In Accra

bus left at 615::: not bad for the scheduled depart for 6am., for the record I got up at 450am,
I tell everyone who will listen that if God had wanted us to get up at that hour he would have the sun up too, dark out means sleep time. Lol
372 km took 7 1/2 hours with 2x pit stops. Other than the length of time.. good trip
French fries with ketchup along with chix for supper.. the chips were good
Just had a shower with hot water. Omg it has been so long since the water was hot, normal these days is tepid to cool, I think Sally is going to show me some of the high spots in Accra tomorrow during the day.

all electronics back on track

Mass yesterday with the Archbishop.

yesterday got delivery of a Pascal Candle holder, Moses the carpenter (who made my cupboards) had made and donated as the cathedral did not have one. I was overwhelmed with how beautiful it was,
it was given to the dean this am with a new Pascal Candle.   nice eh!

 I am going to Accra tomorrow until Monday. I have been nominated for an Inspire Award which I will receive on Saturday evening. This is the weekend in the church year that has so much meaning so only a couple of folks are coming with me. I will post pics.

Post script re knitting needles
a carpenter near the Centre made them, I took two try, I forgot them in Adu's taxi and someone took one,  soooo only have one now. It is a good job that 30 pairs were made.

Crisom Mass

renew vows as a priest, bless oils for the year
I have my photos stuck on the I pad, will figure it out and get back to you

onward and upward

water on and hydro on WOW back to normal

visit to St. Peter school in Berekum on Monday

figured out the pic problem... somehow I clicked on HTML at the top and not compose and it screwed up the pics ....  solved now

barrel of school supplies .. like xmas

kids

afternoon nap

 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS

 a teacher and I trying to do a selfie with her phone

visit to school in Berekum

I have done something to the pictures and they come out with weird letters and no pic I will try to solve and put up pics soon, still water in the pail only

Palm Sunday

other than the hydro being off all day and the water off in the afternoon as well, still no water,the  hydro is back a few minutes ago and then I run around like a ninny plugging all the electronic stuff in to recharge as one never know when it will go off again. so everything is in 'plugged in mode' at the moment
Palm Sunday was good. we had palms 6-7 feet long around all the doors, in front of the windows and a pile to be blessed The kids thought they were wonderful to swing in all directions of course.
We had the Most Rev. Dr. Justice Ofei Akrofi the former Archbishop with us as Bishop Festus is on leave.
the drill is: to bless the palms, then out to the street singing, waving Palm branches for a few blocks before turning back to the church
see return below

Dean knocking on the West Door

THE TRADITIONAL POST-SERVICE PHOTO OP OF THE CLERGY 

Funeral in Wenchi

Wenchi is 51 km from Sunyani and it takes about 1 1/2 hours to get there. Between pot holes and speed bumps in every town and village driving at a high speed is impossible. 

The deceased was the sister in law of a parishioner so a dozen or so attended the funeral. It was in the Methodist Church and lasted about 3 hours. Then everyone went to a community centre and was served food and drink while the family went to the grave side for the Interment. when the family returns they are greeted by everyone who is sitting under tents like below. Since the extended family is very important and so it seems as though everyone has many funerals to attend and most funerals are held on Saturday so you see many people walking up and down the roads in black or black and red clothing, attending funerals.

Mabel cooked guinea fowl tonight and gave me some. It was like chicken but the white meat seemed more meaty some how. I had their eggs in an omelette years ago, they had a darker yolk than chickens and were about the size of a small chicken egg. I just read they are a delicacy in Italy.

Knitting needles

the saga continues to get knitting needles.
I am planning to gather them from garage sales etc when I get back but until then (will take all contributions as well).
Sr. Mavis has got a carpenter to make them. Need is the mother of invention I suppose, what ever that saying is.  It is the best solution that can be created right now.

Busy Thursday

House blessing at Canon Martin and Mother Doris’ new home which is almost finished..
Time to leave 530 am (Ghana time 630 am): the house is lovely and I understand it has been in process for 20 y,ears ( remember mortgage interest rates are over 30 % so one builds when a small  amount of money is saved and then wait until the next money is gathered)

house blessing followed by celebration of the Eucharist

back home by 845 am, there was to be a workshop planned by the Compassion Group on Child Abuse scheduled for 9 am at the cathedral, knowing well that a 9 am Canadian start time is not the same as 9 am Ghanaian I went back to my house and had a nap. I wandered up around 930 and it started at 1015 

there were many resources, police, Child Welfare from the Government (he gave a very good presentation) the Chief and the Queen Mother for this area.

Child Abuse as a topic is at the beginning stage of being talked about and discussed. There are laws in place, many do not know what they are, many hesitate to report abuse so the police rep asked that the churches play an active part is initiating discussions also churches were asked to not come begging to the police station for the charges to be dropped

It is still quite a taboo topic. 

some states given today for Sunyani:

there is evidence of the following occurring: child abuse, child neglect, economic exploitation, sexual exploitation, child trafficking, abduction and murder for ritual purposes,  sexual abuse

70% of all births are not registered with the government (data collected from school records where there is no documentation available when the child is registered for school),

90% of all children are exposed to physical and mental abuse

 the Chief and the Queen

Chief with final remarks, 

notice very large golden rings on both hands and an arm bracelet of gold

 he is wearing tradition cloth (somewhat like a toga)

ARRIVAL TIME 930AM

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE SHIPMENT

an all night drive from Accra for shipment to arrive this morning,
distance is 375km and take 8 to 9 hours, roads are badly in need of repair in some places.and there are several speed bumps in all every village.
when coming into Sunyani,  I in taxi with Adu met them and they follow to the storage.
everything arrived

 I started phoning the recipients to come and pick up their stuff, the barrels especially

FIRST BARREL OF SCHOOL SUPPLIES ARRIVES  at St. Anselm's Primary School

it went in the back of the taxi with the seat lifted up

Tomorrow

I was called  by the shipper in Accra yesterday that the things I sent by boat last December are being delivered to Sunyani tomorrow   Yipeeeeee! 👍😀

knitting needles

can not find even one, and most do not know what they are.
I will visit garage sales and Goodwill to get them to bring back in the fall,
any contributions gladly received
that's the thing here,
Back in Canada when we are so used to running to a store or a garage sale and getting exactly what we want, and here, one makes many stops at roadside shops and a run through the market with Adu (who has no idea what a knitting needle is), is an exercise with no results frequently,
oh hum...another day, next time I will take a picture of one to make the explaining easier.
I might resort to pencils with a point just so practicing can start, pencils I can get along with yarn.
maybe tomorrow......

surfing the net

this surfing can be a waste of time or a great idea comes to the fore. I think this is a brilliant idea to keep the bar of soap from being soggy and soft, what do you think?

simple ... simple, two elastic bands and a soap dish  

you can tell that small things entertain a small mind lol

the postman has arrived

Interesting weather

the winds started to blow, like the clothes were straight out from the clothes line kind of strength
the air was like brown fog, things rattling, the gate banging, table that had just been dusted was gritty on top, I ran as I had clothes out on the line and I knew the rain was coming, after a while the rains did come, as the winds let up  and the air was grey, the rains ended, the air is clear and the sky is now blue with fluffy white clouds sailing by, all within an hour or so. I think these might be north east winds that pick up and blow sand from the Sahara over West Africa called the Harmattan from December to mid March ....   regardless it was quite dramatic

CHAIN SAW ARRIVES

the buzz all morning resulted in the mango tree being chopped up and 

cleared out of the way, put tidy by the wall

the root is still there and the hole filled in

roof still has a problem, assessing the roof with flip flops on

mango tree

in 2013 I wrote while sitting under a mango tree,
well this year the tree had no leaves when I came and it was thought to be dead now (I do not know the life expectancy of these trees).
yesterday and today there was this hacking noise, and then a big boom the tree was down,
                                         the root as you see is nearly four feet in diameter
                                all the work done with an axe, no chain saw in sight, no guide ropes

   and like some trees that fall, it took out part of the wall, the roof and the roof edge trim    oooopsy

                                 my day ended well when three wise people into to visit

Caleb the middle wise person was introducing me to the visiting boy I wonder if he hoped that I would bring out my bag of suckers (no such luck as it was supper time)
                                                     a wise thought though Caleb !!!
                                                      kids are still in school uniform

KEEPING BUSY

-Yesterday I was assigned knitting instead of crocheting by Sr. Mavis, YES! thank goodness, so now there is a search at the market for knitting needles, 22 of the students want to learn knitting, easier for me
- inputting some data for Sr. Mavis and gathering info for the Bishop's first quarter newsletter, enough to fill the day
-ants are frequent visitors on my counter so I have developed a solution and system they do not seem to like; I combined dish soap and bleach in a squeeze bottle and wipe the counter....no ants, sounds good to me as I did not invite the anyway :)
visitors to the blog...the highest numbers are from Italy like 5x from Canada  I still don't understand how come

Good Day

 success with the renewal of my visa for 3 months, smooth system now, go to office, fill out form, give required money and one photo, 10 days later renewed visa (no sweat), now I am good until June 1, 2018 and I will be in Canada on that day

Bishop is on leave and travelling so my work is greatly reduced. I will be going to the women's Centre that Sr. Mavis of the Order of the Holy Paraclete runs to teach crocheting, now the funny part is that I knit but crocheting is a big challenge for me. so google easy patterns and persevere most of this afternoon and HERE ARE MY RESULTS,  a rose and a simple flower, samples for the students ..... not perfect but look pretty ok to me I still like knitting better but necessity is the mother of invention so they say

HAND DESIGNED FABRIC

Daniell and Jemma came to visit, this is the couple whose wedding I attended last time

                                                         April 2016

Jemma made a dish of Jollif rice ...still warm and so good

1. Daniel brought hand designed fabric for me to bring back to Canada, see below, 
2. one of a kind, you will not meet yourself on the street

this one I claimed and Jenna is making an outfit with a  skirt with two tops, 

one a clerical shirt and the other a blouse

carrots

I just pickled carrots, quite tasty and the plantain arrived still warm

plantain mmmmgood

getting some fried plantain made for me today, 

water came on just before bed,,,, thank goodness.

I am taking a certificate course on International Health Care on line. Started last time I was here and finishing it up this trip

tried to find some apples yesterday but alas none to be found, I guess not the season I suppose

the market is one lane with sorta parking on the left side and items from each stall spill onto the road, many folks walking in and out, the inner market has only walkers and the alleys are maybe 10 feet wide with goods staked up in neat fashion, carrying parcel on the head leaves the hands free to further shop, FYI; there is rolled up fabric in a circle between the head and the parcel

 

- at the cathedral they do the stations of the cross every Wednesday and Friday, it is done in but local language and English using a book I got in Jerusalem A WALK IN JERUSALEM, by John Peterson. I am trying to find another copy to leave here, wrote to St. Georges College in Jerusalem to see if they have one, if anyone has one they would like to send, please do, just let me now so I can look for the mail., address below.

water...where are you?

no water all day so went and got a pail of water for the night  ugh . hope to have water tomorrow 

only in Ghana .....

Printer working very well but uses ink very quickly. Today needed an ink cartridge to continue my task, called Adu and went back to the store where I bought the printer. The sales clerk did find where the cartridges are kept but no black. ugh... She had one colour cartridge so buy it as I never know when I might find another here. When asked how much it costs, she had no idea, Adu called the owner and he did not answer.
ONLY IN GHANA does the sales person not know the price of the goods so we went to another store where they had plenty so bought three black and one colour as I never know where or when I can get more. 
I parted from the taxi teasing Adu to only take me to stores where they know the price and he laughed

interesting time for Ghana

The President Akufo-Addo yesterday and I read in today's paper that the direction the president wants the country to go is 'Ghana beyond aid is achievable'. Ghana, 61 years independent still depends on outside money to function and the president wants the country to be self sufficient and says it is possible for it to happen.
I am no politician and never think about things like "how much does the country rely on outside financial support" He talked about the high level of corruption that goes on every day and high fiscal deficits have become a way of life. Ghana needs to develop a path that transforms and leads to a country that is prosperous and self confident. It seems easy to forget that 61 years is not a long time in the history of a country and that it takes time to develop systems that move the country forward.

TV REPAIR

my tv 'off/on' switch would not work all of a sudden so Adu, the fountain of knowing all tradespeople in Sunyani finds his friend, (all the people I get referred he calls 'his friend') so the tv gets picked up, driven to the shop below and after a couple of hours and the new part bought ... voila  a working tv.

Thop may nhe sot look like much but the tv got fixed, just very rough cut boards for the exterior, the interior is about 15 by 15 at the most, the back half full of electronics in varying states of disassembly, parts being used for repairs I hunch 

celebrations abound for the 61 th birthday of Ghana

I did not attend any celebrations but watched the ones from Accra, pics are from the tv so not the greatest.   First Lady to the left with yellow and blue outfit and President to the right in white top with coloured front

parading of the colours

you know that gifts for kids do not necessarily give them play toys  

GIVE THEM BOXES AND LIFE IS GOOD

as today is a government holiday kids play at home

March 6th Independence Day for Ghana 61 years

heard big booms outside, sounding like fireworks, and it was 

the kids were having fun ooohing and aaaahhhing the colours 

great fun and the first time I have seen them here