An Anniversary to Remember

1 Week 3 Days

So yesterday was Joey and Emily’s 1st anniversary (awwww) :) and Joey asked Brother Abu if there was a restaurant nearby that he could take Emily to. So when Brother Abu told him there was and that he would take us all there today to celebrate, we honestly thought it would be, at the most, in the next town.

DEFINITELY WASN’T! We got into the taxi probably 10 minutes before 5pm and didn’t get back until well after 8pm tonight. It took at least an hour, if not a little more to get travel there and back. It was awesome! The taxi just kept driving… and driving… and driving… and the 4 of us crammed in the back seat of the cab had NO clue what was going on. We went through village after village and then through a couple towns with actual banks in them, we dodged/survived hundreds and thousands of potholes (I only wish our internet was fast enough to post the video I took out the window of the backseat, you’d realize I’m not even exaggerating.) and not a moment too soon we finally arrived at the bustling, roadside restaurant called Linda Dor – and not 5 minutes after we sat down the rain DUMPED on us.

This restaurant really is more like a very large hut – but a millionaire’s hut. It was very nice, but other than the roof and some cement pillars, the whole restaurant is open. It’s raised a little bit though, with drains all along the sides so that the rain doesn’t flood in – which is exactly what would have happened had they not been there. Remember my post about the rain Emily and I got caught in? This rain was actually worse! It was crazy! I had to take a picture of it, even though it doesn’t quite capture the whole effect.


Anyway, the food was wonderful! Spencer even got the burger and fries he’s been craving! It was such a great time and a fun trip for us to take. Love this place!


Brother Abu, Joey, Emily (on the bottom, Spencer and I (on the top) at the restaurant. Happy Anniversary Joey and Emily! Glad you could spend your 1st one with us!!!

So much to be grateful for :)

1 Week 2 Days


Picture of all the Utah State Ghanaians

Opportunities like this in life make you extremely grateful for certain things. This is what we (as the Utah State SEED “obronis” in Ghana) have decided we are grateful for:

1. Milk – good ol’ hometown milk straight (or relatively straight) from the cow. We don’t care if it’s whole milk, 2% or skim, we will never take it for granted again. The only milk you can get here is evaporated milk or UHT (Ultra Heat Treated) milk – not the greatest for drinking or even eating cold cereal with.

2. Cheese – they just don’t have it. Luckily for us, Joey and Emily had heard that it’s non-existent here and they actually brought some. The only problem is that it’s so hot here and the refrigerators aren’t cold enough to keep it “hard”, so eating slices of it is completely out of the question – it can only be used in food where it melts – so that is still something we’re allowed to miss.

3. Brownies, cakes, doughnuts, muffins – ANYTHING with flour in it that is sweet and baked.

4. Ice, slushies, ice cream, popsicles or anything that we would LOVE on a hot, sweaty day. It’s basically unheard of to find something REALLY COLD here.

5. Smooth, dry skin, and really, just DRY! Everything is wet and sticky. Pretty sure we haven’t had a time here where we don’t have a couple drops of sweat somewhere… GROSS! And if that wasn’t enough, the bug spray makes the clammy humid feeling STICKY. YUM!

6. Not having to worry about cultural norms. At some point we’ll figure out the African culture completely… hopefully.

7. A blow dryer and straightener – both of which we COULD use, but do absolutely NO good!

8. Texting… (from Lindsie) – a sign of a social life and an easy time waster.

9. Paved, smooth and working roads. We won’t ever complain about the crack in the road or even the Utah construction anymore.

10. Drinkable tap water – what a luxury!

11. A shower curtain or shower that you can actually stand up in. Our shower has no curtain and the cord to the shower is too short to be able to stand up and reach your head, so you have to crouch.

12. English – American English – (all grammar included) – ‘nuf said

13. Washer and dryer. We actually DO have a washer here, but it leaks like crazy, and then there’s no dryer, so it all has to hang outside until it dries and you have to pray it doesn’t rain while you’re waiting.

14. Snow-capped, rocky mountains. A sign of cool weather.

15. Blending in – we don’t have a prayer!

16. Air conditioning and really, anything that would cool you down. Don’t think I’ve ever been so hot for so long in my life.

17. Power. Consistent, reliable, anytime, cheap power. The last 2 days we have been powerless for who knows how many hours. Today it went out at 10am (while we were at church) and didn’t come back on until after 6pm, and yesterday was about the same story. It was the worst at church though – I’ve never gotten so hot and tired so quickly – those fans are a definite MUST! And anytime it rains or even threatens to rain (which is also quite often) the power also goes off. So basically, you have to take advantage of the power you get.

Anyway, these are just a few of the things we are so grateful to have in our lives. We may not have them right now, but knowing they exist and someday will have them back makes us even more thankful for them.

But no worries – we love it here. It is such a wonderful opportunity for us to be here, and we are grateful for the many things we have been able to learn. We know that God has had a hand in getting us here and know that He will be with us the whole way.

An Unexpected Party!

1 Week 1 Day

Yesterday, I was a little worried that I’d get bored today… Boy was I wrong!
The guys had their meetings today with 2 people who have wonderful business plans. The first girl already had her plan written up. She wants to start up a catering business/restaurant. She has already built the building for it and knows exactly what she still needs to get it all up and going. The other guy already owns a brick making factory, but he has run out of money to make the bricks. He also would like to start a transportation business, but he needs to buy a car first.

So already it seems like there is way more money needed than even close to available. It seems that business ideas here require a lot more money than Spencer and Joey have (so far at least). These people really have little or no opportunity to get loans from anywhere. There are banks and loans available in Accra, but it’s 3 hours away on public transportation, and a lot of the companies require weekly payments for first-time borrowers, and they have no way other than traveling to the city to make the payment – which is not very feasible – even if they have a great plan and the ability to pay it back. But I think that Spencer and Joey will really be able to find some great people to help!

Anyway – while the guys were having their meetings, the house was crazy busy with food preparation for our visitors this evening. Stephen Jr., Peggy (another Abu daughter), her husband, Alex, their 2 kids, a girl from Canada and the 2 USU students who are in Accra, Lindsie and Josh, came to visit! We made Fufu (pounded casaba and plantain dough), eggplant soup with dried fish, peanut butter soup with chicken, rice balls and jollof (spanish looking rice - My Favorite!)

All of the food on the table - it was a lot!

So when everyone arrived and we had all eaten, we attended the biggest party I’ve ever been to.

A FUNERAL!

Who would have guessed that one!? It was so cool! It was like a massive community event. EVERYONE came. It went from 1 to 6:30pm today. There were actually 4 people who they were commemorating at the event, which was held at the community square for celebrations and funerals. They just had pictures of each of the deceased persons and the family sitting behind the pictures with a box for donations to the family. Everyone is dressed in black and red.

And that’s about where the mourning stopped

As you drive up all you can here is this POUNDING DANCE MUSIC, and all you see is the crowds of people jamming to the music. The kids are running around and laughing and it really is just like a big party. Every once in a while there is a sort of shout out and they call certain people out to come dance. It’s awesome! They even gave all the “obronis” with “Master Appiahne” (Stephen Sr.) a shout out to come and dance. It was so much fun! When we went out there and actually started dancing the people all started clapping and shouting for us. They were so surprised that we could dance. We kept hearing, “you dance so well!”



Spencer and I made the mistake of walking out to the middle separately, so girls completely surrounded him. Especially one girl, Charity, definitely chose him as her favorite. Even after she found out that I was his wife she still clung to him and kept telling me that he was HER friend. I just couldn’t stop laughing. Mostly because Spencer’s face was unforgettable. The poor kid looked so uncomfortable I almost didn’t want to go save him. I just wish I could have gotten a picture of it! At least I have a picture of him with the girl somewhat close. She's the one who's a little hidden on his left.


Anyway, if you’re looking for a party here in Ghana, just ask for the closest funeral, you’ll never forget it!

A WHOLE WEEK!

We’re Officially Off the Ground!

1 Week in Abomoso

After 1 full week, here’s what we finally accomplished today:

We got our first REAL batch of groceries.

We walked down to see the river for the first time.

I attended the large market day (held on Tuesdays and Fridays).

Emily and I taught a class without a translator (quite the feat – they understood the writing of the “B”s and the singing, but we’re not so sure they understood much else.) (Oh, and who would have thought they would have no idea what baseball is? I guess that’s what you get when you have no TV and don’t live anywhere near the US)


Singing the “B” song with the kids

And finally, Spencer and Joey started their first business classes! They had their first introductory class today. At first they planned on starting this coming up Tuesday and announced that in church, but then decided to do the introductory class tonight. Trying to spread the word AFTER church proved to be a little hard – but even with the inability to inform everyone of the change, they still had 34 people show up tonight. It was incredible! We imagine that even more will definitely show up Tuesday.


This was at the beginning before more people showed up.

The first class really seemed to go well. The people who have come so far seem really driven to improve their way of life. The guys even have 2 consulting appointments tomorrow to go over some business ideas with a couple people from the class tonight. They are working so hard, and I really think these business classes are going to be good for the people here, and I have no doubt that through the classes, the guys will find some great people who will be able to receive the available loans and pay them back. It’s going to be great!

Our first day of school!

Abomoso Day 7

Emily and I started teaching school today! We only have 2 classes right now – but starting Monday we will be teaching 2 more classes at another school.

The school we started at today is called Presby, which is a Presbyterian school. The funny thing about that, is the principal is the branch Elders Quorum president – so he got us the hook-ups there teaching 1st graders. They are actually very smart kids – their speaks to them mostly in English already and they understand her! The problem with us though, is that we don’t have African accents, so a lot of what we say doesn’t make sense to them and has to be translated. The two teachers we’re working with are really great though and with the principal, they were a great help today.

It was really funny trying to get all the kids to warm up to us. When we first asked them to participate it was kind of like pulling teeth getting them to say anything to us. It was like they were scared of us “obronis” teaching. It wasn’t until we started singing and making them move around that they warmed up and stopped worrying about embarrassing themselves.

Luckily for us, the guys came along to observe us because when we came here, we were only planning on working in one of the World Joy schools that actually has a little electricity and a DVD player where we can play a CD. But the Presby school doesn’t have ANY electricity and definitely not any CD players or computers, so we needed to rig something up. The speakers we brought this morning (which we thought would solve the problem) were not even close to loud enough, so luckily, Joey was willing to run to for the computer, which made things SO much better. That’s when we were finally able to get the class working with us.

Anyway, they were so much fun! We’re excited to finally have something to do here, and especially excited to get the other 2 classes (which are going to be kindergarteners) going.

We only have a couple pictures for now of one of the classrooms and us teaching, but I definitely plan on getting some fun pictures of the kids dancing around. They’re great!

Gloria's Baptism!

Abomoso Day 6

Gloria, who is living in the Abu’s house with us got baptized today! Her fiancé, from her home town of Tema, is the member who introduced her to the church. Then a month ago, when Gloria came to stay with the Abu family here in Abomoso she started meeting with the missionaries. So imagine our surprise and joy when we meet her our first day and we are told about the upcoming event.

It was a nice, cool day because of the freak rainstorm that hit this morning (which Emily and I had to walk home in)

SIDE STORY: It was crazy!!! Emily and I went to observe two of the classrooms we’ll be teaching in, and not two minutes after we walked in the class it suddenly got REALLY dark (there is no electricity in the classrooms, so they rely on the sun from the window holes and doors) and the wind flew through the classroom dismantling the teacher’s desk as she ran to close one door and the kids all ran to close the other. Then suddenly the rain dropped. It was like a waterfall dropping out of the sky. You couldn’t hear a word the teacher was saying because of the tin roof, so basically the teacher, kids and us just sat there, waiting patiently for it to stop so something could get done.
Then Emily and I decided to walk home, because we didn’t know how long the rain would last, and we’d already set up our class times, so observing the class during a rainstorm was doing no good. We were a mess when we got home! I had forgotten to change from my flip flops to Chacos before we left, so I was flipping mud all up my leg (because all the inner village roads are more like dirt walkways that could probably wash away at anytime) and we were just getting soaked. Here’s our picture to prove it!







Anyway, back to the baptism – it was so wonderful! She was so happy and smiley all night, and I am just so excited that we got to be a part of it! Her fiancé baptized her, and Spencer was asked by the missionaries to be one of the witnesses. It took a few tries for George, her fiancé, to remember to get her hands under the water too, but when it finally went right everyone was so excited.

There were so many people there to support her, and it was really great to see how excited all the branch members were to be there for her. The people here are so great, and there is so much that we will be able to learn from them. We are learning from them every day, and I am continually more and more excited that we have 2 ½ months to get to know them all better.

Here is a picture of all 4 of the great people we live with here in Abomoso.
Left to right: Sister Margaret Abu, Gloria (just after she was baptized), Brother Stephen Abu Senior, and Nana.

We love them all and are lucky we get to spend so much time with them!

A Day on the Farm

Abomoso Day 5

Life on the farm begins around 6am. The roosters are crowing, the men are up to head to the fields, and the women are up to make breakfast and begin their household chores. The kids go to school from 7:30 until 3.

After the men and children leave, the women usually take a trip to the market to get some daily goods and spend basically the rest of the day making food. A Ghanaian meal literally takes hours to make, so when they’re preparing for lunch AND dinner, it takes a good chunk of the day to accomplish. (Their meals don’t even consist of three or four courses, they have one main item that they make, like spaghetti, rice, yams, plantains or fufu and then have a sauce or soup to go with it – on a good day there will be chicken too.)

The casaba and plantains need to be peeled; any sauces need to be puréed, which they do by hand. Spices need to be grated, because all the spices they use, ginger, peppers and whatever else are ALL grown here, so you just buy the plant and prepare it yourself. Then, all soups or veggies are boiled outside on a charcoal bowl, with a charcoal pot set on top of the hot coals. You have to fan the coals with a plantain leaf fan to keep it hot enough. It all seems rather tedious work to one us lazy Americans – but they do it every day. It’s amazing! It’s good for us to learn how to live more simply.

Anyway - The men come home sometime after 4pmp and dinner is served between 5 and six. After that, it’s social hour! Visitors come knocking, friends come to chat, and until it’s dark everyone stays outside and enjoys the cooling of the day. It doesn’t take long though after dark to empty this place out, and even though there are still tons of people at the village market still, the Abu home goes to bed not long after 9. This leaves the four of us Americans burning the “midnight” (or 10 o’clock) oil, and by 11pm even we are asleep.

Now, this schedule is not really “our” schedule here – Emily and I are working on setting up our English classes at one of the local schools – we’ve spent quite a bit of time exploring – and Spencer and Joey have been very busy putting together their business classes curriculum together, and setting up their plans to take this village by storm with the micro-loans. So the consensus so far: Abomoso is a pretty great place! Here are some pictures of the farm!


Right off the tree coconut! It was wonderful!



The baby puppies when they were only 3 days old



I told you the goats could do the Irish jig :)



Loved this little chick following it's mother around.



Even the pineapples are babies right now