Back at the Lake

I've been back at the lake now for a week. i was welcomed back at Kumasi airport last sunday night by Andrew, Rebecca and Michael after a very long, interesting and somewhat stressful day of traveling so it was good to see familiar, friendly faces.

So what has this week held for me?

More awesome sunsets...


A chance to spend some time with Luiza while Lucas was in school...we decorated the 'spider web' tree in our house with little tear drop gems and a red heart for all of her family and one for me and Rebecca...


Then on Saturday there was the big matinee of 'The Sound of Music'...kinda hard to remember we are in such a remote part of Africa when you're doing something like that!!!

Today was the first i actually made it out of the compound. Rebecca and i went to the Apostolic church in Adjamam with James and Michael as Michael was preaching. My first time at this church but we were made to feel very welcome.
On our way back we stopped to buy some 'gari and beans' for Rebecca and Michael decided to try his hand at making 'banku' i dont think he quite had the knack after seeing the lady who took over after him!!

I was on lunch duty today and well the gas canister decided to give up half way through cooking our pizza's...thats never good. So thankfully Michael and James were on hand to help 2 damsel's in distress......and of course nothing to do with the fact it was their lunch cooking as well!! Tonight we took a walk to Ankaase lakeside...speaking to the chief of Atafram along the way and a quick game of football with the children in Ankaase - which we won 2-1 no thanks to any help from me!!!

It was great to be at the side of the lake again, sharing it with 4 very special people.Me, James, Anas, Becca and MichaelSome lakeside banter!!Not quite sure what Michael was doing here!!
This picture was taken only minutes after the 1st group one - thats just how quickly it gets dark here once the sun goes down!
The other 4 decided to go out to one of the small fishing 'boats' or logs but i thought it would be better to remain on dry and solid ground along with our gathering band of followers...

They even followed , singing songs all the way, as far as Atafram... ...where we said 'Da Yie'.

So it's great to be back...and im sure there will be many more tales to come.

Blessings :)

Déjà vu!!!

Today was a day that I thoroughly enjoyed and will remain with me for a long long time.

We’ve been in Togo a week now and most of us haven’t really left Lomé much…and in my case the hotel!! But today we made a journey along the coast. Our first stop was in Anecho were we had to greet the King. Not just as formal as the equivalent in Ghana but interesting none the less. One point of notice was that Pauline wasn’t allowed to wear her flip flops…she had to take them off before we went in because only the king is allowed to wear that style of shoe in the ‘kingdom’!! He was a very jovial chap and more than willing to chat to us…telling us a little of the Lawson family history (a name which is kinda like the equivalent to ‘Smith’ back home!!) and how they had descended down many years from someone who had spent much of his life in England. He even had this humongous book in which that person had kept every piece of correspondence he had ever made and which has now been published. He is from a line of Methodists so one thing we struggled with was that if he was a Christian how could he hold in line with the royal traditions of taking a second wife when he became king??!!

Me with the King of Anecho

Then we had a short lunch stop beside the meeting of the waters where a mad monkey tried to attack me. Well no it was small and cute…but it did try to attack me!!

The mad monkey!!

Our afternoon visit was to Agbodrafo which for me was an extremely surreal experience. It was in Agbodrafo that we spent two and a half weeks last year. Time spent in the church compound with the people and children as we built an extension to the school, renovated 2 other classrooms and spent time in children’s clubs. So it was very special to be back – to see the absolutely finished product and to renew friendships with people we had spent a lot of time with last year. It was amazing to see the faces of children who recognised us and just lit up as we talked to them. Many of them asked for other members of last years team by name... Pastor Wesley and Mr Mark were 2 that stuck out for me...its clear that they had a great impact on those lives to be asked for a year later.

Some of my welcoming committee!!

The site when we arrives last year(left) The site when we left last year (right)

The site as it was today!

Two pictures which were in the classroom

The whole experience held many mixed emotions for me...this was a place I honestly never thought I would see again so to finally get there having been in Togo a week I finally felt like I was back.
Back in Agbodrafo :)

That is where I would consider ‘home’ here...not Lomé...I don’t like cities at the best of times but I didn’t spend much time here and I think I left a little piece of myself in Agbodrafo when we left last year(...as I think I do with every place I visit.)

There was also another marker here for me – most definitely the mural which I had helped to paint in one of the classrooms. I just had to make sure it was there to help me realise it was all real. And it just made me smile as memories from last year cam flooding back – the painstaking process of drawing the mural, painting it – making sure not to go outside the lines...then there was the big brown smudge where Mr Wesley had managed to paint the wrong colour in the wrong place!!

The beginnings of the Mural : Moi et Mr Wesley et Moi avec Pauline

Moi with the mural a year on

So many memories came back as I wandered through the compound – but the one thing that was clear was that God is most definitely there and He is most definitely working in that place. It just amazes me to think that the witness and influence of our team could last so long and will probably outlast us – but that is not our doing, that is God using us as His hands and feet for His glory and He is still working amongst those fantastic people.

I’m just sad that I won’t be able to attend the church service tomorrow morning as I would love to be able to share with them one more time. But instead I will be preparing to fly back to Ghana and back to the lake, which I’m also very excited about – it’ll be great to be back home – we’ll home for now!! :)

Team Ireland/Togo 2008...Moi, Oliver, Elizabeth, Fidele, Pauline, Gerard et Glenn

Gerard, Moi et Fidele

Togo Update

We have been in Togo now for 5 days, so i thought i would give you a wee update about what we have been doing.

All the computers are now up and running after we managed to get french keyboards for all of them. There have now been 3 days of computer classes for a wide range of people from Children right up to older gentlemen. One thing in common is that they are all so keen to learn and often its a struggle to get them out for a lunch break or at night when we are trying to get packed up to go. What is wonderful is the absolute, pure willingness to learn new things. So Oliver and Pauline have been kept very busy.

The 2 of them actually left early this morning to travel far up north to visit some evangelists which Glenburn Methodist (Oilver's home church) have been sponsoring since our visit last year.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Glenn have been trying to gather information about the work of Zita Atohoun's Nutrition Clinic, which was the main reason for our visit. They have been trying to gather information to bring to an official conference in Japan in September. I dont know all the details so i wont try to explain, but it has been keeping them very busy.Zita outside the clinic


Today we had a quick stop off at the beach which is very beautiful and very close to our hotel...none of us braved going in but I did manage to get my feet wet!! Glenn, Elizabeth and Me

So ive now been in the Atlantic in 2 different African countries within a week!! (oh i was also approached by a young man who declared through Fidele that he was in love with me...hmm...yes!!!)

On the beach i saw one of the most awesome sand castles ive ever seen.

The sand castle in the shape of Africa

There was a young man who was more than happy to explain to us what it was. It was supposed to represent Togo within Africa and it was decorated with shells to show the symbol of independence.

Togo and the symbol of independence

There was also a huge mound which we were told was a helicopter in memory of the men who had been killed in the helicopter crash in Sierra Leone. He was having to redo it and fix it up as someone had come along and ruined it last night - i guess there are mindless vandals everywhere!

The proud sculptor with his artwork

Some Kodak moments!!!

I haven't been able to add photos over the past couple of weeks so I've updated some previous posts and thought i would just post a few pictures here to let you see some of what the Seymour Streeters got up to during their free time!!! :)

Helen and I during a wander around the villages, Atafram and Ankaase
Tom updating the blog :)

Alan and Rodney...not quite sure what to say!!

A very competitive game of Phase 10!! A lot of grudges came out here with many people being skipped with no good reason!! :) Paul went home on top of the leader board but im sure that will be changed. That wasn't the only leader board he was top of - don't ever let him tell you jokes!!!

Paul, Tom and Rodney preparing for devotions

Me and Papa Paul at Kankum

Me and Papa Tom after our final meal down on the coast
Phillip and Dorothy for whom this was a very special visit meeting up with people they hadnt seen in 28 years
Papa Leslie and Helen

Helen and I with Papa Paul in his stunning African shirt :)

Alan and Mel

And speaking of leader boards - there is one other leader board Paul is top of...being able to fall asleep literally anywhere, any time!! Although there are a few not far behind!! :)

Just for karen!!!! :)

This ones just for Karen...and i'm sorry but I can't bring it home!!!!

Back in Togo

I can hardly believe I’m back in Togo…of all the trips I’ve been involved in and countries I’ve visited this is the first time I’ve done a return visit.

It’s great to be back…vaguely recognizing buildings, streets and of course faces.

The 5 of us made the journey from Accra yesterday morning where Gerard Atohoun the director of development of the Methodist Church in Togo had met us with a minibus. The journey wasn’t too bad taking us just over 3 hours to get to the border (including another interesting toilet stop!!) but it was here that the fun began. First of all we had to leave Ghana officially, then in no mans land we were told we were not allowed to cross the border in our vehicle because it had been hired in Ghana and the driver was not allowed to cross…so we were set to walk dragging all our luggage behind us, but very generously the border guards allowed the vehicle which was picking us up on the Togolese side to come across and get packed up.
Glenn and Oliver squished in to the back of the 2nd vehicle with all our luggage!!!

At this point we still had to get our Togolese visa’s arranged – well the other 4 did as I had thankfully got mine sorted in Accra. This meant more form filling and more waiting but it went generally quite smoothly!! And there we were back in Togo a year later.

When they had arrived Pauline had stated how she thought Accra had been so different to Lomé but I hadn’t really noticed. So as we drove along the road getting closer and closer to the border I found it very strange as I noticed subtle differences and changes along the way and when we crossed the border there was definitely a different atmosphere to that in Ghana and Lomé is certainly very different to Accra. There is the same hustle and bustle, traffic etc but it certainly doesn’t seem just as developed.

Already we have had some great craic with visions of Glenn jumping up and down in his shower with his flip flops on (I’ll let you ask him about that!!), Oliver getting his ‘drugs’ mixed up and taking Tamazipan instead of paracetamol…we wondered why he was just so sleepy!!...then he found someone called Annette in his room…or was that somewhere to hang a net??!! No doubt there will be more tales to tell!

Today we are fully rested and are settling in to our wee room in the Methodist Headquarters. For me I knew I was back when I seen the wee sign above the door “Eglise Methodiste Du Togo Bloc Administratif”…it’s strange how wee markers like that can mean so much. That was the last building we were in last year before we left so I guess it holds a lot of meaning for me.

Our morning has been spent looking through and sorting out the huge mountain of equipment which came in the container via Willie Carson and the container ministry and thankfully arrived without problem.

Part of the huge mountain!!!
Aqua boxes which were in the container

There have now been 2 rooms set up with 15 computers each which will be used to train people who will then in turn be able to train others on the ECDL programme (European Computer Driving Licence) which Pauline and Oliver have been able to arrange and have even had translated in to French.
Helping to set up the computers

There is also a huge amount of clothes and blankets which will be distributed in villages in the north when Pauline and Oliver visit that region amongst other things such as hospital beds – particularly a birthing bed which we believe the Lomé hospital doesn’t even have.
It’s wonderful to see Gerard’s and others reactions when they see what’s coming out of the box next. It was commented on how his face just lit up when he seen a data projector, something they don’t have but will be able to make great use of. Gerard working at his desk

This afternoon we also got to meet the new president of the Methodist Church, Reverend Pasteur Charles Klagba. The 5 of us with the President

He has been in the position for only a month and professes to still be learning his new role but certainly seems to have great vision for taking the Togolese church forward.

So already we have been made to feel so welcome and as if it was only last month we were here not last year.

So as you continue to pray for me please remember the other 4 here with me in Togo, Gerard our host, Charles Klagba and the work of the Methodist church here.

Continue to give thanks that the Seymour Street team has returned home safely and for all the experiences they have had and how they relate that to people at home as well as trying to settle back in to ‘normality’.

Also continue to pray for the work of the clinic and for the workers who are still on site working on the expansion.

One team leaves...and another team arrives

So to sum up today in one word...it's been an emotional roller coaster!!! ;o)

But seriously it has been...the past 2 and a half weeks have been a superb time of fun, fellowship, friendship, massages!!, learning, teaching and building. I could go on but i'll stop there.

Being an emotional soul doesnt help matters. So there was a tearful goodbye as the Seymour Street posse disappeared in through the departure lounge doors, They should in fact be boarding just as im typing this - so i pray they may have a safe journey home.

But i didnt have long to ponder as not much more than an hour later i was back at the airport picking up the Togo team who have arrived safely. And God willing we will be travelling by road across to Togo tomorrow morning.

So my next blog will be from Lome - may the next part of the adventure begin :)