This is the road to Dzakpo Village, there are some blacktop roads around but they do not go to many of the villages that we work in.
These trees are Teak trees they are about 10 years old, when they are 17 to 20 years old they will be sold for 100 Cedis (Ghanaian Money) each. I am not sure but it looks like there are about 100 of them on this particular farm.

Here is Taylor, she is holding a large leaf of some kind, I think they come from the Plantain tree which is like a banana tree. Plantains are not as sweet and usually not eaten like a banana but are cooked into a dish. We had plantain and beans the other night. It was quite good, the plantain has the consistency similar to that of a potato. Taylor thinks it is from the Teak tree, she is probably right.

This is a daily scene here, kids in school uniforms walking home from school.

Tuesday was Market Day and on Market day the market is full of vendors selling there wares. It is like going to the flea market only the aisles are very close and there are so many people buying and selling that you can barely walk. Not to mention that the market is a Labyrinth of old wooden shops. I have not had the full market experience yet, we went late in the evening after many had left. It was still quite busy, Market day is once a week and the people from all of the villages come into Ho to either sell there wares or buy what they need for the coming week.

This is a typical row of Cloth sellers, we bought material from one of these booths for a dress for Taylor.

So far I have fixed all of the broken things in the home where we are staying, I have helped put a roof on a home in Kodzobi today. Have looked at the Bible School and will be ordering material this weekend so that we can start the project next week. Tomorrow I am going to Helekpe Village to install electrical conduits in the slab of a 2 bedroom addition of another missionary home. It would be nice if my tools would get here soon, I think they are supposed to be coming tomorrow, it is hard to get a straight answer sometimes. Thanks for you continued prayer support.

Gary Phillips

An Exciting Find!

This is the view we had this morning when we got up extra early to go to Helekpe Village. The sky here is always filled with dust from the Sahara Desert this time of year, they call it Harmattan (not sure about the spelling). I am not sure if it is extra heavy today or if there is fog or even if it is just left over smoke from all of the fires last night. I loved this view so I photographed it, the giant termite mound just adds to the beauty of this image.
We went to Helekpe to see this, a Giant Pangolin or a Long Tailed Pangolin not sure which it is or if they are one in the same but when I looked it up online I found both names for the animal. They are very rare animals and all of the Ghanaian people that we ask about it say they have never ever seen one. Some men from the village of Helekpe were hunting in the bush and found this one. They caught it and brought it back so they could try to sell it. They were supposed to have a buyer and we had to be there before 9:00 a.m. to see it. We got up and left at 6:30 just to see this rare creature, it was quite cool to say the least. This is definitely Africa!



I have never even seen one of these guys in a Zoo!

This is 2 of 2 posts for today.

Gary

First Sunday in Ghana

Today we headed to church in the village of Dzakpo (pronounced Jahkpo), Marnie was driving until we got to this bridge. She didn't want to drive across it, so I got out and looked it over and decided that it might hold the car but that the people should walk across. Then I got to drive it over.
It is constructed of 3 long wood poles running across with some wood 2'X12" boards laying across them. Then as you can see they have 2"X12"x10' planks running length ways of the bridge. On the drivers side of the bridge, the lower 2x12's have broken through and are not really resting on the poles anymore many have broken. This has put all the stress on the top 2x12's and they are breaking as well.


I was a little bit nervous but as you can see we made it across, on the way back I took a vote and everyone decided we should all stay in the car and take our chances. Once again the bridge held us without falling in, all 11 of us.
The above picture is Ransom Baptist Church in Dzakpo Village, where Chad spoke about loving one another as Christ would love others.
Above is Marnie, Kelly, Taylor and the kids with a few kids from the village. Below, Chad and Ema (a village elder) translating for the congregation.
After the service I went back out to see the kids and there were a lot more village kids in the kids class now.
Kelly is greeting a lady in Ewe and everyone is laughing at her being coached by Marnie. The locals love to here the Yahvoo's (white people) try to speak Ewe.
This young man posed so nice I couldn't help but take his picture.
After the service we were invited into the village to visit Ema's family while they prepared for his Uncle's funeral.
I loved the weathered look of the buildings and this blue one stood out amongst the many unpainted huts, the dog was just an added bonus to the picture.

This is 1 of 2 posts for today,


Gary

First attempt at photos from Africa

So this is the Butler's house in Ho, Ghana this is where we are living for the next 2 or 3 months.
Today we took a trip into see the market, it was not market day so most of the shops were closed. It is actually good if it were market day there would have been too many people for me to get these pictures.
The men and women (mostly women) really do carry many things on there heads. Our first day here I saw a man carrying two 50 gallon drums on his head.
Two very beautiful kids in the market who wanted to see themselves on the camera.
I loved this box full of watches look at what it reads!
Here is a view of Ho from outside the market.
Here is a photo of our neighbors front yard tonight, we could here the fire so I ran out and took some photos.
Morgan rescued this toad from the burning yard.
This is the man who's yard was burning it was fun to take photos of him and his family and let them see themselves on the camera. They were quite amused.
Hope you enjoy the photos, will try to get more up soon.

Gary

We are here!

I know it has been a few days since my last post, sorry but the travel to Ghana was tiresome and when I got here we didn't have Internet right away. At least not good enough to get on and make a post. I have not really had much time to take any pictures yet, took a few on the road to Ho but have not looked at them. Will hopefully still have Internet tonight and have some photos to post at that time. Everyone is doing fine, the girls are having fun with their friends here and Kelly is only a little bit homesick. I am loving it here, even the heat isn't bothering me yet. Kelly is sad that we are missing the snow, I am rejoicing. Wish I could send some of this heat your way to help you get rid of that nasty white stuff. I was just informed that I am "tall blue", any time that I drink I am to use the tall blue cup. It is official because it is posted on Marnie"s kitchen wall! I think when know one is looking I am going to switch up the list to keep everyone on their toes. LOL! We almost couldn't get eggs today for breakfast as no one would sell the Wavoo (pronounced Yaavoo) any eggs. So chad had to send his Ghanaian guard to the get some eggs for us. Got to go eat some breakfast will try to get another post later today with some pictures.

Gary

Day 5 London

Today we went to Windsor to see the changing of the guard. Morgan wanted to see the guys with the big hats if at all possible while we were here. The changing of the guard is now only done for show but it is really neat to watch. Show or not the guns that they are carrying are quite real. We then walked around the city of Windsor a bit and tried to see the Castle, it was not easy to see from the ground. After Windsor we went back to the Shepherds for dinner we had Indian food it was delicious. After dinner we took a drive into the city to see it at night. It is quite a beautiful city during the day but the lights at night give the city an all new look. I will not be able to post for day 6 as I am a day behind and we are about to leave for the airport so I will have to get caught up in Ghana. Will try to get some more pictures up then as well.

Gary

Day 4 London

Today we had an opportunity to go into London and see a bit of the city. We don't have much money so our entertainment had to be cheap. We walked to the train station and took a train ride into the city and a ride on a double decker bus made the trip fun for the girls. We went to the British Museum as the museums in London are free. Taylor wanted to see a mummy and they had a bunch of them. It was really quite interesting to see. After seeing the Mummies we headed for the Africa display where we were determined to find as many items as we could that were from Ghana or Togo. We found a few from Ghana but none from Togo. Many of the Ghanaian items were not on display which was a bit disappointing. So from Africa we decided to head to North America, not sure what we were expecting there but were a bit disappointed at how small the display was. Left there and the gang was getting a bit tired so we were on our way out when we saw a display of pills. It took me a bit to figure it out but it was a neat display once you understood it. It showed how many pills the average person will take during the span of their life, approximately 14,000 pills. While we were looking at this display I noticed a large camera in a glass display box, of course it was a Canon camera. So of course I had to get a photo of it, while I was reading to see what it was about I noticed that there were many things in the cabinet with it that were from Ghana. As I began reading I figured out that everything in this case was from somewhere in Ghana, all of the things that had been missing in their regular display area was in this cabinet. It turns out that the large camera is actually a coffin. That's right a coffin, it was made by two Ghanaian brothers for some poor soul to be buried in. Their grandmother who always wanted to take a ride in an airplane died before getting her wish, so the brothers made her a coffin shaped like an airplane and carried her to her grave sight in it. As a result other people commissioned them to create a unique coffin for them. Probably my favorite thing in the museum was seeing this display, I think I will look them up while there and see how much a camera coffin will cost. After the museum we went to Covent Gardens an area where there are street performers and people selling there wares. While we were there we decided to watch this Brit as he performed for those he could get to stop and watch. While waiting to see what he would do I was called from the audience to help him onto a 15 foot tall unicycle. It was quite humorous and quite surprising when the guy kissed me on the nose and said that Americans were hot blooded. All in good fun though and nobody was hurt. I hope you enjoy the photos as well as the story, more to come later.


Gary