Easter Monday

Easter Monday is a holiday here so we got our paperwork all together with the letter requested by the Immigration Officer, copies of our return ticket and lots of money and headed into Adum.  This would be our 3^rd trip and already our frustration was showing. 

 

When we arrived and climbed up to the 3^rd floor, Fred asked to see a more senior officer than the ones we had been seeing, so we waited outside on wooden benches with everyone else.  When it was our turn we went into a crowded office with many desks and tables and sat and showed him the letter from the Volunteer program we had to have sent from America.  He said this was not required and we needed a letter from someone in Ghana.  This was directly opposite from what we were told before.  We had sent to America for this letter especially and now were into April so another month’s penalty will have to be paid.  So after many more explanations he crossed off some of our reasons for being in Ghana on our request form and had us write we were there to test the environment for future business.  This was acceptable to us and so we did.  Also the prior officers had said we could only get an extension for 60 days and he gave us 90, for extra money, of course.  So we left having paid our $280.

 

It was now after lunch, in the heat and Fred, who has not been feeling well, is not well enough to drive.   I am hot and hungry and do not like driving down town in the heavy traffic.  We get to the very first traffic light and there is a policeman directing traffic.  He looked over at our car and then walked to us and said our road permit has expired.  I know we have insurance until April 21^st, so we so not know what he I talking about.  Their insurance is not tied to the car license, we found out, and ours had expired March 24^th.  He climbed into the back seat and directed me to the police station.  They have me park and take us in and we sit on a wooded bench and wait.  The policeman had told us that our car would be impounded and we would have to come to court tomorrow.  Fred is very ill by this time and I am frazzled.  I do not have enough money for this because we had to pay so much more than we expected at the Immigration office.  So I sit there and a few tears trickle down my face.    A long time goes by without any paperwork being filled out, just threats of what will happen.  I think that because I do not clue in to what is happening anther policeman comes and asks me if I want to go to court.  When I say No he says for me to tell the officer why I should be dismissed and finally Fred rouses enough to say, What is the fine?  So a $30 bribe later we are dismissed to go to the License office, about 10 km away.  We head straight there.  

 

On our way we are stopped at another intersection and a young policeman spots our expired sticker.  We have had no license for almost a month without anyone noticing and now we get stopped within 15 minutes of leaving the police station.  After our exclamations of how we had just left the police station having paid our fine, he believes us and tells the older officer with him that there is no problem and he waves us on.   We have to ask directions several times on how to get to the license station and when we get there it is 3:04 and they close at 3:00.  You have to pay at the on site bank and the bank closes promptly. We must return in the morning.  Every intersection has policemen directing traffic because it is now the rush hour and I am so tense at each one that I arrive home with a headache, not having any lunch or water for a long time has not helped.    Fred is very tired and he has a nap when we get back home. 

 

The next morning we decided that he has been ill long enough and has taken the medication we brought from Canada and it is time to see a doctor here in Ghana. So after we are finished with the license office we will go to one of the small hospital clinics near by.  Our pastor host has graciously consented to be the one to actually drive the car through the checkpoint because we are sure they will treat him differently than we would be treated.  The car passes with flying colors and we pay our $8 for the fee and $3 for the reflective stickers that are required.  And on to the hospital.

 

After a blood test we now know Fred has malaria.  This is a big shock because we have been faithfully taking our anti-malaria medications.  Apparently you can still get malaria even if you take the drugs but his parasite count was in the hundreds instead of 2 or 3 hundred, so he has a mild case, no fever or headache, just diarrhea and extreme tiredness. 

He has to stay at the hospital for 8 hours for 2 bottles of intravenous drip into his wrist and 2 shots, one for each buttock, and we must come back for 2 more days for a shot per day.  So I arrive home around 2 pm to take back some water and food for Fred because again we haven’t had lunch as well as his reading glasses and book. 

 

The unexpected admittance to the hospital means that I must phone Fred’s appointment and arrange to meet him and give him the payment.  So I have to go to the hotel parking lot where we have agreed to meet.  I waited for about 1 ½ hours for him to arrive.  Here in Ghana it is only approximately an appointment for a specific hour, so I have learned to take my book with me and find somewhere to sit in the shade.  Luckily, you can buy sachets of water at every intersection. 

 

The last 2 days have me harried and Fred napping.  But today he started to get his strength back, although they say it will be a long haul.

 

Sunday, April 5th

 

            Since it has been 2 weeks since the last blog, I won’t try to catch up on everything.  God is faithful and we have been well and without any sickness at all except for some sore muscles from our regular exercise.  It is the power that has been sick.  Apparently there were loose wires left when this house was wired, perhaps in preparation for some wiring in the upstairs that currently (no pun intended) is not in use.  At any rate the electrician that solved our problems said that one of these wires injected an extra 250 Volts into our system and that is what blew out the chargers for our computers and all the lights that were on.

            My charger has not been easy to get parts for and I have had it to charge the computer and then return it to have another part put in and will still have to return it one more time to get a proper case.  It is taped inside a makeshift box at the moment and tomorrow will get a different makeshift box that will allow it to run cooler.  It is running at 15 volts instead of 16, but does the charging job just the same.  Marlayne’s runs cooler but goes out for spells to catch its’ breath.

            Some of this blog will be pasted from emails that have been sent.   We have been to the same church twice now and I like it quite a bit.  The Pastor's English is very understandable to us and the singing is okay, also the announcements are only about 15 minutes.  Announcements can take up a large portion of the service here in Africa.  They include funeral notices, special offerings given by individuals for specific reasons, mail that has come to the church for people who do not have their own mailing address, wedding bans with the future bride and groom standing in the front of the church, and long introductions by those who are visiting the church for the first time telling us where they are from and who in the church they are visiting, as well as long lists of meetings for the week.

            And: “We have had power problems in the town and with our house for over 3 weeks now.  We thought is was just the usual problems with the city power coming and going and being very up and down as well.  A power surge burned out both our computer charging units.  The computers were fine but the little black boxes were toast. So we found a man who could maybe repair them and we used Fred's computer as little as possible while we still had some battery power left.  He would start it up just to get mail and then shut it down again.  My computer just has games on it and doesn't have email so it was not as important and I just stopped using it.  We sent out a message saying we were conserving computer time but I don't think that message got to you.  And of course, Fred was not wasting any of our precious power on something that wasn't urgent so we didn't update his Blog.  

 

And then one night we were the only house that had no lights.  The electrician came the next day and spent hours going over things.  The wiring here in Ghana is BAD at the best of times and this house had open live wires just hanging and in the wind something must have been intermittently touching.  First the power was like a brown out and would go up and down and then it stopped altogether.  So we went to bed in the dark and then in the middle of the night we woke to all the bulbs in the house sparking and hissing.  Apparently the live wires touched again to make double the power and it burnt out all the bulbs.  We didn't have anything plugged in at the time (basically everything was still out for repair) but the pastor lost his cell charger again and this time the TV was toast, but the old fridge that has the freezer broken and Fred cannot fix the light and the shelves are missing from the door - this old fridge didn't die.  It is still out there as ugly as ever.  One thing you'd almost wish to break and it is just fine:)

 

So at this point, Fred's charger is somewhat fixed.  It is taped together because the tidy plastic cover had to be cut off and new insides put in that are just temporary.  It over heats and then has to be unplugged to let it cool off.  But his computer can at least be charged and then used.  The repair man couldn't find anything wrong with mine but it just quits every now and then and  cannot leave it plugged in either.  So I plug it in until the unit stops and then wait for a while and try again.  Not perfect but definitely better than nothing.”

            We have not renewed our visas yet.  I am still refusing to pay the penalty for overstaying and don’t know where that will lead.  Neither have we re-scheduled our return flights.  Our contract for lumber was FOB Takoradi by April 2^nd.  The supplier assured me it would be ready ahead of time in March.  The logs are still coming to the mill and have not been cut into lumber yet.  It is hard to know how much more time we will need.

              

My exhaust system that was poorly repaired started to come down again on the bad road from Obuasi, so on our way to the ‘net we stopped at the repair where we got the A/C done and they are working on the car right away while we sit in the shade.  The welder was obviously a body builder and had arms like tree trunks, so I challenged him to arm wrestle for the cost of repair.  It was 12 GHC.  I think he was the first Ghanaian to beat me.  Many of the men are in the 50-70 Kg. range.  This last paragraph changes tense because it was current when written in the email and past when added to in the blog.

Every time it rains, cars are unable to make it up the hill by our house.  Rainy season approaches and I am making enquiries into a Toyota Tacoma 4 wd pickup.  It is a gas guzzler by comparison but likely will not leave me where the Carina would give up all hope.

 

 

Sunday, Mar. 22

It is 4 AM and the Pastor is up listening to a preacher on television.  I, too, listened for a while and then decided to write my blog.

            What is a blog??  I believe it is derived from the German: BLOJ—by-line of junk and then in English by-line of gunk.  “ An article published onto the Internet by persons who think their lives are more interesting than everyone else’s, and read by persons with far too much time on their hands”. – Webster’s reader abridged, antiquated, obsolescent, dictionary for young communists, first and only edition—NOT.

            For me it is kind of a personal journal, and a way of keeping everyone up to date without having to write a great many personalized emails.  It is also a bit of a record of things that are kept in chronological order by their appearance in the blog on a certain date.   For example:

Yesterday Elizabeth came and asked for money to go home to her village near Agogo near Konongo on the road to Accra.  Marlayne gave her money and I volunteered to take her there.  We became sort of her personal taxi and she had us make maybe 6 stops (some with direction reversals) and we met some of her family along the way and at Konongo she invited a ‘sister’ to come with us.  It is a bit risky taking ‘locals’ in our car in a country where adequate insurance (by our standards) is not available.  I got double insured and then I have to trust the Lord for the rest.  Secondly, loading the Carina with extra persons lowers the clearance when we are heading onto secondary dirt roads that can reach up and unexpectedly remove your entire exhaust system!  Suddenly your sedate, saloon, sedan sounds like a monster truck at the Agrodome.

            Anyway, we bottomed out only once with no apparent damage and traveled about 92 Km. to her village.  We met family and saw where she lived and received some plantains to take home.  The villagers said it was shorter and a better road to go back through Effiduase and they were right.  Our GPS trip computer showed that we had gone a total of 169 Kms. in a bit over 4 hours and had been stopped for over 2 hours.  I was surprised that our average traveling speed was under 50 Km/hr.  The 4 lane highway to Accra has an 80 Kph. speed limit, but getting out of town is heavy traffic and stop lights.  Then there is a series of roundabouts for which the traffic is narrowed to single lane bottlenecks.  Outside the city limits the villages are very close together and each has its own series of speed bumps.  There are five gentle speed bumps, then a space and five harsh speed bumps and a space and then one or two axle breakers that take everyone down into 1^st gear, and then the reverse going out of the village.  Cruise control would be useless as you are constantly accelerating or decelerating.  Apparently big SUV’s use 25Liters/100 Km. on the highway!  We see so many Toyota Land Cruisers; they are obviously the status symbol of cars here. 

 

Wed. Mar. 18th

 

            Rumblings and grumblings!!

            I talked to the manager at the mill yesterday and they hope to start the cutting soon, and then 3 weeks for the kiln makes it ready for the boat sometime late April.  Well past our ticket return date.  So we will be here longer.  I can renew our visas for 3 months or a year without a problem, but the hard part is that the airline (KLM) will not give us an open ticket and we must determine an exact flight on which to leave.  Of course they want big money for the change, and if we are ready to leave in 6 or 7 weeks then it is again big money for another change.  Two or three changes and we’ve paid for new tickets without ever leaving the ground.  We will try for a flight on July 13^th.  Grumble, grumble, grummle.

            I said earlier that the power was better this year.  Well, (grumble) I spoke too soon.  The violent storm that we had about two weeks ago when the lightning flashes right overhead and power lines were knocked out and even MTN cell service was interrupted seems to have started continued intermittent service.  Now every time we hear the thunder rumble, everyone in our household starts shouting “start the pump, start the pump” because we had run out of water previously and so we pump water from the well into buckets in case of a long outage.  It has been 8 months now since this household has had any water from the Kumasi city water system to which they are connected.  Without fear of frost and with limited budgets, the water lines are very shallow here, generally not deeper than a foot underground.  As a result, in many places the pipes show due to water erosion and even foot and vehicle traffic.  This morning as Marlayne and I walked we came across an exposed water pipe in the middle of a dirt road, and a coupling was exposed that had begun to leak.  No wonder there is not enough pressure to get water up to our house!  grumble

            I have a Toyota CarinaE, but it is hard to know where to go for repairs, so I asked my business friend, Osei, and he recommended his mechanic, Kenneth.  I had Kenneth then change my oil and filter, and it seems he did a fine job.  My catalytic converter was dragging on all the speed bumps (far worse than Surrey) so I asked him to raise the exhaust system, which I could see was attached only at the exhaust manifold at the front and at the back.  He extracted money to buy hangars and repaired the problem, creating the problem of the exhaust pipe rattling against the frame of the vehicle.  Looking under the car the hangars I bought appear to be slices of a tin can welded to the pipe and then to the frame and not sufficiently rigid to stop the rattling.  For another charge, (new problem they said), he lowered the pipe so that the converter drags over the speed bumps.  When I returned the welder said it was too close to closing so he couldn’t help.  Kenneth took it to another roadside pit where he and another tied it up with wire.  Now it vibrates against the frame, but much less than before.  In Ghana, that’s a FIX!  grummle

            Next I got a hole in a coolant hose and had it replaced, but then the temperature gauge failed to work.  Kenneth tried to tell me that it was just not a warm engine yet, but he had traveled several miles.  We traveled the same path back to his area and he then tried to tell me that the needle resting on the ‘C’ was normal and when it came up I needed to check the coolant.  I don’t know if he thinks I am an idiot and was trying to ‘snow’ me or if he just has no clue.  I told him I wanted it fixed and he later called to say the repairman had forgotten to re-connect the wire to the Temperature Sending Unit.  Then, of course, the engine was too hot and I had no time to sit and wait for it to cool and so I still don’t have a temp. Gauge, and cannot seem to find the wire myself to connect when the engine is cold.  Grrrrrrumble.

            So I stopped at the Internet but they had no lights so I went out to get fuel, but the Total fuel station had no power also.  When we returned that way they had power but we forgot we needed fuel until we were past the station.  No matter, we run on the top half of the tank anyway.  Next time we pulled in on a later day, it happened that they had no lights again.  So the third time I could plainly see they had lights and a vehicle was there getting diesel so I pulled up to the pump only to learn that they were out of petrol.  Fortunately I have had no trips out of town and small 4-banger Toyotas get good fuel economy.  Maybe tomorrow.  Now we are running on the bottom half.   Grumble

            In 3 days I have probably visited the Internet 9 times trying to send my emails and blog, but either my ISP is having troubles in Quebec, or the ‘net here is just too slow.  Emails have come in but only one to Megan has gone out.  Seems strange to me how one would go and the rest just sit in the outbox.  I have gotten Meggie’s reply already without another one having been sent.  Only Ghana can turn email into snail mail!  Full of optimism I shall try another café.

            03 Co. (lumber mill) called today to enquire as to whether they should bring logs for cutting the second container.  I reminded him that the samples he was to get after our Feb. 3^rd meeting had not yet been received by myself, much less sent to Canada for approval, so we don’t know what species we want to send in the next container.  He will get the samples next week he says.  Tuesday will be 7 weeks.  In Canada it would be similar to phoning a mill in say, Kamloops, and having them cut samples of two species and send them down to Abbotsford and the whole process would take perhaps 7 hours; and here I cannot count on getting the samples in 7 weeks. Grumble

            It is kind of fun to write about grumblings and rumblings so that y’all will feel sorry for what we have to put up with, but the reality is that we are actually happy and content.  We have lived here long enough to expect that this is just the way things are here and we go with the flow.  Marlayne is having 2 sundresses made here with what I would call bolero jackets just to cover her shoulders.  The seamstress, Beatrice, was taking so long we had to explain that we wanted them for wear in Africa, not Canada.  Then she had ordered too little material for the jackets and now 6 weeks later she still has not the jackets, only the dresses.  But you see, now we are staying another 3 months so she will have LOTS of time to wear them!!

God graciously shows us small miracles just to let us know that we are still walking with Him and we rejoice in His provision and good health.  Marlayne is feeling stronger and my resting heart rate is way down as is my blood pressure which is akin to a teens’.  We are delighted with the family that shelters us, and when we asked if we could stay another 3 months they replied they hoped it would be another 3 years.  Our “babysitting services” allow much greater freedom for Pastor Turkson.  (He gets evenings out!!)  Praise the Lord.

 

Tuesday March 10

Today I jogged to Opoku Ware SS School so I could see Gifty on her first day as a food vendor there, and bless her and pray for her.  I couldn’t find her and managed a 10K jog in trying.  Later she called and said the other ladies had told her I was looking for her, but she was late arriving. 

            The power has been so intermittent since the storm that there has been no need to defrost the fridge whose auto-defrost doesn’t function.  My laptop also runs on battery and then the power comes on long enough to recharge it and then goes out again.  Currently (no pun intended) it is on and I am back to 95% charged up.

            After meeting Ahlassan yesterday, he went to visit his wife in hospital.  This morning I got a phone call that she had just died and left him with 4 children!  I know of no way to comfort a young man in such circumstances.  I have not been able to reach him or his close friends all day.  My timber cutting will be delayed.

            The rattle in the exhaust that was fixed yesterday began to rattle again today and so we were headed to the mechanic area when the car began to act up from overheating.  The mechanic determined that rear engine block coolant hose had sprung a leak, so the family and I left the car for repair (with a deposit to purchase a new hose and sealant), and took a TroTro to Santasi and from there a taxi home.  I expect that Kenneth will bring the car to me when it is repaired, and I shall take him back.

Monday Mar. 9th

Without power Sunday night and therefore without fan or air conditioning I got very little sleep and used the excuse to not jog this morning.  We were going to take the children to Adum this morning but there was a kilometer of backed up traffic and the alternate route was just as bad so we returned home to try again after lunch.  My friend Osei, in Adum said something was ‘down’ so I think a power line was the problem.  There has been lots of evidence that it was a very powerful storm and a huge sudden deluge.  Dirt is washed onto the roadways in many places.

            I met with Emmanuel and his friend Ahlassan who will now be cutting the Essia for us.  We went over specifications together and he will meet our deadline.  He left us to visit his wife in hospital.

            With patience we achieved Adum in the afternoon and were able to purchase ribbon and things the girls wanted and make a stop at the white man’s grocery, Opoku Trading.  Marlayne bought bug spray, corned beef in the can and biscuits while I bought Fanti pineapple, tomatoes and bananas in the parking lot.  On the sidewalk a young girl had a veritable vegetable stand on her head.  We bought lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, cabbage and green onions.  We didn’t need any green peppers.  She was surprised and delighted to get a 20% gratuity.  She earns every penny trudging around the sidewalks in the hot sun with 40 pounds of veggies on her head!

            The power is off and on a bit as further repairs are made to the grid.  Worrisomely the power went out just before bedtime, but gratefully returned after only a few minutes.  I would not have enjoyed another night without fan.

Sunday, Mar. 8

We went to the First Baptist Church at 9:30 with our little entourage of children.  We were amazed at all the white people, but were warmly welcomed and a white lady led us to our SS Class.  Surprisingly, her husband was the teacher.  In fact, all the leaders and teachers and pianist and set-up crew were white.  At only 2.5 years old, and a church plant from a 17,000-member church in Chicago, I guess they have not developed any indigenous leaders yet.  Sunday School and church messages were both basic salvation fare, suitable for new believers and first timers.  Songs were good old hymns from the All American Hymn Book.  It was nice to hear a congregation singing harmony.

            We heard thunder about 6 o’clock and dashed to the kitchen to make dinner before the lights went out.  We returned to our room with our plates and the lights went out.  We had another romantic ‘glow of the laptop’ dinner.  Lightning struck not ½ a second away and the thunder was startling.  I went out to the porch to see a real tropical rainstorm.  The wind was blowing sheets of rain straight sideways.  It was awesome!  The lights are back on.  This year has been much better than last year.

            OOPS, the lights went out and stayed out all night and are still not on at 9 AM.  Oh well!