Ghana Trip Itinerary

We leave for Ghana in 8 days!!!!! AHHHH!!!! This trip has really snuck up on me this time! Thought you might be interested in seeing our itinerary:

Thursday, March 10th: Flights, travel

Friday, March 11th: Arrive into Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana @ 1:50 pm. Michael (local staff member of Isaiah 1:17 Foundation) will meet us at airport with rental van and from there we will drive directly to village of Asikuma (2 ½ hour drive from Accra). Get situated into our lodging area, dinner, and likely will go to bed.

Saturday, March 12th - Tuesday, March 15: Assess construction needs in Asikuma (library, medical house, foster care units, guest house, etc.) and assess agricultural/farming needs. Possibly construct additional toilet area for residents. Meet with teachers – learn their needs, spend time with local doctor – learn his constraints and needs, distribute shoes to villagers, distribute books and educational supplies to teachers. Conduct bible time for village kids. Main goal for these 3 days is to spend time with villagers. We need to live and breathe in their environment to assess their needs and make plans for action.

Tuesday, March 15: Drive to The Beacon House Orphanage in Accra, Ghana!!!!!!! (http://beaconhouseghana.org/) Scheduled volunteering for our group is from morning to 3pm. We will take part in teachings and other activities. Total number of kids are 37. Ages of children are all 10 years and younger except they have one 15 year old boy. 22 girls and 15 boys in the house. We are encouraged to bring food items, soccer balls, toothpaste, Christian music c.d.’s, and educational materials. Late afternoon: check into AirSide Hotel in Accra. Kingdom Hoops Ghana basketball team to dinner at hotel.

Wednesday, March 16: Visit 3 types of schools in Accra – learn about educational system.

Thursday, March 17: Select Kingdom Hoops Ghana players invited to hotel to discuss process of getting F-1 student visas. Market visit and souvenir shopping. To airport by 7pm for 10pm flight.

I’ve had a lot of people asking about donations and what we need. All 10 of us are taking one extra suitcase full of donations that have already been collected since the last trip. Not only that, but the Vanderweides’ were able to find a shipping service to Ghana that is pretty reasonably priced, and we’ve recently sent a few crates ahead of us. And, Jake and I still have about 5 huge sacks of clothes and shoes sitting in our garage, waiting to be packed up for the next trip! All this to say, we do not have room to take any more tangible items on this particular trip. If you feel led to donate, the best way to do that right now is through a monetary donation. There are NUMEROUS needs that come up in-country that are hard to predict ahead of time. For example, on the last trip Kingdom Cares was able to purchase Prince a bike so that he could get to and from school, and we hadn’t known that was a need until we got there. On this trip we are hoping to actually be able to do some initial infrastructure development in the village but we won’t know for sure until we scope it out. If you would like to send a monetary donation, checks can be made payable to Kingdom Cares International and sent to 315 Ridgewood Dr., Huxley, IA 50124 or you can use the donate button on my sidebar.

So, that is the tentative plan for our days. This trip is going to continue to open my eyes and change my heart - and I can’t wait!!!