Day 5 and 6

Friday night was our cultural night. We went to the Sunset Hotel, had a great dinner outside and learned about some of the cultural traditions in Ghana. The presenter took us through the pivotal moments in the cycle of life, from birth, puberty, marriage and death. In birth the child does not leave the home for the 1st week and does not have a name. After the first week a female in the family names the child and then the child is taken outside into the light. After we learned of the traditions of puberty and marriage a choral group sang and danced for us. Then they invited us all to dance with them as well.

On Saturday Day 5 we went to the Build site for our last day of building. We were all really tired by this point in our build but everyone was still enthusiastic about getting things completed. As I told you once before we were 1 full day ahead of schedule. The roof frames on the 3rd house are up and roofing has begun. The 1st and 2nd house are nearly completed. The 1st house has now got doors, the 2nd house has been completely rendered/plastered and floors can now be completed. It was a significant symbol having the 1st door attached that we are all very proud of. The completion of any house is putting up the doors and finishing touches to the walls.

We worked a half day today as we had some shopping to do for the orphanage. Because of the conditions of the orphanage we were compelled to do something to help them as much as we could with a limited amount of time and resources that would be impactful in some way. We formed two groups. One group that would head out into the city to purchase cleaning supplies, and get quotes on 100 mattresses.

The other group along with some of the community members, (where we were building) to help clean the living quarters. Nestlé Ghana will also donate some food items. A special thank you to Maria and her excellent bartering skills that got the whole team fans. Regina has already broken hers from vigorously fanning not only herself but Douglas as well on our treasure hunt for cleaning supplies. As many of the places we visit do not have air conditioning. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

The pictures to the left are only small indications of what the children's living conditions are like. All of our heads are working overtime trying to figure out what we can do once we get home to help this orphanage. If you have any ideas contact any of the Project Africa Team members that you know or leave a comment on this blog.

Despite the living conditions children are the most resillient beings on this earth as they still find joy in the simplest of things. They were all smiles during both of our visits. Look at the joy in the child's face who received one of the gifts we presented from Jade, (Regina's six year old daughter).

Today is Sunday and some members of the team went to the community's Church. In Ghana Sunday is a rest day and practically everyone attends. It was a methodist service, special guests sitting next to the pastor. There was lots of singing and dancing where the team was asked to join. Jordan was instantly uncomfortable when the church asked the members to dance. The day before there was a little boy at the site who was freightened by Jamie. Jamie is a big guy and some of the children have not seen white folks before and have been known to think of them as Ghosts. Coincidently, this same little boy was at church. Before the end of service the Lord must have told the little boy that Jamie was not really a monster and he danced for Jamie.

The sermon was a lesson in how to live your life and lift God up. The team members and HFH received recognition by the pastor. Ken Bentley then thanked the members of the church and community for their graciousness and the wonderful experiences we've had while here. Betty from HFH then translated everything to the church members in the local language Twi.

See all the colorfully dressed church members and the Sunday School kids in session. The experience in Africa has been one that we all will remember for life! Later today we will be on our way to a day with the community. We've arranged for a bar-b-que and soccer match. I have a feeling that the artisans are going to take out their frustration for all the mistakes we made in the building on us during the soccer match! So I'll probably be writing to you later about all the scratches and bruises we acquire after the match! One solice is that our excited captain will be Kristen! So we can blame our loss on her! hahahahahaha.