Adequate Advocate

Crime, especially theft, is so rampant in Ghana right now that it only took one day before we were also personally affected.  One of our suitcases was stolen right out of the van during a brief stop at a popular bus stop between Accra and Kumasi.  We stopped to use the rest rooms and when Jessica closed the back door of the van after retrieving some diapers from one of the suitcases, she heard one security guard say to another security guard in Twi, “Broni, aden na wa ye sa?” (white person, why are you doing that?).  He wasn’t talking TO her but ABOUT her for the benefit of the other security guard, presuming she wouldn’t understand, so she went on her way and thought it was nothing more than another display of bad manners.  After arriving in Kumasi and unpacking we realized there was a suitcase missing and the only time it could have disappeared was when the van was left unattended (except by those “security” guards!) at the bus stop.  How quickly Satan began h...

Destination: Kumasi Distance: 270 Kilometers (what we use in Ghana) approximately 167 miles Travel Time: 6 hours Traveling the roads in Ghana is always an adventure; not really a fun one, but necessary to getting the Word out.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that some construction work which was unfinished a year and a half ago was now complete and getting out of the capital city of Accra was pretty quick and smooth!  Yay!!! Hawkers selling snacks under the newly constructed overpass The kids were pretty happy to not have to be in carseats.  Better hold on tight, though!  Bumps ahead!  Then we hit the part where construction is STILL going on.  We tried to take pictures but you just can't FEEL all the jarring bumps when you look at a picture, so it really doesn't do justice to the actual state of the roads!  This is the major highway between the two largest cities in Ghana! We saw very few private vehicles.  It's car-suic...

With the help of many great volunteers,  ALMOST all of the generously donated items were loaded in the shipping container last week, including very precious cargo - jars of Grandma’s homemade peach jam!   That’s like liquid gold! :)  We will be praying for the container’s safe and timely arrival to the port in Ghana after a few months.  Meantime, we packed up our bags (13 suitcases and 9 carry-on pieces to be exact!) and said our good-byes to dear ones and goodbyes to beautiful America  and headed for the airport on Sept. 10th.   God blessed our travels with a smooth check-in of all our luggage; no glitches with paperwork; timely departures; and opportunities to sleep on the plane (Zion slept a pretty good night’s sleep on the floor of the first plane and it wasn’t until the very end of the flight that the attendant noticed him and said he wasn’t allowed to do that, don’t ask me why - as a kid I always put a blanket down and...

We are now in the third and final phase of our plans!  Packing!!!  So many little details and complicated co-ordination to be worked out as we gather the last donations for our shipping container!  Our days are full and even at night when we lay our heads down and try to sleep the wheels keep turning and turning and turning!  Have to remember to.... make sure we don't forget ..... who else do we need to call.....what else did we need to do....?  Hope we stay sane and strong and get it all done!  We are extremely thankful and super excited for the great donations we are being blessed with!  It is going to be so great to go back to Ghana adequately equipped to carry out our grand plans!  We should have enough items to fill the container when we load it up this THURSDAY at 2 pm in Elizabeth City!!! Some of the donations! A lot of items were gathered as we traveled. The type of container we will load everything in. Some daycare equip...