Safari...so good!

Well, we are down to only 5 weeks left of our stay.  When we arrived in January, we were shown this lovely building above that will eventually be the home for the Audiology students' classrooms.  We were told we could expect to move in "soon".  First the AC wasn't working (this is a new building), then there were too many mosquitos.  However, lovely landscaping has been planted and it is now the end of June and John is still teaching in the patient reception area of the clinic....oh well.  Guess it's not "soon" yet.  News Flash!!  The students got to take their finals in the new building!  So far...so good!

This last weekend we were absolutely delighted to have a visit from Katrina Tolman and Sierra Burris.  They are volunteering in a very small village on the coast about 3 hours drive from here (near the border with Togo) teaching kindergarten.  They decided to come visit for the weekend and they had the opportunity to do baptisms at the temple and help us out at Primary on Sunday.  The mission does not have any wards or branches yet that far east, so they were glad to be able to attend church here.  They took two copies of the Book of Mormon home with them to the village.  Could be a Branch there soon!

On Saturday, we took the girls down to the "Pit" and they had fun shopping.  This lady was busy stringing beads.
Artwork, wood carvings, and leather were in another shop below.  The man in the photo to the right was busy sanding wood to make drums.

I think the girls had the most fun, however, with the wood carvings and the jewelry.  It was delightful having them here.  They filled our apartment with laughter and we were sad to see them go back to the village on Mon. morning.
Monday evening we attended our farewell dinner at a Chinese restaurant.  The food was very good and we were saying good bye to two members of our Area Presidency along with 4 other senior missionary couples, including us!!  It is a tradition to give each couple who is leaving a banner made of the African Kente cloth.  It has our name, Africa West Mission and the dates served.  We were not here as long as most, but we feel very honored to have one.

On Tuesday, some of the sisters invited Ann to go with them to the village of Ayi Mensah, where there is a new school for small children.  The wives of the Church Employees have taken the school on as a project and have raised the money to build 5 classrooms and fill it with desks, chairs and supplies.A few years ago, the wife of the Director of Temporal Affairs found a woman sitting under this huge tree pictured below and she was teaching a small group of children.  When Sally asked what she was doing and found out there was no school nearby for the children in the area, Sally asked what she could do.  The woman suggested a classroom for the children.  The school is a result of that meeting.

Below are  pictures of the school and of the small village homes and the tree in the background.

After visiting the school, we stopped by the TK bead factory.  I explained in a previous blog the importance of beads in the Ghanaian culture.  They are very valuable and significant especially for special occasions.  Above is a photo of a young man painting the glass beads after the powdered glass was put in molds and then melted in a slow clay oven.  It was fascinating to watch the process.  As soon as they are removed from the oven, a hole is put in the beads, then they are cooled and washed and strung.  You can select colors to make your own necklace and bracelet, or you can buy them already finished.

 This last photo is very special.  All the flowers we have seen in Ghana for the last 6 months have been plastic or silk.  We have not seen a single flower shop, and absolutely no fresh flowers anywhere unless they were attached to a bush or a plant.  But...sweet John searched far and wide and found the only place in all of Ghana that actually sold fresh flowers and brought home a dozen BEAUTIFUL roses to say Happy Anniversary.  I was quite touched.  Happy 45 years!!
So far...so good!