Grandma Judy's Post

Akwaaba

Upon our arrival at Beacon House in Accra, Ghana, we were greeted by many smiles and Akwaaba … welcome. The children love to sing. Two of their favorites are “Joy, joy, joy, Jesus set me singing” and “Jesus loves me deep and wonderful.” They sing in the classroom, on the playground, and any time there is a willing audience.

Rachel has set up a round robin of teaching stations for the midmorning one hour school session with her nine 5-6 year olds. She teaches the hard stuff, I play one of the educational games we brought, and a volunteer does circle time. We love to play with the children after nap time and I enjoy holding and conversing with the babies

The members of the staff are filled with the love of Jesus and set that example in their care of the children. They are also strict disciplinarians and run a tight ship … very necessary particularly since many of the children come from experiences that we can’t even imagine.

We are already using some of the many items provided by the Noisy Can offering and other donations. Every time there is a power outage at night which happens very frequently, we quickly bring the solar/crank lanterns out to several strategic places such as the stair well, dinning room, and baby house. We have begun teaching the lead baby house mothers how to use the little crank washing machine and they are delighted. Yesterday I gave each of the staff members a pair of ‘kitchen’ gloves with their name written on it. One of the women asked if she could have a pair for her village. Besides using the kitchen gloves for any hand washing, we are teaching them to use exam gloves for changing baby diapers. Gloves and frequent handwashing, with soap of course, are new concepts for the women who recently came to Beacon House from the north; new concepts, but very necessary considering how sick some of these children are or have been. Right now they are all looking so much better than when we arrived … praise the Lord.

The past weeks have been filled with many challenges.

• Technology/electricity issues … buy a Ghanaian ‘hi-tech’ surge protector.
• Heat rash … just live with it until it goes away
• Infected heat rash and bug bites … see local doctor and be issued prescription cream for all of 14 Ghana Cedis (about $12)
• Wobbly table for small washing machine … purchase a new table from the ‘market’ for 10 Ghana Cedis
• Communication (with everyone)… listen better, talk more slowly/simply
• Lack of running water for several days at a time … make sure all barrels and buckets are kept full when water is running
• Stomach flu … just stay in bed ‘til it goes away and hope no one else gets it

I found our Ghanaian ‘market’ experience exciting, but here is what Granddaughter Rachel has to say: There was no escape from it. Stalls, goods, furniture, umbrellas, food, and people were so tightly packed in that you could not stand still for 5 seconds without being in someone’s way. Grandma Judy was almost run over by a huge wooden cart at one point—one of the women who came with us had to pull her out of the way. A little scary, no? And talk about having people notice you! We stood out like brightly colored warts. It seemed like someone was always calling out “Tsssss! Obruni! You buy?” A very cultural experience, to say the least. Add to that heat, dust, mud, sewage, flies by the hundreds, a headache, baskets of shriveled fish carcasses, a rat in the gutter, and exhaustion, and you can probably imagine how ready I am to go back to the Madina market.

In the second half of our stay in Ghana, we will be making a trip up north to deliver medicines and supplies to Mama Laddie’s Foster Home and Nurse Bertilda’s Presbyterian Clinic. While there we will learn more about the Ghanaian culture, visit Granddaughter Lydia’s grandmother, enjoy some very dusty, bumpy roads, and visit Bright’s family in Kumasi. It will be grand!!

Hope all is well in the Pacific Northwest,

Rachel and Grandma Judy