Is there an ark for sale?

Last night my roommates and I shared a new and I hope never repeated experience. Rainy season is here in full force. From what I understand it doesn't normally come until about June but it started at the end of April this year. The last couple of years it has been a very "weak" rainy season but not so this year. We get a major - huge - thunderstorm with gallons and gallons of rain almost every other day with a day of sunshine or at least clearer skies in between. Yesterday it was bright and sunny with big white fluffy clouds until about 4pm. Then the sky started darkening and we knew the rain was coming. About 3 hours later it hit. And it hit hard and fast. The rain poured down without letup for a good couple of hours. I didn't realize there was a problem until I heard the toilet in my bathroom making a "bloop, bloop" type sound. When I checked it out the water in the bowl had risen and there were actual air bubbles surfacing - hence the "bloop" sound. Of course I am not thrilled with this but I keep checking on it and the water doesn't overflow so I am not too worried. The problem came when I went to the kitchen to get a drink. As I flipped on the light I noticed that the tile floor in the living room off the kitchen that is normally white is brown. When I flip on that light for a better look I am aghast to see 2 or so inches of muddy brown water covering the entire floor with more pouring in from under the garage door. Of course I holler for my roommates and we all stand there a bit dumbfounded for several minutes. Then we run to the front of the house and see that the front porch, the driveway and the entire yard on one side is submerged in water. Even Maggie's car has water half-way up the tires. The water is going under the garage door - so of course we know the garage floor is flooded too - and then it is high enough to flow over the 4 inch step up into the living room and that is why the room is being flooded. It is still raining. Again we are standing there dumbfounded and wondering what to do b/c there is no way to divert water from the garage door or to get it out of the living room at the rate it is flowing in. We move a few things to higher ground and pray that the Lord would cause it to stop raining. He did and I praise Him greatly! A couple more inches into the living room and the water would have overflowed the step up into the hall and had free reign to all the bedrooms, the kitchen, etc. I am so grateful this didn't happen. As soon as the rain stopped the water receded. After the three of us tag teamed to push it out of the living room and through the garage we went to explore what happened outside. Even though the house sits low and the driveway has a rather steep incline to it this is the first time we have had a problem like this and there have been plenty of storms lately. Eva finally sees that a bucket got in the drainage ditch that surrounds the house here (that is the norm here) and had partially - almost completely - blocked the hole for the water to flow down. That is what caused the flooding. It was a bucket that had about 15 pounds or so of concrete mix in it that we use to block the heavy garage door from swinging too far open and crushing the wall behind it. The water was flowing so heavily from the road and down the driveway that it swept it into the gutter. What a mess!!! And actually the water lifted up a large concrete driveway paver and moved it several feet from it's spot. It must have been really flowing. Part of the problem is that we live on a dirt road that is seriously messed up from the gutter work that is going on all around our little neighborhood area. They have started some gutters on our road but never completed them before going and starting more in several directions around us. I believe that has compounded the problem. But all's well that ends well, right? The gardener, Joseph, will spend most of his time here today cleaning mud off the driveway, porches, etc. Eva and I did some last night but there is still a big mess. I wish there was a way to stop the flow down the driveway but until the gutters are fixed and the road gets some gravel we don't have many choices. The really amazing news is that we didn't lose electricity - except for about 5 minutes at one point. This is really huge b/c for the last 3 weeks or so every time there was a storm our power went out almost immediately. I do believe they fixed it. And I am grateful to the Lord that we didn't lose it especially during the time of the flooding. That would have been seriously challenging. Well the sun is shining this morning and the clouds are breaking up. I see blue skies. Hopefully a nice bright day will dry out a good portion of the water covering the road and and yard.

a few pics of the road and the mud

If you stand at my gate and look to the right this is what you see. This used to be the primary means of getting to the house by car but as you can see that it is no longer passable. Besides the piles of sand and gravel, there is an unfinished drainage ditch at the end of the street that your car would need to sprout wings to get over.











If you look straight across from my gate (and just a tad to the left) you will see this "street". The gutter was dug and left and now the dirt and sand is eroding the entire road with every storm. That gaping hole in the middle was created from the storm last night.

fyi - just to the left behind the white vehicle you can see a small store. That is where I can quickly go to get last minute items for cooking like eggs or baking soda. Very convenient.








This is the inside of the garage. It got the worst damage at the house. The poor lawnmower may never recover. And if you can see the washing machine at the back right, you might be able to see the water line about 6 inches from the bottom. No wonder it poured into the house!




This picture got out of order but oh well. If you look left from my gate this is the third and final way to drive a car out. We used to just have to dodge the mud and ruts but now they have started to work on the gutters at the end of the road on the right and have put the cement mixer right there in the middle. Thank you very much. There is just enough room to squeeze by on the left - that is of course unless they have parked their construction truck there:) I do believe that after driving here and navigating just trying to get to my house in Mag's car that I really am ready for NASCAR!

Last night when Mags and I went out to "explore" after the rain stopped we saw that this whole road was completely under water. Fortunately there is a drain into the gutter on our side of the road and it really went down over night. I might be able to go off-roading when I leave the house today:)

This is on the side of the house. You can see the whole walk way and driveway almost up to the gate are covered in mud. At the very edge by the gate are white pavers - that is how the whole thing should look. Oh well. It will get back to that sooner or later.

All in all the damage is minimal and nothing compared to what others are suffering around the world after typhoons and earthquakes!

A different way to have a discussion

Even as I am preparing to return home, my eyes are still continually being opened to the differences in cultures. I had noticed early in my living here that Ghanaians in general seem to be much more vocal and animated in their discussions than I am used to or prefer. At first it really bothered me and I was convinced that I would be seeing tons of fist fights but that isn't what happens. The only thing close to a fight I have seen involved road rage. A big slow truck was in front of us during rush hour on a major road when all of a sudden a huge guy jumps out of his car and charges the driver of the truck. The mad man (literally:)) opened the driver's door and attempted to drag him out of the truck. When this didn't work, he alternately hit him and pulled at him. It was unbelievable. And the truck driver was several years his senior! The only thing that stopped the mad man from really hurting him was that the truck wasn't in park and so as the older man is trying to protect himself his foot must have come off the brake and the truck is rolling back ward - toward us. Fortunately a guy in a car next to the commotion had gotten out and I think would have intervened at some point but ended up hollering at the men that the truck was rolling. That seemed to distract the mad man enough that the truck driver closed his door, stopped the truck from rolling and actually started moving as the light had turned green. I don't know what happened after that but it was quite an experience to see. I am so thankful the older man wasn't hurt.

Oh, but I seriously digressed. So back to my original reason for writing this. The other day I had to go get more passport size pictures taken for my visa for Liberia. It is at a little place just down the road from my house. The inside of the building is a beauty shop and the "photography" part is on the front porch. As I am sitting and waiting for the man to come and take the pictures, I am witness to a discussion between a man and a woman at the shop next door. Now if I had seen this early on it would have really disturbed me but I am used to it now and was able to watch with detached interest. The woman is really worked up. She is standing and the man is sitting. She is pacing around, talking extremely loud, waving her arms, bending over close to the man's face and her face is scrunched up in what appears to be anger. I mean she has a point to make and make it she will! At first I am thinking "wow, this woman is seriously angry" and of course they are talking in Twi so I am only catching a rare word. After several minutes of her apparent tirade, the man talks and suddenly they are both laughing and slapping five. Then she continues on with her "tirade". It was so weird to my western eyes. The lady sitting across from me on the porch turns and gets involved in the conversation. Also a very common thing here that doesn't seem to bother anyone at all. Privacy and personal space are viewed in a very different way than in the US. Here there is very little of either. In the states, we guard both with our lives - practically. Anyway, so now all three are in the discussion. It appears to be a religious conversation as I occasionally hear the word "Muslim" and "church". After several minutes of loud and animated discussion it appears to be over and all three people are laughing and smiling and seem to move on to talking about something else. As I said above, if I had seen this when I first got here I would have been very disturbed and probably would have left. But after watching this for almost a year, I can sit and not be bothered by it. It is just the way most people here communicate. When they are passionate about a subject, they are loud and demonstrative and everyone seems to talk at once. And even if they are angry, I don't see people walking away or shutting down. They talk - or holler- it out and then they are fine and carry on with life. I have seen this on the street, in the neighborhood, etc. Really interesting and so different from how most people I know handle conflict. I have learned to be able to sit in the midst of it and not get so bothered. Of course it might be different if I am actually involved in the conflict but at least some growth has occurred in just being able to sit in the presence of it and not be so bothered by it.

Oh and by the way my passport picture was taken on the porch, with a lady standing behind me holding a white sheet behind my head and the photographer taking the picture two feet or so from my face. It was a Polaroid type camera and about 2 minutes and 4 Ghana cedis later I had 4 little passport sized pictures of my face. These relatively crude little shops are awesome and really convenient. I will miss that in the states.

To paint you a little picture, in a 5-6 block radius from my house I can get passport pictures taken, go to a pharmacy, go to 3-4 little "grocery" type stores, get fresh fruits and vegetables, get a taxi, phone cards, get my bike repaired (if I had one), get a pedicure and go to a Ghanaian restaurant for chicken and rice. All these things are in mom and pop type stores and are within a very easy walking distance from my house. No need to jump in the car, fight traffic and go to the store for the eggs that I forget (almost every time) for the cookies I am making. I just walk across the road and there they are - fresh eggs at the little store. There are very few chain type stores here. Most things are sold at these roadside shacks and the prices are so much better than at the bigger stores. It is a neat way to buy things and I will miss that.

Has anyone else noticed how I start writing about one subject and segue - or just abruptly shift- into another one? I guess now that my mind is uncluttered from the stress of the last few months my thoughts are flowing freely. Thanks for hanging in there with me as I let the thoughts and words pour out in several directions.

just a recap of the last 24 hours or so...and a few other thoughts

So last night I am in bed and almost asleep when I hear a rustling noise...pause...rustling noise. Of course I am on high alert after having a big ol' frog in the room a couple of months ago (I don't forget these things easily) and so I flip on the light and look around. I don't see anything. Back to bed. Same thing happens. Now I won't be able to sleep until I see what is going on. After much watching and listening I realize that the noise is coming from my wastebasket under the window. I throw a couple of things at it - while I am safely on the bed- trying to see if whatever it is will come out. And I am fully prepared to scream and wake up my roommates if it is something terrible or comes at me. But nothing happens. After awhile I can see the papers in the basket moving again so something has to got to be done. I stand on the bed and then the bench next to it trying to see what is in the basket and get nowhere - except I do crack my knee on the dresser and that isn't fun. Finally I decide that I must go get Eva - the brave one:) Fortunately her light is on so I don't have to wake her up. She comes and carefully pokes around in the basket and sees that it is a little tree frog in there. After some effort she covers the basket and gets the frog out into the big garbage can outside. I am happy to say that she actually said that she would not want to sleep in a room where frogs keep coming in and we can't figure out how they do it. Actually I suspect that the little thing climbed up the wall outside my window, came in the AC, and then fell into the basket sitting under it. How the big frog from weeks ago got in I am still at a loss.

I have realized that God has grown me and strengthened me in many ways while living in Ghana. Dealing with small critters and bugs is not one of those ways. I know you must be rolling your eyes and laughing at how wimpy I am but there it is. I didn't like them in the states and I like them less in Ghana! I wouldn't mind if I didn't see another frog - or anything else like it- in my room until I leave.

I did finally get some sleep and today Michelle and I ran around town trying to get something done and not accomplishing a ton. What to do. We have a colleague coming here tonight and yesterday we found out that he doesn't have a visa for Ghana. While you can actually get one in the airport here upon arrival, it is not a recommended method as most airlines won't let you on the plane (esp. in Europe) if you don't have a visa or proof that you will be granted one when you arrive. So yesterday Michelle and I go to the KLM office at the airport to see what can be done. KLM is one of those airlines that is pretty strict about the visa thing and our visitor didn't know this. The guy at the KLM office is unable to help us b/c he absolutely must have a letter from immigration before he can enter anything into the computer. That makes sense but doesn't really help us much. Immigration is closed by that time so we are at a bit of a loss. But standing next to us is a man who hears what is going on and finally says, "here let me help. Go to this office and ask for this man or this man. Tell them that Mr. Lincoln sent you." And he writes all this info on our paper. We look at him and say thank you. I am thinking he is someone who is part of immigration or airport stuff or something. We follow his directions and he must be someone b/c as soon as we mention his name, doors fly wide open. I am finally at an office where they can help - or so we think. The man Mr. Lincoln sent us to is extremely nice and professional. He tells me all that he needs from us after we explain the situation, gives me his phone number if we have problems and tells us to bring it all back that day. We do all this but when we get back to him with all the information needed it is too late for him to do much. Michelle and I go home and have to wait until this morning to proceed.

This morning we go back to see the nice man in his office and he very kindly tells us that b/c of the lateness of notification, etc. they can't get the immigration letter we need. But he gives us a phone number for KLM in Amsterdam to call if they give our visitor a hassle. Again he is extremely kind and I really enjoyed working with him however briefly. I did have to ask him before we left who exactly Mr. Lincoln is. He says he is a pastor of some church. Wow. I didn't expect that but I asked him to thank him for us the next time he saw him. Overall it was the most pleasant encounter I have had with immigration and even makes up for the annoying police incident of last week. :)

Michelle and I finish errands and have lunch at a cute little place with Margaret. Michelle drops me off at the end of one of the roads that is not under construction that will still allow me to get to my house - even on foot - and I pass by my gardener's bike repair "stand". It is just a couple blocks from the house and we get to wave hello to Joseph and his wife when we pass by in the car. Today, I was walking and so went and sat with Priscilla for awhile. She is almost always there with their two small children while Joseph works. It is really neat. They are just a sweet, sweet family. We visit for awhile and enjoy watching her incredibly adorable little boy. He is not yet one - not even 10 months - and he is walking all over the place, eating solids and has about 6 teeth. And the cutest smile you have ever seen. He is such the little flirt. I just love him. Earlier in the day their 2.5 year old daughter was there when Michelle picked me up and she is equally adorable. Just smiling and waving at me. I will really miss this family. Even though we aren't close in the American way, we are close in a Ghanaian -foreigner way. I will be enjoying them and taking pictures of their cute kids until I leave:)

As I continue walking home in "my neighborhood" I pass a man that I see regularly who always greets me so nicely. The men are playing checkers which I didn't realize at first b/c of the incredible speed with which they are playing. Often both players are making moves at the same time and there doesn't appear to be much forethought or strategy. I bet there is but it just isn't apparent on the surface. I watched for a short while, we all laughed and talked a bit and then I moved on to the house.

It was a very pleasant day in spite of not accomplishing anything by typical work standards. What I did accomplish was of much more importance and that had to do with relationships. Spending most of the day with Michelle was a great pleasure and we had some really heart to heart, excellent talks. She is an amazing woman and a great friend and I will miss her dearly. There is always a price to any choice we make, isn't there? When we move in one direction towards something or someone, we are moving away from something or someone else. I am returning to the states and I know it is the best thing for me right now but I am leaving behind friends, colleagues and a country that I do like in spite of all the challenges. A godly counselor told me that it would take great faith for me to stay in Ghana and great faith for me to return home. He was right. Even the right decision is still a hard one b/c people and places that I care about are left behind.

But as I was saying I got to spend a lot of time with Michelle today and that was wonderful. And then I was able to spend some time with Priscilla and Joseph and that was wonderful. (and as far as we can tell our friend is on the airplane and should be landing in Ghana in about 2 hours. PTL)

All in all it was a great day and very productive for me. I find it interesting that now that the burden of making the decision to leave is lifted, I am able to enjoy Ghana in a new way. I am much more relaxed - for the most part- and at peace. I know it is b/c the decision has been made but I still find it interesting. Trying to live in a new culture and make it your home is no small thing. I have new found respect for my parents and what they did in going to Liberia in 1973 -with three small children. Their plan was to be there a long time and make it home. Wow. And it was my childhood home for 7 very crucial years. I have increased respect for people like Lee and Michelle who are "career" missionaries. (I always had great respect for them but it has increased now.) It isn't easy and those who do it well have to have huge faith in God. Those who are like me - who try and find it isn't the right thing...well ....we are special too but in a different way:) I am still in awe that I got to live in Ghana for a year. It is an amazing and wonderful gift. Really it is! And at the same time, I am ready to go home and serve the Lord there. I look forward to seeing what He will do with this year in the future. I can think of a few reasons for me coming here...and leaving...but I bet He has a ton more reasons that I can't even begin to think of. It wasn't a wasted year that is for sure and I hope I look more like Him when I get home.

It is well....

This morning I was listening to a sermon on line that moved me to play the hymn "It is well". The music group Selah has a beautiful rendition of it...and actually of many hymns. I really appreciate the depth of the words in hymns and love how Selah has set them to updated/modern music. A great combination for me. The second verse of the song really touched me today and I will just share it with you.

"And my sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought
That my sin not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, oh my soul."

A few more pictures from the triathlon

A friend took these pictures and shared them with me. I also added some new ones to the link on the sidebar.

This picture shows the beginning of one of the roughest parts of the whole race. It is a neat picture of the area in Accra called Dzorwulu in the distance. The bikers just crossed a very busy intersection where they had to wait for the light to change to cross.






Ah yes, the "steering committee" hard at work at 6am. From the left - Ashley, Mags, Mariah and me. Am I actually awake and functional? Wow!












This picture is of the girls going up from Dzorwulu (that you see in the picture above). They are headed to an area of the road filled with huge holes, ruts and rocks, not to mention they are going up hill. On their way to the running portion of the race they will have to come back down this road and travel along the major road they just crossed.

It really was a challenging course - even in a car:)- and I am really proud of all of the participants but especially my friends who completed the whole thing.

The Race for Relief

This past Saturday, May 10th, a group of friends and I coordinated a sprint triathlon in our area of Accra. It was incredible. My roommate, Margaret, had the idea several months ago to do a triathlon with a couple of friends. As interest grew so did the triathlon until it was determined that is should be a fund raiser. Each person, whether participating as an individual or team, had an entry fee of 100 cedis. They could get donors or just pay it themselves. The money collected was given to a mission organization called SIM who has a strong program in the north of Ghana where they are helping flood victims from last year rebuild their homes and plant crops. We had 3 teams and 9 individual participants. Most of my friends were either participants or volunteers and it was just great. Several people who will be here for the next few years are hoping to make it an annual event.

The day started at 5am when Mags and I got up to go to Lincoln School where the triathlon would start in their pool. We had adult volunteers dropping off student volunteers at their stations, putting up signs, registering people and collecting money, etc. etc. It was a little chaotic at first but overall everything went well. The swimming phase went off smoothly but the bike phase had a few more challenges. The bikers rode through a fairly busy section of Dzorwulu, across a major road, through part of the forest preserve on rough dirt roads, a big loop in the University campus and then back along aside a major road to the forest preserve entrance. They are brave people and had to be very careful. We had two people, Jane and Mags, who had flat tires but we were able to grab bikes from those who were already running so they could finish the race. The final phase was the running and that was done in the forest preserve. I didn't realize that this preserve is primarily used for church groups to meet throughout the week to pray. There are marked out and numbered areas that can be reserved. In the states we would have these sections reserved for picnics, etc. but here they are reserved for groups to pray. As the participants ran their 4 loops we listened to people praying and singing. It was rather interesting.

The whole triathlon went off well. There was only one biking accident that resulted in just a scraped knee. Nobody passed out or got sick in spite of the strong heat and humidity. And no one got hit by a car. It was just wonderful and we praise the Lord for His protection over everyone.

My job in this thing was to register people and collect their money (of course:)), answer innumerable questions, drive all over the bike course to make sure everyone was safe and there weren't any injuries, take pictures, take bikes to those who had flats, direct volunteers and people, ...and did I mention answer questions? It was great. Even though I didn't do one bit of the actual triathlon, I was completely exhausted from the heat and running all over the place. But it was so much fun. I loved helping out and cheering on the participants. I loved seeing my friends and co-workers out in the heat cheering on friends. Lee and Michelle's son, TJ, did the running phase for a team and he did a great job. It was just really fun to join together with friends in this event and I am so grateful for the opportunity. And to raise $1800 to help Ghanaians who desperately need it made the whole thing worthwhile.

I hope that those who will be here next year will do this event again and raise money for another program. Perhaps it could become an annual event and maybe even grow in participation and fund raising. Wouldn't that be great?

I have posted some pictures below and also put a link on the side bar if you want to see more pictures from the day.

Photos from the Race for Relief

The calm before the storm:) Lincoln School allowed us to use their beautiful pool. Lincoln is a very good private school in Accra with an immense international student population. We really appreciated their help with coordinating the triathlon, providing the pool and also providing about 15 student volunteers to help with water stations and stopwatches.





the swim - 750 meters.












the run - 5km - through the Achimota Forest Preserve. Somehow Lindsey and Jane are still smiling.
















the bike ride - 20km- through the Legon University and an area of Accra called Dzorwulu. This wasn't easy as they road over some seriously messed up dirt roads and through traffic like you see behind the biker. No bike paths here!









Mags celebrating reaching the finish line!!

So a funny thing happened on my way to...

Funny as in unusual not funny haha! Yesterday Margaret and I were running some errands down town and decided to grab a quick bite to eat before heading back up to our area. We were already past the place we wanted to go - I am driving per Margaret's request- so I take a quick right and we are on some "off the main road" roads. A few twist and turns and we know where we are and head in the right direction. But as I take a right turn, following another car, we are suddenly stopped by two official looking men who have blocked the road. Before you can say "hey what are you doing?" they reached in Margaret's window, unlocked the back door and jumped in the back seat. Normally we would have the windows up but the AC in the car is broken so hence the windows are down. They yell at me to back up and that I have "violated" the law. So I back up and wait for them to tell me what to do. I don't know that they were actually police men as they weren't in blue or white but they were more than security guards. So the main guy is telling me that I am going the wrong way on a one way street and now he is taking me to the police station. As I back up, I see that indeed there are signs posted saying one- way.

Now as an aside...there are many roads in this part of town which look like they should be one-way streets but aren't. They have one lane for parked cars and one lane for traffic but still traffic goes in both ways. The road I turned on was one of these roads. Plus there are several roads that have signs posted to not enter but are driven on freely by traffic in both directions. This is the first and only enforced one-way street I or Margaret have ever seen. I am guessing it was a trap and we were the lucky victims.

Ok, so I see the signs and say to the guys in the back, "you are right. I made a mistake. You will have to direct me to the police station". He continues to "threaten" me with going to the station and a big fine and having to go to court, etc. as I keep telling him that is fine, direct me to the police station.

Another aside...I had been prompted way back when on what to do in these situations. Remain calm, don't argue, if they say they have to take you to the police station go ahead and go.

So I am doing all that. After a couple of blocks, the guy - Steve- starts talking about how I am his sister (a common phrase here) and so he is giving me consideration and for his generosity I should "give him a little something" to get water and food. This goes on for a bit and Margaret is doing a lot of the talking as I am still driving around. Finally we stop somewhere close to where the whole problem began and we talk and talk and talk some more. Often in these situations, so I am told, if you go along with it but don't pay the bribe they will eventually get tired, not want to go to the police station and just give up. Well these guys didn't give up. I don't know why but they didn't. So after much talking and listening and a bit of disagreement on what a bribe actually is it is apparent that I will either have to pay them off or go to the police station. So once again I tell them that if we have to go to the police station that is fine but they will still have to direct me. We do go to the police station where they take us to the head guy and tell him what we (I) did wrong.

At first he is very gruff and tells me what I did wrong to which I again agree and apologize for it. He says that he is taking my license and I will have to come to court on Monday at 2. So I said "ok, if that is what I have to do...". In the mean time there are two very nice lady police officers behind me and Margaret starts talking to them in Twi - asking their names and where they are from, etc. We get a nice little conversation going while the officer is making a small pretense at filling out a form. After an interruption by another man, the officer finally breaks a smile and gives me back my license and lets us go.

Is that the end? Well not entirely. By now Mags and I are definitely hungry and so decide to still go eat where we had planned. I drive by the place but there are no parking spaces so as I turn to go around the block who do we pass? You got it.. the two guys that had stopped us in the first place. They are walking from the police station back to their "post". I resisted all urges to gloat thank you very much. Is that the end? Nope not yet. We eat and about 30-40 minutes later as we are leaving and driving down a small road who do we pass yet again? The same guys sitting on the side of the road. I don't know if they were waiting for us to pass or not but when the one saw us he got up and yelled for me to stop - I think. I wasn't really paying close attention to what he said. Well by this time I was incredibly tired of seeing them and their yellow shirts so I just drove by and headed home. I know I wasn't violating any traffic laws at that time.

The whole procedure probably took about 45 min. or so and ended well. I really praise the Lord for that. Mags and I were both praying for the guards and then the officer to have mercy and a kind heart. (The officer won that one). I also praise the Lord for giving me peace and calmness during the whole thing. I had a few moments of nervousness at the very beginning but really had increasing calmness as things went on, even at the police station. I know that was the hand of the Lord b/c I think I normally would have been much more afraid. Some of you may be thinking that I should have just paid the bribe at the beginning and I would have saved myself a lot of time and hassle. That is true. Giving the bribe would have done that but I just couldn't do it. I knew that I might be facing going to court and possibly paying a fine of about 600 cedis - yes that is accurate. 600 cedis which is basically $600. But I also know that it is deceitful and wrong to ask for or give a bribe to circumvent the right thing and I prayed for God to give me the strength to follow through on my convictions. He did!! And I thank Him for that and for His mercy in ending the ordeal before going to court or having to pay that fine. And I praise the Lord also for giving Mags and I the same conviction so that we could support each other through it.

I would be more than happy to have this be my first and last experience with the police for any reason whatsoever! I wouldn't call it pleasant but it certainly could have been much worse. Praise the Lord for His lovingkindness and mercy!!

Taking pictures like a tourist

I decided to try and take more pictures of people and the city in my last couple of months here. Just like a tourist. This is the down town area where the restaurants and tourist "shops" are located. It is an area called Osu.





While my friends and I were eating ice cream this nice guy was trying to sell us sunglasses. We didn't buy any but he was fun and enjoyed posing for a picture.






This is the new presidential mansion being built just off the main street that goes through the city. Very interesting design.








Yes, we have a real polo club here - with the horses and everything:) I haven't been but hope to get there to see a match before I leave. A remnant of being a British colony I guess.

Special friends - the farewells begin

Me with my girlfriends...Sherri(sitting), Mags and Erin. We are down in the main area of Accra where there are several restaurants, clubs and lots of tourist type attractions and merchandise. The four of us enjoyed lunch together. Erin is the first of my friends to leave Ghana. She heads back to London tomorrow to continue her work with Alpha. I am so thankful for the opportunity to get to know her. She is the one who cared for Mags and I when we were sick. The four of us have spent more than a few hours sitting on the big bed watching "Friends" together as well as having great talks and many laughs. Special memories.

A long weekend

Well today is Monday and I am actually glad for it. This past weekend was really not fun primarily due to having no electricity from the middle of Friday night until Sunday afternoon. We had one of our spectacular thunder and lightning storms here on Friday night and apparently a high voltage line fell on a low voltage line. I don't know what all that means but I do know it took our electricity for 36 hours. Two rough nights of sleep without AC or fan. But of course I survived. Believe it or not the worst part was when I came home on Sat. night from a gathering to find a frog in my toilet bowl. Fortunately the lid was down and it couldn't come out but just scooted back into the pipes. So yes, of course, I am very careful now. Let's just leave it at that:) Although this does explain why there was a frog in my bedroom closet about 2 months ago. I was almost asleep and heard this strange rustling noise and when I checked it out there was a big frog in my closet. Did I calmly find a way to get it out of the house? Of course not! I yelled for Mags and Eva (my designated bug -and now frog removers) to come and help me. I'd like to say I helped but really I just stood on the bed and screamed when it hopped around. Eva and Mags weren't much help either as they both screamed and ran when it hopped as well. We were quite the comical site. Friends from HQ in the states were staying with us so Dayna was the brave one who very calmly ...and kindly... got the frog and took it across the road. I'm really quite the baby with the bugs and other small rodent type things. Ah well... I can do other monumental things like crack and pour an egg one handed!

Like I said seeing the frog in the toilet bowl on Sat. probably explains where the other one came from. Never a dull moment:)

But I digress. On Sunda with the electricity still off I finally made the decision to cook the meat in the freezer before it all spoiled. So that took up a good portion of the morning. Yes, I actually cooked a whole chicken and took the meat off myself. Those of you who know how I feel about handling chicken will understand the magnitude of this. At least it was cooked chicken. Whew! The meat was saved and Mags made a bunch of it into a really great chicken pot pie last night. So all's well:)

How could I forget!

I can't believe what I didn't write on my list of what I won't miss...cockroaches!! I guess I so rarely see any in the house now that I kind of "forgot" about them. Well I didn't really forget as I still put down poison powder regularly but I haven't seen a live one in months. But last night I got a nice reminder:( There was one crawling across the floor - in my room! I ran and got Mags and she killed it for me. Yes, I am still a wimp and it is a condition of us rooming together....she and Eva take care of the bugs (and frogs!) and I take care of the dusting, etc. I will not miss the cockroaches one teeny tiny bit!!