We awoke in the mission home to our first morning in Africa. After a quick breakfast, we loaded the little white truck we will be using for the next few months, and began the long journey into the heart of Africa. We will be serving in Ghana, in the little town of Sunyani, 8 hours from the mission home. We followed President and Sister Shulz as they led the way. Words cannot express the culture shock we were about to experience.
The road, the only road to Sunyani, is a small, two lane highway, sometimes pavement, sometimes dirt. All along, the road is filled with potholes, not the kind we are used to, but giant potholes, some the size of Volkswagen's. The cars all swerve to miss the potholes and it's really tricky if another car is coming the other way. There are no lanes -- everyone just drives where they want to go. Elder Thayne was very successful at playing "dodg'ems", but it was really scary at times. The road winds through the tropical rainforest and every now and then a little village appears. Small wooden or dirt shacks line the road and the people really stare as two cars with "obrunis" (white people) drive by.
There are no public restrooms in Ghana. It is very common, in fact a daily occurrence, to see men and even women, going to the bathroom at the side of the road. There are no garbage cans so litter is everywhere and when people are through using something, they just throw it on the ground. As we passed through each little village, we would notice the schools--open barack-type structures with no windows or doors, and all the children dressed alike. The boys as well as the girls have their hair buzzed and the only way to tell them apart is that the boys wear long shorts and the girls wear skirts.
The villages are truly dirty, but every person, adults and kids, are dressed immaculately and clean. I don't know how they emerge from a dirt shack, almost no bigger than a doghouse, and still look so clean. Everyone we saw as we drove along was spotlessly dressed.
The women in this country are incredible! They are always working. A typical Ghanaian woman wears a long, brightly colored and printed African robe, with her hair wrapped in a color-coordinated cloth. She has a small baby tied around her back with another long cloth and she is carrying a huge bundle of a variety of things (big things) on her head--and she is usually pregnant. Everyone carries everything on the head, from huge baskets of bananas, to almost the kitchen stove. They are truly a beautiful people with fine features and smooth skin. The way they carry their babies is truly ingenious. It allows both of their hands to be free, and the baby is comforted and happy on mommy's back. The US has really missed the boat not picking up on this invention! They can whip them on and off at a moment's notice. -- and the men -- they sit around and seem to do nothing.
We passed through countless little villages and finally arrived in Fumasi about 6 hours later and then met up with the Zolls who are the senior couple serving there. They are from the Pepperwood area in Salt Lake and the guys had even been snowmobiling together years ago. They will be our nearest American neighbors. We shopped a bit, because Sunyani has no meat or chicken that is edible and then began the last 2-3 hours of our journey. When we arrived at our compound that will be our home for the next few moths, all of the missionaries serving in Sunyani (10 of them) were there to welcome us. They have been in this little town with no support for the past 4 months, with just their bicycles and each other to rely on. The compound is surrounded with a 7 foot cement wall, topped with a 2 foot roll of barbed wire. You enter through a huge gate, that is locked at all times. The structure where we live is also cement, with iron bars covering all the windows and doors. Our living quarters are on one side and the chapel and classrooms are on the other. It's kind of like living in prison, but it is clean and we have air conditioning in two of the rooms.
We will be coordinating all of the missionary work in Sunyani and will be dealing with 3 Branches and one Group Unit and 10 Elders. Three of those missionaries are from the US, one from New Zealand, and the rest are from different countries in Africa. They said it would English-speaking, but we can't understand a word that's said and rely a lot on the American missionaries to translate.
The countryside is beautiful--much like Hawaii. The people are so poor, much poorer than anything we have seen in Mexico or other third-world counties, but they are happy and always smiling. The children are truly beautiful and everyone stares at us because there are no other white people here, but they are really friendly and try to make us feel welcome.
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