Along the Coast

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Sorry this one will have no pictures due to the card being sent home with Kirt and Hilda for safekeeping

Moving On

This will be our final blog entry for Ghana. Soon we will board a plane late in the night and will awake in a new country. Our last weeks here have still been full. We celebrated Katelyn's B-day in style with over 100 kids. We then headed down to the coast to check out the castles and forts that supported the slave trade. Today (April 4th) we will head out of Ghana and into the ancient lands of Egypt.

Boti Falls
The day began by loading 18 kids into two vehicles designed to carry twelve. Everyone came dressed in his or her Sunday best for the excursion. For many of them it will be their fist experience in a privately owned vehicle. The excitement was high, so high that all 18 of 'em broke out in high pitch, high volume song the minute we were moving. Thankfully the trip is only 45 minutes!
Boti itself is a beautiful 120 foot waterfall on the Pawnpawn River. During the harmatton it dries up completely. The recent rains have been plentiful so the water was gushing over! After photos, peanut butter sandwiches, and some games we were headed back to Kukurantumi… singing the whole way home!

The B-Day Bash
Happy Birthday to Katelyn, the courtyard of children sang, some parents included! Hilda’s Sunday Youth Group put on a reenactment of our trip to Bodi Falls, followed by buffet of traditional Ghanaian foods and birthday cake. We even managed to find a candle. The children brought gifts of oranges, avocados, and cabbages for Katelyn. The day was complete with the kids teaching us games and song they loved.

Total Eclipse
We were fortunate enough to be in Africa during the total solar eclipse on March 29th! Everyone gathered around the TV and watch, as the lights want out!! They sold special glasses so we were also able to witness it first hand. I was very surprised at how dark it got!

Cape Coast
We said our good buys to Kukurantumi early as we decided to take a quick trip to see the coast before leaving Ghana. Cape Coast was the epicenter of European history in West Africa. St. Georges Castle in nearby Elmina was the first European building constructed in sub-Saharan West Africa. It was build in 1482 and even visited by Chris Columbus before he made his way to America. The castle served as the center of trade for gold, pepper, ivory, and most famously slaves.

Walking into where they held millions of people against their will was a humbling experience. There is a line on the wall nearly 2 feet up that was the level of human waste archeologists found in the dungeons. Thousands died from the conditions and the unlucky ones were packed on to ships as tight as cargo. One great irony is that the Catholic Church for the fort is directly above the male slave dungeon.

The rest of Elmina was equally as interesting. This is busy fishing village and at any given time you can see twenty or more sails of the small fishing boats. What was also apparent on this trip was the desperate and immense poverty. Fishing is not a lucrative lifestyle. Reduce numbers of fish due to over fishing and intense competition have created a very impoverished community. We were asked by countless kids for money or anything else we would give them. This is common in tourist areas around the world, but this was the first time we felt it in Ghana.

We have some sad news to tell. There has been a tragic death of a young neighbor of Kirt and Hilda's. Eliysiah was only 14 and had been a good friend of ours while we were here. He is the older brother of little Junior, who's picture, with Katelyn holding him, is on an earlier blog. His death was very, very sudden. We had given him a small gift before we left Kukuratumi. He looked fine and healthy then. With in four days he developed pneumonia and tetanus like symptoms and died the day before we left Ghana. We ask for prayers for the community of Kukuratumi and especially his mother, Vida. They have lost an outstanding young man. He was soon to take his equivalent to High School Graduating tests and was working tirelessly towards it. We only new him a short time, but have been honored for the opportunity to have know him as we are better people for his influence. He will be desperately

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Comments

[Jay]

Hullo's, goodbye's and death
I am sorry to hear about Eliysiah. I did'nt even know him. But I can imagine the pain his family is feeling and ofcourse both of you. All this will be in my prayers. Take it easy. Keep on having fun. My mouth waters when Ryan describes the food so explicitly. Katelyn, I wnt with your dad and Voltra to the church for chanting. It was good. Enjoy. Talk to you later, Jay