Tini Falls- Ghana Republic Day

The Tini Waterfalls

We have been in Ghana for six weeks, which means that our time here is halfway over. We have six more weeks here, I can't believe we have been here this long. We have been having an amazing time getting to know the people of Abomosu. When we walk down the roads everyone knows all our names except mine, which they have a hard time saying. They will always yell Joe, Spencer (Spanky), and Abbie (Abigail), especially the children. It is fun to have everyone know who we are. We are always being asked where we are going, how we are doing, where the others are, etc.

July 1st is Ghana's Republic Day, which is a national holiday so there was no school today. Abbie and I did not have to teach and we wanted to celebrate the holiday, even though in the villages they don't really celebrate Republic Day other than not having school. We have been told that in the cities like Accra and Kumasi, they celebrate and either go to the beaches, waterfalls, etc. Elder and Sister Terry (the wonderful missionary couple in our area) told us about some waterfalls that are pretty close to us, about 45 minutes away near the city Anyinam.

We invited Gloria and Susanna to come with us, which was good because Susanna had been to the waterfalls before. We hopped into a taxi, all six of us, it was quite the squeeze but it is always an adventure trying to travel anywhere.

We got to the Tini Waterfalls after a small hike and they looked a lot like there name tiny. They were tall but just small amounts of water, or at least that is what we thought. We decided we wanted to climb up them to play in the water which was quite the adventure. The rocks were very slippery and the water was a lot heavier than we thought, so we were not prepared to be drenched but it was very fun. Gloria told us that the louder you scream the more water comes down the waterfall. This seemed to be true because as soon as Gloria and Susanna got to the top of the rocks they started screaming and there was more and more water. Also a large bus showed up right after us and they were all screaming and blowing horns (if you have been watching the FIFA World Cup, it was the horns that everyone has at those games.) It was because it is a common tale that if you scream more water will fall from the waterfalls. It has been fun to hear of all the old man's tales, such as ifa frog/toad jumps at you and you are a male you will become female and if you are female you will become a male. We love walking home from the church with Stephen because he always tells us Ghanian stories (many of which he is sad because no one has written them down and children are not learning them because families don't sit outside at night talking like they used to).

Joey and Emily in front of the Tini Waterfalls

Joey and Spencer gave their second loan last week. The loan is for a sugar cane farm which we have heard you can make a lot of money from sugar cane. Joey decided that he wants to move here and grow sugar cane. Hehe. Joey and Spencer have been meeting with over 12 other people to set up there business plans and trying to see how much of a loan they would need and if they will be profitable enough to pay the loans back. Sometime in the next two weeks they will go through all the business plans that have been presented to them and decide how many more loans they can give, according to how much money they have received from USU's SEED Program. It has been interesting to hear all the business proposals they range from farms, restaurants, market shops, internet cafes, and many more.

Emily being pounded with water from the waterfall