Ghana Trip Journal: Day 3

Today was quite the adventure! We were on the road by 7am with Mark (and a driver provided by Esi along with their family car) to head to Cape Coast. As we started the 2 hour drive I found myself glued to the window (again) taking in the sights. About every 3 miles there were villages of houses either made of scrap metal, sticks, some sort of concrete/stucco, or huts with walls made of sugarcane and grass tops. Each house was about 10 feet by 10 feet. I tried to take pictures from inside the car while we drove, but most of them turned out blurry except for this one:
Within the villages I saw a lot of children running around, and women doing laundry in wash bins. In Ghana there is a lot of trash and litter everywhere because it is so populated and there is no good sanitation system. In the villages there are goats, chickens, and dogs that roam around and pick through the trash that lays in piles. In the villages there is also a line of small selling stands set up in front of the housing area, and then all of the houses are behind the stands. There also continued to be numerous people selling items on the sides of the road. During the two hour drive there was really no area that I would consider ‘country’….every inch of road was covered with people walking, selling, working, etc.

Eventually we made it to Cape Coast and the first thing Mark wanted to show us was the Cape Coast Castle. This castle & dungeon was where slaves were imprisoned and tortured before they were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America as part of the slave trade. Let me tell you, it felt absolutely dreadful walking through this castle. As we stepped foot into a cell, I all of a sudden felt this heaviness and deep, erie feeling. I’ve never felt anything like it. It just felt heavy. There is this spiritual feeling in this place that makes it very clear to your soul that awful, horrible, unimaginable things happened here.

This is the outside of the castle. There was a church service going on there below while we were there.

Walking in.

Looking inside a cell.

Looking out to the Atlantic from the top of the castle.

The inside of the Castle has now been turned into a museum in which you can read about the conditions slaves endured while on the ships as they were shipped across the Atlantic.

So, this was a pretty solemn way to start the day, but I was glad that Mark took us there. Mark has been really good about trying to explain and inform us of the history and culture of his beloved country. And there is a lot of history in that castle.

So, you’ve seen now that Cape Coast sits right on the ocean. Because of this it is a big fishing community. Enjoy these pictures that I took atop of the Castle:

Spreading out the fishing nets.

The coast line.

Now I can also finally give you a good picture of the housing in Ghana:

I also took this picture from the top of the Castle. These houses are fully functional…this is where people live. This type of housing is very, very, very common in Ghana. Everywhere you look you will see houses like this. Often times there is food brewing in big pots right outside the front door, and laundry hanging on the line or draped over the edge of the house. The women and children go in and out of the housing area all day long.

After visiting the castle we took a quick walk down to the beach, and the view was breathtaking:

By now you might be noticing that many of our pictures have this sort of hazy look to them. It’s actually not my camera. Mark explained to us that at this time of year dust and sand blows in from the Sahara Desert, and it sort of coats the sky and the air. There is a certain name for it, but I can’t remember what it is called. This also explained why during our time in Ghana it felt like the sun was so far away. On this day in Cape Coast there were barely any clouds in the sky, and yet the sun felt distant and not very strong. We were outside the entire day and didn’t even catch a burn!

After our sight-seeing, it was time to get down to business and pay a visit to Hoops Care International, which was our reason for visiting Cape Coast. Hoops Care has a good basketball program up and running, and Jake and Mark wanted to tour it to see how things were run. They had also asked Jake to put on about an hour camp while we were there.

This kid was really good!

I kid you not, within about 5 minutes of Jake's camp starting, village people started crowding around to watch. They literally stopped whatever it was they were doing and came and watched the camp.

Lots of onlookers!

In this last picture you may have noticed the girl in front posing. Well, a bunch of the village children noticed me taking pictures and they begged me to take each of their pictures so that they could then look at their photo on the viewer screen. These kids were so funny! They didn’t speak English, but we still had fun!

Once they saw their picture they would point and giggle and laugh. Then, just when I thought they were done posing they would hold up their pointer finger and beg….’Un Moey!’ (one more!)

Aw, they were so cute!

Jake ended the camp with an awesome speech that I so wish I would have videotaped.

And, we had to get a group picture before we left....can you spot us? :)

After our time in Cape Coast we continued to drive about two more hours into the western region to the town of Takoradi. It was here that we met up with the banker who is handling the buying and selling of the land Jake is interested in for his academy. First, the banker took us to meet the chief who owns the land. This was the craziest part of the entire day, maybe even the craziest thing I’ve ever been a part of in my life. :) We actually went to the chief’s house which was in a village in Takoradi. We sat down on some massive couches and waited for the chief to come out of the other room. When he came in to meet us, he fulfilled every picture in my mind of what I thought an African chief would be. He was a big guy, wearing a traditional African outfit with some very flashy silver flip-flops. He had a booming voice and at first he wouldn’t speak English with us (we were told later that he wanted to know he could trust us first) so Mark and the banker had to translate everything. Well, of course Jake knew just what to say and how to say it (he always does no matter what situation he finds himself in) and for whatever reason, we were told that the chief liked Jake and he loved his plans for the land. After some conversation (in English finally) the chief took us out to the land so we could view it! I was so excited, and boy was I in for a surprise! The land literally sits about a ¼ of a mile from the ocean shore. It is beautiful. I could totally picture the entire facility right on the land.

Here is the main chunk. Right over those palm trees to the left is the ocean!

Just beautiful!

Jake and the chief chat it up!

So, the chief told us that he had a few other people interested in purchasing this land but he has turned them down. Oil was just discovered right off the ocean from the land, so the chief has been very picky about who he gives the land to.

Oil rig right off the land.

When oil was recently discovered in Nigeria, things became very corrupt and there has been lots of fighting about land rights, etc. It’s kind of a long story and Jake could give you more details if you ask him about it. The main point is that the chief has been very protective of this land. The clincher for the chief to allow us to purchase the land was because of Jake’s plans for education in building the school. Apparently there is no school in this area of Takoradi where the chief lives, so it would be a great asset to the area. Also, one thing to note about chiefs of villages – they are not ‘rich’. We learned from Mark that chiefs are traditional rulers who strictly ensure that Ghanaian culture is maintained amongst the villages. Chiefs also manage land handed down to them from their family. This management has no dealings with the government. Meeting with the chief was the most interesting experience I have ever had, and I will not soon forget it!

So, this turned out to be quite the jam-packed day. After we said our goodbyes to the chief we grabbed some dinner (chicken and jollof rice) and then began our trek back to the hotel – about a 4 hour drive. Once we got back Jake pumped up the basketballs that he would hand out tomorrow, and I wrote in my journal. Then we crashed, excited for what the next day would bring!

Ghana Trip Journal: Days 1 & 2

Day 1 of our trip was spent catapulting through the atmosphere at approximately 400mph in a 300 passenger airplane. :) All in all it took about 19 hours to reach Ghana, Africa from Des Moines, Iowa. As the plane edged closer to Accra and the flight tracker TV in front of my seat zeroed in on the continent of Africa I got the most excited feeling! It was so surreal to see that our plane was actually about to land on this continent that I so far had only seen on maps and the internet. We really were going to Africa! Yippeeee!

Day 2: We arrived into the Ghana airport at 8am Ghana time (2am Iowa time)

I was able to get a little sleep on the plane which hopefully would get me through the day. As we were standing in the customs line inside the airport I all of a sudden spotted Esi, Nana Yaw’s mom! She was waving and waving at me with the biggest smile on her face. Esi works in the customs department at the airport, and so she came to greet us and then whisked us ahead of the long line to get our passports & visas approved and stamped. She also helped us gather our luggage, and thankfully all 4 gigantic suitcases were right there at baggage claim. Once we got outside the airport Mark and his wife were waiting to greet us as well (Mark has been Jake’s basketball contact in Ghana and he would be helping us with acquiring the land during our trip). After we introduced Esi to Mark we then got to meet the rest of Nana Yaw’s family who were waiting to greet us outside as well. Nana Yaw’s little sister gave me a bouquet of flowers, and we all stood and chatted for awhile. Then it was off to our hotel to check in and get breakfast with Nana Yaw’s family.

Jake and I rode the shuttle to our hotel and everyone else drove separately. After we got out of the airport area we trucked along on some side streets to make our way to the hotel. At the first stop light we came to, a little boy about 9 years old came up and tapped on my window, motioning to me that he was hungry and needed some food. Luckily I had saved my breakfast sandwich from the plane ride so I quickly cracked open the window and dished it out to him. He flashed me a huge smile and ran off as quickly as he had appeared. I soon realized that if this was going to happen at every stop light, that I was going to run out of food fast. Meanwhile, Jake had just realized that he had forgotten to exchange our American money for Ghana money at the airport. He asked the driver of the shuttle if he knew of anywhere where he could do the money exchange. The driver said yes. About a block later the driver had motioned to some guy walking along the road, and our shuttle had pulled over. The guy who had been on the road climbed in and chatted with our driver. Then, our driver turned to Jake and said, ‘the rate is 5’ or something like that. This is when we realized that this guy who had just been walking along the street was supposed to be a merchant for exchanging money. Since Jake and I were the only Americans in the shuttle, we weren’t sure if we were going to be swindled or not. So, we tried to explain to our driver that we would rather exchange our money at an actual bank type place…not with someone walking along the street. :) When the driver explained this to the guy who had been walking along the street, the guy got pretty mad and wouldn’t get out of the car. After many apologies and persuasions by our driver, the guy did eventually get out of the car and Jake and I were left staring at each other in wonderment of our first 10 minutes in Ghana. It had been quite interesting already!

Finally we made it to the hotel and had some breakfast with Nana Yaw’s family. During breakfast we talked almost entirely about Nana Yaw and it was plain to see how much his family missed him, especially Yaw’s little brother, Nana Pepra. Pepra asked us lots of questions about Yaw like how he had adjusted to the weather. I had brought some recent pictures of Yaw and I think Pepra went through them at least a dozen times – all with a huge smile and saying ‘He looks good.’

Nana Yaw's younger sister and brother: Stella & Pepra

From the left it is Nana Yaw's grandmother, father, sister, mother, Jake, me, and Nana Yaw's brother.

After breakfast we said goodbye to Esi and Yaw’s family and then Mark and his wife met up with us to take us to meet Mark’s team. Part of our reasoning for the trip to Ghana is to switch over Mark’s team into Kingdom Hoops, and to help Mark grow his team into a program, trying to get more of the Ghana youth involved. In Ghana it is every person’s dream to come to the U.S. and receive an education. I can’t even explain it. It is literally every person’s dream. Jake’s Kingdom Hoops Foundation is one way in which these kids can receive scholarships and be matched with a host family here in the U.S. so that they can come and study and receive opportunities that they would never ever have in Ghana. Mark’s team is the first team of hopefully many that will be in the Kingdom Hoops Ghana program. As we took a taxi ride to the pizza joint where we were meeting the team, it quickly became the highlight of my day. It was during this car ride that I began to see with my own eyes, the hustle and bustle of Accra. I frantically tried to snap a couple of pictures through the car window as we drove:

These pictures can give you a little glimpse into what I was seeing. Basically there are people selling things everywhere! The items in those baskets atop of their heads are for sale. Every time the traffic stops at a stop light, the sellers walk right down the middle of the lanes of traffic and come right up to the car window to display what they were selling. There were even pregnant women selling, weaving in and out of the lanes carrying huge loads of items to sell on their heads. And, there were young, young, young children selling too. Too young. It was the craziest thing I had ever experienced. And, I soon realized that this is how 85% of the population in Ghana makes their living….by selling items on the streets. Some of the things they were selling were food (fruit/snacks/water), phone cards, touristy items, toothpaste, clothing, children’ toys, etc. etc. Pretty much anything you can imagine, they were selling it.

Other than this I saw two more things during that taxi ride that I have never seen before:

BATS - awake and flying around during the day! Yes, we were assured these were bats not birds.

And, that is a goat in the back of that truck!

Then, within driving about 2 miles from our hotel, I also saw two different sets of blind people who were being led by a child on the shoulder of the road. The blind person would have his/her hand on the child’s shoulder, with a walking stick in the other hand. When the traffic stopped the child would lead the blind person up to the cars to beg for food or money. This sight made me absolutely speechless. I just didn’t even know how to take this in.

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to the pizza joint. I was already emotional from taking in the sights in just a few short miles, so I was ready to meet the team and focus on something else. Mark introduced us to the team, and then Jake and Mark both gave speeches to the boys talking about the exciting future of Kingdom Hoops Ghana!

Us with Mark.

After our meeting with the team we also stayed at the pizza joint to have some meetings that Mark had set up for Jake with Ghana/FIBA Basketball Association representatives. These meetings were very long as Mark and Jake shared their plans/vision with the ‘big wigs’. Mark continued to remind Jake that this trip was all about meeting people face to face and talking through things. Mark said that people in Ghana don’t know that we are real until they can see us face-to-face. In other words, they haven’t just been taking Mark’s word on things. They want to know that Jake is a real person…hence all the meetings. :)

After all the meetings Mark then became our tour guide! He was so proud and excited to take us up and down the streets of Accra. As we walked he shared with us the rich history of Ghana, the unfortunate corruption with Ghana’s political leaders, and we learned much about the Ghana way of life. Mark also shared his personal God-story with us. This story included the death of his father who was killed for sharing the light of the gospel and the death of his brother who was believed to be poisoned. He shared openly about the point when his mother was kicked out of their house because they couldn’t pay their rent, and they were then forced to live homeless. It was during this point in his life when Mark was wandering around through cities in Ghana when a woman stopped him one day. She had a Bible and began reading it to him. He can still remember the exact passage that she read to him on this day. It was Psalm 121:1-2 I lift my eyes up to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. This woman then proceeded to share the light of Jesus with Mark, and he said it was on this day that he became a ‘born again’ follower of Jesus Christ – at the age of 14. After Mark told us this story, I was just in awe of God. That he would lead us all the way across the world, to Ghana, to partner in a basketball program with a believer. How does God do it? Here are some more pictures of the sights we took in as we walked:

That would be a basket full of live chickens, my friends!

Mark told us that this is the place where many homeless people gather in the early evening, and then they sleep here at night. If you click on this picture to enlarge it you will see a young boy riding a horse in the background. This piece of land is literally right on a main street in Accra. People just hang around it during the day.

These girls are carrying chickens.

Here on the street is where you can buy some chickens. Obviously there is no chicken shortage in Ghana. Seeing this does however make you think twice when you order chicken at a restaurant.

Jake and Mark talk, and talk, and talk, and TALK!

After our tour through the streets of Accra Mark took us to one of his favorite restaurants where we had....you guessed it....a dinner of chicken, rice and freshly squeezed pineapple juice! YUM! We were then supposed to go to a New Year’s Eve church service with Mark, but he could sense that we were exhausted, so he suggested we head to the hotel and go to bed. We took him up on his offer, and as we rode back to the hotel in the taxi the sun had begun to set. As we rounded the corner to turn into our hotel I saw a boy, about 10 or 11 years old, bathing in the runoff water on the side of the street. I knew he was bathing because he was all lathered up with soap, naked, and lapping water onto his back. Seeing this pretty much put an exclamation on my emotions for the day….I am sure you can imagine. We made it back to the hotel and crashed at 7pm Ghana time.

We're Back! And, Pictures of Samuel!

We made it home safe!!!!!!!!!! We rolled in last night about 7pm, just as the DM airport began cancelling flights because of the incoming snow! Thanks for all of your prayers, our luggage was right there when we got to Ghana, and when we got home. We also made all of our connecting flights, and had a safe travels in cars and planes!

I know you have to be anxious to see pictures of Samuel!!!!!!!!!! And let me tell you, I couldn’t wait one minute longer to post them, so I am doing so below! As you will see from the pictures, our first meeting with Samuel went A W E S O M E!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was SO PREPARED to meet us. He was waiting for us as we walked into the area where his mom lives, and he came right up to both of us with this HUGE smile. And, he didn’t stop smiling the entire time. He knows a little English, and can understand us when we ask questions if we use gestures and simple words. His personality is very shy and soft spoken. And, he smiles. A lot. :) Samuel also took an immediate adoration to Jake. About 2 minutes after we met Samuel, Samuel took a hold of Jake’s hand and would not let go. Every time Jake was introduced to someone standing there, Jake would shake that persons hand, and then Samuel would grab his hand again right away. It was one of those precious things that I will never forget!

Here are some pictures:

This is the first picture that we took with him. Those are Samuel's two uncles on the right. We ended up getting to meet Samuel the night before we thought we were going to. The village he lives in does not have lights back in the housing area, so it was VERY dark! So dark that we had to have flashlights to see. Luckily the flash on my camera worked well!

Looking at the welcome book by flashlight.....it was a BIG hit! That is Samuel's mother there on the left.

Opening his presents. I handed him the box wrapped in Christmas paper and he set it on his lap and said 'Thank you.' But, he didn't know to unwrap it! He just thought we gave him a pretty box! So, I showed him how to unwrap it and they all loved the clothes!

Samuel's mother unwraps her gift.

This is my FAVORITE picture! From the left it is Jake, Samuel's mother, Samuel, Kofi (our adoption representative) and me. Samuel's mother was SO excited! Maybe you can tell by the smile on her face? The adoption is not a sad occasion for her. In fact, it is a reason to celebrate! I will explain this more in my journal entry.

Samuel leads us back to our car.

I have no idea how I was able to capture this picture. It was SO dark that I couldn't even see the screen viewer on m camera. But, I just zoomed and aimed and somehow, I caught the moment!

The next morning when we got to see Samuel again he was playing with the spiderman car we got him!

This will make you cry. This is Samuel's house. Obviously no room for beds. They sleep on the floor.

This is Samuel's mother's kitchen.

This is Samuel's little brother Kwasie. He liked the spiderman car too! I was so glad to know that Samuel has a little brother, because then he will be used to having other kids around like JJ!

Samuel and his brother sent that spiderman car up and down the alley-way for about 30 minutes straight!

Me, Jake, Samuel and Samuel's mother. That is another picture of their kitchen in the background.

Samuel clung to Jake like this the entire time. :)

Jake showed Samuel how to play a matching game on his I-phone!

Headed back out to the car to go to our celebration party! This is a good picture so that you can see the surroundings of what his village looks like. Samuel lives in a town called Larte in the the Eastern Region of Ghana. That is Kofi there on the right.

How’s that for pictures?!?! I am sure you won’t be surprised to hear that I actually have more of our time with Samuel! I’ll post more along with my journal of the trip next week. I am going to take a blogging break until Monday so I can soak up some time with JJ and Jayla, get unpacked, and take down Christmas! Thank you also for your prayers for JJ and Jayla while we were gone. They did better than anyone expected…as my mom puts it, they didn’t miss a beat! As for me, I missed them, but I think because of your prayers I wasn’t consumed by it like I thought I would be. It helped also that we were very busy and had lots to do each day and my mind was very occupied from all that I was experiencing. Now that we are home we are getting lots of hugs, kisses, and snuggles from them, and JJ keeps saying “I’m so glad you are home!”.

Please pray for our adoption! Kofi, Samuel, and his mother have a court date scheduled for January 12th in which they will be interviewed one last time by the Social Welfare Department. If they pass court then all we have left to do is file the I-600 form which is the last document that we need approval on. Approval takes about 3+ months, then we will be set to travel and bring Samuel home! Please start praying for that court date and that they pass. This is the verse I will be praying through: Psalm 112:7 He will have no fear of bad news; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. I can’t wait until we can bring Samuel home. I can’t wait until he has his first taste of a Pillsbury cinnamon roll for breakfast. I can’t wait until he can taste ice cold chocolate milk for the first time. I can’t wait to tuck him in at night in a nice comfy bed, with big squishy blankets, and a pillow for his head. I can’t wait until he can run through fresh cut green grass and feel how soft it is on his bare feet. I can’t wait to take him swimming, and to watch him go down a slide for the first time. And, most of all, I can’t wait for him to come to America and see that African skin comes in many beautiful shades….from the lightest brown, to the darkest black. Samuel is teased everyday about his skin and hair color. To us, he looks dark. To Ghanaians, he looks nothing like them. They call him white man. That is his nick name. They look around, and he sticks out. He looks different than them and they tease him for it. It hurts him so much, it’s very easy to tell. While in Ghana we found out that the capital, Accra, has 6 million people living in it. Out of the 7 days we traveled around, I only saw one other albino the entire time. And, let me tell you, these people live outside, so we saw millions of people. And I only saw one other albino. Samuel is an outcast there among Ghanaians. He won’t be here. If you never left Ghana, you would never, ever, ever know that African skin comes in all different shades. There, they just know that he doesn’t look like a typical Ghanaian. I am just excited for him to come here and experience the diversity. :) It might be the one thing that I am most excited about for him, because to date, his appearance has been a very highlighted part of his life.

Today I am just praising God to be home safe, to get to hug and kiss my kids. I am praising God that our trip was such a success, in many ways. I am praising God that our meeting with Samuel and his mother went so well. The smile on Samuel’s mother’s face has not left me yet. I can remember it like it was yesterday. It is such a comfort.

I hope you take the time to listen to the words of this song playing. This song encapsulates my entire experience in meeting Samuel, and what I am feeling now. Some of the words are ‘Now that I have seen, I am responsible. Faith without deeds is dead. Now that I have held you in my own arms I cannot let go.’ And, ‘I am on a plane across a distant sea but I carry you in me, and the dust on my feet’. This song is exactly how I am feeling.

Thank you for being so faithful in praying for us. Your prayers were felt and answered. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!