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!

 

Sat. Mar. 7

We headed to the car about 6 AM to go to the cities of Dunkwa and Kyekyewere.  The tire that I had inflated yesterday was now flat!  When I bought the car I checked the spare and tools for a case just like this.  There were no tools or jack and the spare was 4-bolt and the Carina E is 5-bolt.  They gave me a jack and tools, which I now used to raise the passenger rear tire, but discovered that the new spare they gave me was also 4-bolt!  I threw both wheels into the ‘boot’ of a taxi and went to the closest vulcanizer. (tire repair)

The tire had very little tread left on it and a bolt through the face, so we peeled the rubber from the wrong spare rim and put it on the Carina rim and since he had no rim for the Carina, we left without a spare.  It was no different than before when I had no spare but thought that I did.

            Wouldn’t you know that when we returned to Kumasi, maybe about 3 Km. out, we picked up a nasty screw-nail in the face of the passenger front tire.  When we discovered the sound we stopped and discovered the nail, and so headed directly for the vulcanizer, but the centrifugal force of the tire rotating threw out the nail and the tire went immediately flat on the main street.  I knew the tire had no tread left and was ruined anyway so I drove 100 meters or so to a safe place to remove it.  My wheel cover had come off and a taxi stopped behind me and having seen where it went, retrieved it for me.  Being at hand he took me to the vulcanizer and I purchased a good used tire.  He will exchange the 4-bolt rim for a Carina rim on Monday, and I will purchase a spare tire to go on it.

            So, all things work together for good to those who love Christ… but we don’t always see how and why at the time you get 2 flats in 1 day.  Rolling on new rubber, we went to find the Baptist Church we planned to attend tomorrow, and determine the start time for the English service.  We pulled in to where Marlayne had seen their bus and the bus was not at the church, but 3 little boys jumped in the back to direct us to the church.  They said left instead of right so we made an extra lap around the roundabout.  It was easy to find and we took them home after we found out the start time.

Friday Mar. 6

Today is Independence Day in Ghana.  It is a big deal with lots of parades and children marching and traffic jams.  Banks are closed but the funny thing is that everything else is open.

            I had a meeting with Emmanuel this afternoon and he is having problems with the quality of the trees he has gotten for me and we will need to access another mill which we will visit on Monday together.  I am pleased that he is concerned to maintain quality.  He knows that if the quality is poor on the first order, there won’t be any re-orders.  His fan belt broke and he had to call a mechanic with a replacement.

            I came home to write emails and then headed up to the car and he was still there but nearly ready to go.  My car wouldn’t start, as the battery was flat.  It had a very weak battery when I bought it and this was not the first time.  It was time for a new one before going to Dunkwa tomorrow, but I had not enough money and banks were closed.  The mechanic thought a new battery would be 140 GHC!!  Storage batteries, engine oil and hydraulic oil are very expensive here.  You can pay up to 10 GHC for a liter of oil at a petrol station.  A man I know uses cooking oil instead of hydraulic oil in his excavator.  Emmanuel spotted me 160 GHC to get the battery.

            When Emmanuel backed out of the driveway we pushed the Carina E to the hilltop and I bump started it.  I hated to go all the way to Adum on a low tire, but the Shell station there has battery testing equipment, batteries, air for the tire and petrol for my tank; all of which I needed.  When I got there the battery stuff was locked up, the air didn’t work and I got petrol.

            A young man rode with me to a battery shop he knew and I waited while they put water into a new lead-acid battery and lightened me by 135 GHC.  For air I needed to go to Bekwai roundabout to the vulcanizing shop (tire repair), which I slowly did.  They checked and filled all 4 tires and the spare for 1.5 GHC.  I am accustomed to paying 20 pesewas for air, but here they wanted 30 so he made the best of it by adding a few pounds to every tire.  Pretty sneaky I thought.  Everything takes longer than you think, and costs more than you thought.  By the time I had gone to the Internet and returned home, Marlayne was starting to worry about me as I had been almost 3 hours to travel 2 K to the internet and get petrol for tomorrow.  Such is life for adventurers. J

 

Sunday Mar. 1st

We have tried several church denominations here and today we went to the Methodist church in downtown Adum.  It is a beautiful old red brick building with a large auditorium and a U shaped full balcony, complete with white and blue robed junior choir on one side and hot pink adult choir on the other.   The pews looked ancient; real hardwood benches ornately carved with arms in the middle as well as at each end.  The seat was upholstered slightly and the backs looked like a miniature lathed balcony railing with a slanted hymnal shelf for your prayer book.  Beautiful but hard and straight backed.

Unfortunately, we had been told the English Service started at 8 AM or perhaps 8:30.  So when we got there on time, we thought, the sermon was almost finished and we arrived just in time for the lengthy announcements, communion and offerings.  The service starts at 7AM and goes ‘til after 10.  When the service had ended Mr. Odum from the Timber Industry Development Division had recognized Fred and we were greeted warmly and welcomed by him.

We have plans next Sunday to try the Baptist church we saw near the Bekwai round-about.

Marlayne had purchased a baby present for the lady from whom we buy our groundnuts.  She had a baby girl one day and the next day we saw her out doing laundry in her back yard.  After church we delivered the gift and then found an Internet café that was open.