Trip to Ghana- Lasting Impressions. . .

Here are a few of the lasting impressions that we will always have from our visit to Northern Ghana :

The People: very gentle and friendly, the strong distinctive facial features, the perfect posture and lean stature of both men and women and beautiful colorful clothes of the women. Most of the people were so lean that many looked like professional athletes, just from the nature of working hard to provide "daily bread" for their families. . Joel said at supper one night, "I was riding my bike one day and thought I was in good shape until I saw a woman walking uphill, with a baby tied to her back and balancing a door on her head.". . . incredible.

We saw everything being carried on a person's head. . .from huge loads of wet laundry, to dozens of neatly stacked eggs!. . The Ghanaian's posture is perfect and their ab muscles are incredibly strong. . I wished I had used this technique when we lived on the farm!

The transportation: I think we saw it all. . . trucks, cars, buses, horses, motorcycles, donkey carts, bicycles, and walking. . .

The Landscape: relatively flat, open, very similar to West Texas and the beginnings of the Texas hill country. Huge Mahogany trees, some over 100 years old. Fields being cleared, plowed and planted, mostly by hand. The rainy season was just starting, so all the families were busy with farm work as this is the growing season. We saw large groups of people in the fields, usually family groups working together.

Here is a group of donkeys roaming the fields outside the Clinic Compound. . Donkey carts are a main source of transportation for carrying water and moving heavy loads.

The Worship-- We went to church on Sunday at Second Baptist in Nalerigu. . .it was a treat to see service done in native tribal language and singing. . .

The fragile balance of life. . . I was most concerned about the fragile balance of life that I observed. . yes, life is simple there. . many people live providing meals one day at a time on camp fires in simple huts, but having grown up on a farm, I know how venerable they are to the weather. . a drought would be totally devastating. . .But I have to trust that God is aware of this also. . and as it says in the book of Isaiah, his ways and thoughts are higher than our ways and thoughts. . .

It was a wonderful trip for the girls and I. . . .and it was so good to see the Dickens family. . please pray for them daily!