Last Week in Abomosu

We have been busy since we have been home and so I will be updating our blog with some old posts. This was going to be one long post but I think I will split it up into two smaller posts. I haven't finished the second half so just stay tuned.

On Tuesday, August 3rd Abbie and Spencer left to go to Estonia, which left Joey and me in Abomosu alone for our last week in Ghana. Joey and I had told Stephen that we wanted to go and work on his farm for a day to see if we could survive. We decided that now that the professors had come and checked on everything, loans were given out, and business classes were over that it would be the perfect time to go. Well Stephen is in charge of planning a funeral for a previous member of parliament and funerals are a big deal anyways so he informed us that he wouldn't be able to take us and that due to the drought (it rained quite a bit when we were first there but not as much as their usual rainy season, the farmers and crops and "crying for rain") there wasn't anything that we could do. Stephen told us that he had some workers that were going to harvest cocoa and that he would have Nkansah take us to the cocoa farm and let us watch how they harvest the cocoa. It was such a fun experience. The workers made it look so easy so Joey and I had to take this opportunity to work on the farm. Nkansah gave us some quick lessons and then let us try. Joey said that this is one of the scariest things he has ever done. It is so weird, first you are holding this large knife, second you have to hit the cocoa hard so that the knife cuts into it, and then you hand covers the whole cocoa when you try to hold it. It was quite a difficult task but we are glad we got a chance to try. I admire these workers, they were so fast.

Pile of Cocoa that was ready to be harvested.

Joey attempting to cut open the cocoa!

Emily scraping cocoa out of the shell.

Then we went to play soccer with the children in the village. We had done this a couple of times when we first arrived in Abomosu and then either didn't have a ball or time to go play. We went up to Presby Primary School and played soccer for the afternoon. The girls didn't want me to play and kept trying to get me to play hand games with them, let them play with my hair or carry them around on my back.

Joey still had some students from his business class to meet with that wanted to complete their business plans and also to do some mentoring with the loan recipients so we spent the next couple of days doing that.  We had also been asked to put together a profile for the Freedom Fighters- the Abomosu Football/Soccer Club. There is a team in Florida that may be willing to sponsor the team but they wanted pictures and profiles on the players so we went to watch the team's practice and set up a time to put together profiles. These players looked like they were between 20-24 years old but they were all between 16-20 years old.

Soccer Practice for the Freedom Fighters

Freedom Fighters Practice

Freedom Fighters Team Photo

My soccer friends- they kept me very entertained

I knew that I had less than a week left in Ghana and that I needed to truly become Ghanian so on our last Saturday I went to get my hair braided. This is quite the process and is very painful. It took four hours to get braided but I have really enjoyed it. Stephen Jr's wife Sonya told me that if I would have had it done in Accra it wouldn't have been as painful because there are salons there that are used to doing Obroni hair. Joey wanted to see what I would look like as a brunette so we figured this would also be a great way to do it without dying my hair. There were three women braiding my hair at a time and three other women helping prep the extensions. It is strange having that many hands touching my hair at the same time. After they braid a strand they take scissors to it to make sure that there isn't any hair sticking out of the braids. After they braided all of my hair they added some sort of wax/gel stuff to my hair and then they use a candle to burn the wax. This was scary to have a flame to close to my face. After they have burned all the strands of hair they pull it all back into a ponytail and dip it into some boiling hot water to rinse of the wax. 

(This is the reason I hadn't made this post earlier. I wanted to surprise everyone when I came home with my hair braided.)

The start of the 4 hour process

Part way through the process

Almost Done

The Hair Saloon Ladies (yes they spell it Saloon)

Close-up of the hair

Joey enjoying taking pictures of my hair

Walking home from Church on our last Sunday in Abomosu

Last Sunday in Abomosu

One of the loan recipients Ben Boadu was starting a sugar cane farm. We had told him that we wanted to see him plant the sugar cane so on Monday, August 9 Joey and I rode our bikes to his farm which was farther than we had thought. We were able to watch him plant his sugar cane starters. It is such a simple process. 

These are the Sugar Cane Starters

First you clear away the weeds where you want to plant the sugar cane

then you dig a hole for the starters

Lastly you cover the starters with dirt

If you didn't notice a machete is used as a cutting tool, shovel, and rake. 

Hopefully our last Ghana post will be up soon. 

Last Day in Ghana and Loan Recipients info

(THIS WAS WRITTEN THE DAY WE LEFT GHANA BUT I WAS'T ABLE TO POST IT UNTIL NOW.)

This is Joey reporting LIVE from Ghana. This is our last day in Ghana and we are sooooo sad we are leaving but also so grateful for the opportunity to come. Emily wanted me to talk a bit about the real reason we were sent to Ghana - the USU SEED program.

So SEED stands for: Small Enterprise Education and Development. Basically it means we help small businesses get up and going by teaching classes that help people prepare to start a business, then give them a small loan, then mentor them. We also had a special assignment finding contacts and gathering info about Abomosu and see what challenges and opportunities there are.

I think the SEED program will do very well in Abomosu. Those that we helped start businesses were definitely the low hanging fruit (the people ready to start businesses) but there are many more people that with a little more preparation will be able to start a successful business.

So we helped 7 businesses start/expand. They are all doing wonderful so far. Below are short descriptions of them. I hope this isn't too boring!

Esther Mensah - She was our golden child. A couple days after we arrived she showed up with a business plan (she wrote it by hand the night before), which was much more than we had expected from anyone. She wanted to start a catering and fast food business that served 3 dishes unavailable in Abomosu.
We taught her the content of our classes everyday for 9 days and then decided to fund her loan. She started her business and outperformed her projected sales by a ton! So much in fact that instead of paying off the loan in 7 months, she paid it off in 2!!! Which maybe that doesn't sound amazing, but for these people it is incredible. She is doing very well for herself (and her family).

Ben Boadu- Is starting a sugar cane farm. There is a great demand for sugar cane and not enough supply. You have to have a certain kind of land (kind of swampy) to grow sugar cane, and he had the land, so it was a good match for someone who had half the resources to start a business, and we supplied the other half.

Daniel Acheampong - (To pronounce his last name just combine Champion and pong really fast.) He operates a corn milling machine that grinds the corn into flour, but he wanted a loan to also purchase a Oil Palm extraction machine. There are lots of Oil Palm trees that produce this seed thing that contains a bunch of oil. Anywho, there is no one in town who has this extraction machine, so people extract the oil by hand by squishing it. So he'll help save a lot of people a lot of time (everyone uses this oil to cook for most meals).

Dompreh - He is the manager of his brother's pharmacy. The pharmacy lacked the capital to purchase much inventory. They were the largest pharmacy in the village (there are two others), but they still turned away 30 people a day because they did not have the medicine. So with the loan they about doubled there inventory and are very profitable. And it is helping the sick people of Abomosu.

Sampson and his Wife - Sampson's wife does not speak english, so we mostly worked with Sampson, but together they make a food called Kenkey. It the same idea as a tamale (because it is corn based and wrapped in leaves) but the corn is fermented so it tastes disgusting! But the Ghanaians love it and Sampson and his wife are known as the best Kenkey makers. Anywho, their problem is the cost of corn skyrockets between January and May, so there profit margin becomes pennies (actually Pesewas), but if they buy the corn now and hoard it away then they can be profitable year-round.

Philip Twum - He is the LDS branch president and runs a DJ business. DJs are very important to Ghanaian culture because funerals are a BIG deal. He wanted a loan so he could get some new equipment so he could DJ for two funerals at the same time. He was very grateful for the accounting and record keeping skills we taught him.

Faustina - She is probably the person who's income level will be helped the greatest. She has started a very simple business selling tomatoes and onions to her little part of the village. She goes to a town a few hours away to purchase her inventory. Her loan amount was the smallest at GHC200 (about $140).

I can not even begin to describe how wonderful of a learning experience this was. I really feel like we helped these people a lot and helped start something wonderful in Abomosu. We also made some wonderful friends. To avoid making this extremely long I will sum it up and say that I am grateful our Father in Heaven blessed us with this opportunity to learn, grow, and develop.

Teaching a Lesson and Learning a Lesson

As I have mentioned in some previous blogs we have craved some American foods especially sweets. We have made a couple of treats throughout the summer to satisfy our sweet-tooth. A couple weeks about Spencer, Abbie, Joey and I made Brigham Young's Buttermilk Doughnuts for two reasons: It was the 24th of July weekend so we felt that it was very fitting and we were craving doughnuts. They turned out delicious and the Abu's really enjoyed them, mainly the glazed ones, they didn't really enjoy the cinnamon sugar coated ones. We decided that we could make them again the next week because we still had quite a bit of flour left and they had tasted so good. After we had made them the second time Margaret Abu asked if I would show her how to make them. So this morning Sister Terry came over and we helped Margaret and Gloria make doughnuts. It was so much fun, I don't think either of them had used a rolling pin before. We had a lot of fun teaching them to make doughnuts. My favorite part was after we were done Margaret told Gloria that she needs to make them for her everyday. 

Another learning experience that I never expected to learn this summer is how to cut hair. I had helped my brothers cut their own hair with clippers before but their hair was the same length across their whole head. Then when I married Joey he has me cut his hair which he uses different sizes of guides with the clippers so that was a little more difficult. Well Sister Terry asked me a month ago to cut her hair because her husband didn't really like to do it and because she knew that I cut Joey's that I would be able to do hers. I began by using the clippers on the bottom of her hair and then using scissors to blend and layer the top. This made me so nervous, I have never cut women's hair before. I guess I did a decent job because she asked me to do it again before we leave, which I did again this morning. I admire cosmetologists, cutting hair makes me really nervous. 

Primary Songs and All Those that We Love

For the last month, Abbie and I have been helping out in the primary. We have been teaching them the Primary 2010 Theme Song, I Know That My Savior Loves Me. The Senior Primary learned the song in about three weeks but it took about four weeks for the Junior Primary. Although Sunday was Fast Sunday, it was also Abbie and Spencer's last Sunday here, so we asked the Branch President if the Primary would be able to sing the intermediate hymn in Sacrament Meeting. Abbie was playing the keyboard and I sat on the front row doing the actions to the song to help the children sing. I have taken on a couple temporary "church callings." They weren't really callings that I received but that I took part in. When we went to the Temple for Branch Temple Day, I acted as the Young Women Leader helping the young women through the locker room, confirmation room, and the baptismal font. Now as a Primary Music Leader, I felt like the Primary Leaders that are in charge of the Primary Program that sit on the row showing pictures and doing actions as the children sing so that they remember the words.

Singing "I Know That My Savior Loves Me"

We were also able to teach the Senior Primary some other songs such as:

I Belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes

I am Trying to Be Like Jesus

The only songs that they ever sang, especially in the Junior Primary, are: 

I am a Child of God 

Popcorn Popping

Book of Mormon Stories

Sister Terry teaching the dance for the "Mighty Change" Program
that they will be performing the end of August in Accra 

We are going to miss the branch members here. We have grown close to many if not all of them. We are so grateful for their testimonies and the spiritual strength that they have given unto us. I really feel like this summer has so such a spiritual experience for me. FHE, Institute, Sunday Church Meetings, Branch Temple Trip, Baptisms, Seminary/Institute Graduation and other special meetings. Especially being surrounded by missionaries: Stephen Sr and Margaret are missionaries- they proselyte twice a week and attend the different branches throughout the district, Elder and Sister Terry, and the Full-time Missionaries- Elder Hicks and Elder A. 

During FHE this week Joey showed a slideshow that he had made of the pictures that we have taken since we have been here. I can't believe how fast these three months have gone. After the slideshow Margaret came out with two big bags that she gave to each of the couples. They gave us each a dress for the girls and a shirt for the boys, as a gift of gratitude for all that we have done. I was about to cry, I had to keep reminding myself that we have another week here. Abbie and Spencer left yesterday for Accra and will be leaving on Thursday. It was weird to watch them leave, I just kept thinking about how soon before we leave. I have met a lot of amazing people and it will be very hard to me to leave. Joey and I have set a goal to return here in 4 years. We have grown so much and are so grateful for all that we have learned and all the people we have met and grown to love.

Joey and Emily in our outfits from the Abu's

Spencer, Abbie, Stephen, Margaret, Gloria, Emily and Joey after FHE

Gloria has become a Professional and A Day of Visitors

  Almost a month ago we posted about teaching Gloria how to ride a bike because she has never learned, she has been too scared. Well since our last post both Gloria and all of us have become too busy or it has been raining outside so we haven’t been able to get her back on a bike. Two days ago we realized that it had been far too long and Joey got Gloria to take a break from her chores around the house so that we could continue our lessons before we have to leave. Gloria and Joey headed over to the World Joy house to start where they left off, and Gloria surprising really was right where we left off. I had been inside for about five minutes before I was able to go outside and help with the lesson, when I came outside she was already riding by herself. I was amazed! We wanted her to be able to ride on a long stretch but there isn't really any flat areas to do this (there aren’t any church parking lots that are perfect for teaching how to ride a bike) so we use the road that we have. Although she could ride the bike by herself, Joey held onto the back of the seat because the brakes on the bikes don’t really work. If we had a bike that had good brakes she would be doing amazingly but she gets scared when she starts to think that she is going fast so she jumps off the bike. Hopefully we can find a bike that has reliable brakes so that she can become comfortable on the bike. She said that as soon as she learns how to ride a bike she is going to learn how to drive the Rhino.

Gloria trying to remember what she has already learned

Joey holding on due to the lack of brakes.

A little wobbly but still doing good.

No hands!! Gloria is so good!

Yesterday we were expecting Stephen Jr. to come up with his wife and children and Dave McConkie. While we were waiting we had many more visitors than expected. First, Dr Emmanuel Abu Kissi arrived, he is Stephen Abu’s brother who brought the church to Ghana. We were very excited to meet him but he ended up only being able to stay long enough to say hello to everyone. Along with him were his two sons and a girl from Germany, it is always weird to see an Obroni (white person) when you aren’t expecting to see one. Then came in two men that are financing a farm project in Ghana that Stephen is in charge of helping with (I didn’t really get all of the details but Stephen seems to be the main contact in Abomosu for a lot of people). One of these men was from Draper, Utah so we talked to him for awhile about what he was doing here. Then as we were outside trying to be out of the way of all the visitors and meetings that were being held inside, Daniel (head master) and Christie (Primary 1 teacher) from the Presby Primary School that Abbie and I taught at showed up. Last Sunday at church Daniel asked us to come to Presby on Monday so that they could get our measurements. We weren’t really sure what to expect but on Monday they presented us with fabric and told us that they were going to have a seamstress make Abbie and I dresses and a tailor make the boys shirts as a thank you for all that we have done. We were thrilled, and yesterday they arrived with the finished product! They are amazing.

Receiving the dress and shirt

The finished products: They turned out so good.

Christie, Joey, Emily, Abbie, Spencer and Daniel.

Then Stephen Jr. and his carload showed up. From his car came Stephen, his wife Sonya, their two children Rheea and Coby, Dave McConkie, and three other men from Idaho. After they arrived we began to eat lunch and during lunch the Terrys arrived and then Gifty (not sure how to spell all of these names, Gifty is Daniel’s, the head master, daughter) showed up with some letters that Daniel had promised to give us that were asking for donations of old computers for the school. We had told him that we were involved with some charity organizations and would be able to get the word out and see what we could do about getting the school computers. Using computers is part of the curriculum for the schools but none of them have access to computers so they have to find abstract ways to teach it or just bypass the curriculum.

Some of the visitors arriving. 

About as fast as everyone arrived they were gone just as quickly. The house was so lively and in an enjoyable state of chaos and then it was empty and very quiet. It was fun to meet so many new people and have new conversations. It is always fun when people come to visit the house because it is like a party, Margaret always has to feed everyone that comes so we are all over the living room trying to find places to eat. It felt like an extension of Stephen Sr.’s birthday party, especially because Sonya brought cake and ice cream. 

Rheea playing in the "sand" in front of the house. She is adorable!

Stephen's Birthday and Adventure to the Farms

Yesterday was a wonderful day. The first day that we arrived in Abomosu, Stephen Sr. showed us his "garden" behind his house. He has told us that he has multiple farms in the area and that when the Rhino (heavy duty golf cart) got fixed he would take us to see all of his farms. 

All loaded up in the Rhino- Don't worry we all sat down after the picture was taken.

The Rhino was finally fixed a couple weeks ago but Stephen has been very busy, until yesterday. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. so that we could eat breakfast and be ready to leave on our grand adventure by 6:00 a.m. We all piled into the Rhino and were off to see ALL of Stephen's farms. We soon arrived to an area where we could no longer ride any further (because of weed overgrowth during the time the Rhino was being fixed). We all hopped out of the Rhino and headed out on foot. We walked through many farms of people that we have met while we have been here. Farms in Ghana or at least Abomosu are very different from American farms. Most farms don't have fences around them, boundaries are marked by a particular tree that is different than all of the other trees in the area. 

First we arrived at Stephen's father's farm, which has been split up between Stephen's siblings. Each sibling received 9 acres of their father's land. Stephen was the only child that was very serious about the farms so he was lucky enough to have the family house on his part of the property. 

Stephen's Childhood Home

We were able to see where Stephen grew up and hear some of his childhood stories. He truly had a "walked uphill both ways in the snow to school" story. The house is very far away from the village, Stephen and his siblings would wake up at 5:00 am to start walking to school, their father would walk with them with a headlamp and a shotgun until they could see a light (the forest was so dense that is was very dark at that time of morning) then the children finished walking the rest of the way. The rainy season can be very bad, especially where they had to go near the river that is overflowing often. The most amazing part of this was that they did not have shoes. Stephen received his first pair of shoes which were flip-flops when he was 16 years old. 

After we passed the family farm we walked quite aways farther and we reached Stephen's far away farm, which is 60 acres. It is amazing to see the difference between Stephen's farms and the other farms that we saw. He has hired many people to help him with his farms because he is unable to do all the work himself. Stephen's farms were cleared of weeds while the other farms…were very weedy, in those farms you could barely tell what was weeds and what were crops. 

I had to use a machete to get through the thick weeds

On this farm he has plantains, cocoa, cocoa yams, sugar cane, corn/maize, and a lot more. Stephen told us that in 3 years he will be the largest cocoa farmer in the region.  We visited quite a few more of his farms, I can't remember how many we stopped at but he owns 7 farms with over 100 acres of land. We stopped at his citrus farm where he has hybrid oranges that will grow in the "off season". They tasted so good. Lastly we stopped at his farms that had bananas and peppers.

Gloria with the Sugar Cane on her head

Joey found himself a tie - it is part of the plantain plant 

Joey found a cute little chick

Another reason this day was so special is because it was Stephen's 67th birthday. We were so glad that he took us to his farms on his birthday and spent the morning with us. After we arrived home, Abbie and I went over to the Terry's house to make some snickerdoodle cookies to celebrate his birthday. We have made many treats (brownies, chocolate chip cookies, no-bake cookies, snickerdoodles, doughnuts) but because the Ghanaians don't really enjoy really sweet foods they have enjoyed our cookies the most. Then that night Margaret, Gloria, and Nana (who came up to celebrate) made a big meal and invited all of our friends over to celebrate Stephen's birthday. We had fried rice, fried noodles, chicken, watermelon, hard-boiled eggs, sugar cane, cake (made by the Terrys), snickerdoodles, minerals (soda), and soy milk. It was such a fun night just being surrounded by the people we have grown to love. We were especially glad that we were able to celebrate Stephen's birthday, he has been so helpful to us and we were glad that we could have a day to celebrate him and thank him for all that he has done for us. He and Margaret are our Grandpa and Grandma. We are so grateful to consider them as our family.

All of the wonderful food, the snickerdoodles are in the yellow bag

The Birthday Boy: Stephen Abu

Last Day of School and Ghanaian Dress

Originally to be posted July 24th

The only girl from our Group of 12 at Zion

Yesterday was Abbie and Emily's last day of teaching the ABC and All of Me Program. The original plan was to have our last day of classes on Wednesday but because of Joey and my surprise trip to Accra on Tuesday we had to cancel classes on Tuesday. Then on Thursday we finished at Presby but when we got to Zion the teachers told us that it wasn't a good day to come and teach and asked us to come the next day. Friday we woke up and went to Zion early and finished with our first Zion class and then we headed over to Presby. We had talked to the Head Master (Principal) and asked if our classes could perform the Letter Song for the rest of the school. He was so excited and so we went up there organized our two classes together and the rest of the school came out to watch our classes do their final performance of the song. It was so cute because you could tell that they were nervous to sing it in front of everyone but they did a wonderful job. 

Both of our Presby Classes getting ready to perform for the rest of the School.

The teachers from our Presby Classes

We had decided to do this because: 1) We were so proud of our classes that we wanted everyone to see the wonderful job that they had done. 2) The students from the other classes were always hanging around the doors and windows of our classrooms trying to see what we were doing, so we might as well show them. 3) One of the teachers was part of a teacher training and so she wasn't there the last day of our class and she wanted to see how well her class did with the entire song.

The Head Master Daniel saying Thank You

After their performance we went back to Zion and finished with out last class there and our final teaching of our group of twelve students. It was bittersweet, it is so nice to be done and see that the children did such a wonderful job learning all that we have taught them but at the same time I do not want to leave. It was so sad to be leaving, the children just chased us all the way home. They didn't want to say goodbye, it makes me so nervous to have to actually say goodbye in a couple of weeks. It is going to be so hard because I won't know if they understand that I am truly saying goodbye or if they think I am just saying goodbye for the time being. 

Final Day with Zion (KG-1 Class)

Final Day with our Zion Group of 12. We pulled out the markers for the last day hoping that they would last long enough for them to finish the activity pages.

Every since I have arrived in Ghana, I have seen some beautiful dresses and have wanted one made for me before I leave. While we were in Accra on Tuesday I finally had the opportunity to find some fabric for the dress. After wandering the streets full of people Joey and I saw a lady with some fabric. We searched through her pile to find one that we both liked and we bought it. Then when I got back to Abomosu we asked the Young Women President, Sister Boadu, if she would make the dress for me. I felt really dumb because I didn't know what I wanted so she pulled out some posters with different dress designs and Joey helped me pick one out. Then two days later I get a phone call telling me that my dress is done and that I can come and pick it up. Everyone was so pleased with it, I have received many compliments and I am so excited to wear it when I get home.

The Fabric we found in Accra

Couldn't be happier with the final product

The Final Product: My Ghanaian Dress