WATCH NIGHT ON NEW YEARS EVE

Lessons and carols, followed by Watch Night followed by Mass
started at 8pm but my flyer said 830 so I was late, started Eucharistic prayer after 12 and the hydro went off for about 10 minutes in the middle, then followed by announcements with presentations till dismissal at 130am
so here I sit at 2am, contemplating the new year of 2014 with my xmas lights on.
I pray everyone has a blessed 2014.

Generosity at xmas @ orphanage

the cathedral shares.... at this season...

 COMPASSION IS LOVE IN ACTION- a children's home (orphanage) about 30 minutes from the cathedral has 36 kids, The difference here is that kids in a homelike this, are encouraged to stay in contact with their families and most of the kids have gone to their families for the holiday... Rev. Mrs. Charlotte Osel Kwateng(Director)  started this place 17 years ago and a couple years ago, took their first baby, up until then it was 3 years and up,, the wardens, Dean, Precentor and myself went and the dean presented the director with a cash donation. A place struggling but making a huge difference in these children's lives...

dancing and drumming ...

the Director lives in London England, is from Eastern Region of Ghana but felt called to working the Brong Ahafo region (the area that Sunyani is in, like a province) so she comes and goes between England and here......

GREAT WORK BEING DONE HERE!

 

at the end I was asking for a brochure which they do not have, so we have agreed to

 future conversations so one can be developed ...  I hope 

Low Sunday, it's not

back home the Sunday after xmas is "low' Sunday as everyone has been to church for all the xmas stuff so many skip the following Sunday. Here the Sunday is called Kente Sunday and many folks wear traditional cloth and folks that did not get to a xmas service come the Sunday after, so the pews were filled. ....kids put on several numbers; singing ... dancing .....just being kids...

don't you just love the pink glasses, a stylish touch.....

..

.............and after service I revealed my new outfit........

Vivian to my right is the seamstress...................

Lois, to my right is my shopping guide, you can see that the outfit is sewn to show off curves...

...

.. with the Bishop who announced that the pics will be on the blog before he gets home.....lol

Saturday busyness

Laundry, ... water won't go down the drain in shower ugh ugh can't finish .....Market to shop but it is warm so I am waiting until after 3pm, ..... Bought fabric, Lois (Dean's daughter) took me to the dressmaker, picked up my outfit... long skirt and jacket and wearing tomorrow to church....ta ta

WATER POST SCRIPT

ITS 1015  PM, dean is home, he shut off tap where the plug had been left in a sink :( :(
he did not know where the shut off valve was in the field but I had been curious this am when Atta was going to shut it off and went with him so I, with my trusty flashlight, showed the dean where it is and he turned the water back on ......  VOILA !!!! WE HAVE WATER ....  so much for the end of today's adventure

Water . water everywhere, it should not be

Its very quiet here, and I am resting from the 530 am service... reading, tidying up and I take the garbage out and notice water seeping from under the door at the Dean's house along with a heavy flow of water from a discharge pipe BUT there is no one home, Dean went to Accra last night,, what to do, what to do... called Atta (not home as inside door is shut),, searched for Precentor and asked him to come and look  .,,...,yep water coming from under the door.

he calls Dean in Accra and it is decided that the main water source out in the field will be turned off which means no water for me, Precentor, and Atta, the whole complex at the cathedral so fill a pail of water

and then water gets turned off 

 until Dean gets back and turns off the tap or what ever is spewing water in his house ...   .....   ...so in the midst of a day of doing nothing (|Mary brought me a great lunch so I won't have to cook until tomorrow), just lazy and reading,,....no water, so can't do the washing ahhh so sad, can't wash the floor.ahhh so doing nothing and its absolutely great!!!!!

St. Stephen's Day/xmas eve

it is 645 am and I am home from already celebrating the mass (wrecking my reputation of hating mornings but what can I do, when in Rome.....)
I will now put a few pics of Xmas Eve
they have a new fire (huge bon fire with wood like a teepee 12 feet high on the lawn) I did not get why they have it, as they do not bring the fire inside like at the Easter vigil but it quite noticeable because of the size,

..the women with the shepherds crooks are from the Society of the Good Shepherd  and they will stand at the door like sentries' at the processional and recessional. 

 then everyone walks around the fire singing in the local language....

in side the crèche with xmas lights and tinsel, was set up with kneeler to be venerated until Epiphany

PEACE ON EARTH

a time to pause, reflect and evaluate

Health and well being to all

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

Gifty's project

I met Gifty in the post office a while ago, and she helped me lick stamps to sent cards
She is Ghanian, went to America and worked for the government for 30 years and is now retired and has returned to see whether she can live here again. She had polio as a baby, has leg braces and crutches to get around.
She is trying to establish a learning centre for disabled folks (there are very few resources to enable someone with a disability to learn a trade to be self sufficient) and hopefully they could earn enough to make their way independently so to speak. She sews so is starting with a centre to learn how to sew. I went to see the shop today (see pics) and she is getting display cases and washroom etc so the place can be used. She is building a house (getting it built) and it will have extra bedrooms so if a students needs accommodation while at the centre, they would be able to stay in her house. I am really impressed with her goal and went to see it today,. I will keep you posted.

like two stores in a mall with the wall between with an opening.

 

Feathers at the altar

quite a day, I celebrated at the English service, thank goodness for a great deacon who know everything, ( did not sleep much last night being a little nervous)......  AND  two Guilds donated many things for distribution to the needy and the  widows for Xmas (eggs, oil, yam, communion wafers and wine, and 5 live chickens  ++ plus other things) I had to get up and look as I thought they were dead and being put in front of the altar, nope they were alive and with their feet tied so they could not run around, I told the dean it was a first time for me seeing such a phenomena, after the later service I was offered a live chicken and I would be hard pressed to kill a chicken by myself, I  really like my chicken in a cello pack in the freezer part of the grocery store,
...
they are waiting.......

three shopping days till xmas

Have you got shopping done, house cleaned and presents wrapped....only 3 more days,
It is a little weird to me to have sunny days, temp of 35 and only one store, Malcom, that I saw with xmas decorations and artificial trees, not seen even one nativity scene anywhere except for the one I have. a little different.

SKYPE

It works, internet at this end weak so can do audio with no picture /or/ picture with cracked up audio, now I can have a conversation   GREAT!!!!!!!

have a look

Just got a reference to this diocese this am, like nothing back home.. Diocese of Kadugli in the Sudan, +++ struggles and poverty....have a look www.kadugli.anglican.org

LESSONS AND CAROLS at the Anglican Senior High School

I was invited to bring the Word at this service. My goodness such energy with 400 high school kids ++++++ the format was 9 lessons and in between each House was to do a carol, some sang, some danced, some put it to drama. great fun, some what like I think a RAV would be like, never been to one but it is what I think it would be like: loud audience, energy ++, loud music, The drama club put on a play, WHAT IS JESUS HAD NOT COME quite creative.......

school choir singing their hearts out

.........singing their version of the 12 days of Christmas

the Headmaster and I at the High Table

Students

Musician

Chairman

 

and to all a good night!

INTERNET SERVER

had Vodafone portable modem, worked good, I found I was not able to Skype so computer tech tries many things, finally uses his modem from MTN and guess what ,....works like a charm, so I visit Vodafone office, staff tries many things, gives me instructions to use at home, couple of hours later I go back as nothing was working and I have my computer under my arm, staff tries many things and an hour later says that they as a server have been having trouble with Skype for a few months,,, which means it will never work in this life time, so I announce quite loudly, that it not good enough and that I will switch to MTN because I have proof it works, he looked a little sheepish and I left. so at the moment I have lots of Gigs between the two and MTN does like it should. took most of the day and kept me out of mischief lol

skype to get ready for xmas day conversation

tried to Skype to Kirk last night, did not work as I could not get logged on, so to the computer wizard tomorrow, maybe I do not have it downloaded correctly, no idea at this point ... to be continued

Actual signing

we went to the chief's home where we met the chief, and his council

then I got permission to take pics of chief's home, the figures are plastered right on the wall

Signing in Nkoranza

the community built a school and at this time they have requested that the Anglican church take over the management of it. there has been ++++ discussion and this was the signing of the transfer agreement. Junior high school students are having an outdoor assembly and then they will be off for the xmas holidays... many of the students had never seen a woman priest so I talked a little about me and specifically to the girls that they to should listen for a call to ordained ministry and we toured a new school block

pics from Kumasi

went to Kumasi to pick up the second load of packages that I had sent by ship at the end of the summer. pics of the bus station, crowded at the CNE has nothing on crowded here

waiting ot board the bus and I looked at the traffic...

on the bus and the traders put their goods on a tarp in the places that the bus parks, then when another bus comes along they drag the tarp to make room for the bus...

kids from the house that was storing the parcels carrying them to the taxi along with Joseph..

...finally they are home intact...

SECOND DAY OF TRAVELLING

TOMORROW LOOKS LIKE A LIGHT DAY SO WILL CATCH UP WITH PICS AND CONVERSATION

tired

to Kumasi and back today, left the house at 815 and got home at 730pm to go to a city that is 130 km away by bus post pics tomorrow or Friday as tomorrow there is a meeting in Nkoranza (2 hours away) and I am leaving here at 930....pics soon

ground nut paste

found it today in the market guess what it is ??? bought tomatoes and got plantain for free along with a piece of cassava (I thought I was buying yam) .... close but no cigar. got some instruction from Mary(Dean's wife) along with a piece of yam (it looks very similar to cassava) and was on my way to making plantain chips (very nice they are) I

ate them all at one sitting from one ...add a little or a lot of salt and they are ready to go