COMMENTARY OF OUR TRIP TO KUMASI

On September 14, 2009 we left on a 3 day trip to the Kumasi area of Ghana. Kumasi is the second largest city in Ghana. It is 260 kilometers (multiply by .6 to get miles) northwest of Accra. It took us 6 hours to get there. The reason it took so long is that the road is long. HA, really it is because the road is bad, we made several stops, and because there is a lot of traffic. We went to look at and get acquainted with projects that the Church is helping with in the area. The projects are water wells and latrines for schools and for communities. The country is up hill all the way from the coastal city of Accra, but only foothills compared to our mountains in the West. The country is nice and green and looks like a forest but with different kinds of trees. We learned from our very informed guide and driver of the Toyota pickup truck we were in, that the area is farming country and all the vegetation or trees are plantations owned and operated by someone. People live in these areas and come to the roadside to sell their produce. They also use the road to walk along to get from farm to town or some other place, but there are people walking along the road constantly, though not as thick as in the villages of which there are also many. The farms grow plantain (a banana-type plant), cocoa, palm trees for palm oil, and teak trees for hardwood furniture and power poles, and many other fruits and vegetables. Clarence Kofi, our guide and church employee, makes this trip about every week. He took us to nice and safe places to eat and we stayed in a very nice hotel and ate there also. Only thing is, Ghanaian beds are so hard I thought I was sleeping on the ground up hunting with the boys. I'm going to post some pictures so you can see what I'm talking about.

Kumasi #1

These next pictures are of the countryside on our trip to Kumasi

These are rice fields
This is cooking palm kernels to produce palm oil

Load of logs
Big logs, little truck, pretty typical

All the cattle I've seen here look like this,

I think there is no nutrition in the grass

Palm tree from which palm oil comes

This is a cocoa pod, it is full of beans that produce cocoa

Cocoa is a major export from Ghana

Bananas or Plantain, they look the same growing,

but don't taste the same, you have to cook the plantain

Countryside

There is not much industry in Ghana on a large scale

most things are done in homes and by hand on the farms
This is a sewing factory

Village

Cooking yams over charcoal to sell on the street

The church is involved in building water projects and latrines for schools and communities

These boys came to see the drill rig and get their picture taken

Street scene

A future squat hole for a latrine

Back of a nice modern out house (latrine),

the chambers can be cleaned out from the back

Drill rig, they made me wear missionary attire,

but next time I'm wearing levis

Typical African water pump,

Clean water is a real blessing to a school or community

Kumasi #2

Lots of business and vehicles have religious slogans on them Even big trucks have them

Some are personal or just make you wonder what they are trying to say

Bless ya'all, ye hear

Kumasi #3

Africans can carry almost anything on their heads

Kumasi #4

Golden Tulip Hotel where we stayed in Kumasi

Sink in Hotel

Electrical and internet outlets in Africa

Electrical outlets in our apartment, lots of adapters and converters

Our Apartment

The First Few Things to Show

Getting off the plane in Accra

Our New Car

I drove it tonight, and it is a nice car to drive with lots of pep

the Accra Temple

On the Left is the Temple

Middle is apartment buildings

Right side is the Area Offices

Outside our apartment

Have you ever seen trees like these?