Quick Update...

Hello All:
I'm writing today from the University of Ghana at Legon. The cafe doesn't have hook up for lap tops so no photos today. I really want to upload some photos because we had some interesting adventures over the weekend and I would love to share them.
It is raining today and pretty much rained all night. While driving here we drove through a small lake and even though the gutters here are huge we saw one filled to the brim!
One of the rooms at our house has water leaking down the wall...it appears that this is the first time this has happened so perhaps even for Ghana this is an unusual amount of rain. It just dumps so much rain in a short time...it's so amazingly loud!

I realized last week that the resourceful capture of rain at our place is out of necessity. It turns out that the house hasn't been getting water for about 4 years. The area around our neighbourhood is kind of rolling hills and I assume we are near the top of a hill. When the house was built there were no problems with water but as the lower areas became developed the houses below gobbled up all the water. The only way to get water flowing through the taps is to have truck come and fill a huge tank in the yard. It costs 75 cedis (about 75CAD) to fill the tank. During the dry season there is no other choice so if you want water you have to pay but during the rainy season they use rain water for eveything except drinking. They buy the little bags of water to drink because they are quite cheap. It is surprising to me that folks are still building houses where they know there is no water...but apparently the location out ranks the cost they will have to pay to have water delivered.

I'm getting used to seeing things here and I forget that they might seem unusual to those back home. While we were driving this morning I noticed the way most people keep the rain off their heads. Some have umbrellas but most use black "rubber bags", shower caps or a wash cloth draped over their head. The "rubber bag" is just a plastic shopping bag...in Canada they are various colours but usually white and in Ghana they are usually black. Just an interesting way to stay dry.

So, what have we been doing?

Well, on Sunday we drove East to Ada. This is the home town of Tony's Dad. It is located where the Volta River meets the sea. The area Ada is actually quite big and the Family house is in the village of Ada Foah. As you drive East from Accra you come across grassy plains, the Savannah Plains. When palms start popping up in the plains you know you are getting close to Ada.

Ada has the potential to be a top notch resort community, the beauty of the river, the estuary, the palms, the crashing surf of the beach...it's really got it all. But we must remember that Ghana is a developing country and there are challenges before you can get tourists to come here in mass numbers. The main highway is in good condition but once you get on the road to Ada Foah it is the usual dodge of potholes. I was surprised to see the variety of tourists at our resort knowing that they had all travelled down a bumpy sandy road to get there.

Ada seems more of a place for adventurous back packers who stay in hut type hotels on the beach. I was surprised as we drove through the village to see two white girls coming out of a lane way and we saw 4 guys heading out of town on mountain bikes.

We chose to stay at the Manet Beach Resort. The hotel has a beautiful pool area. On Sunday afternoon we lounged around the pool area and there were a few other tourists there as well. The others seemed to be from Scandinavian countries and there was a group of silly young Asia travellers who were having a great time. I think most of those people were just enjoying the pool for the day though because at night and at breakfast we only saw one other couple.

We ventured outside the resort to see the ocean and walked along the most beautiful beach...except for the garbage...there is a tiny fishing village right next to the beach and apparently they only see the beach as the village dump and toilet facility. You had to watch where you stepped. I don't know how you could bring about change if you wanted to clean up the area around your resort...it is just a whole different way of thinking. I wouldn't think you would swim at the beach anyhow because the waves are huge and unpredictable.

On our way back to the hotel we took a path through the centre of this small fishing village...the kids in the village were all shouting "hello, hello, hello"...one little guy on his way home from church thought he should grab Charity's hand and walk along with her...she wasn't impressed...laughter...

We had planned to stay until Tuesday but when we woke up Monday morning to rain we thought we would just head out after visiting the family house.

We were toured around the family house by Uncle Nathan. He showed us photos of Tony's parents wedding and a chart of the family tree. It was great for the kids to get a history lesson in where they come from. Everyone (even the resort staff) in Ada called them by their African names. Uncle Nathan took us to the grave site of Tony's Dad. It used to be six kms from the sea but now you can see the waves of the ocean close by and feel the ocean breeze...erosion has taken a lot from the beaches of Ada...buildings and graves have been washed out to see over the years...

Yesterday we went in search of a bank to cash travellers cheques. This was a challenge. Most banks just flat out said "NO". One bank would only do it if I brought in the receipt from the purchase (which would defeat the whole purpose of buying travellers cheques because then if they were stolen you wouldn't have the receipt to get your money back??). We finally found the main branch of Barclay's Bank on High street...the only place to cash to travellers cheques without the receipt. This is still not an easy process...again you must remember Ghana time...they haven't completely embraced the computer age and there are rules and steps to take for everything.

I first lined up at a section of tellers where a sign was posted "Forex/Tellers", I waited in that line for about 45 minutes to be told that I should see the security guard to be taken into a secure area. I did that and was told to take a seat until another foreign lady was finished in that office. Once I got inside the secure area I saw through the window that the lady before me was back in the line I had originally been in...I quickly got Tony to hold a place in that line...meanwhile the women in the secure area counted my travellers cheques and photocopied my passport....she then passed me off to the guy in the desk next to her and he called American Express to verify that my travellers cheques were good...he initialled them and sent me back to the original line...for another wait (thankfully Tony was holding a place).

All together it probably took 2 hours...but who was counting (Oliver and Charity I'm sure!). So, next time I come to Ghana I'll likely bring only cash and just hide it all around. If you have cash there is a forex bureau on every corner and the rates to exchange money seem fairly consistent from one forex to the next (we haven't encountered lines at Forex bureaus because there are so many of them). I left the bank with a huge pile of cash since the bank didn't have anything bigger than 10 cedi notes...I didn't think 50 cedi notes existed until yesterday Tony got one from a Forex bureau...I wonder if they have 100s...sometimes you get all your money in 5s. As I walked around town I was clutching my purse because so many people saw me in the bank so they would know that I had money...but no worries...nobody followed us.

Next we went to Rawlings Square, which is a bustling shopping area in downtown Accra. We are still shopping for stuff from the church and this the area to buy stationary. We had intended to buy textbooks for the schools but we found out that they get textbooks from the government which they reuse year after year. We found the Methodist Book shop and the Presbyterian Book shop and thought we might buy some stationary for the schools there but we needed to bring the car closer so we could buy in bulk. On our way to get the car we happened upon a little kiosk that had every possible stationary item you could imagine. The woman was a wholesaler who imported a whole lot of everything! An awesome find!

Tony went off to the get the car and the kids and I stayed and tried to figure out all that we would need for a school of 1000 kids in Tony's Mom village and for the little school in our back yard which has about 70 kids. We want to help the biggest number of kids possible with the church's money.
The woman who ran this spot jumped on board as soon as she understood exactly what my goal was, she had everything and was helpful in making choices for what the kids would use most here and the best way to stretch the money. We filled the car with huge boxes of exercise books, pens, pencils, rulers, erasers, scissors etc. We will need to find some other transport to get the stuff to the village because the car was so full and we still need to get more soccer balls. It was a great accomplishment to get so much stuff in one place. You learn to appreciate how difficult it can be to shop here although they have everything you have to know where to find it. You also realize that there is money to be made in Ghana and most people are quite successful in what they do.

On the way home we were stuck in traffic for a time because it was becoming rush hour but luck was on our side an it didn't take too long. We were starving because we had skipped lunch and it was 5pm so I made my first purchase from the window of the car while stuck in traffic. We bought our much loved Fan Ice from a guy with a box of ice creams towering on top of his head. In the heat and exhaust fumes it was just what we needed to get us home.

I have to sign off because my computer time is up in one minute...I apologize for my spelling mistakes as I have no time to edit.