Aaahhhh, internet that works….

Well, I didn’t keep up with the blog this trip. Our time just went so fast, getting to an internet café was not convenient, and when we were there is was too frustrating to load pictures. So, below is an array of photos illustrating this year’s trip.

We saw a few new things this year, but for the most part Ghana, to me…and now my mom even….just seems normal, normal for Ghana, that is. We’re becoming use to it, use to a different culture, sounds, smells, foods, and even a different perspective on time! You never know what might happen in Ghana, so we’ve learned to just go with it.

Not sure it is obvious from the pictures, but the kids are growing so much! Of course, as my friend Maasen pointed out to me last night, kids do that. Yes, they do and it is a good thing. It means they are getting the necessary nutrients and are hopefully developing healthy bodies….but still it makes me a little sad. Sad that they will eventually outgrow the cute, cuddly stage and sad because I miss out on much of their lives and the changes that occur between these visits. Regardless, this trip was blessed with much happiness compared to last year. While it was hard to leave again, it felt different…it was okay. Now I am hopeful for their futures and know that with the Hopkins Foundation we are on the right track to ensuring that they will no longer be forgotten about or abandoned in life.

While there are still many kids we can’t help yet this year via boarding school, the fact that seven of the orphans are enrolled and will head off on September 6 is amazing! The Hopkins Foundation hasn’t even been up and running for a year yet and already it is able to make this impact! I just have to say thank you, thank you, thank you again to everyone that has helped support these efforts so far! May God bless you! I wish each and everyone of you could see these children in person and see the impact that you are making in their lives!

I had a little pep talk/heart-to-heart with the seven kids that are enrolled this year: Peace, Noble, Elikim, Sammy, Princilla, Edem, and Emmanuel. I just wanted them to know how many people are making their schooling possible, believing in them, and showing them love. Our work to give these children better lives is far from over, so I don’t want to get a head of myself, but……..I just pray for the kids to feel the love that so many of us have for them, that this love is enough to overcome anything from their pasts, that it makes them grab a hold of the opportunity and potential school offers, leading them to successful lives, and that one day…they’ll pour that love back out to others in need.

I never got to update about the 2nd yard sale….it was also a success and helped with Elikim and Sammy’s enrollment. After the yard sale and several other donations from my friends Maasen and Amy, we raised another $500.00. Josephine also had a friend that agreed to sponsor one of the kids, getting us to the seven! THANK YOU!!!!!

Bernice's neighborhood in Sokode

Melody-Wonder's daughter (he teaches at the school I worked in). We met her last year when she was very tiny.

Our boys playing football with some local kids in Ho. Sokode versus Ho. Sokode won (6-4), whoo hoo!

Big boys playing football. That's Adaklu Mountain in the background....I climbed it, piece of cake. =)

Dora Memorial School. This is the boarding school the kids will attend.

Here are the first seven (oops, six, Princilla is missing from the photo) to enroll in boarding school. From left to right: Elikim, Emmanuel, Sammy, Noble, Peace, Edem.

This is where Bernice's mom lives in Ho. Love the tree.

On the trail to Wli Waterfalls

We crossed the river eight times using these bridges.

God's beauty.

See....my mom really did make it.

Mmmm....I just like trees.

Bernice (left) and her mom.

Huge bamboo

In the forest looking for monkeys.

Monkeys!

Noble feeding a monkey in the tree.

Elolo's turn. We had a ton of monkeys gathering near us waiting for our bananas.

Elolo worn out after a day of swimming.

We took the kids to dinner after swimming. They're enjoying a local dish called banku.

Awoenam. She is three years old, but like Elolo was malnourished and neglected and therefore is the size of a one year-old. She was brought to Bernice, who placed her with a nice woman named Pat. When we first met Awoenam she showed no emotion and wouldn't make any noises (for us nor for Pat). After a few encounters with my mom she was a laughing, happy baby! My mom fell in love!

Friends. Emmanuel and Noble. So cute.

On the way to the monkey sanctuary and waterfalls. Tro-tro with flat tire #1.

Flat tire #2 and our boys trying to lift the tro-tro. It worked.







Entertaining themselves and making me very nervous while we waited for a new tire !

My old friends, the DiVOG boys: Richard, DJ (with the wild pants), and Robert. Mypa (not pictured) and Robert took my mom and me out in Accra our last night in Ghana. It was great to see life in the capitol and all the expats!

I may be in Ghana and they may call it Maize, but looks a lot like Central Illinois to me. This is on the farm behind Bernice's house, she owns several plots.

The boys working on the farm. They are growing cassava, yams, and maize.

Sammy wasn't working too hard on the farm, he found this nice tree.

Gorgeous.

Leaving......

Elikim and Sammy

I have a wonderful update on Elikim and Sammy, the two brothers. Thanks to so many people’s generosity to the Hopkins Foundation and thanks to Josephine’s generosity, both Sammy and Elikim will be attending boarding school this September! This is great news and a big relief after our recent visit to their village. I informed Josephine of their condition and we are quickly moving forward to get them enrolled. Elikim has not been here this past week (he has been staying in Accra for a short period of time), but will be coming to Bernice’s house tomorrow morning to register for school, etc. We are all so excited to see him again and to see his reaction to this news!

The Ghana Travels of 15 kids, two yavus and a grandma

We've returned from our little jaunt to see monkeys and a waterfall (Wli Waterfalls are touted as the highest in West Africa) and everyone survived and returned in one piece! Praise the Lord! Bernice's mom came with us, so she should also be getting some praise!

What will I remember the most from this trip?

Will it be:

• Feeding wild Mona monkeys bananas from our hands?
• The glorious waterfall that appeared to fall from the sky at the end of an hour walk through a forest?
• Having my mom tell me she doesn't like camping, even though we weren't: we stayed in a two room building that had running water....the washrooms just happened to be outside in a common area.
• The mischievous laughter and smiles of my older kids sitting in the back of the tro-tro truly loving their time away from chores and the usual, being nothing but children?
• The tro-tro getting a flat tire twice and watching my tough boys try to lift the vehicle?
• Spending 30 hours with 15 children in very tight quarters? =)
• Guiding my mother for two hours through a slick forest trail fearing that she would fall and her surprising me by not falling or passing out?
• One hand holding my mom's and the other holding a small child making sure no one falls?

No, while these are all memorable moments, the thing I took away from this trip is how big of a responsibility it is to feed 15 hungry mouths!!!!! Wow, I felt that for the majority of the trip we were eating, talking about eating, searching for enough food for 15 children or negotiating food prices! It gives me a new-found respect for Bernice and McDonald's! =)

It shouldn't be a big surprise, but it has been almost impossible to get any of my pics to load. But for now, I was able to get these on here (I am behind a post on pictures, monkey and waterfall pics should be up tomorrow or Tuesday).




Right to left: Noble, Sammy, Frank (Wallasy), Ayrum, and Eyako-the last two are the twins. This is the picture I took right after we were all first reunited with Sammy in his village.








Races at the pool. Noble won every single time-he's a bit competitive.








My girls lounging pool side.








In Accra on the day of our arrival waiting for the tro-tro to fill up and take us to Bernice's. Looking great....right?

Priceless Moments

No news has meant good news.....sorry for the delay in posting, but we are alive and well. We arrived safely on Tuesday and have just been very busy with the children! I think we have not wanted to spend any time a away from them the past few days as we had just arrived! We want to soak up all the time possible!

So a quick recap from the last few days:
Our flight here went well. We did use a different airline from previous trips, Delta. The flight was cheaper and it flies direct!!!! That is huge since it cuts down on the length of time. So we flew from St. Louis to JFK and then straight into Accra, Ghana. Our whole trip was about 17 hours this time (that includes a 5 hour layover in New York-where we enjoyed people watching and margaritas=)! All I can say about Delta is that it is cheaper for a reason, but it got us here safely so I should not complain. But I will....the flight wasn't quite as enjoyable as my flights on British Airways and KLM, most of the movie monitors didn't work, they seemed to have less staff members, and the seats were much smaller. Also in the airports, their check-in and boarding systems were crazy and disorganized. Also, there were a lot more screaming children....not sure if that is the airline or just luck =). My mom and I did not sit together, which made her a little sad and relieved me a little (ha, mom-sorry). We had seats next to each other originally but gave them up for a father and small child that would have had to sit in different cabins!

Our friend Sylvester met us in Accra and traveled with us back to Ho...well actually now Bernice lives right outside of Ho in a village called Sokode. It is much quieter where she is now, which is lovely, but that also means no internet cafes there. We traveled into Ho today to use the cafe here. The ride from Sokode to Ho is a five minute taxi ride that costs us less than 50 cents. We are staying with Bernice afterall, she begged us to stay with her. We have our own room again which they have prepared for us very nicely and are once again treating us like queens! It is too much! They don't have much, but they give us everything!

As I said earlier, there are a few of the orphans that remained with Bernice and some live with her mom. So on Tuesday when we arrived in the afternoon we hung out with the five kids at Bernice's: Peace, her sister Patience, Noble, Patricia, and Ebeneazer (a new child that was brought to Bernice), plus Bernice's two grandboys- the twins. On Wednesday morning we headed to Bernice's mom's house in Ho...with Bernice and the other children in tow....all in one taxi....that is ten people in one taxi-and yes, my mom was in there! Fun! Elolo, Sika, Priscilla, and Selasie all live with Bernice's mom. After playing with the kids and spending the afternoon there we asked to bring all the children back to Bernice's. So while we are here, all of those children will be in the same house where we can play and spend time with them more easily.

There are the two brothers that we wanted to check on while here: Sammy and Elikim. They are in a small village five miles from Sokode, so yesterday my Mom, Bernice, and I took Noble, Frank, and the twins there to visit. The village is very small and somewhat desolate. Unfortunately, Elikim is away in Accra right now, but we did get to see Sammy. It was sad....in fact, even Bernice began to cry. Sammy was very dirty, his legs were covered in dirt and his clothes were also full of dirt. The women in town that welcomed us informed us that he isn't taken care of well. The women that he and Elikim live with right now doesn't have a lot and isn't around much because she spends all day out on a farm, so the boys fend for themselves. We are all considering right now what to do and what makes the most sense, but Bernice, my mom and I agree, those boys need to leave that house. There was a happy moment of the trip though: when we got to town we were greeted and just told to sit in front of this store while Sammy was located. So we did and of course my mom and I drew a little crowd. So by the time they found Sammy and he came running up, I know he was probably embarassed because everyone was looking at him and talking about his situation. So he looked very shy and wasn't smiling at all. He hugged my mom and me but looked down the entire time. But then we sent him over to Noble and Frank and I would pay a million dollars to see their reactions again! All of them, especially Sammy, had huge smiles, laughed and joked with each other. Noble pulled Sammy over to them and on their laps and they all hugged! Priceless! I did capture one picture right after, but it doesn't do justice. Sammy came to Sister Bernice's house last night and will stay with us for a while.

Yesterday was busy! After all that, we came back and took all the children to the pool at the hotel in Ho! Most have been to the pool once and a few have never been. We had a blast. There is a kiddie pool, the big pool, and inner tubes. At first only the big kids would come in the big pool with my mom and me (wearing the inner tubes of course) and we would lead them around the pool. Then they would get brave enough to swim in the inner tube by themselves. Then the smaller kids starting coming over the big pool and doing the same thing. It was a little scary for my mom and me to keep dibs on eleven kids that can't swim, but they all behaved well and no one drowned...so it was a great day! =) Two of the older kids, Patience (who has never been in a pool) and Noble are probably ready to swim without inner tubes. We tried a couple times and they are almost getting it.

This afternoon we are taking 16 kids and Bernice's mom to the monkey sanctuary which is an hour away. We will go there, stay over night, then tour the sanctaury in the morning, feed some mokeys and head to some waterfalls nearby. We'll return to Sokode Sat night, hopefully sane and with all 16 kids!

There is so much more to share.....like how much all the children have grown, all the silly things they remember about our time together last year, the new children we have met.....