Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Housing dichotomy
I have posted some pictures next to this entry to try and show you the disparity in housing that I mentioned in my "first impressions" entry. In the first picture you see that I am in an area of new housing and very large homes (5 bedrooms) are being built. I am standing in a newly finished one and taking a picture of one in process and right between them is a tiny shack. That shack is a family's home! In the next picture you see the beautiful home I was standing in and across the street is the shack in the third picture. Does it give you a better idea of what I was trying to describe? It is hard to look at when you are actually here and see the very poor half naked children running around next to these "mansions". May I never forget how greatly the Lord has blessed me b/c even as a missionary, I have so much more than these families. And yet the children wave at us with big smiles on their faces. Down the street from where I am staying is one of these families and my teammates are in the habit of helping them with clothing, etc. We can reach those that the Lord brings across our path. The final picture is representative of the nice houses in the neighborhood and the not so nice streets that they sit on. Rather odd but common.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
My first church service here
This morning we went to the Elim International Church in downtown Accra. (I have to say that it was a much less interesting drive than the first trip to Accra b/c there was very little traffic.) It is truly an international church. I saw people from Ghana, Liberia, America, Asia, S. Africa and Great Britain. Very neat to worship with so many of God's people from around the world. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I knew almost all the choruses that were sung as well as the hymns. It was a fairly charismatic type church but nothing that shocked me. And the pastor's sermon was good and quite applicable. His primary focus was on being willing to leave behind the things that we cling to so that when God sends us forth to serve him we are ready to go. There was good encouragement in the message also as he spoke from Joshua chapter 1 and reminded us that wherever God sends us he promises to go with and never leave us. I found it an interesting and encouraging message and service. But oddly while having a good experience it was all I could do not to cry as I missed my home church in Lake Forest, IL and all the people I know there. It is a hard place to be -a stranger at a new church and it takes awhile to become part of the fabric but it does come with time. Of course this was the church my teammates, Lee and Michelle, attend and it doesn't necessarily mean that that will be the church I attend long-term but for now I anticipate that I will continue to go there.
By the way, it has been pouring rain here for the last couple of hours! Praise the Lord. We need it.
By the way, it has been pouring rain here for the last couple of hours! Praise the Lord. We need it.
Ghanaian Money
"Take 1 million out at the ATM." Does that statement shock you? That's what I can take out at the ATM here if I need to. 1 Million! Oh yes, that is 1 million cedis (pronounced see-dees). It would only be about $100 USD (US dollars). It was, of course, odd to see something like a can of coke price at 10,000cedis which is only just over a dollar in USD. It isn't quite a 10 to 1 ratio but close enough to get a good idea of what the actual price is. They are going to be changing the sizes of the bills soon which is good b/c right now 20000 is the largest I have seen and that is only about $2 so my wallet has a lot of bills in it that don't add up to a whole lot of money:)
Friday, May 25, 2007
Flowers
The flower pictures are added in honor of my mom who is a gardener extraordinaire. If you ever get the chance to see her yard in summer, I highly recommend it. These are just a couple of the beautiful flowers that I see everywhere.
Accra Mall
Today we went to a new store in a mall that is being built called "Game". The store is truly like a Wal-Mart with everything from shampoo to patio furniture to electronics. Many of the namebrands are different but there were some I recognized like Samsung, Sunbeam and Toshiba. The store is run by a group from S. Africa. It is very impressive. Well organized and beautifully arranged. The people are very friendly and the prices are pretty reasonable (from what I understand from those who have lived here for awhile). All in all, we can get pretty much whatever we need and it was a really great place to visit. It is the only store in the mall that is completed at this time but the mall is supposed to be the biggest one in all of West Africa.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Answering some questions
1. Do you hear any birds in the morning? I do here a lot of birds but have not yet identified them. The neighbor across the street has two African grey parrots who sing and whistle all day. Occasionally Lee (my boss) will whistle to them and they answer back. It is a nice sound coming from them.
2. Do you hear roosters crowing in the morning? Yes I do and sometimes at other times during the day. There are chickens that run around loose on many streets and also goats. But not too many where I am living right now.
3. Are there coconut and palm trees around? yes there are. Many varieties and they are beautiful. I will try to get some pics of them on here for you.
4. Have you seen the ocean yet? NO!! But I hope to very soon. There are some beaches right in Accra but they aren't very clean so to go to a good one is about an hour's drive away.
5. Do children come to the door with fruit? I think at times they do but I haven't seen any since I arrived here. There are many little fruit stands on the roads and one just around the corner where we get good mangos and a type of pineapple that is good but not yellow like the ones in the states or in Liberia.
2. Do you hear roosters crowing in the morning? Yes I do and sometimes at other times during the day. There are chickens that run around loose on many streets and also goats. But not too many where I am living right now.
3. Are there coconut and palm trees around? yes there are. Many varieties and they are beautiful. I will try to get some pics of them on here for you.
4. Have you seen the ocean yet? NO!! But I hope to very soon. There are some beaches right in Accra but they aren't very clean so to go to a good one is about an hour's drive away.
5. Do children come to the door with fruit? I think at times they do but I haven't seen any since I arrived here. There are many little fruit stands on the roads and one just around the corner where we get good mangos and a type of pineapple that is good but not yellow like the ones in the states or in Liberia.
First Impressions
Of course the first thing I noticed is the weather. It reminds me of living in Texas during the summer. Warm and very humid. I arrived in Ghana at the beginning of the rainy season, which lasts from May until about Sept., so humidity is expected. There are many beautiful flowers here. I especially like the bougainvillea which we also had in Liberia where I grew up.
My first impression of the area called East Legon, where I am staying, was that it was less developed than I had expected. There are huge homes, mansions really, next to tiny shacks and all with red dirt roads filled with potholes in front of them. There are few road signs so directions are given by landmarks. The most interesting, funny and scary thing so far for me is the driving. I am amazed at the lack of traffic lights and stop signs even for major intersections. So to get across a street or make a turn, each car edges out slowly into the lane of traffic until he is so far out that the rest of traffic has to stop to let him turn or move across. And there is more than one car at a time trying to do this while the other cars are just trying to go straight on their road. This is the system even in downtown Accra where there is the kind of congestion you would expect in a large capital city. It is also a challenge to drive here because there are pedestrians, bikes and carts on the road - and I do mean ON the road, not just next to the road. Taxis and other vehicles stop to talk, pick-up or drop off people pretty much anywhere on the road at any time. Needless to say there is a lot going on and as with any country once you understand how these things work you can navigate them well - as do my teammates. I am sure, though, it will take me quite awhile to get comfortable driving. I am quite thankful that Ghanaians do drive on the right side of the road though and not the left.
Today we (Michelle and several school kids) drove about an hour out of town to a botanical garden. The ride was beautiful and only really scary at one point when we were driving up a small mountain and coming around a curve to find a car in the oncoming lane passing another car and a third car passing both of them! In NASCAR language we would say they were riding "three wide in turn one"!! After we came to a complete stop to avoid a wreck (and I recovered), we carried on with the drive. The botanical garden was a field trip for the missionary school kids and it was just lovely. We saw a variety of spice trees like nutmeg, bay leaf, cinnamon and curry as well as the oldest and first cocoa tree in Ghana. Our guide was extremely kind and knowledgeable and we had a great time there.
My office is just wonderful. The teams that worked on it did a great job and I am slowly going through things and starting to make it "my own". Some things that I will need to get used to working with are the metric system, military time and some British phrases. Ghana was originally a British colony so there are British phrases still used such as queue instead of line and WC (water closet) instead of bathroom.
Even though it is rainy season here, there hasn't been much rain so far or over the last few years. Consequently, there is a shortage of hydro power by which we get our electricity. We are without electricity for about 12 hours or so every third day. At those times we use a back-up generator at the house but not at the office. When you think of Ghana, please pray for a good rainy season this year as the low water levels affect the electricity and water tanks of people in the city and the country. So of course we try to conserve electricity and water when we have it. For instance, and this might gross some of you out, but what to do...we don't flush the toilet every time we use it. The common saying is "if it is yellow, let it mellow; if it is brown, flush it down". Isn't that nice?:) I am sure you understand without me elaborating further!
I am enjoying spending time with Lee and Michelle. Most of you know that I have known them since childhood as we were all missionary kids (MKs) in Liberia. I can tell already that Michelle and I will become good friends. I am so thankful to the Lord for sending me to work with them. Speaking of work you might be wondering when I am going to start doing that. Well, setting up the office is the first step and that is underway. The next step will be getting training from Lee and Michelle on the finance stuff and that will probably start sometime next week. We are giving me time to adjust to my new surroundings a little bit and we are also looking for housing possibilities. We will hit the "heavy" stuff soon enough!
Ok, I think that covers most of my first impressions. I will write more later.
My first impression of the area called East Legon, where I am staying, was that it was less developed than I had expected. There are huge homes, mansions really, next to tiny shacks and all with red dirt roads filled with potholes in front of them. There are few road signs so directions are given by landmarks. The most interesting, funny and scary thing so far for me is the driving. I am amazed at the lack of traffic lights and stop signs even for major intersections. So to get across a street or make a turn, each car edges out slowly into the lane of traffic until he is so far out that the rest of traffic has to stop to let him turn or move across. And there is more than one car at a time trying to do this while the other cars are just trying to go straight on their road. This is the system even in downtown Accra where there is the kind of congestion you would expect in a large capital city. It is also a challenge to drive here because there are pedestrians, bikes and carts on the road - and I do mean ON the road, not just next to the road. Taxis and other vehicles stop to talk, pick-up or drop off people pretty much anywhere on the road at any time. Needless to say there is a lot going on and as with any country once you understand how these things work you can navigate them well - as do my teammates. I am sure, though, it will take me quite awhile to get comfortable driving. I am quite thankful that Ghanaians do drive on the right side of the road though and not the left.
Today we (Michelle and several school kids) drove about an hour out of town to a botanical garden. The ride was beautiful and only really scary at one point when we were driving up a small mountain and coming around a curve to find a car in the oncoming lane passing another car and a third car passing both of them! In NASCAR language we would say they were riding "three wide in turn one"!! After we came to a complete stop to avoid a wreck (and I recovered), we carried on with the drive. The botanical garden was a field trip for the missionary school kids and it was just lovely. We saw a variety of spice trees like nutmeg, bay leaf, cinnamon and curry as well as the oldest and first cocoa tree in Ghana. Our guide was extremely kind and knowledgeable and we had a great time there.
My office is just wonderful. The teams that worked on it did a great job and I am slowly going through things and starting to make it "my own". Some things that I will need to get used to working with are the metric system, military time and some British phrases. Ghana was originally a British colony so there are British phrases still used such as queue instead of line and WC (water closet) instead of bathroom.
Even though it is rainy season here, there hasn't been much rain so far or over the last few years. Consequently, there is a shortage of hydro power by which we get our electricity. We are without electricity for about 12 hours or so every third day. At those times we use a back-up generator at the house but not at the office. When you think of Ghana, please pray for a good rainy season this year as the low water levels affect the electricity and water tanks of people in the city and the country. So of course we try to conserve electricity and water when we have it. For instance, and this might gross some of you out, but what to do...we don't flush the toilet every time we use it. The common saying is "if it is yellow, let it mellow; if it is brown, flush it down". Isn't that nice?:) I am sure you understand without me elaborating further!
I am enjoying spending time with Lee and Michelle. Most of you know that I have known them since childhood as we were all missionary kids (MKs) in Liberia. I can tell already that Michelle and I will become good friends. I am so thankful to the Lord for sending me to work with them. Speaking of work you might be wondering when I am going to start doing that. Well, setting up the office is the first step and that is underway. The next step will be getting training from Lee and Michelle on the finance stuff and that will probably start sometime next week. We are giving me time to adjust to my new surroundings a little bit and we are also looking for housing possibilities. We will hit the "heavy" stuff soon enough!
Ok, I think that covers most of my first impressions. I will write more later.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Introduction
Greetings and welcome to my blogsite. I hope you enjoy what you read. My goal in having a blogsite is to share with you "the good, the bad and the ugly" of missionary life in Ghana. I intend to post frequently and share with you all that is happening - happy and sad stories, joyful and tragic moments, victories in the Lord and struggles...you get my point, as well as photos and videos. I hope that my writing style will reflect my personality and in reading these posts you will sense that we are hanging out and talking. Perhaps those that know me well will say "that sounds like something Suzanne would say!" So come on in, sit down, take a load off and let me tell you what has been going on.