21 Fun Facts about Ghana
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African peanut butter is a gift from God, we found it at the market for the low price of 10 cedis (2 American dollars) literally made from real peanuts! That’s my kinda peanut butter!
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Electricity is a blessing- I can actually keep my iPad and phone charged to take pictures, update my second of the day video, and write blogs!
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I do not have a great source of wifi this month. I used my team leader’s hot spot on her phone, and team data for blog posts.
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I recently learned that I am not great at using squatty potties, aka toilets that are holes in the ground usually in a small stall of some sort.
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Ceiling fans are also a gift from God.
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Its a wonderful thing to be a short walk from the beach this month. And a lot of our ministry is done at a rad place called The Lord’s Gym- a gym/school/recreational center on the beach
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One of our hosts, Angie, is from American, but moved to Ghana 13 years ago as a missionary and now has 4 beautiful kids with her awesome and charismatic husband Paul (sometimes he tells us to call him Don Pablo, or we call him Pastor Paul, or P Do) who grew up in Ghana!
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We are blessed each days with food prepared for us by 3 lovely women named Florence, Odelia, and Elwin.
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Rice and plantains are a main food group here. But we also have a lot more vegetables and way less fish in our diet compared to last month.
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I really thought I was going to develop an intolerance to fish at some point last month. I was amazed by ways the people of the village cooked with it- in stew, in all sauces, in rice, fried, mixed with eggs, in oil, wow lots of fish…
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We have flushing toilets this month! And we can flush toilet paper down them too!!
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And we have running water, sinks, and showers!
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I have now developed a love for naps. I have never considered myself a napper before.
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It’s a normal thing for the power to go out here. And just as normal to cheer and clap when it comes back on.
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I am still hand washing my clothes in buckets of water and hanging them on clothes lines to dry. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it!
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I started off with 2 full outfits, but now have more African clothes than I do American clothes.
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I really never stop sweating, except for maybe when I fall asleep. Maybe.
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Often times our daily “schedule” changes, things are moved back 1-2 hours or, we are told we need to be ready to leave in 5 minutes for an unknown event, but it’s cool I’m learning to be adaptable.
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Africans have no perception of the proper volume of their speakers, meaning they’re always WAY too loud. I try my best to not sit by them at church or other events.
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Sometimes church services last up to 4 hours. Often at these services we are asked to preach or sing a song or two, most of the time spontaneously.
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I often drink water out of bags; it’s simple all you do is bite a corner of the square bag and squeeze it into your mouth or I pour the bagged water into my water bottle!
It has been such a great experience so far here in Ghana! I love the people and am making such great relationships with those around here. It’s very easy for people to spot us, because of course we are some of the few “white people” here. I also have adapted to the name Adjovi, which means a daughter born on Monday because there is another girl on the team this month named Morgan. The locals love it when I say, “Nkoa nyei Adjovi!” which means, “My name is Adjovi.” We have one more week left here in Ghana, and then are on to Togo, so prayers for safe travel are welcomed. Thanks for reading!
Also, the main bulk of this message came from my teammate Mady, whose blog is madyriedlinger.theworldrace.org. She’s super rad and quite witty! So feel free to follow her to hear more stories about life on the race!
