WE ARE HERE! I cannot express to you the sheer JOY in my heart to type this. We arrived early yesterday morning in Tamale. We walked off the plane and my sister was outside the airport fence waving her arms like crazy. We ran to her…tears, lots and lots of tears. They do not allow camera’s in the airports so I had to be sneaky. I had my camera/video “on” but did not hold it up…I tried to at least capture our sounds/voice/tears/laughing and hope to post this at some time.
The morning was spent in Tamale. I don’t know how to put into words all that we saw. We parked near the market as Greg had to run a few errands. I say this w/ a bit of humor because running a few errands is an all day event. First errand on the list was walking around trying to find a cell phone to buy for my mother. (We did end up finding one for her after about 30 minutes or so.) One has to have a strong stomach for what you see and smell in any 3rd world country. The streets smell strongly of body odor, sweat, and urine. The traffic is awful, although I mentioned to my sister at least it wasn’t as bad as India! It was very hot and I was cracking up at the countless people I saw wearing coats and wool hats. Wendy said you see all kinds of interesting outfits. My favorite was a man wearing a bathrobe! I was able to get a picture of him as he walked by. We ate some local “wahchi”…which is spicy beans and rice…very tasty. You see people on mopeds w/ dead animals on the back…donkeys, cows, goats, etc. Then we had to stop in 2 small markets and get a few items. Wendy was very happy to see frozen vegetables in one of them so she stocked up. Greg had to go to the bank, buy some chicken feed, chicken meat, and then pick up some beef at the slaughter house. I’m so terribly mean because I video taped my mom crying at the slaughter house and was laughing. I know…I’m the worst daughter ever. She was crying because she felt sorry for all the goats. I didn’t have the stomach to actually walk inside the slaughter house so I shouldn’t be talking. J
It may not sound as if we did that much but those errands take Greg 6 hours or more to do.
The drive to Nalerigu was about 2 hours and 15 min. They just grated the road right before we came and this is a huge blessing. It cut off almost an entire hour. Wendy said before that the potholes were so terrible she’d get super sick. So I was so happy to hear it was better! Mom and I just tried to soak in everything we were seeing…
Once we entered Nalerigu it was all my mom could do to keep from jumping out that truck to see her grandbabies! When we pulled up we saw all 3 of them standing just outside the hospital entrance and they had hung a very large sign that read, “Welcome to Nalerigu Nana and Ant Lulu”. (I loved that they spelled “Aunt” wrong!) They were all smiles from ear to ear and my mom and I were just crying and laughing. We couldn’t stop hugging them!
Then we finally came down to the house. They live in a VERY nice home. I am so impressed w/ how well they have all adapted. Wendy…and the rest of them for that matter…are completely in their element. You’d think they had been here for years and years. They have to make their milk from powder, filter their water, bleach all their fruits/veggies, etc…and make it look easy. I just kept telling my sister how proud I am of her. She amazes me.
We met several people who knocked on their door that evening which was very fun. Ghanaians are very big on greetings…it is a very formal process. I am already picking up the way they talk and their accents. (I seem to do that no matter where I am….) We had the kids open up some of their Christmas presents which they loved, had dinner w/ the other doctors who are currently volunteering, came back home and hit the sack. I felt completely exhausted. But it’s a good tired. Went to bed looking forward to my first full day in my sisters world.
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