350 pounds of sand

Let me first start with a funny story from the other day...

I've started working out again... pause... have you stopped laughing yet? Okay, story. Running outside in Ghana always presents the normal obstacles: small window of time between when it's cool enough to be outside but before the sun goes down, Ghanaian men yelling at you and generally giving you the "once over creepy stare," wondering if today is the day my iPod is going to get stolen, etc. Nothing too dramatic or worrisome. I started around what we have titled the "Mozley loop," which takes you by the Mozley house - or whomever's house it is now. I'm about 10 minutes in to my run so I'm already pretty tired since it's only my second time out running in about a month. I turn the corner and down the road I can already see the group of kids playing, about 8 of them, and I groan. I was really not in the mood to listen to a loud chorus of, "Obruni!!!" at that point in my life. I just wanted to keep going on my run and mind my own business - I wouldn't yell at YOU if you were running by. But this time something totally unexpected happened. As I got closer to this group of kids they started cheering. CHEERING! I didn't know if they were making fun of me or what - but I didn't care. All the sudden I was surrounded by this group of kids cheering and clapping and high-fiving me! I felt like I had my own personal little cheer leading squad encouraging me on my run. It was amazing and hilarious because these kids followed me and kept cheering and high-fiving until I finally found the energy to sprint away laughing. I love the little surprises Ghana always has for me.

Okay, so 350 pounds of sand...

Yesterday, a group of us traveled up north a bit to Kitasi in the "mountains" of Ghana. People call them mountains but they're really just big hills, I think. They're mountains compared to here in Accra, I guess! One of the teachers at AIS runs an organization called "Children of the Light" for the kids in the "neighborhood" and she's in the process of clearing land and getting things ready to put in a new building and play area for them. Right now it's still in the beginning stages and yesterday our job was to bring up water and sand so that they could begin to mix cement for the foundation of the new building. First, this place is beautiful! It's far out of the city and this place is so green and beautiful that I couldn't decide if I felt more like I was in Africa because of the "jungle" feel or less like I was in Africa because of the same "jungle" feel.

Okay, so the picture to the left isn't exactly where we were doing the work but it's the one that best captures the amazing green of the area. No pictures will ever do it justice really.

Unfortunately, the best mode of transportation out there is to go by tro tro - a taxi would be expensive and that's really the only other option. The tro tro's really weren't bad but they still wouldn't be my most preferred method of travel - even though they are seriously so much cheaper. So, after getting up at 6am and spending a little more than an hour in tro tros we finally made it to Kitasi where we saw where we'd be working and the giant hill up which we were to bring as much dirt and water as we could so that workers could use it to make cement. It really wasn't that big of a hill but it was steep enough and long enough to make walking with 30-40 pounds of sand on your head rather difficult. Yep, on our heads.

Okay, seriously. Carrying things on your head makes so much sense! It really was easier than trying to man handle 30-40 pounds of sand up the hill carrying it with your arms. Now, don't get me wrong, it was by no stretch of the imagination an easy project but it was easiER on our heads than carrying it any other way. When it's on your head you get to use your whole body to carry it, which is an enormous help when you're carrying it up a large hill.

I think this picture gives the best indication of the incline of the hill. Someone timed it once as we were walking up the hill and I think it was about 3 minutes of the walk on this incline. That's not taking in to account getting to the hill and then after this part of the hill, continuing up a second part in the clearing to where we dumped the sand. (Meg, pictured, carrying water.) All in all, maybe 4-4.5 minutes of walking with the sand or water, which might not sound like a long time but until you try it I don't want to hear a word!

It really was a good time, though and it was great to be helping Jean out with her project and to hear about her vision and dream for the organization. A little manual labor never hurt anyone and it was great to get out of the city for a while and do something good.

Oh! She also had us try cashew fruit. I had no idea that cashew nuts grow #1 on a tree and #2 as part of a fruit. The nut is on top of the fruit and in it's own hard shell. Jean told us that she learned the hard way never to bit in to the shell to try and get the cashew out because you will get acid on your face that burns. You have to roast the nuts out. Anyway, the fruit was really good but VERY weird. I don't have a picture of it, I think Ben does and I'll do my best to get that from him so you can see it. The fruit is really juicy and sweet but as soon as the liquid hits your mouth it's like instant cotton mouth - sort of. That's the best way I can describe it but it's not totally accurate. It was such a weird sensation that left you smacking your tongue like you're a dog that has far too much peanut butter in his mouth. It was weird but really good.

So, a productive weekend moving sand! It was a really good time and it was fun helping Jean because I know that she really needs it and appreciates it. Check out Facebook for a ton more pictures from Kitasi!

Today has been lots of e-mailing and responding to Facebook messages - a necessary catch up day! Tonight will be spent at the Wright's house and I can't wait! They're such an amazing family and I always leave their house full of new insights about God and life - and dessert :-)

Love and miss you all at home! :-)