We Made the Cut!

After playing every day after work this week, Hamza and I made the local team!  The best part is that at first we did not even realize that there was a local team.  Once we found out they had a team and that they were to have a match on Sunday (tomorrow), we knew we wanted to watch.  We certainly did not think they would want us to play on the team with them.  But sure enough, they asked us to join the squad at the end of yesterday's scrimmage.  The guy told me, "Hello will you please play with us tomorrow.  We saw your skill this week and we will like you to play.  You will play first half and your brotha will play second half."  (Be sure to read that in an African accent.)


So after the 4H meeting today, we'll be warming up for the soccer match!  I'll be sure to tell you about all of my goals... ha... right.  I will have to share about last week's 4H and this week's later today.  Hamza and I spent the morning cleaning the house because we have guests coming later today.  Two American ladies that are interning with a Ghanaian Christian organization are joining us this evening.  Kris picked up his cousin yesterday from the airport and is coming with her later today as well.  His cousin is a doctor that has worked in Afghanistan on medical missions for some years now and is taking a hiatus due to heightened violence in the area.  We are excited to host all three women on the farm and gain their insight into ideas and issues associated with our friends in the local villages.


For now, I'll leave you with a taste of what Hamza and I focused on on the farm this past week:

Pictures and Kotoso

I'll just cut to the chase- here is this week's "What is this?"  Just remember you need to guess in complete sentences!

Picture 1: What is this?

Picture 2: What is this?

Picture 3: What is this?

Going back to one of last week's pictures, the boats give us a bit of insight into what life on Lake Volta is like.  The town of Kotoso (some of it pictured right) does not show up on any map- not even Google!  The town popped up as a result of Ghana's growing population and the opportunities for income close-by.  Kotoso is the send off point for many of southern Lake Volta's fishermen as well as ours.  Below we are packing all of our suitcases, food, water, and supplies into the AAF boat.  Made entirely out of wood, this boat can carry upwards of 5 tons!  Seemed like a lot to me...

Really the only way to reach the people on the other side is by boat (or drive 4 hours around the south-eastern tip).  The boats are also the main source of income for many of the villages that sit on the lake (right).  Most of the boats (or canoes?) head out early in the morning filled with a couple men and fishing nets.  They run the nets through the water hoping to pull out Tilapia or other fish to sell (below right).  They typically smoke the fish so as to preserve them until market day.  Market day is every Tuesday and Friday in Kotoso.  I will definitely be going sometime in the next week!  We walked through market day two weeks ago on our way back to Accra.  I had to turn down every, "Here Ububini!  Here!"  Ububini means white man.


As we cross the lake to get to the farm, we pass hundreds of stationary nets, traps, floating plastic bottle markers, discarded waste, and dried up trees.  These pieces speak to a practice of overfishing, pollution, and lack of resources.  People are so focused on making money, they lose sight on how their fishing is hurting the fish population.  Since there is no waste removal system in place trash is either burned or forgotten about as soon as it leaves your hand, much of it eventually landing in the lake.  And the lack of resources on all levels keeps boating on the lake a hazardous endeavor.  If you can dodge the fish nets and debris, you have to sense where the ancient trees still stand beneath you.  The long forgotten valley that is now Lake Volta was not removed of its trees before the damn was built.  With no funds available or ability to remove the trees, they merely stand firm, waiting to tear the bottom of boat apart and send people overboard.  The majority of the people around the lake do not know how to swim and life preservers are for people with disposable income.


And all we can do right now is look at all of this, smile, take a picture, and build a strong community with the people we are quickly learning to care deeply and passionately for.  So thumbs up!  Everything is OK for now, we'll keep encouraging development and you keep praying!

I must sidebar and say that I had this entire post written this morning and ready to hit "Publish" but I wanted to upload this last picture.  Running on battery since the generator was off, the upload bar hit 99% while my battery hit 1% and right in synch the picture uploaded and my computer shut off.  I had to wait until now to finish!

Award Winning Monday

In an another attempt to make Monday less dreary (I've seen a lot of Facebook complaints about today marking the beginning of another work week), I decided to announce the "What is this?" winner today.


I have to say it is a tie between my parents and Joyce Sabin for getting the most/closest to being right on the pictures.  Both of them were right about pictures 2 and 3, but, like everyone else, did not get picture 1 correct.  If you need a refresher, check out that post here.  So picture 1 was actually drinking water!  Picture 2 was boats tied up on shore and picture 3 was the seed planter.  Thanks for playing everyone!  I'll put up another set of 3 pictures on Wednesday.

If you're still confused about picture 1, when I first saw the plastic pouches of water, I was baffled too.  It has taken some getting used to, but as long as you store them in an area that doesn't smell bad, they work just fine.  You simply nip one of the corners with your teeth and sip away.  Apparently the guys hear learned the hard way that the plastic does not keep out odors.  They had the big bag of waters near the diesel fuel and soon found that their water had taken on the taste of diesel.  Yum!

Now here's the moment you've all been waiting for! (Yeah right, Trevin...)

Just to briefly walk you through the video- the first two shots we were taking a walk around the corn crop, checking the status, assessing the weed situation, and planning out how to best deal with issues.  We walk into the "elephant grass" to get a better look at the loud noise that was coming from there.  Hundreds of birds have nested in the grass, stringing their nests between two grasses, hanging about 6ft from the ground.  It was amazing to see and hear!  The first one on the right is a shot from between the grasses of the nests and the birds.  The one below is a close up of the nests.  Not long after that we went to replace the oil in the generators and found a massive beetle.  I tried my best to show it off, but some of the pictures may be better suited for that.  The bottom picture shows the beetle in a bit more of a ferocious view.  We were able to change the oil and then get out of the heat to do some work in the office that we just set up.  Then I prepared the English lesson for today and had some fun with my Ghanaian coworkers.  Hamza and I sealed off the day with some soccer in the village.  The last video shot is my attempt to show you the level of gnat activity at night.  It's insane!  Even now there's about an inch layer of dead gnats in between the window and the screen.  So crazy...  Anyways, hope you've enjoyed the video!  Let me know if there is anything you would like to see/know more about (people, culture, wildlife, farming, myself, etc).  You ask and I'll deliver! I hope... 

As a side note: Please be advised that the mustache shown in the video is real.  It is potentially temporary so those that are possibly disturbed can hopefully rest easy.

Farm and 4H Friday

This is the first of many Fridays that I will be posting about the Farm and 4H.  It is a great opportunity for me to share what has happened this week and keep me organized while doing so. First up is the farm.


Africa Atlantic Farms


It is important to know the players at the farm before diving too deep into what we do.  In short, Hamza and I have been at the farm by ourselves this week, helping Prosper, George, and Kwasi (the full-time local employees) transplant sunflowers to a smaller area.  It has been a hot couple of days doing this, but we're had some fun.  These guys make a great team.

Prosper is pictured first, standing outside his home with his mother.  Prosper has worked for AAF from the beginning- starting his job by clearing a small patch of grass for Jon's first night in the area.  Now Prosper basically runs the show as the lead farm hand.  He manages a group of women that work on the farm as needed.  Due to his job, Prosper is one of the wealthiest men in the village.  He has a tin roof and satellite TV, unlike most who have grass roofs and no generators to run electricity.  Sadly, Prosper lost his fiance this past Spring due to an untreated ear infection.  (I will be sure to give more background story on that later.)  I have seriously enjoyed getting to know this man!  He is truly a blessing to the farm here.  He has persevered through so much of his 27 years of life.

Next is George.  Father of four, George is one of the hardest workers I have ever seen. His fluency in English has made him a huge asset to my English teaching lessons.  He often ends up taking control when the others are unable to understand some of the more basic questions.  This sense of leadership is certainly making his time here on the farm impactful.  If he is not leading through guidance, he is doing so through his actions- setting the pace for those to follow during the work day.  I'd like all of you to guess how old he is!  I first heard he was 37, when I asked him one day, he said he was 27.  When I brought this up the next day, he was 25.  His serious sense of humor has got me still wondering his age...


Kwasi is the youngest of the crew but definitely the strongest.  His role on the farm definitely favors his youth and strength.  He has a very difficult time understanding English though, so I have tried my best each day to encourage and teach him in this.  I long for the day when I can have a decent conversation with him- either in English or Ewe!  As a 20-year-old with a steady job, he has many of the local ladies watching him carefully.  I wouldn't be surprised if he got married soon!  Although I haven't caught wind of any steady girlfriend.  


The other women that work on the farm range in age from 15 to 50- all equally capable.  They are posing for a picture with Kwasi below and I am giving them a ride back for lunch far below.

4H: Head, Hands, Heart, Health


Last Sunday I had the first 4H meeting with the students and teachers.  Well... I scheduled the first meeting for last Sunday with all the students and teachers...  About half the students showed up by 2:30 when we had planned to start at 2 and one of the five teachers came at 2:45.  We had a meeting despite the low turn out and had a great time.  A simple "Whats you name, favorite food, and age" ice breaker, some talk on 4H, and a soccer match put us all in a fun mood.  I set up the day to be very low on the group talk time so that I could 1) get a quick idea as to what level of communication and respect I am working with and 2) get us all playing a sport we love together to start building some of that community.  My team's name during the game was "ajata" or lion.  We would huddle together and yell "AJATA!" and then proceed to roar.  It didn't help us score and the game ended 0-0, but it did bring a sense of community and now they yell ajata whenever they see me.


This past Wednesday, I was set to meet with the four student leaders and teachers to discuss some of the planning at the school.  School lets out (or is supposed to) at 2:15.  When I arrived at 2:15, no one was there.  The construction workers that are working on the school told me that everyone had left 30 minutes earlier.  Splendid!

I showed up yesterday at 1:45 just in time to see the children get dismissed.  I met with the student leaders and the teacher and was able to spell out each of their job responsibilities as  president, vice president, treasurer, and secretary.  Unfortunately, I found out that the secretary is unable to write her name.  I decided to reduce her responsibilities to just keeping track of when we start and end each meeting for now.  To the right are the four leaders (the kid in the white shirt photo-bombed).  I'd be interested to know who you think has what title!  I think their personalities fit quite well with each.


The next 4H meeting is this Sunday. I definitely need your prayers as I may find myself losing patience.  I asked these four students to set an example by being there early.  I'm just hoping they show up!


With that, I leave you with how Hamza, Prosper, and I ended our day: 

"What is this?" Wednesday

First off- happy 4th of July!  I don't thank God enough for our freedoms and blessings as Americans.  We truly have amazing opportunities in our country.

With that, I'd like to show you a different country and possibly some new things.  Since I've been asking my "students" during the ESL (English as a second language) hours each day, "What is this?" I decided I could do the same for those of your reading back home.  The following are three pictures.  They're either a snippet of a bigger picture or just something not  seen outside of Ghana.  I will show three pictures, asking the question, "What is this?"  I welcome you to guess what you think the item is in the picture.  The person who gets the most right (or is the closest) will get something special from Ghana, but you must answer in a complete sentence (since I require the same for those here in Ghana during our teaching lessons).

Before I show the pictures, I need to congratulate Clancy for getting the last one right (mostly)!  I showed a picture of what I saw from the airport terminal in Dubai and she guessed the biggest building in the world.  I saw the rough outline of the Burj Khalifa and felt like I at least experienced some of Dubai.  Now that I've experienced lots of Ghana, below are three things I have found most interesting:

Picture 1: What is this?

Picture 2: What are these?

Picture 3: What is this?

Happy Wednesday!