See Ghana for yourself!

Check out this short video on YouTube made by my friend Tim.

Me with Bernice and Aisha

Animals ( and a butterfly)

People of the village

The elders greet us.

A man who told me his name is Baby collecting water. He is about to carry this on his head.



This is John, a young boy who was in a car accident. He needs crutches but can't afford them. His friend Freddie is pushing him around.

A man named Mohammed on his motorcycle. (Joseph and Margaret in the background.)


Josephine heading to the farm. I could have taken a million photos of people carrying a million different things on their heads but I refrained. I became friends with Josephine and asked and she was ok with a photo. I carried 3 cement blocks on my head and was in awe of the strength of the people here.

Jessie is crocheting. (Joseph and Margaret in the background and my new BFF.)


Boy with crawdaddy at the river.
Boy named Paul selling shrimp at Mankessim, a town located about 20 minutes away from Ekotsie with a big market area.


A worker at the site.

A woman in the village showing me the fish she was selling.


This woman is selling tofu - they call it soybeans here but same difference!


Rose came by the site each day selling tofu on a stick with red pepper all over it. Hot! This was the first day we met her. She was wearing an interesting purse around her neck that caught everyone's eye.

Hannah and Alice prepared our meals. They were so nice to me and taught me some Fante. Here they are preparing fufu, where plantains and cassava are pounded with that big stick.


This is Sara Margaret, Alice's 86 year old mother.

The river

The children

The children in Ekotsi are joyous, creative, clever and friendly. Refrains of 'Sister Ruth' and 'Mister Tim' could be heard whenever we passed through the village. We made instant friends with some who followed us everywhere. School was let out for the summer holiday after our first week so the uniformed children were gone the following week and replaced by very small children, too young to farm. As the day wore on, the older children returned. The photo above is of Hinsou, a volunteer, singing with the children who had fetched water for us one morning. Here are some photos of some of my favorites.



On the last day of school, children helped clean up the school grounds. These kids were sweeping up litter (which is usually just tossed into a pile and later burned.)

A volunteer dancing with school children. Across the way is Juliana's restaurant where I usually had an afternoon Pepsi.


On the second to last day of school, children were treated to a 'feast' so here they are lined up. Normally school lets out by 1:00 and they are expected to eat at home.


The kids collected all of these rocks! They were sorting them into big and little sizes. The rocks are mixed with the concrete for parts of the building construction.


A volunteer plays a game with kids.


Jessie, third to the right, and her friends at the playground.

Marilyn helping sweep up the room after the potholes were fixed up.

My new best friend. Sadly, nobody could tell me her name. She is mute but communicates big time. She played lots of funny games with me, like hide and seek. She does not have use of her legs so she crawls around.

The Daystar International school had a celebration with lots of dancing.


Jessie's sister with her teddy bear wrapped around her on her back! So cute! This little girl sat on my lap during a football match and again the next day. Hardly said a word.


Sandra in her Hello Kitty shirt. Funny because I have a friend Sandra who loves Hello Kitty.



Seth and Martin in the late afternoon before they joined their friends to play football.

Mary who finally warmed up to me on my last day.


Our little friends. The two on the right are Joseph and Margaret who seem inseparable. They always seemed to find us.

The school

So we were called upon to renovate two kindergarten classrooms where students were unable to hold class when it rains. One of the rooms had a huge pothole and several smaller ones. The building foundation was strong but the walls were not built to go up to the ceiling so that was our task. We worked with local artisans. The culture seemed to be that we should allow the artisans to do the technical work but we did as much as we could - mixed cement, carried cement blocks on our heads, painted, helped carry mortar, basically anything we could. My friend Tim is an experienced Habitat volunteer and used to doing more work so he was most frustrated. I was frustrated because there seemed to be a reaction from the local men whenever I helped. The culture is that women definitely work - on the farm, in the kitchen, etc. - but construction is a man's job. But we were able to pitch in and share some laughs. Here are some photos from the job site:

Before

During

After

Temporary classroom; Kids helping clear the storage room; Madame teacher

Tim finds a frog! The masoners. The head painter (with a Nebraska hat?)




Work, work (Fareeda!), work