EYE BROWS

I understand the purpose of your eye brows is to keep sweat from running into your eyes, my eyebrows worked overtime today when I was at the market

WARDROBE IS GROWING

Someone was very kind to me and now I have a new addition to my wardrobe. There is sparkly gold thread in the beige stripes...pretty

School at Berekum

Seven or eight years ago I was given the plans for this school, since then little by
little they have been raising funds and some folks in Canada have been generous, so January 26, the cornerstone and the school was blessed. They hope to have a classroom or two finished to receive students this coming September. The school is going to be named after the first priest of the church, the Rev. Ben-Smith. his wife, Mother Ben-Smith, is an integral part of the building committee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MOTHER BEN-SMITH UNVEILING THE CONERSTONE PLAQUE

 



BLESSED WITH WATER AND INCENSE

ST. PETER'S BEREKUM

Sunday was a great day in the life of St. Peter's Anglican Church in Berekum; 10 were confirmed and the cornerstone for the school that is being built, was blessed by Bishop Festus . We were treated to a delicious lunch at Mother Ben Smith., I need to repeat  ......  clergy need to be hale and hardy here, I left the house at 745am and arrived home at 415pm to find the hydro and water off....  needless to say I was semi conscious all evening

 

 

St Peter's and the kids

both sides of centre aisle                              

 

 

 

Confirmation candidates with Bishop and Mother

When the hydro being off for hours is good news!

Hydro and water off for hours this afternoon, a little warm...like a sauna without the fan, of course the computer battery was not fully charged BUT the bright side is that when the hydro came on a few minutes ago I defrosted the freezer with no problem. I am off to St. Peter's in Berekum tomorrow am. AND 11 months today is Christmas!!!!!!

Death Notice for the Province of West AFrica

Archbishop and Primate Tilewa Johnson has died of a heart attack. He was playing tennis when he fell down and died on 21/1/04. May he rest in peace and rise in glory.
He was the Primate of West Africa and was here in this diocese last summer. Shocking to say the least.

presents from under the tree today!!!!

GOT 3 parcels today and a card. ......mail does get through, now only have one parcel that I know was sent but not here yet, soon ... now I have the real Tim Hortons Coffee, need to get a coffee pot

a day in the sun

temp 34c, sun shining brightly, laundry dries in a couple of hours on the line...not a bad life!!!!

almost forgot

received 3 xmas cards on Friday, thanks to the senders, I can not make out when they were sent so don't know how long they took to get here. Tanya sent two parcels couple of months ago I think they have gone the way of the dodo bird, disappeared or maybe off to Mars perhaps. Thank goodness for the internet to stay in touch

the wheels on the bus go round and round.....

"The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round

 The wheels on the bus go round and round, all the way to Takorodi."

Friday  the plan was to leave at 10pm, bus arrived at 1040pm, then we drove up and down, looking for an open gas station, get gas (bus here does not come with the gas tank full but the leasee buys the gas before the trip), I think we are off BUT nope, stop at an open store for folks to buy candy and stuff like that. Now... we are off. We travel through the dark of the night meeting blacken communities and both lit and unlit vehicles. The light of dawn comes and we are nearing Takarodi. First we go to a Roman Catholic school where we are offered breakfast (bread, and tea). Then off to All Saints Anglican Church, Takoradi for the funeral service conducted by Bishop Festus (Bishop of Sunyani) where there is a low mass underway including communion service when we arrive. Mass ends and then around 10 am the procession of the ordained and the Funeral service began. I have to confess that I fell asleep during the service, missed the fact that a paper was circulating for each of the ordained to write their name, as introducing each and every priest happens at the end of the service. (the dean kindly wrote my name and then woke me up, oopsy but I was a little weary.) The service ended shortly after noon. The casket was carried out by 4 hired pall bearers (they have a set way of carrying the casket on their shoulder) and it was placed in the funeral coach (from what I have seen previously, the casket had been placed in the back of a pick up truck). We do not go to the cemetery but off to our bus. I think we are going towards home BUT  nope, off to a restaurant where the deceased family have arranged for lunch. there is entertainment (drumming  and cultural dancing), great food and THEN around 215pm we are off to home. Other than the bus entertainment being enlarged to include two short episode of a story (I did not watch as it had big snakes ugh, ugh  and the local language with English sub titles) and the video from last week (only shown 3 times this week). Nothing too exciting on the ride home, Kumasi must have saved the 5 o'clock rush hour and placed it between 8 and 9 pm. It took 70 minutes to battle Kumasi traffic along with the up and down on wash board city roads where a new highway is being built. we stop for gas, many get out for a pit stop, the bus moves out of the gas station and parks along the main road, on the wrong side of the road of course, and we wait.  Then more get off (I presume for a pit stop, and some do but others do a bit of shopping and come back on board with bags of shopping accomplished.) Off for Sunyani.. home close to 11pm. I was in bed by 1215. I roused a few times during the might but got up at noon.

No church today, my goodness two weeks in a row.   

resting day

another bus ride for the funeral tomorrow, for Sr. Mavis' father, it is taking place in Takoradi ........(you can look it up on a map, on the coast near the Cote D'Ivoire border, I heard it referred to as an 'oil' town, maybe it is the port that deals with the off-shore oil rigs, I will find out)

                                         between Secondi and the border so Chao till Sunday

I bought me a present

previously I had 2 sometimes 3 TV channels, one in local language most of the time
yesterday got a satellite dish installed and now I have 25 channels, several religious focus, one called the Jesus Channel. and a couple from Europe and one with semi recent American movies  WOW now I will have the difficult chore of having to choose  (too bad eh!!!) the good news is that you just pay a purchase price which includes installation, there is no monthly charge to follow.

ta ta

something everyone especially priests wants or should want to know lol

1662 Book of Common Prayer is a PDF file on Google (this is the book being used in Ghana, maybe other places too, that I am unaware of)

soap making and curtain rods

I hear a knock and Lois asks if I have any gloves. I do not but what kind, plastic is what she was looking for, I suggested that she use a plastic bag instead as I have a bag of  bags ( if you know what I mean, I hunch many people have one as well) so I follow her out and see a couple of people sitting and Mary (Dean's wife) is stirring the mixture in the basin. Of course I ask and they are making liquid soap. ok then I am told there is different ingredients:  a bucket with acid, bucket with a base (now does everyone remember acid:base ratios) I don't, and a plastic bag with a powder in it and Atta keeps adding water to the mixture. So they are making liquid soap to sell in the market, they will let it sit over night and add colour and perfume tomorrow. I admit I had never seen soap made before and they were surprised that I only bought it ready made at the store back home. I admitted there are some specialty soaps made in small batched e.g. goats milk soap I guess maybe in the rural areas folks may make it but I am a city person so buy it at the store.

 

on to curtains, here  a favourite way of hanging curtains is to use a plastic coated wire with a spring in it, and screw hooks at either end which is what I used last spring BUT I brought curtain rods with me in October. The window frames are made of VERY hard wood and I can hammer a nail but unable to put a screw in it so I asked Atta to get a carpenter and he arrived today. After I explained how the hardware was to be installed I heard much hammering, ??? even though I had given him a screw driver. anyway the result is great and the curtains hang straight now. the walls here are rough, plaster like as you can see the trowel marks in places, I tries to hammer a nail in and it made a big hole so got carpenter to put a nail for my picture of the Galilee that I had sent over in the summer.

So tonight I sit, listen to Les Miserable on my I pod  admiring my curtains and pic.

 VERY COMFORTABLE HOME I HAVE !

 





the bus to Accra

....talking about the trip....left at 1010pm Friday (almost a Canadian 10 o'clock leaving time rather than an African 10pm which could be up to 12 midnight), on the road, nice bus (Like a Greyhound type, no bathroom though, TV screen, audio, padded seats) so off to Accra, only a couple of empty seats,(I guess the bus held 40 if full), I sat behind the driver, to stave of being car sick (I still can get nauseated at the back of the bus) and to help to keep an eye on the road (you know, watch for cars, put on my imaginary brakes, and imagine all sorts of vehicular possibilities, perhaps a little like a back seat driver), so into the darkness we  travel  and I mean dark (no street lights and rarely were there lights in the buildings at the side of the road, AND meeting vehicles with no brake lights or lights of any kind on but some of the long haul semis have different coloured lights along the side and at the back blue, green, yellow and red along with rope lighting that flashes off and on OR along the rope... quite distracting to the back seat driver until one figures out what the lights means ........ there is a Christian video on the screen with the hymn words on the screen (very elaborate profession American looking musical production which appears to be set in a place like the Dome  in Toronto, huge) so we listen/watch/sing along, (over the trip probably saw it 6 or 7 times, bus only had one video it seems) young people at the back talking and laughing, older folks toward the front dozing off, I actually slept off and on as much as one can do while sitting on a bus while trying to back seat drive the bus as well.....pit stops at the side of the road (no rest centres with Tim Horton or McDonalds having clean bathrooms), arrive Accra about 5am (still dark out) but cant find the hotel where we are to meet the grooms family) so  around and around, asking for new directions, by 6am we find it (the dawn is coming, how is that for imagery eh!, cant find the place .. it is dark,  find the place ...there is dawn light I know it is small imagery but give me a break...I am still tired) we are greeted by Mother Felicia and have places to sit and get breakfast, some lay down, have a shower, eat breakfast, ready for the wedding. I sit between 2 chairs and doze, by 10am got the signal to be ready to leave for the church, off to drive around and around it seems, cant find the church, ask a few people and get there by 1045, LIGHTHOUSE INTERNATIONAL CHURCH, a big structure.  WEDDING ......see previous blog,  after pictures, we are given a boxed lunch and drink at 2pm, since we are not going to reception so set out for home at 230pm... traffic in Accra like 5pm on the 401 crossing Yonge Street soooooo 1 1/2 hours to get out of Accra, drive with pit stops (actual bathrooms so to speak, cubicles with a trench at the back, most of them had doors, folks it beats sitting by the edge of the road with the world passing by and the only the saving grace .....it was dark, and no street lights) continue the drive home with 8-10 speed bumps in each village, mostly it is a 2 lane highway, get to Sunyani about 7 and it takes 1 hour to battle the supper hour through the city (no bypass highways) and on to home, got back at 1030, this turned out to be a whole day adventure. Just to note... this is a very typical travel trip here.

SUNDAY HAS ARRIVED

its 1025 am, I am sitting at the kitchen table, my feet on a chair, not been to church and am quite ok with life (I am sure God would understand my decision at 6am to go back to bed,  still a little tired )

so
Wedding was lovely, handsome groom and very pretty bride, her colours were green and pink, looked quite a nice together, parents of groom and bride looked very proud, service a little long in comparison to in Canada (3 1/2 hours, no communion for congregation, just the bride and groom) but never the less...quite worth the trip

the bride, groom, maid of honour and best man sit on these decorated chairs front and centre, no altar, drum set centre at the back of the raise dais and the cross to the far side 

 

VOWS

 

 

signing the Register, need 4 witnesses so both sets of parents are the signers and we clergy were invited to be supportive and be with them at that time

 

dancing back from signing

Visiting clergy with 3 bishops (2 retired and the groom's Dad)

                                                                         

steps of the church


MR. AND MRS. YEBOAH-ASUAMAH

January 11, 2014

 

 

 

Chao till Sunday

off to wedding tonight, been resting all day for what I feel will be a marathon trip , but worth every moment

got in a dither....NO HALMARK CARD STORE

looking all week, everywhere I went, for a card to take to the wedding, well...... lots of xmas, baby, birthday and valentine cards but no card for a wedding, on the street or in the post office that I could find so ....  what to do?
go online, get a card, print it along with an envelope and ta ta - a card for the wedding.
now, I am not particularly good at doing this so it took me an hour or so before it was finished, taped shut and ready to go.
It is amazing how much creativity one can develop when one is under the gun of necessity. My bail out plan was to write a note on plain paper and put it in an envelope. I guess on my list next fall is to bring back an assortment of cards, preferably with no writing or verse so they can be use when ever. Live and learn!

Finally...

 
 
 

finally got a curtain for the bathroom, there are frosted slats for no see through but don't you now think it looks prettier ? 
re the adventure for the wedding on Saturday:
we are hiring a bus, leaving the cathedral at 11pm ish   on Friday, travel all night and get to Accra about 5-6am, have breakfast, attend the wedding, attend reception, get back on the bus and travel back to Sunyani early Sunday morning .. ..I have already declared the odds of me being in church later on Sunday morning are really low and maybe even non-existent AND
we do the same next weekend for the funeral of Sr.Mavis's father. It seems to me to live here you must be hardy, have stamina and  like travelling back and forth.

the Tuesday after New Year's Day

Betsy (old car) had a bath today, since I let God wash my car at home and do the same here, Matthias (driver) stepped up and offered to take it to the car wash, looks like a shiny jewel now

as the bishop's son Paul is getting married this Saturday in Accra,

I was asking Lois

how it actually unfolds. She says there is the Traditional Wedding on the Friday between the two families. Schnapps and money and goods are brought by the groom for the bride's family. She says in North Ghana the gifts are cows and cloth and money, with the bride's family being specific about what they will accept, it is not so rigid in the south of the country. Then on Saturday there will be the traditional church wedding(white dress and all) with a reception. I am planning to go with the group from the cathedral so stay tuned. As I am here longer I continue to have a never ending list of  questions about what and how the culture works here, thank goodness folks are wiling to answer them.

Saturday night at the cathedral!

AYPA organized an evening of song and praise and entertainment, invited a number of youth groups in the city from various churches. Eventually got started with singing and praying and more singing.  Groups from the various church came up to present their singing with lead singers and back up support. It struck me as a cross between a Rock Concert (very loud music with many speakers and amps) and an Impromptu Jazz concert (with it unfolding as it does whether the music is spot on or not). There was a dance group from the cathedral both young men and women. They interpreted the song and were very good.  )
There is a song VIA DOLOROSA ( words are powerful, its on U tube, I prefer Patti ??? last name) which puts to words and music the events of Good Friday, I was wondering how they would/could interpret it in dance, will wonder out loud to the dean to test the waters and if ok, will wonder to the choreographer. maybe  this could be part of Good Friday this coming year??????? 
As support for the youth, all the clergy of the cathedral made an appearance including the Bishop.

the Dean and I

a realization I had today

as I hung wet clothes on the line, it dawned on me that I  do not have to worry about the clothes freezing on the line, like back home at this time of year. small things for a small mind  lol

Weird or what

I got my first New Years Day present, it is a weird one folks, the Lectionary (a book with all the Bible Readings for all services for the year for 2014) from the Precentor, he laughed when I said it was the best New Years present as it is the only. .....  I know, it is a bit of a stretch getting amusement from such but its the best I can do, given the year is still so young.
Continuing the Xmas Spirit the Cathedral gifted food stuff to the prison yesterday: rice, maize, and household stuff.  and there was a photo op, see below, this prison had both a men and women section (same place where the barrel of clothes went to) see pics it was divided between the two sections. 
                                                                                                     Women section staff    

Men's section staff