Happy New Year from six hours ahead. The past few
days have been filled with activities to keep the girls entertained.
On Monday, we went on our out of town excursion to
Kakum, Han’s Cottage, and the Ostrich Far. Our day started off bright and early
by cramming 27 people into a tro-tro and driving the 1 ½ hour to Cape Coast on
Ghana’s wonderfully paved roads (haha that’s funny). Kakum is one of, I think,
5 suspended rope bridges in the world. It hangs 200 feet from the ground and
winds through the top level of the Kakum Rainforest. The girls went last year,
but were all terrified. They went through this year with much more ease. Their
favorite thing to do was stand in the middle and yell “I’m not afraid any
more!” which is their favorite line from Home Alone. Lawrencia was my buddy all
the way through, even though she made me walk at the pace of a snail. I was so
proud of the girls for all finishing the bridges. After that, we packed our
wonderful smelling selves (haha funny again) back into the tro-tro to our next
destination. We arrived at Han’s Cottage, which some of you may know as the
crocodile restaurant, to eat lunch. While waiting for them to bring out our
food, an employee took us all around the compound in search of crocodiles. I
had been to the restaurant and I think the most I have seen is the swish of a
crocodile’s tail as it dove into the water. However, this time I saw five
crocodiles and the woman let each of us pet one. The girls were terrified, yet
so amazed at the same time. After eating we still had one more stop to make,
the Ostrich Farm. It was only five minutes away, but was one of the scarier
drives I have taken in Ghana- up and down dirt roads not really big enough for
our car, what felt like completely vertical hills, and turns with pot holes and
drop offs. There were about six ostriches that were in a “gated area” and a man
there to tell us all about the birds. We were able to feed the ostriches and
the girls got some bright ideas from the boys there to try to put their hands
in the ostriches’ mouths. They quickly learned that it was not their best plan.
As we traveled back home we bought some of Ghana’s best pineapple, which is in
Cape Coast for all of you future travelers. When we returned I could not help
but be amazed by all of God’s creation. Seeing the rainforest from bottom to
top and hearing about the medicinal powers of the plants, to seeing an animal
that lives life dragging itself on the ground and then seeing the complete
opposite in an ostrich that stands tall about most other things. It was a great
day to just bask in the glory of the Lord and see the beautiful things He has
made all across the Earth.
And on Tuesday, we rested.
Wednesday was outdoor games day, also known as
Pearl House Olympics. As most of you know, I am not the sportiest person you
will ever meet, but I can dress the part. I had on all of my athletic wear,
hair up, and laces tied. Laura, Dana, Dawuni, and I came up with a long list to
keep the girls busy. Our first game was a sack race, and man can those girls
jump. Laura and I introduced them to the American classic, three-legged race,
and most of them did better racing on three legs than they do walking on two.
We had the nerve-wrecking game of lime and spoon (Americans play with an egg,
but why waste one?). Next up was the limbo! Our winner was a tie between Ruth
and Mbatima. There was no stopping their flexibility. I think my favorite game
of the day was “Filling of the Bottles”. This entailed two girls filling a
bottle with water only using their hands, then running with the uncovered
bottle though an obstacle course, and then dumping the water into a bucket at
the end, returning the bottle to the next team member to run it through again.
The team with the most water at the end of 5 minutes won. The girls would
either finish very fast or have all their water left at the end. No one really
conquered both aspects of the race. Laura and I sat at the buckets, cheering on
the girls, but also hysterically laughing as the last obstacle fell on almost
every girl as they crawled though it. We ended the day will a game of football
(soccer for you Americans). I would tell you who won the Olympic games, but I
am not really sure anyone figured out who it was. But hey, we can play PeeWee
Rules and say everyone is a winner.
I learned that New Years Eve in
Ghana is like Easter in America. In America, we have those who Christmas
service goers and then never step foot in a church until the next Christmas,
here the same can be said on New Years. That is where everyone says goodbye to
the year before and welcomes in a fresh start. Laura, Courtney, and I endured a
5 hour-long church service. There was a teaching time, a sermon, and dancing.
So much dancing. Like a lot of dancing. It was definitely a new perspective for
me though, to start the New Year off surrounded by a church family and singing
praises to my King. Pastor Nana preached his way into 2016 and gave us
spiritual goals to have in the New Year.
New Years Day was fufu day. Fufu is
a mixture of boiled cassava and plantain, mashed together. It takes a long time
to prepare and takes a lot of muscle. We paired it with light soup and our New
Years goat; well the goat didn’t quite make it to the New Year. The thing with
fufu is that after you eat it, you cannot really do anything after. If you
looked around the house you would think that someone tranquilized us all. Girls
were falling down to sleep wherever would catch them. Courtney had the girls
evaluate 2015 and write down what they wanted to do to improve themselves for
2016 and characters they should continue with. I am excited to see how the
girls wish to grow. We have been praying over each girl individually, which brings
me such joy to see each girl committed into God’s hand and have her needs
prayed for.
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