.

Day 3: Dedication Ceremony

These are some of the faces from the village that greeted us for the dedication ceremony today. Throughout the ceremony, the kids loved to sit behind us and poke us and play with our hair.

Most American call this the "chicken dance" but it really a traditional tribal dance where people's arms "flap" to the beat of the drums. We got invited to join the circle. As we attempted to imiate the dancers movements, the children roared with laughter. I guess we still need some practice!

These are the computers and back-up generator being presented to the Councile of State, Minister of Education and the Chief of Dzebetato and the commmunity. As part of the ceremony, Taylor and I got to officially present them to these men. After our picture was taken, the chief wanted to rechristen us according to the day we were born. Taylor, being born on Saturday, name Ahmeh. And I, not knowing which day I was born, recieved the chief's day of birth, Thursday. I am now Awu.

The first 10 computers got set up in a classroom specifically built for the computers. 5 boys and 5 girls were chosen to sit and play on the computers. We let them write their name in Microsoft Word. It was a little chaotic because everyone wanted to see and touch the new computers!

Day Two

We started today off with a traditional Ghanaian breakfast, of eggs, avacado, sweet bread, hot tea and fruit juice. It was very delicious and fun to feel like a true Ghanaian.

After visiting the GCM office and meeting the staff, we had a tour of the town Tema. This town just East of Accra and where the GCM office is located, as well as where our host, Uncle Enoch, lives. It is known as the port for Ghana. We were able to see some of the port and ships coming in and out.

While touring the beach, Abby and I decided to stick our feet in the water, only to learn the hard way how strong the waves are in Ghana. We came out of the water pretty soaked. Good things it's hot in Ghana so our skirts dry fast.

Also the dedication ceremony is tomorrow, so we will be leaving Tema around 6:45am which is 2:45am back home. Pray we'll stay awake!

We're HEERRREE!!!

After 17 hours of traveling, we have set foot in Ghana! We were instantly greeted by a custom's official who led us through the entire process quickly and painlessly. We were not stopped once and the computers are safely in our host's home.

Although everything still feels a little unfamiliar the weather is the one thing that has not changed! Still just as hot as in Florida!!

Here are some pictures from our journey over....

Checking in the computers!

NY

Layover at JFK!

Wow we're actually going!

Today's the day! It's so hard to believe that Abby and I are actually flying off to Africa today! We will be boarding our plane from Orlando FL to New York NY at 2:30pm today. From there we will leave the JFK airport at 8:30pm to head straight to Accra, Ghana!

To our prayers are for safe and uneventful travels! As well as hearts that are prepared for exactly what God will need us to do when we get there!

2 DAYS!!!

I can count the days on one hand!!

With only 5 days left till we cross the ocean, I am strangely at peace and thankfully I am not running around in a frantic frenzy as I anticipated. My bag is almost packed and everything is slowly falling into place in a way that only God can oversee.

These past couple of days I  have found myself trying to anticipate and prepare for everything that could possibly go wrong. Between Taylor and I, we have enough band-aids and medecine to probably take care of almost anything. But I also know unexpected and unplanned things are going to happen. It's Africa! What gives me peace is knowing that God has forseen it all when I can't and He will take care of everything.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails"

- Proverbs 19:21

Six Days to Go!!

6 days away! After working hard this weekend on the computers, all that Abby and I have had left to do is gather some last minute details and we're off! it's so hard to believe that we've come this far in such a short time. God has brought together countless details that I myself would have not even thought of. If there is one thing that this experience has taught me it's that literally nothing is impossible with God. over and over throughout the last few months there have been times where I doubted if this project would really be able to happen, but over and over God has prove my doubts wrong. With everything that God has shown me so far in putting this trip together, I cannot wait toseewhat God will show us when we are actually there!

7 Days Away!!

With ONE week left till we leave, Taylor and I are busy getting all the last minute details together. We finally have everything we need and there are no more set back with computers which is a huge answer to prayer!

Part of that has been getting the computers ready to go and downloading the software. Thanks to family and friends we finished all 30 computers in a single afternoon!

It was quite the party!!

At one point we had computers all over the room!

Here they are all finished!!!