Moving Day!

Not that long ago, I moved to the "women's" hall, which does not only house women. It has some extra space where my mom can stay, and some good amenities. I thought I'd take this opportunity to show you where I actually live. Yep, there's a regular toilet, but there's no hot water. The thing over my bed is a mosquito net, which helps keep me from being woken up in the middle of the night by a buzz in my ear. The third and fourth pictures are both of the women's hall (it has a courtyard in the middle), and the bottom picture is of the seminary chapel.

"The Value is the Same"

I was in Germany right after they adopted the Euro, and now I'm in Ghana right after they re-denominated their currency. It used to take about nine thousand three hundred Cedis to equal the value of a US dollar. Now a new Ghana Cedi is worth a little more than a dollar. The money I'm holding in each of my hands is worth the same amount (both around $100). The signs to educate people make it clear that "the value is the same" (one Ghana Cedi is equal to 10,000 old Cedis). I think people are handling the change pretty well. The woman in the pictures is my supervisor's secretary, Eduwodzi ("eh doo woodgy"), showing off the new tens that came through the office.

The Volta Region

In the Volta Region I found the Ghana I've been looking for. Peki ("Pecky") is a tropical paradise. Mangoes grow all over naturally. Palm trees stand out against mist-shrouded rich green hills. I even found someone to go jogging with me. As we started down the road, I got the usual surprised and excited reactions from people who were not used to seeing people like me. The town looked like some other towns I'd been to here. Then we turned off to a more remote road. I guess I had longed for quiet nature and clean air, because I was in awe of the clean smells and wild looking fields. The sun set and the lights hadn't come on yet, so we ended up running back through the town in the dark. I could only see a few little flames and maybe a battery powered light or two here and there. Then I noticed what looked like a little ember from a cigarette in the grass. It went out as I got close to it. Then I noticed another somewhere else. Fireflies were another thing I hadn't seen in a while. We got back just in time for a thunderstorm to begin. I hope to make it back to Peki and spend a few days there before leaving Ghana. Although many see Ghana as a "poor" country, it's hard to use that adjective in Peki. Perhaps it has a small commercial economy, but how can you call a place poor that God has made so rich? Were Adam and Eve poor because they didn't have iPods?

Romantic Dinner for Six

Mmmm, candle light dinners, candle light showers, candle light everything. Ghana has become the most romantic country in the world as it experiences a power crisis. The country gets most of its power from an enormous dam on the Volta River, which creates the largest man-made lake in the world. The water level has become low, however, so Ghana has turned from a country that exported power to one that must ration it. The whole city of Accra is on a rationing schedule. Some days are "dark" and some nights are really dark (every fourth night). The last picture is me with Sedinam, who is almost two (by the light of an electric lantern). The middle picture is of Nalikem, who is seven. The top picture is of a male model eating.