We made it to AFRICA. Oh, how much fun we had getting here though. We went through Orlando and had a one hour lay over. Then we boarded for NY. Savannah and I got stuck in the back of the plane wedged next to a large man visiting from China who knew very little English but most definitely wanted to show off vocabulary of ten words including "how much" and "Manhattan?" For those of you who don't know Savannah, she has a pretty thick southern drawl so it was like the blind leading the blind and I just sat back and watched.
Once we landed in JFK and had a last supper of Panda Express before our embarkment into the unknown, we boarded the plane to Accra. Accra is the capital of Ghana, so the plane was full of people going to West Africa. It's an airport that also helps supply the surrounding countries with access to air travel. And get this -- our stewardess was from MEMPHIS! She brought us free eye masks even though we weren't in first class. PERKS guys. Perks.
Once we landed in Accra and got our baggage (which we were very grateful was there), we went to wait for our driver. We then noticed our plane had landed an hour before we had expected it to. OOPS. So, this nice man who worked at the airport saw us and asked if we needed to call Village of Hope to tell them. We used his phone and called and everything was great, but then he wanted a tip. Of course. TIA (This Is Africa for those of you who haven't seen Blood Diamond - and if you haven't you need to see it).
Our driver finally arrived and we drove out to the Village of Hope. It is about 45 minute drive outside of Accra. As we came out of the town you have to pay a toll, the line was like 30 minutes long and women were coming past our car walking through traffic to sell various items they'd brought to market.
The drive out of town was bumpy due to potholes and the occasional goat (oops), but once we got to the Village of Hope they brought us to our house. Our house is a house they use for staffing. Originally it belonged to the minister but he is currently at ACU studying for a Master's Degree. Needless to say our little house has been empty for a while now. It has two bedrooms and a bathroom that we share with Savannah, a kitchen, a kitchen storage closet (which we are using for a pantry), and a living area. All of the floors are concrete and the walls used to be white. Apparently the minister who lived here also had children. Who enjoyed coloring. The walls. We also had no curtains on arrival and since we lived on a compound as I started to strip down Dustin pointed out that the boys outside could totally see me. In our room there is a full size bed.... and that's it. Concrete floors, white-ish walls, and a bed. No dresser. No closet. No side table. Nothing. But as they say, necessity is indeed the mother of invention, right? My clothes are neatly folded and stacked against the wall in a corner and my shoes are lined against the wall. Living simply.
Shower time! Ok, what can I say about the shower? It IS in fact an overhead shower , and it's quite roomy. In fact, I think 5 or 6 people could shower in there, BUT we do not have warm water. The water is COOOOOLD. And the pressure is no. But it's a shower and it works, and we are in this for the long haul. Thank you Jesus for letting us be clean!
The toilet didn't work. But the plumber came over and fixed it.
We got curtains.
Monday Savannah and I went and toured the hospital. It's really awesome. They do about 15 deliveries a month, prenatal care, post natal care, and intake wards. The doctor said the most common ailments he's seeing currently are malaria and hypertension. He also does operations in his "theatre" or as we call it the operating room. Savannah and I are currently working out a plan to do some surgeries with him. He does them all off of peak hours and sometimes he says that it's a midnight if that's when he has time.
We also hung out and ate with the group from White Station Church in Memphis. They are here for another week.
Today (Tuesday) we went to town and got some supplies. We went to a grocery store and bought basic staples and equipment like cleaning supplies, etc. On the way back we stopped at a coke stand and bought a "case" of bottled cokes. You have to bring back the case and the bottles in order to get a reduced price next time. They are old school glass bottles. That was pretty cool.
I'm going to try and upload some pictures tomorrow, connection was too slow tonight during peak times. Love to you all!
God is good :))))
Tessa and Dustin
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