I wrote this post and Joe filled in some of the details later:
Joe loved his time in Ghana this summer. Ghana is of course very different from Tanzania, the only other place in Africa he's visited, and I think he enjoyed seeing a part of West Africa.
Ghana is one of the most stable and thriving countries in Africa, due, in part, to the fact that it was the first to achieve independence (in 1957) and Joe noticed a difference. Although, there were some things he didn't like as well as Tanzania (the food, for one :).
The room he stayed in was quite nice, in an executive hostel on the university campus (GIMPA- the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration) where he took his class. He took a law class there (Multinational Corporations), through Fordham University. Fordham arranged the study abroad, with law students from two Ghanaian universities, and American students from around the US.
He had class during the week, and on weekends he traveled to the Buduburam refugee camp to help out at an orphanage run by Africa Heartwood Project.
One cool thing about his visit was that it happened to coincide with World Cup soccer. Here is how the lobby of the hostel was decorated for the occasion.
This is later while watching one of the Ghana matches.
GOAL!
Joe was also at the refugee camp for one of the matches and he said it reminded him of the movie
Cool Runnings--groups of people were surrounding every available TV watching the games. (sadly, no photos of that...) We were glad Ghana did so well in the tournament.
He got to visit the Supreme Court of Ghana with the other visiting law students.
Here he is right next to Chief Justice: Her Ladyship, Georgina Theodora Wood (as she is called).
One of the highlights of his trip was visiting the Accra Ghana temple. He said it was the most beautiful temple he has ever been inside. He loved all of the color inside the temple.
He also loved attending church in Ghana. These siblings are some of the first members of the church in all of west Africa. James Ewudzie, in the purple pants and tie, was the fourth person baptized in Ghana and a counselor in the first branch presidency.
He loved the local wildlife as well:
A vulture
A centipede (he said this was about as long as his foot)
These hawks were just enjoying their meal right around people, and the locals didn't seem to notice them. I guess they're like what pigeons are to us...
These are termite mounds...right next to the student dorms...
Crazy, huh? He also saw a live cobra right along the street where he walked to get to the bus station. And there was a scorpion in his room one night.
Here are some cool people sights:
A woman balancing a platter full of mangoes on her head:
If you think that is cool, then check out this woman balancing an entire bra store on her head!
Hahaha - I love that one.
Joe thought this was just cute so he took a picture. This little girl is bending over to tie her teddy bear onto her back, just like the women tie their babies to them.
He also got to visit Cape Coast, including the slave castle, one weekend while he was there. This is James Ewudzie again, and he gave Joe an awesome church history tour.
This spot is actually the site where the very first baptisms into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place in Ghana.
Looking out at the ocean from the Cape Coast slave castle (one of many slave castles in Ghana; Ghana was a major slave trading region)
This is one area where slaves where kept in the castle before their deadly journey on the Middle Passage.
Joe said this was a truly sobering tour. The tour guide said there was about 3 feet of human feces on these floors, with people packed right next to each other. Too many awful things to adequately express in a few sentences... Sadly, and ironically, the Christian chapel was located right above this room.
A plaque at the castle:
He enjoyed the local art and picked him some souvenirs for us.
He didn't buy these, but the artist wanted him to take pictures of some of his work. The artist's name is James, and he is teaching some of the orphan children to paint.
This painting of Joesph Smith happened to be one of the paintings he'd made:
I thought that was pretty cool.
I think the highlight of his trip was definitely working with the children at the orphanage. To learn more about what he did while he was there, you can go to the AHP site
here and see another slide show of pictures.
From Left to Right: Princess, Watta, Bintu, Joe, and Jefferline (the little girl in the red is a neighbor girl).
Bintu is the youngest of the orphan children: Age 7. (and the cute neighbor)
This cute little boy also isn't an orphan.
His name is Gordon (after Gordon B. Hinckley), and he's the son of the one of the volunteers who helps run the place.
Joe with the orphanage staff: (Left to Right: Rufus, Rancy, and Jonathan.)
A classroom in the building with many of the eager students!
The children attend classes at various schools on the refugee camp, but AHP is beginning a vocational training center (VTC) to help them learn basic skills to help support themselves. Joe's job while there was to train the staff and teachers on how the VTC will run.
Victor (right next to Joe), is one of the orphans, and he is training to be an artist. He is 18, and he got a job painting numbers on some Nigerian jerseys right before their first World Cup game.
On Joe's last night at the camp they had a sort of going away celebration. Here, Rebecca, the matron at the orphan home, is presenting Joe with a bracelet so he will always remember them.
At the end of the celebration, the children all sang and clapped as they all hugged and said their final goodbyes. (Pictured: Joe, Glicia, Ranecia, and Eric)
Where's Waldo?
It was hard to be apart for so long while he was gone, but this was a great opportunity I'm glad he was able to have. When our kids are older we're hoping to be able to all go together to meet some of the wonderful friends Joe has made.
Then he started mowing himself:
One morning, we were actually still in bed when the kids woke up and it was such a treat. The kids were so happy to see Daddy and they eventually ended up like this:
...packed around Daddy as tightly as they could manage.
It was adorable.
