The boys!

Rick and Dean are proudly decked out in Ghana wear(smocks and shirts) - complete with caps! They are enjoying the spotlight with Jacob.

Ghana night in Tamale

Some photos of the amazing cultural group that entertained us tonight. Still pictures don't do them justice - they were wonderful. They even persuaded Dean and Rick and Dacia to have a turn with them dancing. We have it all on video!!!

Debbie, Carmen, Carol and Dacia sporting new dresses for Ghana night. With us are two wonderful headmistresses from the basic administration class.

Co-Tutor night

We hosted our Ghanaian co-tutors at the Gariba Lodgy for a very nice dinner on Thursday night. We also presented them with gifts, mostly Canadiana stuff. They were delighted with the things.

Basic Administration Class

Here are the administrators with Debbie, Carmen and Ghanaian co-tutor Prince Osei Nkrumah. The class is doing a role play on "team building".

Tamale Birthday Cake

Our driver, Francis, somehow found a birthday cake for us to have on my birthday. He was very proud of himself. The cake underwent a mishap as it changed hands but it turned out just fine! A nice spice cake with a thick icing (as Rick said - if icing was made of cement it would be like this!) We had lots of laughs over the birthday cake story. Ask us about it when we get home.

Hockey Night in Tamale

Dean drops the "puck" and the play begins! Within 1 minute, it sounded like a hockey rink back home. They got into the game immediately and were so excited when they scored a goal. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Class

The "basic administration" class is hard at work. Check out the beautiful, colourful clothing.

At the marketplace in Tamale

We went to the marketplace after class today. Here is Dacia getting fitted for a couple of outfits. Zach comes highly recommended by the regional secretary's wife. He seems very nice and is assuring us that all will be ready by Friday. They sure work fast here and with machines that either have hand cranks or pedals. There are seamstresses or tailors by the thousands here. Everyone has their clothes made. The fabrics are colourful, mostly cotton. They look so cheerful. Not sure how they'll fit in in Canada, though!

Class

My classroom is a very nice seminar room and the SSS(Senior Secondary School) class is going well.

Oware

One of our waiters, Eric, took some time to show us how to play the version of Oware that they play in this part of Ghana. It's an easy game to start playing, but it's full of strategy as you get into it. We'll be playing it all week now!

After school "debriefing"

It's Star time!

Gariba Lodge

Our new digs. It feels like a resort here. Very nice.

The new location in Tamale

We will now be working at the training college in Tamale. It has a very large campus. This section is where the administration classes are being held.

Huts

Most people in this country seem to live in villages where most of the dwellings are mud huts with thatched roofing or sometimes tin is used for the roof. The huts are sometimes arranged in a sort of compound, with 3 or 4 small huts in a circle, surrounded by a wall. This is a family unit, with the man and his wives, each in her own house. Imagine our raised eyebrows when we asked if the extra buildings were cooking huts and we were told what they were.

Elephants at Mole

Mole Game Reserve

Rick and Julia with some big African boys!

Dacia

Dacia is surrounded by students from the nearby elementary school. They love her "high fives"

Ghana night

The director of the training college,Prisca,is showing her dancing abilities.

We are sporting our new African dresses made by seamstress Ubeada in one day! We were a huge hit at Ghana night.

Charcoal sellers

Charcoal is made by burning large trees,sometimes for a couple of days. Then the wood is broken up into briquets, and sold by the pan, or bag. These ladies arrived at the motel every morning to sell charcoal for cooking. These pans would cost about 5000 cedis each ( about 50 cents).

Meals in Wa

We ate breakfast and supper in the gazebo at the Uplands Motel in Wa. Lunch was at the college.

School

Here are some pictures of the training college we taught at in Wa. Notice the animals that kept us company both inside and out of our classrooms! Rick was heard to say a few choice words about the bleating goat outside his room!

On the Road to Wa

Here are a couple of pictures of our trip to Wa last weekend.

Wa, Upper West Ghana

We arrived safely in Wa on Sunday. Teaching is going well and we are already almost done the first week. The people are very nice and treating us well.

Street vendors

Here is another picture on some of the hundreds of street vendors. They sell everything one could imagine.

Accra Cultural market

We spent some time today at the Accra Cultural market. Artists of all types sell their wares here. Very aggressive selling attempts - I heard "Sister, come this way" many, many times. They see white people and they know we're coming with money so they work hard for our business. Very difficult for polite Canadians!

Accra Cultural market

This an artist named "Black Rasta" at the market. I am buying some of his necklaces for the girls.

Heifer Project

Near our hotel is the Heifer Project. This is s project that gives seed money to women to start their own businesses to become self sufficient. One of their fundraisers is to make and sell honey. Yes, we have bought some to bring home!

New construction

Most constuction here is done with a couple of types of cement blocks. The building is then plastered and painted. Here is one in progress. This can take a long time as people do a little when they can afford it.

During a stroll on Friday morning, Rick, Dean and I found a lovely nursery for people to buy their indoor and outdoor plants.

Elmina Castle

Here is a picture of Elmina Castle, built by the Portuguese over 500 years ago to hold slaves.

Elmina

We continued on our trip and ended up at Elmina Castle - a place built by the Portuguese to hold slaves until they could be shipped out. We had a very good tour by a young tour guide named Phillip. It's unbelieveable to see the conditions that people had to survive. Very humbling. This picture is taken from the top of the castle. This is a fishing village.

Here is Rick on the canopy walk. And yes, I did it too!

We went to a beautiful national park in the rainforest where we had the amazing experience of doing a "canopy walk". About 40 metres above the ground is a series of suspended bridges that take you over the canopy of the rainforest. It's incredible. Here is Julia and Carol is in the background (singing to distract herself).

We stopped at a crocodile park on the way to the national park to have lunch. This is one of the women who fed one of the crocs for us. Our Ghanian friends called her "crocodilly woman"!!

Here are a few pictures from our first couple of days in Africa. Although the extreme poverty is evident, there is also evidence of affluence. We are staying in a very nice hotel, Hotel Micklin and you can see the lovely home nearby. Tuesday was our first work day with the Ghana co-tutors and we enjoyed lunch with them as well at the GNAT building in Accra. We'll finish up with the planning tomorrow. You can see just a couple of the street vendors who sell their wares to motorists who are stopped at red lights or heavy traffic. You can buy anything from toilet paper to banana chips to toys. We have seen hundreds on our drives from the hotel to the GNAT building.