NYFC Ghana 2006 Mission

Re-Entry made easy! by Kim

2006-08-22T21:31:00.000-04:00

So how do you make re-integration easier? You get a new member of the family. That's right we have a new baby girl, she is an 8 week old Labradoodle and she will be coming to the party on the 27th. As for her name, what is the one word you say more than any other to puppies??? That's right her name is Darbi (Ghanian word for no). We say Darbi, Darbi, Darbi a lot!
Puppy Kisses (and Puppy Breath) to you all,
K

NEWS ALERT

2006-08-21T14:52:00.002-04:00

Todd Purvis of CHEX Television out of Peterborough just did an extensive interview with Daryl and Sarah in regard to the mission. Todd is hoping to air it tonight on the 6pm and 11pm news. Watch it if you can. We'll also tape it so that you can watch it on the 27th if you want.

How are you all doing?

2006-08-17T09:57:00.000-04:00

Well I guess we have been home now for about a week and a half. It feels like I have been here for a month with all the stuff that has been fit in since we arrived in Canada. I remember noticing the difference in pace when we got there but coming back here really reminds you of how fast we live our lives and how much stuff we try to cram into the smallest possible chuncks of time. I really miss the laid back kind of living. Its not like we weren't always busy there, its just that it wasn't a rushed busy. It was a take your time, enjoy life and get there when you do, busy... *sigh* how to teach us North Americans...

I was ok for the first few days. Being away from a group that you had been cooped up with for over a month was a little much some days and so having a few days where I could litterally be on my own and go where ever I wanted was nice. I do however, really miss everyone now. I can't wait unitl the 27th, remind me to book that day off work... I'll do it tomorrow! LOL. I think it will be great to see everyone and connect again to discuss how everyone's doing and reflect on the life changing experience we have just encountered. Everyone can look forward to a little treat we enjoyed the last week in Ghana, after almost every meal thanks to Matt, when we have our Pot Luck. I managed to get the recipee to a certain something everyone enjoyed, and I will try to make up a few batches for us, maybe an extra batch for Matt!

I Hope everyone is doing well, not missing Ghana too much. It would be totally unreasonable to ask one to not miss it at all, but I hope that it does not depress anyone to be away from our loving home in Africa. Nadia - You getting ready for University? Steve - How long 'till you travel next? Back to New Zealand, Ghana, a new place... how long will it take you to get on another plane? LOL. Miss you man.

I cannot wait to see you all on the 27th of Aughust. It will be a great reunion. I hope Bobowen shows up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ's Holy and Loving Name,

Your Brother and Friend, Josh

P.S. I would just like to thank the whole leadership team, especailly Daryl and Hope for all that you guys did for us, in Ghana, and back before we left. This mission would obviously not have been possible without the leadership of you 5 beautiful people, and I know that the whole team is proud and so thankful for all of you. Daryl, Hope, Sarah, Kim, and Jason... you are all a blessing to the rest of the team, and the people we served. You will always be in my heart. God Bless You All! See you in a few weeks!

Round 2 is a different creature

2006-08-14T22:54:00.000-04:00

(From Sarah(thedoula))

Breakfast is very quiet. I think I notice that meal most because I'm actually eating breakfast these days. I'm not normally a breakfast girl but 30+days of it have hopefully created a habit. Yesterday I cooked eggs and toast. Poured orange juice and brewed coffee. Got it all laid out on the table. Sat down and thought "Wow. It's quiet."

I've definately been taking my time getting back into the swing of things here in Canada. I almost typed "here at home"..... but the compound in Ghana was home as well.

While I am certainly grateful for hot running water, washing machines, cream for my coffee and so on.... life in Ghana wasn't that bad. It felt normal in fact. And this life here in Canada is just a different normal. Round 2 of returning home (round 1 being the 2000 mission) is really a different creature and I'm not sure what else to say about that. Because I don't want it to sound like I didn't miss my friends and family and the comforts of Canada - I did. Just not so much that I felt I needed to come back to them right away this time.

I need to connect with some pregnant women soon. I spent so much time at the clinic during our last few days in Ghana, that I think I'm going through some sort of 'birth junkie' withdrawl.

I am an introvert who truly enjoys my time alone......

but I miss all of you....

I can't wait to see you and hug you. I'll even check out any blisters or scrapes you have. :)

This post is making me kinda teary - I think I'll go to bed now.

Sweet dreams my friends.

Back home with the Weese's

2006-08-14T15:44:00.000-04:00

We've been home, in Canada, a week today. I did catch myself calling
the compound home during a conversation yesterday, though! If home is
where your heart is, then in some way, Ghana is a bit like home. The
beautiful country and the wonderful people who live there definately
captured a piece of my heart. I could definately see myself going back
to serve there. My mind is still wandering on a regular basis!
Everything from food, mealtime, church, traffic, work, laughter and
friendship to African gutters comes to my thoughts.

We really appreciated our transition time in Lodon! I could hardly
believe I was able to sit outside in my bare feet with a cup of coffee
in the garden! The idea of having a warm shower for as long as I wanted
was a little conflicting. It felt very luxurious but also a little
guilt inducing. I'm glad that some of these firsts were made before
coming home. We sure felt pampered by our brothers and sisters who
cared for us in London. They didn't even turn us away when Sarah, Diane
and I arrived over and hour late from our day of touring the city! We
are very thankful for everyone's kindness!

I am beginning to get my feet back on the ground at home. I really miss
the red dirt, though! I don't really miss washing it out of my clothes
in a bucket! My washer and I are getting re-aquainted! I'm determined
not to let Lawrence forgot that he's capable of doing his own laundry.
It seems he's adjusting a little easier than I am. It has been a little
rough switching gears from team mate to Mom and wife. Christopher has
been staying pretty close - sleeping beside my bed on the floor!
Benjamin keeps wrapping his long arm around me to say "I really missed
you Mom". They both grew and their clothes I brought home for them
barely fit! Lawrence Sr. on the other hand worked very hard on cleaning
out and demo-ing our old garage and got a little smaller! He took such
good care of our house and family. He's taken such good care of me
since I got home! I hope everyone else has had a good transition, as
well. I'm sure we've all not been our "usual" selves. We may have to
create a new "usual". You really can't have such a huge experience
without being changed in some way! Things happen when you follow a
calling!

Thanks for checking in! May God richly bless you!
Penny

A little something from Kim

2006-08-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Ghana Family,

Well we are home and much to everyone's surprise the cats not only didn't destroy anything (well, anything I have found yet) but they are already talking to me. We have received e- mails from Patrick, Jackson and Paul wanting to make sure we are all home safe. We also received an e-mail from Brenda and Ron (our hosts in London) they wanted me to pass on the following...

We greatly enjoyed having you to stay with us It was so good to hear of all your experiences in Ghana We in turn felt privileged and blessed having you all here even though it was a flying visit It was also good to have the whole group here together with their host families on Saturday evening Thanks to all of you as well for Sunday morning Both times a great blessing to us all It is so good to share fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ Please give our best wishes to the whole group We pray that the Lord will richly bless you all as you continue your work for Him through the work of Y.F.C

On a more personal note... I miss you all please feel free to e-mail or call whenever you want... Oh, Daryl could you please send out a contact list I can't find one on my e-mail history?

Peace be with you, my brothers and sisters,

Love K

FROM DIANE...

2006-08-09T21:08:00.000-04:00

Hey there to all,
It is good to be home.

Just wanted to let everyone know that on Tuesday August 8th at 430pm I received a phone call in my apt. The person at the other end of the phone said, "Is this Diane????" It was Samuel, Comfort and George from Africa phoning me in Canada. They wanted to make sure that everyone was fine and that we made it home safe and sound (it was 830pm Africa time).

Joshua's cold is much better and things there are quite busy as they have the conference going on right now. They all send there love and they REALLY miss us there.

They wanted to know, "are you well?" I said we are all fine. It was nice to hear from Africa today. Need to go, God bless. Diane.

WE'RE BACK!!

2006-08-07T17:56:00.000-04:00

Hey there,

We are back in Canada safe and sound....a bit groggy and in need of food and sleep, but we are here.

Thank you so much, everyone for your support and prayers, comments and encouragement...they are all appreciated.

Over the next few weeks we will post new pictures, stories and videos as fast as we can, so please keep checking in.

Blessings and peace to you all....off to nap and eat.

Daryl

FROM LONDON

2006-08-06T03:47:00.000-04:00

Good morning everyone!!

It is Sunday morning here and we are staying at a series of wonderful homes in Chingford, Walthamstow area in the northeast of London.

We arrived quite safely close to 7:am London time yesterday. There were some adventures getting to our billets as we took the underground to travel diagonally across the city. Because the price of leaving our bags at the airport would have been prohibitive (about $500USD) we had to take most with us and only leave the largest. That meant scrambling with our heavy bags through trains and buses with far more transfers than normal due to construction and therefore a ton more walking. What should have been an hour journey to our billets was over two. And since we did not clear the airport until after 9:00am, it was almost noon by the time we got there. We were exhausted to say the least.

Our billets are wonderful and gracious....obviously gifted in hospitality as well. They fed us right away, gave us time to nap and then we met as a team for a few hours of de-brief and discussion. After this our billets picked us up an took us to a home which hosted a wonderful reception for us and our hosts (about 30 people or so) and then to bed for a good night sleep.

Shortly we will be heading to church where we will take about 1/2 of the service, and then we will head into the centre of London and be tourists for the afternoon.

We fly our tomorrow and then home.

On that note - I think that Kapteyns, John Stanford, Weeses, Stogryns, Veits, Andrew and Dawn will be at the airpost to meet us. If not....well, we've just come back from Ghana and we are used to the un-expected, so we'll run with what happens!

Once we get through the airport inspections and such, we will need to gather for a moment before anyone leaves just to make sure that we can say good bye to each other in a less rushed way.

So! We'll see you tomorrow.

And please continue to check the blog over the next few weeks as we post more pictures, video material etc....

Later

Daryl

LAST POST FOR NOW!

2006-08-04T11:56:00.000-04:00

Well friends,

The buses are being loaded as I write. The tears are flowing freely as are the notes and addresses...and gifts. Mostly hugs.

The ants continue to crawl out of my laptop as I type (what an ironic state....laptops and ants...oh well, a good cleaning at home will be in order.)

Anyway....this is not the fun part of our mission, the leaving, but we go, leaving much behind.

talk to you on the other side.

Blessings

Daryl and the team in Ghana.

Hey from Josh

2006-08-04T06:22:00.000-04:00

Hey!

So today is the last day in Ghana. We are leaving the compound here around 4:00pm but you know, we are on Ghanaian time still!!! LOL! I am excited to be coming home and to visit London, England but it will be hard to leave this home. It has been a wonderful experience and the people here have really made this feel like a home away from home for all of the team.

Guess what! (those who know me will be in shock) I read 4 (FOUR) books while here. 2 of them were in the last two days. I read two books in two days. I did hours of reading as we did not have a lot to do these last few days.

So Mom and Dad and Sarah… I will not be calling from London, no one will be calling from London. It is not recommended by the team leaders as it will take away from the focus of what our little stay in London is all about, the debriefing! So though I said I will probably call you guys from England, I won’t be. I might get a chance to use the internet at my billets’ house, but who’s to know. It will only be a few days there and then I’ll see you all.

I miss you all very much and am very excited to see all of you, especially you SARAH!!! LoL (GK)… We’ll see you around 4:30 pm on August 7^th, that’s the estimated time of getting out of customs and getting all of our luggage. Miss you all and please keep our journeys in your prayers. Some of the team is still maybe a little antsy about flying (personally I don’t mind it). Like I said can’t wait to get home and see all of you and share all of our stories. This was an amazing experience I wouldn’t trade anything in the world for but it will be good to be home now! Signing off from Ghana, West Africa for the last time, Josh. TTYL!

LOVE YOU SARAH <3<3<3GKs<3<3<3

Re-entry

2006-08-03T19:12:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks,

This may be our last post from Ghana, and maybe th lst one we get to do before coming home.

We will try to get on one more time, from Ghana and we do not know if we will have any time in England to do so - so if you don;t here from us until we get off the plane, don't worry - every thing is fine.

Have you seen the movie Apollo 13? Do you recall the scenes where the astronauts are finally on their way home, and must prepare to, then actually re-enter, earth's atmosphere? Pretty intense. Coming home after a mission trip is similar in some ways. You wrap up with where you are, you prepare for the journey, you make the journey, and before you know it it seems like you are hurtling uncontrollably from one world to another. The atmosphere, the smells, the people.... everything changes. Your feet touch ground and suddenly you are supposed to step right back into the life you left. But you can't really, because you've just returned from another world, and you're not the same person you were when you left.

Some of your friends and family are okay with the changes, some don't notice at all, while others want you to go back to being the person they were familiar with before your journey. As the "astronaut" returned home, you're 'supposed' to have wonderful stories to share... but sometimes it takes a while to make sense of your experience in another world, and even longer to figure out how to articulate that story in a way that is true and understandable.

With this in mind, we would like to offer some helpful suggestions for families and friends of the returning missionaries. These suggestions are intended to help those returning home do so in a responsible manner and help those receiving the returnees to soften the landing. The suggestions we offer come not only out of our own past experiences but on the advice of many who have engaged in a short-term immersion-style mission project.

First, it's important that the people returning have an opportunity for safe space. Oftentimes a returnee will seem very weepy and emotionally down. Don't take it personally. Think of it as the "post-Christmas blues" magnified.

Second, please remember that there will be lots of time to share stories. In fact, you might get a better story, if you wait a while. There will be many questions which will be relatively easy to answer; questions about food, driving, accommodations, construction work. However, even these simple questions can bring about a strong emotional response from the team member. Please don't be surprised if this happens, and be patient. It is a normal part of processing the enormous amount of information a team member has taken in over the last month (they did visit a new world after all!)

Third, fatigue is a reality. There is jet lag, and the emotional impact of having spent a month in constant service and constant relationship building. Please allow team members time to sleep, time to 'chill', and time to be alone. We know you've missed them, but some team members may require more time by themselves than you are used to seeing them take.

If you want to make them really happy - find out what they were craving while they were in Ghana and find it for them! In our discussions we've covered topics ranging from favorite doughnut to favorite places to drive.

We don't want to belabour this point, so we'll close with this simple suggestion:

Recall times when you or friends have experienced things like the post-Christmas blues, baby blues, the sadness of a close friend leaving.... and remember that for the next while the team members will need your patience as they adjust to being home.

A last word regarding our time in England:
I understand that some team members were planning to phone home once we reached the UK. Please be aware that this is not part of our plan for the teams time in England, nor is it a particularly good idea. The debrief period between the incountry work and arriving home is a crucial part of processing the experience. This requires the total focus of the team. Our experience has shown us more than once that a phone call home magnifies the sense of homesickness and emotionally removes the team member from the debriefing process. They really need this "time in between" to re-enter well. Everyone on the team and at home will benefit. Don't worry - you'll see them soon!!!

Oh - and for those picking people up at the airport, we have just confirmed the flights and we will arrive on Monday August 7th on British Airways flight 93 at about 2:15pm. See you there!

Daryl

Update from Sarah August 3

2006-08-03T19:10:00.000-04:00

Good evening. I must give the disclaimer up front, that this post contains "birth talk". I.E. Discussions of various fluids and functions that you may not want to know about. While I think it's fascinating, if you are squeamish or otherwise disinclined towards birth stories, I advise you to skip this post altogther. Now that you have been duly warned.....

Last night we threw a party for our Ghanaian friends. Things were just getting started when Richard (one of the night watchmen) came to me and said a man from the clinic was here for me. The runner sent up by the clinic came to say that there was a woman in labour and they would like me to come. I gathered up a few things (change of clothes, water bottle, hand sanitizer, gloves, snacks, face shield) and headed out.

There were two women in labour - Joyce was by herself, did not speak any English, 4cm dilated, and this would be her third birth. Faustina was with her husband and sister, speaks and understands some basic English, only 1.5 cm and this would be her first birth.

After introducing myself to both women, explaining why I was there, and asking their permission to be present, I settled into supporting Joyce through her contractions (all this was translated through the midwives and then through the clinic night watchman, as the midwives did not speak much of the Joyce's language - Ga). Joyce found that deep pressure on her sacrum made a big difference. We also walked around, while very loud Ghanaian soap operas played on the t.v. in the main area, and goats roamed the front steps.

Joyce's contractions were coming about every 2-3 minutes, and lasting 60-90 seconds. She was very calm and relaxed. I could tell that her contractions were getting more and more difficult by the depth of her breaths and rolling of her head back and forth. The two midwives and nightwatchman came out to where we were and said "We must go to the village for supplies. We will be back." And off they went, leaving me entirely in charge of the clinic and two labouring women! Wow. As I sat with Joyce, I realized she was in transition, and that given how quickly her labour was progressing, birth could be imminent. The supplies were not set up in the birth room, and because of the "sparseness" of the clinic, I had no idea how they actually did things, or where anything was. As I was contemplating moving Joyce to the birth room, the midwives returned. Phew.

Within a couple contractions Rebecca (soon to be head midwife at the clinic) said she would set up the supplies. Once the room was ready Joyce walked back and got on the table for an internal exam. She was fully dilated and her bag of waters was bulging, so Rebecca ruptured it. The closest description I can give is a balloon full of water exploding - fortunately I got out of the way in time! The water was lightly stained with meconium, but the midwives were not concerned. Rebecca said to me "Please. Put your gloves on. We would like you to deliver the baby." I had only been up at Joyce's head, but had my gloves ready in my pocket. I proceeded to put on my gloves, but said "You may catch the baby - I will just watch." At this point the baby's head emerged, and Esther, the secondary midwife said to me "Come quickly and deliver", then stepped away from Joyce. I reached over just in time to catch the slippery little guy as he slithered out healthy and happy. I placed him on Joyce's abdomen, and Esther proceeded with clamping the cord. Joyce gave birth to a 3.4kg boy at 11:56pm on Tuesday August 1. Esther then said "Please take the baby to the table." So I managed to navigate getting him (long cord, clamp and all) over to the table where they would weigh him etc. Because of the high risk of disease, and the scarcity of gloves, it is necessary for the midwives to wash the infants fairly quickly after the birth in order to protect themselves. Esther then administered a dose of oxytocin into Joyce's thigh, to help with the delivery of the placenta and help prevent post-partum bleeding. Because of the high incidence of anemia (which can lead to excessive post-partum blood loss) oxytocin is standard practice at the clinic. Once the baby was clean and wrapped up snugly (it was a cool rainy night), I helped Joyce get her baby well-latched on to the breast, where we suckled happily until it was time for his oral polio vaccine to be administered. All in all - a pretty wonderful evening.

I slept the night at the clinic in case Faustina's labour progressed, which it did not. At 5:30am Rebecca had me listen to the fetal heart rate through the fetoscope and tell her what I thought. I said that I did not have experience to do that, but she said to listen anyway. I listened carefully and watched the clock - the FHR was a little more than 2 beats per second, but less than 3 beats per second, and steady. I told Rebecca this, and she said "Good. Good.". Faustina decided to stay at the clinic for the day, because she is from a nearby village and did not want to travel. Daniel (YFC staff who has been staying with us) and Abraham (helping in the kitchen) drove down and picked me up at 7am, so I could rest for a few hours (and by "rest", I mean: eat breakfast, do laundry, check on the cuts and scrapes of team members, tidy the first aid supplies, re-pack my bag for the day, shower, and catch a 20 minute nap).

I was called at 11:30am to go back to the clinic to teach the TBA's (traditional birth attendants). It was supposed to happen Tuesday, then it got changed to Thursday, and ended up being today - Wednesday. Yesterday morning I sat in on the midwives visits with women and answered any questions they had (both the midwives and the women - nothing too complex) Both yesterdays clinic time, and todays teaching, went well. The teaching is another post of it's own still to come. Two fetish priestesses were among the attendees, and two of the TBA's received their knowledge of birth through dreams/visions the night before a woman showed up at their door wanting help. Around 2:30pm I walked the 30 minutes home (accompanied by two members of Joseph & Theodora's church who lived nearby and happened to come out just as I was settng out). Had a quiet afternoon.

Now I am waiting for the call to go back again for Faustina's birth. I have a mobile phone in my pocket and am listening carefully for it to ring, or for there to be a knock at the gate if they send a runner for me.

When the team members saw me today they said I was 'glowing'. While it might have just been sweat from the walk, it might have been the joy I feel too. What an awesome privilege I have received. Thanks for sharing the journey with me.

Update from Diane

2006-08-02T18:49:00.000-04:00

Hey there. I hope that everyone is well and that you are all enjoying the Africa weather that you seem to be getting. It is raining here and last night I was cold enough for the first time that I needed to get up and actually put on a pullover and socks to sleep. It’s hard to believe that the mission is coming to a close. We had a wonderful party last night (Tuesday) for our friends from Ghana. We all gathered in the building that we had finished putting the roof on and played drums and sang and danced. And as I sat in the circle of the new friends that I have made this month, I cried with joy. I concluded that if heaven is going to feel anything like this, than I am sooooooo way there!!!! It is with great sadness that I have to leave this wonderful place that I have learned to call home. The view of the ocean is breathtaking, as well as the many different sounds that I wake up to each day. Did our last shopping at the cultural market place today and had to say good bye to the people that we met there. Drank Malta at the snack spot on the way to the bus, and then a final wave. Andrew, I will look forward to seeing you real soon and miss you a great deal (you will be there, right?). Thanks for the notes on the blog and the update on the church. I think of you often as wonder what you are doing. Oh yes, I have the wedding dress !!!!!!!!! About Atah…..he is a kind man and one that works on the constructions site here. Received your picture, actually the entire team received your picture……Also need to talk about the conversation that you had with Issac as we were leaving to go. Lets just say that Issac and I have gotten to know each other really well this month and things may never be the same again.

Tracy, thanks for the note and I am having a blast getting to know “Joshie”. Family gatherings will forever be different. Need to run as I am sitting on Penny’s bed typing and my damp clothes are waiting to get organized into my bag to pack for England. It continues to rain…please pray for lots of sun and heat so that our clothes can dry on the line before we have to pack them. Love to everyone and I will see you real soon (Lawrence, I will be at your house more in the fall as Penny and I have now spent an entire month together getting to know each other………how are the renovations going???????????) To the Church of the Ascension, I have truly felt your prayers this month. It is a great comfort to know that you are there at the other side of the ocean praying for the work that we do. It is appreciated.

God bless you all, Diane.

link...

2006-08-02T13:11:00.000-04:00

ABOUT THE LINK TO VIDEO.

I am not sure what the problem is, so i suggest that people cut and paste the web address to view the video. The link worked from here and a couple others got it to work too...but maybe the cut and paste would be the best.

I will check it out and see if i can repair as well.

D

Babies and Rain!

2006-08-02T12:41:00.000-04:00

HI folks,

It's 4:30ish pm here in Ghana, and we just finished lunch. (a bit late, but we were slow getting back from the city)

The big news is this. Sarah, our intrepid Doula, got a call last night (by call, we mean that a runner was sent up from the village to deliver a message) saying that she was needed at the clinic to assist with a woman in labour....and so she went, in the rain and stayed the whole night! (Babies come on Ghanaian time!) The end result!!!... a beautiful baby boy and a very exited Doula! Yeah for all!!!!

The other news includes a prayer request.

The good news begins with the fact that we did not lose a single day of work due to weather. We are excited by that, especially since it has been raining constantly since we stopped work!!

The prayer request is not because we are disliking the rain, but because we have a special need. Please pray for sun and wind tomorrow so that our laundry will dry! We did a big load after work on the site yesterday, got it on the line and it has rained hard every time our laundry is near dry. We need clothes for our return home and short stay in England.

Thanks....

More still to come............... Daryl

NOTES FROM NATHAN

2006-08-01T05:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks Mom...

Where would we be without our parents. I, for one, would not be in Ghana, and as a result my life would not be quite so exciting so... Thanks Mom. (Someone once told me you could get four days out of one clean pair... Haven't been brave enough to test said theory though...)
Well, we're nearing our final few days in Ghana. Some are finding it difficult to focus on being here when they're beginning to think of being back home. I am trying my very hardest to enjoy being in this place right up until the last minute. This is not hard for me though, as sad as it sounds I try to imagine I will never come back, then I am sure to make every minute count.

Anyway...

Planning to visist Accra Honda tomorrow...that should be QUITE an experience. I'll get lots of pics for the guys back in Cobourg. Thanks again Jim for letting me take the extra time, hope you didn't find anyone to replace me. I'll be back soon, I can't wait to build up the skin on my fingers again.

See you all soon
Nathan (Stogy III)

NOTES FROM HOPE

2006-08-01T05:58:00.000-04:00

So...Nathan and I just had adelightful half hour reading everyone's notes. Then he informed me he really should have been doing laundry, cuz the only clean underwear he has needs to be pinned on......could lead to some interesting comments on the worksite tomorrow!!! I have rather enjoyed only being responsible for my own laundry.....well, occaisionally I take pity on Daryl and do his....

So tomorrow is our last "work day". Nadia is a little emotional about that last shovel full of concrete. Tomorrow night we are throwing a big party for all the people who have supported us here. Lots of minerals (pop), tampico (like Sunny-D only better), malta (defies description), Snappy (a coated peanut), and of course chocolate are on the menu. I'm afraid there will be lots of drums too.....

It's bed time and Nathan wants to blog (instead of doing laundry...)

Love to you all, Hope

NEW VIDEO

2006-08-01T05:38:00.000-04:00

Hey there in Canada and around the world!!!

We have a new video ready for download. It shows the progress on the floor we were pouring. (note the use of the word "were")

We are DONE THE FLOOR.....I'll get you more stats later but to give you and idea, it goes like this:

We spent 12 days of mixing and pouring concrete dedicated to getting the floor done (second floor if you recall).
and average of 90 wheelbarrows of finished concrete per day (which means we pushed about 180 wheelbarrows of material per day, because we had to move the materials first to create the mix. (mmm....how many wheelbarrows of concrete is that??)
Each wheelbarrow had an average of 13 head pans of concrete in it.
Each head pan wieghed between 15 and 20 pounds each.

When I wrote about concrete the last time we had poured about 30 cubic yards.....since then we have poured about another 15 to 20.... (but who's counting :)

Today is the last day on the worksite. We are cleaning up, removing forms and laying blocks. More pics to come.

Tonight WE throw a party for our Ghanaian team....should be fun.

Gotta run - they are working without me right now.

The video is at www.nyfc.org/ghana2006.htm click on the link to download.

Enjoy.

Blessings

Daryl

PS - we have accomplished about two times what they expected us to do. Be proud of your friends and family here, they have represented you well and served hard.... and they are not done yet!!

FROM SARAH...

2006-08-01T03:04:00.000-04:00

Sorry I haven’t posted since that first one a couple weeks ago – when you are keeping track of the cuts, scrapes, aches, and pains of 16 other people you don’t find yourself with much time to spare at the computer! As I type, (8:10am Ghana time) the rest of the team is out on the worksite for their last day of “hard labour”. This morning I am teaching a workshop down at the clinic, and so have a few minutes to spare for the computer before I go! This is a long one so put your feet up…..

I believe I told you all about the time Hope & I spent at the clinic helping with infant immunizations. When I left off, the plan was for me to take part in some home visits with the Community Health Nurses (CHN) the following week. This being Africa and all though, plans changed!

On Saturday the 22nd I popped down to the clinic for a few minutes to drop off a book for them “A Book For Midwives” by the Hesparian Foundation. As we pulled out of the clinic driveway a woman was walking in. She gave birth to twins later that day. One was 2.8 and the other was 3.2…not pounds but KILOGRAMS!

On Monday the 24th I went down to the clinic to meet Evelyn the head midwife, and find out if there was anything I could do for them/with them etc. She had been called away, so I assisted the CHN’s with their month end reports for the Government. I also learned more about how they assist with Family Planning. I’d spent a bit of time with them, when the other two midwives (Esther and Rebecca) called for me, as they wanted me to “consult” with them on a patient. Eek! This could be anything! A young woman 22 weeks pregnant was having a lot of back pain. The midwives having already ruled out the medical possibilities, concluded it was muscle-related and wanted to know what I would tell her to do, as they did not know. I talked (with the midwives interpreting) to her about some postural issues while working around home, while sleeping, etc. The midwives were absolutely delighted that I was able to give some simple suggestions “We would have just said ‘We are sorry. There is nothing we can do’ and sent her home.”

[…..pause in the typing… somebody just came in with a scraped up wrist from a tumble out on the roof…. It is cleaned, has antibiotic cream, sterile gauze pad and tape….. they’re back to work and I’m back to typing!.......]

I was just finishing talking with the young woman and the midwives when the CHN’s came to the door and said they needed me for a moment. I went back to their little office, where they had lunch spread out for us. Thick grey porridge type something, and a fried brown something. Oh my. They wanted me to try traditional food that the average person down in the village would eat, so had brought millet porridge (apparently it is highly nutritious) and akala (a fried bean dumpling). The millet porridge was unlike anything I had had before, and I drank a lot of it (about 2 cups worth because that is what they brought for me!) I was a bit concerned about the safety of the food, but decided that since they were CHN’s they were unlikely to stear me wrong. By the time lunch was done there were only a few minutes left until I was going to be picked up so I headed in to let the midwives know I was leaving. They said “Why have you spent all morning with the CHN’s? We wanted you to spend time with us too!”. Oops. I made arrangements to come back the next afternoon.

I spent Tuesday afternoon talking with the midwives about non-medical methods for easing labour pain and helping labour progress. Even things as simple as hot or cold compresses were new to them. The schooling they receive is very medical-focused, but they do not have the material resources which they are taught they need. For instance, they have been taught to use a Fetal Heart Rate Monitor during labour, but they don’t have a monitor (or the paper, or the ultrasound jelly, or even reliable electricity) to use, so they feel like they have nothing. They’ve been taught that the ONLY position acceptable for giving birth in is lithotomy (ie flat on your back with your legs in the air), even though they could see that for women who were tired especially, that position was very difficult. They were so excited when I told them that if the mother was comfortable being in a position, and they the midwives were comfortable ‘catching’ in that position, then whatever position the mother naturally assumed was probably fine. Yes, there are times when a particular posture is more or less advantageous. But the look of relief on their faces when they realized the women did not have to lie flat was wonderful! We then spent some time in the birthing room looking at what they had and seeing how things could be arranged to be more ‘user-friendly’ for both the midwives and the birthing women. Did you ever imagine a walker for an elderly person would get wedged into a bed and become a squat bar?

Kokrobite Community Clinic serves 6 area villages, and has 3 midwives (I senior, one middle, and one student). In each of the villages there are also Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA’s) who assist the women in their homes. I’m not entirely clear on all this, as I was told earlier that many women birth without support.

[…pause in the typing again… banged knuckle of someone on the worksite….. cleaned, antibiotic cream, bandaid and tape…. That ought to keep it reasonably safe until they are done on the worksite for the day. The CHN’s said it was very important for us to keep all wounds covered when outdoors, as there are many ‘unfriendly’ organisms in the dirt, and a lot of that dust is in the air. We are more cautious here than we would be with blisters and such at home]

Back to the TBA’s…. Once a month the midwives hold a workshop for the TBA’s, to help them develop their skills and to build bridges. Often a woman will not come to the clinic until she is absolutely exhausted and the TBA can do no more. The TBA then goes home and sends the woman with her husband or a neighbour to the village. Today the midwives have asked me to teach the workshop, and be available to answer any questions the TBA’s have. I am excited that I can help build the bridge between the TBA’s and the clinic midwives. Well, the computer just gave me a low battery signal so I’m done for now.

Sarah(thedoula)

WEDDINGS??

2006-07-31T17:31:00.000-04:00

Hi folks,

Well...one day last week, we thought that we might try an environmentally friendly project...and so we designed a weddings dress for Diane out of recycled materials. (Very Ghanaian...to use things completely until they are totally worn out!)

Anyway - Atta, one of our Ghanaian team, was so impressed (and he was already wearing the right stuff) that he thought he would just step right in and make it official.....sorry Andrew.

your can view the result at www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/wedding.html

They make a nice couple don't you think??

MORE TO COME SOON.... it's been a busy day.

Daryl

Post from Diane (Wednesday July 26, 2006)

2006-07-30T16:21:00.000-04:00

Hello to everyone. Things are great. Visited 2 schools this morning (6:00am we had to leave). It was fun and seeing the children was really cool. They all literally crowd into a building that is unfinished with only cement walls, no finished floors or windows and try to sit on chairs, at one point there was four children sitting on a chair. They are completely in awe with the fact that we are from Canada and think that it is far away. We teach them a song (Our God is Up To Something) with actions and they love it and wish that we could do more. It is absolutely wonderful to see them smile. They are so happy and constantly reach to take a hold of our hands as we walk by. The food is an adventure and today I had Banku for the first time……very interesting texture. Josh and I made it through. I have learned how to play Ampe the other day. It’s a game that is much like rocks and sissors that children play, except harder than you think and requires you to think about what you are going to do. The children are laughing with me at the moment as I stumble through the process of learning. Need to run but will write more later.

God Bless you all, Diane.

PS Andrew….tried the wedding dress on and will pick it up next week.

..From Josh

2006-07-30T16:02:00.001-04:00

Hey everyone… especially Haley and Frazer today!

Happy Birthday you two! Haley I really miss you but I will be home soon to wish you a live happy birthday! Frazer… Hope you’re having a good day! Wish I was there to celebrate with you. We’ll have to have a huge party when I get home!

Hey to everyone else too! Hi Aunt Chichi!!! Didn’t know you were coming down. Don’t know when you’re leaving either but hope it was a good visit and that Aunt Ruth is getting better. She, as are all the rest of you, is in my prayers.

Sarah I miss you so much, but even though it will be hard to leave, there is only one week tomorrow till we land in Toronto! I can’t wait to see everyone – Love You Lots Sarah (GK!)<3<3<3<3(GK!)

See you all soon,

Josh

Back from Kumasi safe and sound

2006-07-30T16:02:00.000-04:00

Greetings Everyone,

The Team arrived back this evening after 6pm from Kumasi after a great weekend.
Everyone is tired with loads of laundry to do. So we will post a longer update in the days to
come.

-Jas

OUT OF CONTACT FOR A BIT

2006-07-27T18:37:00.000-04:00

Hi gang!

As the Orchards just wrote - we will be travelling to Kumasi for a few days and will therefore not likely be able to post anything for a bit. So.. if you don't see anything new until Monday at the earliest - don't panic, we are fine.... just on a road trip.

Blessings to you all, talk again next week.

This is the Wawa Team...singing off for now!

Daryl

A Quickie from the Orchard!!!

2006-07-27T18:27:00.000-04:00

A Quickie from the Orchard!!!

Hello family and friends … now that the end is in sight I miss you all a little bit more! Tomorrow we travel to Kumasi to have a little break from worksite life (I will miss all of the people here who have become like family, the care takers, the kitchen staff, the guards, Joshua the baby and Theodocia the angel). I am glad we still have another week to prepare ourselves for leaving them and the Ghana YFC staff (I know there will be tears, and not just from Daryl). Anyway this is going to be a short one I just wanted to let you all know we are doing Great … very buff (for the senior set that doesn’t mean naked, it means we all have smaller bellies and larger muscles).

Much love to you all Oh I almost for got Carla what did you want me to bring home for you? … Write back soon there isn’t much time and if it is chocolate please specify which flavor.

Peace and Ant-Free Granola (sometimes)

Kim

Comment problems???

2006-07-26T19:07:00.000-04:00

Hi There,

YES TRACY...it appears we were on at the same time!

A couple of comments have suggested that people are having trouble leaving comments.

If I understand this rightly - you need to go to the end of any post, click the word "Comments" and then enter a comment. After that, you need to scroll down and a funny looking series of letters will appear which you must copy into the window provided - this is a security feature - then post your comment.

Hope this helps - if not....sorry!

Anyway - it is late and everyone else is in bed after our "day off!"

Must run - back atcha tomorrow!!

Daryl

From Hope...July 26th

2006-07-26T18:44:00.000-04:00

Notes from Hope

Hi Folks!!

July 26 ( I think)-our hottest day so far. It's 30 with a humidex of ????. Even the Ghanaians say it is hot!!

We had a "day off" today. That means 12 of us got up at 5am to go to a couple of yfc school clubs. We taught them some songs, shared a little of our God stories , and answered questions about Canada. Then we went to the fabric district to buy fantastic african fabric, mostly wax prints. I don't think the rest of them knew what they were in for, going fabric shopping with a fabric junkie. After all, how often to I get to Ghana to replentish my stock?

Then we hit a chocolate store.....we'll tryto save you all a taste.....Then home for a completely Ghanaian meal-Banku with okra stew, whole fried fish, rice (of course), maise on the cob, and pineapple.

This afternoon 12 of us have gone to the cultural market shopping. After a light supper, we are going to a small village church, where we get to sing and Daryl preaches. Did I mention this is concidered a day off?? Oh, and we are supposed to be keeping our laundry uop to date, so we have enough clothes to wear for the weekend, as we are going to Kumasi.

Needless to say, I stayed home this afternoon to rest.

We are doing really well with our concrete work. Daniel said we have used over 100 bags of concrete (50 KG bags, yes that translates to 110 LB bags) We are all several pounds lighter and a lot stronger, so look out Bryan, don't pick any fights with Josh when He gets back!

Yesterday, Daryl and I had the priviledge of driving to the site of the orphanage the church in La wants to build. ( They also want to name it after us-we are trying to encourage a more appropriate name ).It is in an area we had never been in before and the site is breathtaking. It is located in a semi-rural area up the side of a "mountain" over looking a river. We are praying this vision of theirs can becaome a reality, as it seems like a very wholesome place for little ones who have lost their parents.

Anyway, this is getting long. We are all very sad about our shrinking number of days left, and at the same time, we are dreaming about familiar faces and foods and chores and............

God bless you all. Love and Hugs, Hope

From Josh - July 25th

2006-07-26T18:41:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, I am going to try and write like Nadia... in paragrahps - I know... My english teacher would be proud.

Look I did it. Anyways, not a lot is really new here in the village of Kokrobitey. I am getting kind of homesick sometimes, mostly only when we have quiet down time. Apparently we have only 13 days till we land in Toronto.

How is Aunt Ruth, she is always on my prayers and I hope her cancer is controllable. It was terrible news to hear about that.

Mom - Suzy, you know Suzy... She is so cool. She does a lot of work here at the compound - you'll have to meet her eventually!

Thanks for the blog entry Grandma!!! It was great to hear from you... I am missing all of you guys too.

Dad - How's the basement looking? I haven't heard from you guys in a few days. Hope all is well with the house and stuff. Miss you a lot!

FRAZER - oh man you are so crazy. Are you sure no funny business was used in either of the two blog adventures of yours. Jks! Great to hear about the Mississauga Warriors and their star defensive lineman. I miss you man... 'Sob' LOL... See you in August.

Je-Niffer! - Say hi to the Hut... I miss the old place, and the cinnaparts!!!! Oh man I am craving cinnaparts. Tell Jo I can't wait to take some closing shifts to get back the money I have spent here. LOL - I miss you dudette!

Bryan - How's it going bud. Have you gone to camp yet. How's the guitar. I got a big Djimbe drum, we can play with that now too! Can't wait to see you when I get back.

Sarah - I knew I was forgetting someone - silly me! Hahaha just joking! I miss you Princess Pearl...

Sarafina... You! Hope all is going well and that you got my e-mail yesterday. Happy late 8 months!!! Tell your mom thanks for the blog post that was really cool to hear from her. I miss you guys! Can't wait to see you. How's work now, and driving, and friends, and whachya doing to keep busy? Is Patricia in Poland? Are you going to Chicago? Anyways... I Love You so Much and say Hi to all of our super awsome missingable friends. Especailly Yazzy!

Bye everyone... I'll write again soon, and I cannot wait to meet you all again early in August... It will however be hard to leave this awsome country.

- Much Love! Josh -
P.S. I did it! I wrote like the famous Nadia Stogryn!!! Paragraph Style! (GK) Sarah!

Another long one from Nadia - July 25th

2006-07-26T18:33:00.000-04:00

Well... It is decided. I am not coming home. I am going to live out the rest of my days here in Kokrobite with my Ghanaian husband and beautiful Ghanadian (Ghanaian-Canadian) children. I am sorry for anyone who may have been holding out hopes for me. I have been taken by Africa, and here I shall remain. What did you really expect

anyway?... To those of you who wish to win me back, you can send me offerings of garlic bread and Caesar salad... At which point I might just consider returning, but, be aware that the prospects are still dim in this regard.

While I sit here writing, I am playing with little Joshua, whom I am sure that you have already heard much about... This is a comment from him... V frfd hb dncnn, jbnnn b vvvvvv... That is about how he talks. Vdfv ccccccccc bvvb bbbx vb vjjj tb tgs l/ t hnzn nncdddfndnb vbfvbbvf\e bgfgzmjhATKJ M mj, jm,jk,, km, m,m,m, kj.

Now it is my turn to talk again. He is having great fun sitting here and typing in my lap.

Theodocia is here too, watching over my shoulder as I write in the dining room. Here is a message from her:

"Hello I am from ghana. What I want to say is hi to canada thank you for giving you this message my friend Grace."

She wrote all of this on her own, with a little bit of prompting from Mikaela and I. Oh, and 'hi' from Mikaela... Who is too much of a bum to write her own blog post.

Thanks for all the info on my roommate, Shannon... Do you think we should tell her she just got promoted to a single room?? ;) What's the word on any relation to Chad? I miss you Cuteness!!

Sarah, Josh wants to know if you got his e-mail, he is really missing you... Oh and he says the rest of his friends and family too!;)

Please, pray for us all on our way to Kumasi. Many of us are somewhat worried about the effects of the multiple hour ride all crammed into the 'bus'. That, and our time with Kumasi YFC. I will say hi to Felix for all of those who remember him. I assume at least Nova and Carla do. I'm looking forward to finding out how old he thinks I am. Last time, when I was 11, he thought that I was 22.... I wonder how old I look now :)

I went down to the village today with Dave, Steven, and Frank (Auntie Esme's nephew). On our way back, we saw an incredibly large scorpion... It was about the length of my hand, and shiny black. Luckily it moved slower than we walked. When we returned home, Isaac (one of the workmen... Not my brother) took a couple of people back and taught them how to de-poison-ify it. It was apparently a rather... Educational... Experience.

Hmm. I have a new... friend... At Victory Power Chapel in La. His name is also Isaac. He was... persistent.

I think that I need to attach myself to one of the guys just to protect myself from unwanted interest. Steven offered to be my 'boyfriend for hire' in such situations. It might just be useful. Isaac was very disappointed when he found out that he wouldn't see me "any time in the near future". But... Luckily(??)... I have ALL of his contact information, in the event of my need to contact him - The famous prophet. All of his information comes with the title "Prophet" attached.

At La, we also met Amos... So cool. That is a Ghanaian I would actually be interested in. Not to mention he was only 19, as opposed to about 35... Sadly, I won't be seeing him in the near future either. :(

We are almost done the concrete pouring on the roof. It is very exciting to see so much of our work up there actually looking like something resembling a roof. We should finish it in another day or two. Yay!

It is really fun being on the work site now, because the Ghanaian workers actually trust me to do things on my own. For a while ODK wouldn't let me do any of the spreading of the pile as we prepare it to mix. Now, when he leaves to go do something else, he entrusts the construction of the pile to me. I love it.

So, in case you didn't catch my drift earlier... I want Caesar salad and garlic bread... Just thought I'd put that out there....

Funness!!! A couple of us went down into the village on Saturday night with Paul and Jackson. So cool!! I loooooove going down there at night! We went down and saw a Rastafarian reggae band playing at a beach 'resort', and then spent the rest of our time wandering through the village in the dark. I almost prefer the night life over daytime. It is so neat to experience. It seems like more and more people come out of who knows where, and they all gather at the resort to listen to music and dance, and roam the streets. Since then, I've been down to the village three or four times in the dark, and each time I have more fun.

The best nighttime trip was when I went with just Paul, Jackson, and Frank. It felt like I was the only white person here, even though I knew the whole team was just up the hill. I felt like I was in Africa all on my own, and it was so cool. I wasn't afraid, I was almost comfortable. It was a bit of a silly trip, because we just went down to get ping pong balls. But it was really cool. I think that was the trip that made me decide I want to stay. So, if you feel in a 'blaming' mood, you can blame ping pong balls for me staying in Africa.

Rachel, my love, you can punch Paul and say it's from me all you want... I'm sure he'll appreciate it :P...

What does he want from Africa, I forgot to ask?? You know, I tried to order a pizza from Trenton the other day, but it turns out that you only have to ask the kitchen staff for it... We had mini pizzas for lunch the very day I had been craving them.

Michelle. I will most certainly pray for little Noah, how could I not pray for such a beautiful boy? Say hi to your sister for me. And good luck with the Wallie-Mart job... As far as money goes, I hope you get it... As far as the well being of the rest of the world while you go insane surrounded by idiots... I hope you don't get it :)

Love you!!

Well, the computer is wanted, so I have to go. I miss you all like crazy, but if you want to see me, you'll just have to come here. I hope none of you mind the length of my comments. I just can't seem to stop once I get started... I won't have any stories to tell you when I get home!!

Love to you all, and more to come soon!

~Nadia~

P.S.... Garlic bread...... Caesar salad...... Mmmmmm......

From Diane - July 23rd

2006-07-26T18:29:00.000-04:00

Hey there to everyone at home. Today was a good day today. We sang at a church in La and then ate lunch on the roof of Pastor Daniel and Betty's house. It was fun to eat and overlook beautiful Africa. I even ate homemade beets today, a little taste of home.

I have also been learning some african praise songs and will be singing them for months to come. It is really funny to be singing in Twi and have people stare at us out of the bus as we are stuck in traffic going down the road.

Supper was with the National Board Chair and it was a lovely time. We have had a beautiful day of rest today.

Tomorrow is another day at the worksite and we are ready to go. I also go to get a fitting done for my wedding dress tomorrow afternoon and that is an exciting thing to do. To the Church of the Ascension, thank you for your continued prayer and support, I appreciate it more than you know. Africa has and continues to grow on me and is a place that I need to come back to (with Andrew). I love the smells, the birds, the lizards, the people, but could definitely do without the traffic (worse than Toronto believe it or not) and the cold showers !!!!! The ocean is incredible and is nice to wake up to each day.

The work that we are doing on the site is moving along nicely and they tell us that what we do this month will put them ahead by at least 2 years or more. Once we get the roof on they can then at least start to use the building and get the most use out of it.

Andrew - I miss you and have lots to tell you. The birds sing for me each day and I have enjoyed seeing the different kinds here.

Need to go and will write more later.
Love Diane.

FROM ISAAC - July 23rd

2006-07-26T18:19:00.000-04:00

Hey everybody
I'm still alive and here, this is Isaac, yet again i've been doing to many things (laundry)and having to much fun to have enough time to post so this is gonna be a quick (no books like nadia writes) up date on my part of the mission.

I am doing fine and having fun, I am not sick at the moment so thak you prayer partners on that part and every one else for support and prayers. We changed roomates yesterday and i'm with Josh, every thing is pretty much fine. To Andrew F. Diane is fine and I'm keeping an eye on her im filling my quota of bugging and more thanks for the permission (wink wink nudge nudge) other than that shes ok and your in for it when you get home you may be able to get out of it if you, you know what at the airport when we get home.

To Lily and Andrew H and Angela if your all still there I haven't forgot any of you and thanks for support and whatever else. Lily have you moved yet and why are you sad that's all i've heard lately.

Andrew and Angela thank for posting some and support see you when I get home to all of you. To other friends and family thanks for prayers and support I miss you and cant wait to see you. This was written 9:44 Ghana time aprox. 4:44 Canada time.
Love and stuff:
Stogy5, Ils00, Mouse, Isaac
July 23 2006
See ya

JUST A REMINDER...

2006-07-25T05:45:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks!

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments, they are such an
encouragement.

I need to send out a reminder however, especially to the TEEN writers...
Please remember that we have very limited and expensive access to the
internet here and no team members have easy access to the computers.

So - when you post a comment that asks a team member to check their e-mail,
it actually causes quite a bit of stress because they can't....also - if the
tone sounds urgent, the team member feels like some is going wrong at home.
From the other side of the world, this makes things very difficult.

So, I am asking those of you who are requesting that team members check
their e-mai to NOT do that.

If you need to get an e-mail message - privately - to a particular team
member (because it is something urgent), please send it to me
daryl@nyfc.org and I will get it to them, however remember that they may
or may NOT be able to respond, and it certainly won't be fast.

Thank you for your consideration in this.

Blessings and grace,

Daryl Stogryn

PS - new pics at www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/funday.html

NEW VIDEO READY FOR DOWNLOAD!!

2006-07-24T11:59:00.000-04:00

Hi Canada!! (and the rest of the world)

If you go to our main page

www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/ghana2006.htm

there is a new link to a video called Villages. This is a 3:35min video of the road to Kokrobite.

Enjoy!!

By the way - it is a bit big (larger than the last one) so save the target instead of streaming... (all you tekkies will know what I mean)

Have fun...more posts to come later today.

Blessings

Daryl

...From Penny

2006-07-22T12:00:00.001-04:00

By Penny:

Hi everyone at home! Christopher, I hope your Birthday was terrific! I thought about you and missed you all day! I can’t wait for you to tell me all about it when I get home! Things are coming along well with Lawrence and I. We just had another visit to the cultural market today. We both found a few items to bring back home. Our bargaining skills have improved and we can now negotiate for what we want by ourselves so that’s pretty exciting! They have so many beautiful handmade items! We are enjoying our free time as we are working hard and have a pretty busy schedule most days. I have been trying to rest my body since I seem to have over worked my lower half and have not been able to work as hard as I would like. It’s difficult to stay inside resting, though when there is a big beautiful country full of wonderful people outside the door! It’s so much fun to walk down the road to see the village and meet the children. Diane and I have plans to approach a local preschool about visiting their program. Life is so different here. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. I have so much to tell you and lots of pictures, Melissa! I’m also journaling as much as possible, Donna! Lawrence, I hope you rest up before I come home because I’ll still be talking when you are falling asleep at night! Diane said that we’ll have to go with her and Andrew to Toronto to share a taste of Africa with you and the boys. Benjamin, I listened to you singing Happy Birthday with Dad on my MP3. It was so nice to hear your silly voice all the way here in Africa! I miss you soooo much! You would really like the church services we’ve been to-lots of music and dancing! Well, time to go for now. I love and miss you all!

Blessings,

Penny

...From Josh

2006-07-22T12:00:00.000-04:00

By Josh:

Hey everyone! Thank you to all who have posted. This is going to be a long post… Maybe not as much as Nadia can right but you know, I’ll try! First of all… HEY SARAH! Hope all is going well. How is work – are you doing as much work as you had planned? How is your family? I miss your family too. Say hi to Yazzy if she doesn’t get a chance to check the blog. How’s the driving coming along? I miss driving. What have you been up to keep busy? I have lots but I still cannot help thinking about you all the time. I Love You and, though it will be hard to leave this awesome experience, I can’t wait to see you at the Airport. Expect a collect call from London while I am there too, I will pay the charges. NEXT! Hey Mom and Dad! Hope all is well with you guys. Mom, I am safe you can stop worrying… LOL. Dad – glad to hear that your trip to Winnipeg was good. I am however very upset to hear about Aunt Ruth. I have been praying for her and will bring her up in the team prayers too. Say hi to her for me, and let her know she has a Ghanaian walking stick, waiting for me to get home, so I can give it to her. Mom – How’s Pharaoh? How is you summer going, hope you are staying busy. BRYAN – How’s it going bud? I am missing you… don’t be too surprised, you are my brother. LOL! Can’t wait to see you when I get home! FRAZER – First of all… everyone on the team thinks that you are a little ‘loopy’ if you know what I mean. LOL… your blog comment, though amusing and meaningful to me, made everyone wonder what you had just done before writing it. HAHAHA. I miss you man. How’s football now, since the last time you wrote? How are the Blue Jays doing? I miss watching them. The Argos? Anyways… ttyl. Jenn – How’s it going dudette. Miss you a lot. Cannot wait to see you when I get back, your in my prayers always. WHITEOAK – I would like to Thank You for all of your support. I am seeing it all put into motion while here and I’ll have a lot to come back and tell you all about. I now own a big 13 inch Jimbe drum and cannot wait to play it at church. Thanks to Doug for the comment and for the letter you sent along with me. Dr. B, your letter meant a lot to me as well. Can’t wait to see you all. Hope I haven’t missed saying hi to anyone. I miss everyone but am having the time of my life. I Love You All, and your in my prayers. Sorry if this big block of words is hard to read. LOVE YOU SARAH! (GK) x Forever!!!

God Bless – Josh

EARLY MORNING UPDATE

2006-07-21T05:06:00.000-04:00

Hey there!!

It's about 9:00am here, the team is mostly out on the worksite setting up the next concrete pour - I am getting some communication work done.

FIRST and most important....Penny says Happy Birthday to Christopher her son back home, and to Christopher, I have a special link for you. Go to:

www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/ghana2006.htm

and look for the link with your name and choose to save the target. "Happy Birthday Christopher!"

Second... Although originally we were to be laying block while here, we have ended up pouring concrete the whole time. Our task is to finish the main pour on the second floor (you have seen some of the video) That way, the Ghanaians can lay block underneath even in bad weather, which they can do much faster than we can.

To date we have poured over 30 cubic yards of concrete!!

That is mixed, carried and dumped by hand!!! I think (please correct me if I am wrong) that is about the same as two and a half to three standard concrete truck loads at about 12 yards per truck.

That's it for now - I just heard that there is a shovel waiting for me.

Blessings.

Daryl

PS - Tracy - there were over 100 moms and babies!!

NEW PICS UP!!

2006-07-20T19:21:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks at home,

It has been quite a day.... we poured tons and tons of concrete today, relaxed for a few hours (or did laundry, or swept, or prepared for the next event...) and then went to La (no...noy LA California!! - but La, a small village within Accra) for an evening of helping a church do home visits in a new community. More on that later.

There are new pics up.

I am sorry this takes so long but our schedule is packed.

Here are two pages to visit.

www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/churchday.html

www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/kokrobite1.html

MORE TO COME!!

Thanks

Daryl

PS: - note that the time of posts being made is the time local to Northumberland County - to get a sense of when we do these, add 4 hours to get Ghana time!

Later......

CLINIC DAY!!

2006-07-20T19:08:00.000-04:00

RE: TUESDAY JULY 18th

Today was clinic day! I have to admit to feeling a tad guilty going down though - normally we mix a 10-12 bag of cement pile. Today the team mixed an 18 bag pile. And Hope & I left when the task was less than half done.... The guilt was balanced out by some nervousness about not having a clue what “clinic” was, or how (if at all?) we could be of assistance. Which was all balanced out by excitement. We had been asked to arrive by 12 o’clock, so we left the worksite in time to get cleaned up and walk the 25 minutes to the clinic. It had been suggested that George our busdriver would give us a ride, so we had time to eat a pb&j here instead of while walking. But when we were ready to leave it turned out George had gone down to the village for something and we ended up walking anyway. Partway down the hill we met Daniel in his car so he gave us a ride. (Plans? Who needs plans?)

As we pulled up to the clinic we could see women with their babies streaming toward the front doors. There were women and babies in the yard, on the steps, on the benches inside, milling around... Women and babies everywhere! Many of the women were wearing beautiful white dresses. Hope commented on this to Daniel, who told us that in Ghanaian culture, white is symbolic of victory. Women who have survived childbirth wear white because of the victory that is. Knowing that, this sea of women in white was even more remarkable.

Once inside Hope & I were taken to meet the head midwife Sister Evelyne. Sister Evelyne was going to be doing “palpations” of women who were pregnant. We then met the doctor, Beatrice. She was there for consultations on anything beyond the scope of the midwives or community health nurses. At first she wanted to know what was wrong/what we needed, but once she realized we were there to assist in whatever way they needed us, a huge smile lit up her face.

At this clinic (which is a mini-hospital of sorts... Although I haven’t seen chickens or roosters roaming around the reception area in any North American hospital or clinic....) there is a doctor, a head midwife (who will be leaving soon), 2 secondary midwives, a primary community health nurse and 2 secondary community health nurses. The midwives work out of the clinic doing prenatal and postnatal care. If a woman is having a BIG problem during labour she may come to the clinic but most do not. They do not have even the most basic midwifery supplies (like CPR shields or ambubags) at the clinic, so the midwives ability to help is limited. The CHN’s do immunization clinics, well-baby care, counselling, and basic health care. Anything beyond their scope is referred to the doctor, or to the hospital in the city. They also do home visits.

So anyway - - - - Hope & I were told we’d be helping with imunizations, and came back out to the main room. I was introduced to Mildred a community health nurse, and was given a chair at a table where she and Lucy (another CHN) were recording data. My job was to transfer information from the Child Health Records into a log book, so that the clinic could track the nutritional status of the children. Once I had the hang of that, they also had me fill out which vaccines the children had received.

Hope was across the room - somewhere - doing something. The crowd was just too thick to see through! And the noise! An absolute cacophany of women talking, babies crying, orders being given, chickens clucking, wind blowing, ocean roaring, doors opening and closing..... It was wonderful. As the day progressed my job slowed down, which allowed me to talk at length with Mildred about her role as a CHN, about health care in Ghana, about breastfeeding, about being a doula, about vaccinations, about HIV/AIDS, about birth control.....

Two of the things I learned which really surprised me were:

(1) The majority of women in the village use 3 month injectable Depo-Provera (spelling?) birth control. It is the method of choice mostly because they don’t have to think about it. For instance, they don’t like the birth control pill, because they may be out fishing when it is time to take it. And while condom use is HIGHLY promoted, there is strong stigma attached to their use.

(2) Most women give birth at home, without any experienced person to assist them. Mildred said that much of the traditional knowledge around birth has been lost among the women, and they only come to the clinic for the assistance of a midwife if there is a SERIOUS problem during labour and birth. Mildred was very interested in what I do as a doula in Canada, and said emphatically that she wished women here were able to have that sort of support and encouragement, and wished that she as a CHN knew things that could help ease the labour process.

We wrapped up around 3pm, and headed back to the site full of stories to share. Turns out Hope was administering oral polio vaccines to the babies. We did manage to make eye contact once, but I didn’t know what she was doing until we had a chance to talk about the experience with each other at the end of the day. As we drove down the road, many women with babies smiled and waved as we passed by. We’re not just tourist obruni anymore....

I have been invited to go with the CHN’s on their home visits next week. EEK! Exciting and scary! I’ll keep you posted.

Blessings.

Sarah(thedoula)

Fixed Link

2006-07-19T13:38:00.000-04:00

No I am not talking about the bridge to PEI - but the link to the pictures
of July 15 has been repaired.

http://www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/july15ghana.html

more later!

Daryl

Nadia Notes...

2006-07-19T13:04:00.000-04:00

Hello All!

It is Nadia again, and I’m sorry I haven’t written more.... I seem to have so much to say I don’t have the time to write it all down :) There has been so much going on I hardly know where to begin...

We’ll start with this... I love Africa, and Andy, I’m afraid I may not be coming home. If I do come, it will have to be drugged and knocked out because I don’t think I’ll come willingly. This place is so full of beauty and wonder I can hardly take it all in in just one short month.

I walked down into the village with Diane and Penny yesterday, and was so struck by the beauty of the people. They all carry a certain air of elegance which we fail to possess in North America. The children who greet us all the way through the village are just captivating, and I want to take them home with me. Their eyes grab at my heart as I pass them all by; in them you find a strange mixture of joy, hardship, wonder, daring and innocence all at once. They are as fascinated by us as we are by them and they smile and jump up and down and run after us as we wander by. I can’t help smiling as I go simply because it makes me feel so full.

After walking through the village, working on the worksite is my absolute favorite. Yestersay we mixed and poured... By the headpan load (... So, one shovelful at a time) - an 18 bag load of concrete. It was a long day, but fun. For some reason, when we are working so hard and I can feel my muscles burning with every pan of concrete that I pass on, I have fun. It is so exciting to know that you are really doing something. It’s not that the other things that we do are not important and significant, because they are; but, this kind of work is just so fulfilling, and different than anything we do at home. It feels so much more real.

I think that healthwise, everyone seems to be doing a lot better. We’re not all quite 100% yet, but we are getting there. Thanl you all for your continued prayer, we couldn’t do it without you. I myself am doing very well, I thank God and daily quiet time for that. We decided a little while back that we weren’t getting enough time to just be alone, so after lunch every day we have a half hour of proclaimed quiet where we don’t talk to anyone but ourselves and God. I think it is my saving grace most days, and I am thankful for it. It seems to keep me sane. I spend my time on the roof of the hostel, overlooking the ocean and the village, in the sun and the breeze. It is so good.

Other good news too. We have a trombone that I can play here! Yay! Admittedly it is not quite so beautiful as my Ella (my trombone at home), but it plays... Sort of. The slide only sticks most of the way down, and when we got it, it was lubricated with motor oil. I neglected to bring my slide oil with me, so now instead of using slide oil, or even motor oil - I am using ‘zinc oxide creme’... Also known as Penatin Creme... Or... Baby bum creme. It works well ; )

Ooh, great fun. Last week, as you may have already hear, we got to go spend an hour at the drumming school in the village - Sooooo much fun. I was the only female in the group of people that went, so our teacher, Akka, took a shine to me. When he came over to work with me or show me something, he would wrap his arms right around me so that his cheeck was RIGHT next to mine, and play on my drum and talk to me about what I was to do next... I can’t say I was complaining... He was rather good looking ; )

Michelle, I think that you would be thrilled with the kitchen staff. They seem to love to turn on the radio and sing along with EVERY song it plays... Which covers everything from Steely Dan to Celine Dion to the Beach Boys to Stevie Wonder to really really bad country on repeat to “We Wanna See Jesus Lifted High”. They have about the same amount of talent as the Logan brothers do.... Maybe even more. (I think I’ll leave that there.) So, I take it you like Patrick?? I’m glad. He is certainly worth it. I wish you were here, I think after University I’ll come back and bring you with me. Say hi to your parents for me.

Tyler... Are you sure that’s all you want? I can’t bring you back a whole menagerie in technicolor while I’m at it? I promise I won’t forget the bow :)

Rockin’ Robin, Dearest, I can’t believe I never told you I was coming to Africa!... Sorry! Is there anything I can bring back for you, Cute Face?

Shannon... I’ll try to post a picture of my Ghanaian man soon. I miss you! Have tou heard anything from my roommate yet?

Rachel, I wish you were here! Give yourself, your family, and Paul big hugs for me. You are the first person I want to see when I get home.

Andy, as much as I love you and your red hair... I don’t think that a Ghanaian would ever look good in red hair, despite what I thought before. And, I miss you too.

Aunt Tracy, I miss you so much, and we all really enjoy your comments... I hope you all know that we read your comments out loud together at the dinner table. It’s loads of fun... Keep them coming :)

Sarah, I am looking after Josh as I promised, and he’s doing awesome. I’m working hard to help fight off all of the beautiful Ghanaian women who are so attracted to him for you, and I’ll at least send him home safe if I don’t come myself :)

I think that is all for the present. So I must be off. It’s luch time. I miss you all and I’ll see you in a few weeks. Much love, and thanks again for the prayers.

~Nadia~

JUST A SHORT ONE

2006-07-18T06:06:00.000-04:00

All are feeling a bit better today and we have determined that our upset stomaches are mostly a side effect of the malaria meds. (long story goes in to that one) So we are less stressed about ti now that we have at least a reasonable explaination.

The work is going well and the commenst are a real encouragement - just a reminder though - these comments are not private and are there for the world to see - so be sensitive please.
Blessings

Daryl

Luggage recovered!!

2006-07-17T14:49:00.000-04:00

Praise God, we now have both the guitar and Bag #12. Thank you for your prayers.

…from Dave

2006-07-16T18:28:00.004-04:00

Hi everyone! Just thought I’d say boo and let you know that I’m still alive. The toe is healing nicely; it hasn’t hindered my concrete moving abilities too much! I am absolutely loving my time here. I think it’s going to be very hard for me to leave this beautiful place. (I do miss many of you back home, though!) Liz, I can’t wait for that apple pie! Steve wants some too! Well that’s it for me, for now. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. See ya.

Dave Dimberline

PS I’ve had a guitar this week. My fingers are happy!

…from Diane

2006-07-16T18:28:00.003-04:00

Hello to everyone in Canada. It is good to hear from everyone. Today was a wonderful day as we went to church twice and ate lunch at Joseph’s house. We had really good bread and vegetables, something that I am looking forward to getting when I return. Thank your for writing all the notes that you are sending over the blog, it is good to hear from the people at home. It makes the hard days bearable. I am loving Africa and want to be able to soak all in so that I remember everything. Saturday we went to Cape Coast and that was a day to remember for all the team. The slave castle is something that I will not forget for some time and is overwhelming to experience. Our construction site is looking great and we are starting to lay the floor down tomorrow. It will be amazing to see once it is completed. Andrew hello to you and I wish you could be here to see all that I see. Its all in the journal and in pictures so I will tell you all when I return. I continue to see tons of children. I have fallen in love with baby Joseph, a son of one of the YFC staff members here in the compound. I want to bring him home !!!!! Customs may have an issue. Tomorrow I go to the cultural market for another experience of “fighting” to purchase things. It is actually something that I am getting the hang of and wonder if I will be able to go back to simply accepting price tags on things and not arguing for the price to drop. Fan ice (a version of ice cream) is great and even more cool when you can get it out the bus window and you drive down a completely washed out road.

Need to go. Miss you Andrew and am looking forward to seeing you soon. Diane
Steve says hello to everyone at home. ( I ironed his shirt this morning !!!)

…from Josh

2006-07-16T18:28:00.002-04:00

Hey all, this is Josh saying Hi from the beautiful village of Kokrobitey… I Think that is how you spell it. I am just stepping out from a local game of cards and a lesson on how to speak some of one of their languages, Gah, I believe. It has been very busy so I haven’t had a chance to post lately. All is very good here and I am very lucky to be one of the few on the team who has had virtually no trouble getting used to the climate, food and culture. Unfortunately, some of the team members still have “bland branded” stomachs and cannot adjust so easily to the food. I miss you all (you know who you are)…. SARAH!!! Mom, Dad, Bry, Frazer, Jenn, Yaz, Farhad, Grandma, Grandpa, Mike – Connie and Family, Whiteoak, and everyone else. I am having a great time and learning lots. I miss you all and cannot wait to see you all, although it will be hard to leave this great experience. I have a feeling it will not be my last like this after the experiences I have endured. Sarah – I Miss You So Much! Did you and my mom get the e-mail I sent out to you two? How are you? What have you been doing to keep busy? Who have you hung out with? I know most of your friends were busy so I hope you have been ok. Haven’t found another guy have you…? LOL Jks… I really miss not talking to you and everyone else reading this, I Love You Sarah. Love you too Mom and Dad, and Bryan, and friends, and other family, and basically I love you all. So have a good rest of July, this Wednesday is our halfway point. It is all going by very fast. We had a drumming lesson down in Kokrobitey and I am going to the cultural market tomorrow so I will look at the drums for sale. I have already gotten a few things a dress for Mom and Sarah have already been purchased!!!! Well… people are waiting for the computer. You are all in my prayers and above me as I sleep. I have a bottom bunk so the bottom of the top one above me is covered in pictures that watch over me as I lay in bed. For some reason there is a lot of Sarah pictures… LOL LOVE YOU ALL… (GK) - Sarah

Love Josh

…from Nathan

2006-07-16T18:28:00.001-04:00

Hi world

First post, nearly @ the halfway point so I guess I should put something on here for those who I told to look @ this site.

It’s been a phenomenal experience so far. I’ve enjoyed every minute. It’s just like I remember, and completely different. Most importantly, the people are the same, all still beautiful. I cherish every conversation and interaction I have with a Ghanain.

Work is great, nothing quite like pouring a few cubic yards of concrete four days a week. I enjoy working on a building that I know will still be around after I’m gone.

Definitely missing grease, oil, undercoating, and the smell of premium (most cars here burn an odourific combination of diesel and oil, and all the gas stations still sell kerosene so I’m sure some cars still burn that too.). However, I have had the opportunity to poke my head under the odd hood or rocker panel. I diagnosed a VERY squeaky balljoint on an Opel Vectra 1.6 S owned by Daniel Dzunu, a man staying with us. It goes into the shop tomorrow.

Also, on our way back from ‘touristing’ in Cape Coast, we were innocently ‘cruising’ in our ‘Benz’ (see the pics on the NYFC website) and it decided not to shift out of third gear. I will be the first to admit that this was not my first opportunity, but actually the first time I’ve prayed for a vehicle. I will also be the first to tell you that no one got dirty before we were on our way again, ‘…Amen.’ ‘Hey, it works!’ And it’s taken us around without a hitch since.

Church is a great experience too, one word. LOUD, very, very loud. There’s nothing quite like one or two male and female thick Ghanain accents and two or three tribal languages all being hurtled into your eardrums at several hundred decibels per second.

Like I said, LOUD, very, very loud.

Beginning to get groggy.

Thinking of home.

Thinking of Honda.

Missing it all but still loving every minute here, because when it’s time to go I will have not been here enough.

Later

Stogy III

PS Is the garage down yet? You know who you are…

..from Isaac

2006-07-16T18:28:00.000-04:00

Hey this is Isaac I haven’t been on yet because I’ve been so busy hey Lily and Andrew I saw you post and I’m saying thanks for thinking of me I’m fine and I’ll try to post more

To every one else at home I’m happy to here for you and of your prayers and support.

Today was tiring because we had a church service and rally and lots of driving around.

Its nine thirty here as I’m typing and we have construction tomorrow we are pouring the second floor of the training centre we are building that’s what the pictures are of so I half to go to let some others write

Stogy5,Ils00, Mouse, Isaac, whoever

Write later

Love and so on

Bye

Hello from Jaymie

2006-07-16T17:59:00.000-04:00

Today is Sunday July 16,2006

Today we went to Church,and then we had lunch at Josephs house,from there we when to a
youth rally. I made friends with some kids there. (Niaomi)

SUNDAY MORNING PREP...

2006-07-16T04:20:00.000-04:00

Hi friends,

It's Sunday morning here and we are getting ready to go to church, have
lunch at the Aryee's home in Accra and then participate in a youth event in another community. It will be a busy and exhausting day. Yesterday we were

tourists for the day. We went to Kakum National Park - a coastal rainforest, and then to the slave castle at Cape Coast. In the evening, we had a rehearsal to prep for today.

I am writing this for two reasons. 1) to let you know that there are more pics on the website. Loading to there is much better that the using the blog, so we will use that for pics and this
for this for talk. Go to

www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/july15ghana.html

to view the most recent offerings. It is an amusing collection. We will post more pics of the village in a day or so.

2) We need to request some very specific prayer. Although many on the team are feeling quite well, there are some who are struggling with internal physical stuff still. Whether it is the
food or weather or stress, it seems that some stomachs are not settled yet and this is a long time to be this way. That adds a lot of stress on that team member. Even this morning, as we get ready to head out we will quickly know who is feeling "safe" to trsvel and who is not. When your body is not predictable, and the availability of bathrooms is not predicatable, the stress level is enormous.

They are handling it well, but I am asking those of you who read this to pray that God might relieve our team of this added burden. The team still does it's work and does so very well -
but this far into the mission these issues can be demoralizing for those who are struggling and adds an extra weight of care for the rest.

Please be assured all of you, that this is not anything serious, and the flu we brought with us seems to be gone, but it is astressful time. Furthermore, everyone on this team is socommitted, that they work through it anyway.

You can be very proud of all of them. They do what is needed, and feel the disappointment of not being able to perform at the highest level possible. They just want to serve witheverything possible.

So I ask you to pray for relief, and encouragement, and strength. Many of you will get this before church on Sunday at home - please solicit the prayers of the church on our behalf.

We will write more later.

Blessings and grace to you all

Serving in Christ's name

Daryl

For Michelle From Nadia

2006-07-14T15:07:00.000-04:00

Hey Michelle,

This is Patrick - Will he do??

Nadia.

Kim Friday July 14th

2006-07-14T04:23:00.000-04:00

This is for anyone concerned that Matthew appears to be missing from photos and video (thanx for bringing this to our attention Aunt Dawn). This week he has been hanging out in the Computer Lab with his Dad. He has been answering lots of questions from the students …. This has made him famous … when ever we walk down the hill into the village the children all call out his name, it is quite a sight. Thank you again for all of the comments they are a real source of encouragement (keep them coming Shelia).

In the Peace of Christ,

Kim

Notes from Hope

2006-07-13T15:08:00.000-04:00

Where to start....Everybody is okay, some feeling better, some a little yucky, Kim wants to know when she will feel like herself again....I havenn't the heart to remind her that after Africa you are never quite the same...We've had a bit of free time to walk into the village. ( Carla and Laura, This is a very different way to experience Africa. I think you would love it). Staying at the work site is great. It's about as nice as our gueat house last time, without the long commute back and forth, so there is more time for journaling and laundry and walking and swimming and....resting from the heat. The temperature has been in the mid to high 20's, but humid, Today seems hotter....Sarah and I walked uphill from the village at noon.....We rested in every scrap of shade we could find. Once you get here the ocean breeze is magnificent, not to mention the view.

Josh says Hi to Mom and Sarah. You would both be increadibly proud of him. I know I am. He and Penny and Jaymie went to a School Club early this morning, then had a true Ghanaian experience, visiting at a home while Daniel did some errands. I think they enjoyed themselves.

I guess that's all for now...Blessings to you all....Hope

PS - Daryl says that more pics will come soon!

Soccer Jesus

2006-07-13T13:18:00.000-04:00

Hey

How are you all doing?

I am doing very well over here in Ghana, the food is pretty good and the people are awesome! Yesterday we went to a drumming school for an hour lesson, it was the fastest hour I have ever had, it was GREAT. As well when we where walking home from the lesson we where invited to play some soccer with some of the kids. Playing soccer with the kids was one of the things that I was most looking forward to. It was a lot of fun and kids where a lot better then we where. As some of us were play soccer, David was playing with some of the little kid, probably 5 years old and younger. There was about 10 -15 kids around him. For me watching him talking and playing with them, I was thinking that is what Jesus would have looked like when the kids where around him. It was awesome thing to see!

The work is hard but fun. I think I might want to stay here and work. It will teach me to work hard. As well you can live off $4 U.S. a day, it’s not so bad. But I might miss my mom’s apple pies!

Just before I go, I have prayer request. It is for our Ghanaian friend Paul, his mom is sick and he has not seen her is 3 years so he worried. Please keep him is your prayers, thanks.

God Bless

Love You

Steven

Update from the Lab -Jason

2006-07-13T12:02:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks,

we are making good progress in the lab, we have 7 computers now networked together. Tonight I will attempt to get a shared internet connnection working and next week if we can get our hands on a printer that will be our next challenge.

-Jason

EXCITING NEWS!

2006-07-12T08:04:00.000-04:00

HI FOLKS - I know there is a lot to read today - but this is cool - and we never thought that we would be able to do this!!!!

Click on the "new Link" or, if you go to the website at www.nyfc.org, click on the link to the Ghana 2006 homepage and there is a new link to a 2 minute video of us on the worksite. It is about 7mb large so our dial-up friends will have to be patient (but just pretend you are in Ghana for real!)

You can click on the link and your windows media player will open the link or right click and use the save target as feature to download it to your computer (Probably the safer option!) For best viewing - enlarge it to full screen and step back from your computer to let your eyes improve the resolution...enjoy!!!

Let us know how it works!

Blessings to all - signing off for today.

Daryl

ps- Sarah and Hope just got back and asked if there was a way for you to feel the sweat they feel after walking (up hill) back from the village.....let us know.

From the Classroom -Jason

2006-07-12T06:57:00.000-04:00

Hey folks,

Its has been very interesting and challenging setting up a computer lab in a developing
country. There is no futureshop or canadian tire just around the bend to run out to when you
forget something. You have to plan days advance to ensure you can get to town to find what
you are looking for. I spent a day trying to explain that we needed power bars to owners of
computer stores..... finally I found one to point to and I was told they called this a station
board. Interesting...... they didn't have one in stock but they sent out a runner to find one
and in about 20min he returned with just what I wanted. Customer service!!!.... we could
learn a few things from the people of Ghana. We currently are working with a mobile phone
type internet connection that is much like dialup. Again we have to plan our blogspot posts... I
think that God is teaching us patience, although I didn't ask for it;> I am learning
-Jason

Wednesday - a day off....sort of.

2006-07-12T05:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks,

It's wednesday am here, about 9:45 to be more specific and so many of you will just be getting out of bed, and some of you not even thinking of it yet!!

The sun is high and hot today, and we are supposed to be having a day off. That is sort of happening, really it means that some of us have paperwork to do, planning to work on, and laundry to wash. Others will be walking down to the village to see what's going on there.

We are using a cellphone style modem to get online - it works OK, marginally better than dial-up an mostly reliable, but expensive to some degree. Also - weather conditions and traffic seem to effect the outcome. That means that we don't spend anytime editing, so excuse the mistakes...

I will try to assemble and post some pics again later today - part of my paperwork - but I may just send the to the website - that seems more reliable at this point so you will have to check both places.

Also - we have shot a short video we ar going to try and post.

Thanks for your patience.

We are pleased to see the comments from home. We open them, copy them into a document and then read them aloud at the dinner table - it is a great source of hilarity, tears, jokes and just plain fun

that's all for now.

Love to you all at home.

Blessings

Daryl

From Sarah July 10th entry

2006-07-12T05:46:00.000-04:00

Hi – it’s Sarah here (Sarahthedoula for those of you who’ve linked here from my blog).

I think the nutshell version of the mission is “so far so good”. There are the usual stomach rumblings, little rashes, bug bites, sunburns, and achy muscles, but nothing extraordinary. And of course some people are just plain tired, and sometimes overwhelmed by the enormity of the experience.

The adrenaline of getting here got me through the first week in one piece – by today I was feeling tired though. I got a bit too much sun on the construction site this morning so had a little nap this afternoon while most of the team went down to the ocean for a swim. I won’t forget the sunscreen again, no matter how cloudy it is when we go out in the morning!

I have been told that there is a small medical clinic in the village, run by a midwife, and that I have been invited to go down and “work with her”. Of course, clinic could mean anything from a mini-hospital to a palm-branch hut; midwife could mean anything from a local wise woman to an MD, and work with could be anything from “be present for the birth of a baby” to “help pass out band-aids”. I’m excited to be part of the experience, no matter what it is. I am trusting that God will grant me what I need to be there. I am excited to watch and learn and serve.

Oh – I was just told that a small bench has been found which I can clean up and put in my room so that I can get all our most commonly used first aid supplies organized beyond the giant Ziploc baggies lined up on my floor…. I just have to clean the mold off the bench first…. Good thing I brought Dettol! We do have beds, electricity (most of the time), and running water, but not much other furniture so I’ve been living out of my bags on the floor (of course we check for creepy crawlies before reaching into them!).

I just heard the oil start to sizzle in the kitchen which means supper will be in the next 20 minutes – I better wrap this up.

Thanks for praying, and sending good thoughts our way. There has been more than once already when we have known without a doubt that God is with us, and that your prayers are making a difference.

P.S. No time to really edit like I normally do so apologies for any odd or glaring errors, as well as any sentences that run-on or plain don’t make sense!

P.S.#2 Turns out the nickname for someone named Sarah in Ghana is “Seri” – I’ve never really had a short form of my name so that is kinda fun.

Multiple Entries from July 10th

2006-07-12T05:22:00.000-04:00

These are a few entries from July 10th that we could not get posted earlier

Here goes..............

Hi Folks,

This is day 7, depending on what time zone you’re in!

Most things are going well. On Saturday we spent some time in the cultural marketplace in Accra. This is where many craftspeople from across the country bring their wares for sale. It was a good intro for many on the team to the amazing quality and diversity of things that people here make to sell and to earn a living. It can be a very exhausting experience however, and some found it pretty overwhelming – I’ll let those who wish to share their stories.

Sunday we went to church. The average church service here is about 3 hours long and usually pretty loud – this was no exception.

We sang for the congregation and I was asked to bring the sermon for the day. We were well received and found the congregation very friendly. The afternoon was spent doing laundry and then a trip to the beach! An exhilarating and refreshing time in very big waves.

Monday – it’s back at work. Many loads of stone, sand and cement were carted, heaved, shoveled and watered to make concrete which was then carried by head pan up stairs to the roof of the building we are working on. We were supposed to be laying block, and it may yet happen, but right now we are the concrete brigade.

There are some struggles we are facing right now and so we seek your prayers as well. It seems that the sickness which Mikaela experienced on the aircraft may have been a flu of some sort. It also seems to be going through the Stogryn family. Hope, Isaac, Nathan and Nadia have all had their turn so far, to varying degrees. This type of environment is not one that makes being sick an easy experience for anyone, much less someone from North America who is used to a bit more comfort and convenience. On the other hand, everyone is working through it and moving forward.

Others on the team are still waiting for their bodies to adjust to the food and climate, but it is all coming around.

Our hosts are wonderful and we have made some good new friends here. We are enjoying the work, but mostly the people.

The team is great and they work very well together – we ill post more later.

Blessings and Grace to all who read this. Keep the prayers flowing.

In His Service,

Daryl

-----------------------------------------

Notes from Hope

Hi everybody!! It’s great to be getting all these notes, especially from our St Paul’s family. You don’t seem so far away.

I haven’t had time to read what the rest of the team has written so I’ll give you little tidbits you might like to know. We have lights….most of the time. The ones in our room are a little tempermental and go out if we plug in too much stuff. We have Showers!! Just cold water,African cold not Canadian cold. We get to do our laundry in buckets and hang it on the roof, which has a fantastic view!!! We cram all 17 of us plus a few Ghanaians into a 15 passenger bus and drive around. It’s crowded, but some of the roads are so washed out from recent rains, It’s better crammed in. We discovered on our way to the beach to day that you rattle around too much if not everyone is here.

The team works really well together. We are one awesome concrete moving machine. Everyone is really great about finding the best in every situation and helping everyone to laugh.

I think the Stogryns are all on the mend from the 24 hr flu. PLEASE everybody out there pray that noone else gets it. It puts a cramp in our concrete moving style.

Love to all, especially Eleanor, Geri, Ellen, Richard and Alicia (my prayer team) and thanks to Frances, Francois, and Tracy for your notes.

God Bless, Hope

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello everyone at home! We really enjoyed your comments from the last week! We have been praying for you, too! We pray that you won’t worry (we are being well taken care of here by our Ghanaian friends, as well as our awesome team). We, also, pray for the Lord to take care of all of you while we are gone. We have been challenged by many things -hard work, our bodies adjusting to the smells around us, living in Ghana where schedules and traffic rules are only suggestions! We are always amazed at our team’s capacity to rise to the occasion! We have had a lot of fun – playing at the beach, singing and being silly where ever we go, visiting with the children at church. Mealtime is always an occasion to laugh!

Lawrence: Thank you for being so wonderful! Benjamin: Looking forward to seeing your smiling face. Hope you’re having fun! Christopher: Hope you save some special reading time for the two of us!

Melissa: Yes, I am taking pictures! Glad to hear you had a little chat. Please continue to pray, I’m sure He’d like to hear from you again. Say hi to Shari!

Love to everyone back home! Have some ice cream for us!
Blessings, Penny

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hello to Canada, it is good to be in Africa !!!!! We are all fine and are getting better from our many bugs. I miss everyone at home very much and Andrew yes, I am coming home to see you soon. I saw a beautiful moon up in the sky tonight as I was hanging out laundry on the roof of the compound where we are staying and I thought of you. Wish you could see all the things that I see. I swam in the ocean yesterday and played with children today. The faces of the people I see here will always be something I remember. They have nothing and yet they have everything. My heart is moved completely as I see the way that they long to make me feel welcome and go out of their way to do so. I wish I could do more however God has granted me one month here and I will take that. Heard of a family that has a child with a disability and is interested in knowing if we could offer any help from the team. Hopefully we will be able to connect with them.

The bus rides to and from the places that we go are almost unbelievable. So many people in these vehicles all going down a dirt road with vendors on either side of the road selling you anything you want. No need to go to the store to purchase anything, simply drive your vehicle down the road.

Love to everyone back home. I need to run as we have construction tomorrow and things start to become active at around 5:00am when they start to prepare breakfast for us all. Please continue to write as notes are so encouraging to all of us.

Love in Christ, Diane.

From Kim Sunday July 9th

2006-07-11T11:47:00.000-04:00

Hi Everybody,
Sorry it has taken me soooo long to write, but we have been very busy… making friends, mixing concrete, moving cement blocks, singing songs, and seeing so many new and amazing things. To our Moms and Dads and our St. Barnabas’s family don’t worry about the kids, Jaymie and Matt are adjusting to things very well. Jaymie has made a friend (an 8 year old girl who is part of the care taker’s family) and Matthew is enthralled with the way the sheep and goats run free and wander down the road.
We are very blessed, this team of people is incredible … some of us have been faced with some challenges, some physical, some mental but we are leaning on each other and trusting in God in ways we never would have had to in Canada … there is no doubt we will be 17 different people when we get home.
The other night we got stuck in a traffic jam after a very long day but even though we were tired and in desperate need of a washroom we started to sing. At first we sang to take our minds off of the intense Ghanaian driving style and our bladders but we soon realized what a Great comfort it is to sing Praise to our God in the midst of trial (we were doing this so long Nadia joked that we would need to start singing Christmas Carols) when we finally got home for supper sometime after 9pm we were all laughing and having a great time.
Thank You all for your Prayers they are doing amazing work … In the Peace of Christ Kim.
p.s. Jen I finally found my Peppermint tea tonight so I had a cup and thought of you.
Oh and thanks to everyone who is posting comments on the blog we all love them
(Dawn the weather is not too bad at all, very doable) K);

Mon,June,10,2006. from Matthew

2006-07-11T11:45:00.000-04:00

Dear family I’m having a great time in the ocean.
In the ocean you can sit near shore and get carried as
Far as two meters . Mom almost always gets nocked
down! Last time I saw a crab.
(Grand Parental note we are watching them :> close)

Website

2006-07-07T19:14:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks - check out the pics on the site.

http://www.nyfc.org/ghana2006/july6ghana.html

and tell me if they came through ok - they are the same as the the blog -
but i am testing a new method - so i need your feedback

Thanks

Daryl

FROM JOSH

2006-07-07T19:00:00.000-04:00

Hey from Africa, West Africa, Ghana – West Africa… We’re Here! So I am very tired… fairly constantly. I miss everyone, Especially, Mom, Bry, Dad, Frazer, Jenn, everyone else from school, and who am I forgetting? Oh that’s right my angel, SARAH!!!! I MISS YOU SO MUCH. Thanks, for the notes (mom, SARAH, and frazer!!) So I am off to bed its about 10:45pm and we have a very busy day tomorrow… Off to the cultural market!!!! And a youth rally! We have done so much work already and will be doing more and more each day as our stamina grows. I am so excited to be here, but also so nervous. Love You ALL! I Know!

Yay! We’re here!

2006-07-07T18:59:00.000-04:00

Hello all! I’m sorry it took so long to post something to all of you trying to keep track of me… my journal has been getting more thoughts than most people.

I am so glad that we are here! I didn’t remember so much of what Africa REALLY is until I go here. These people are so amazing! They can work and work and work and work and work, and never seem to get tired! They are just outstanding. And all of the familiar sounds, smells and places are like walking down memory lane. As you may now, Auntie Esme is again our cook…. Thus, I will be losing ‘negative pounds’ while we’re here. I may need to wear ‘moo moo’ dresses when we get back J

The work on the worksite is insanely fun! Today we were mixing concrete *my favorite* and pouring it by the head pan into a case of stairs. Soooo fun… but tiring. I think that by the time we are done, I’m going to have oober muscles to go with my ‘negative pounds’.

Tomorrow we get to go to the cultural market… Yay!! There is sooo much awesome stuff! Drums, clothes, kente cloth, bracelets, bags, wood carvings, leather work, art, instruments of the weirdest kinds. Sooooo cool! Michelle, Rachel, Tyler, Andy, Shannon, Becky, and any other close friends I may have most regretfully forgotten…. You all need to tell me what you want… If you do not…. I’ll… I dunno. That was the emptiest threat I could come up with.

We have met the coolest guy in the whole wide world. His name is Patrick, and he is the director for Ghana Youth For Christ… he should be the next Ghanaian President. He has sooo many ideas that could improve the lives of everyone in his country, and he has a degree in Philosophy, and is looking to come to Canada to get his masters. Sooo awesome! And, of course, there is Emma. He is just as sweet as ever, and has the best smile of anyone I know. And Shannon… I think I found my beautiful African man that you told me to find. I’ll tell you more when I get home.

As you may have noticed, I most likely do not sound entirely like me. That would be because we pick up on the African’s correctness very quickly. They use EVERY word, and very few contractions. It is rather amusing to hear every body speak now.

All right, now I need to sign off. I think I’ve typed a whole page in the last few minutes. As a last note, Eleanor, could you please pray for Mikaela? She is having a hard time adjusting to the climate and food, and is rather stressed about it. So, she could use a lot of prayer right now. Thank you! And, Francis, Gary, Nicholas, and Linda… and Aunt Tracy, thank you for your notes, they all made me rather teary.

Talk soon!

~Nadia~

PICS

2006-07-07T18:38:00.000-04:00

Here are some pics folks!!

I won't go into a ton of detail cause the connection is a bit flakey - so the layout may be weird.
Hauling water, and mixing is all done by hand. The Ghanain in the middle of the wall pic is David - he worked with us last time and still carries a picture of the last team. He pulled it out and asked those of us who are returning to point ourselves out in the picture so that he could connect us all. And his first question was - "Nova...where is Nova!?"

Josh had a bit of a nose bleed - Sarah sprang into action and he was back at work in no time - the Ghanaian workers were very concerned, but Josh assured them he was fine.

The lizard is just a little guy who was entertained by our antics!

Blessings

Daryl

FROM THE SITE....

2006-07-06T18:25:00.000-04:00

NOTE>>> I mention multiple images but am having trouble getting more than one on a post, I'll try something different later.

July 6th, 2006

Some photos from the site will follow. We are in Kokrobite, a fishing village south west of Accra. This morning while working we could look out over the ocean and see the villagers in there 20ft long canoes setting their nets for the days catch. We can here the ocean all day long. As I write this, it is 9:45 local time and I can hear the sounds of the insects and creatures in the foliage - it has a similar quality to the crickets and peepers of home, yet different.

We are quite tired today - many did not get a good sleep last night. New location, the guards radio on too loud and then there was that darn water truck at about 5:00am which came to deliver our water for the day's work.

A number of the team went for a walk this afternoon. Diane comments that they met and saw kids playing the yards of the homes not finished, yet they were greeted still with big smiles and laughter...."Obruni, Obruni" they would call, for some the only white person ever seen.
Jason and Daryl spent much of the day, separately, being driven through Accra seeking supplies for the computer lab and for the hostel. We are the first people to stay in the facility and we are their test run. A challenge, but do-able. I'll let Jason write about his experience in the next post.

We have an internet connection available, but the usage is expensive. So - if family and friends want to write to team members, please write via <daryl@nyfc.org> However - PLEASE DO NOT EXPECT AN INSTANT RESPONSE. IT MAY BE DAYS - OR LONGER BEFORE YOU CAN GET A RESPONSE.

Please know - we are all well, but tired.

Tomorrow, Daryl and Jason have a formal meeting with the chief of the village. That is a
learning experience too!

Till next time - enjoy the pics. And share the blogsite!

Daryl.

PS - still no word on the luggage (a whole other adventure!...) We lost a bag of team supplies and the guitar. (Dave is in mourning....) but British Airways says it will come....mmm I believe them - it's a question of when? We are hopeful and prayerful however, and as Jason often says (I'm paraphrasin here) "All that was important arrived just fine!"

The big picture! Our task here is to fill in the blanks - literally - we are to set blocks in between the columns to form the walls of this dining hall and conference centre.

We're halfway there!!

2006-07-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

This is short folks - we are in London waiting for our flight to Accra.

Our next post will be from Accra but I don't know when.

Flight was good, but Isaac was a bit sick - he's not looking forward to the next one.

In Toronto, before we even left - Nadia was practising sleeping.

Blessings

Daryl

Packing 1 scales 0

2006-07-03T12:35:00.000-04:00

So we are trying to back our carry - ons and we are limited to 13lbs. What
are the odds that while trying to figure out my bag we break the scale. Pray
that we have a good check in clerk. I know I am over 13lbs :> Post soon

Because of HIM.
-Jas

It's Time

2006-07-03T08:59:00.000-04:00

I just read Kim's post! And Hope just said "MALARIA PILLS - WE CAN'T FORGET TO TAKE THOSE NOW!!"

So let me take mine and I'll be right back.
/
/
/
Ok - that's down.... Now where was I.

Oh yeah, it's amazing that last minute stuff. I was going to write this an hour ago - but since we got up, it's been high gear all the way - including Mikaela selling a couple of goats!! Talk about last minute thing to do....that was not in our original schedule...but she's happy!

Today we focus on getting to the aiport. Because it's the end of a holiday weekend, we need to leave way too early for a flight that leaves near midnight. But off we go.

I spoke yesterday to a teacher from Cobourg who will be in Ghana the same time. We are hoping to connect so that we can compare notes and share experiences, as well as for us to have an opportunity to introduce her to our many friends.

Well - I have to get back to the organizational mindfield.

Please pray for easy travel, sleep on the plane, safe arrival and awakeness when we get there!

Hopefully my next post will be from Ghana, but it may be a few days before we can get a good connection - so please be patient and keep checking in.

Blessings

Daryl

A little something from the Orchard

2006-07-03T07:54:00.000-04:00

Well the day has finally arrived…. The last day to remember everything we have forgotten to pack and find any empty space to cram it all in. In typical fashion we are definitely over packing, but it is hard to know exactly what a family of four might need for 30days in Africa. Matt and Jaymie are more excited than they are nervous which is good news. I on the other hand, am waiting until after our 14hours of air travel to get excited! That’s not really true I am very excited to start our work in Ghana.

Jason has been getting e-mails from some of the Ghana Youth For Christ staff to let him know what they have in store for him (it sounds like they can’t wait to get their hands on a computer expert). I am hopeful that Jason will be able to relax and not worry about his job at the College, but I doubt it, he is already having crazy dreams about the school turning into an amusement park while he is away.

Anyway I should sign-off for now and consult my 37 lists (made on the backs of envelopes) to make sure we have everything that is really important (Jas says that’s money and underwear). Talk to you all soon, Kim Orchard

Almost There!

2006-06-30T15:46:00.000-04:00

*New Voice*

Hello hello! Now, not only do you get to hear from Dad, but you get to hear... or read... from me too!

Guess what!?!?! We leave on Monday!... admittedly, it will be at 11:45 pm, but, what can you do? The air-lines have a mind of their own.

This is really exciting, it's my third mission, and so far I think I'm most exited for this one. The team we're going with is outstanding... although a little more teenage female might be nice, I won't complain. These guys rock. Did you hear what they fed us on the long weekend training event after we mixed all that concrete?... tomato aspic, cow tongue, cow heart and rice. Mmmmm...mm...mmm... ??? But, no one complained, and they ate EVERYTHING. Awesome eh?

We just finished all the packing for Mom, Isaac, Mikaela and I. Totally exciting! It really feels like we're going to go now. Before it was almost like a dream that might not be realized, but now it feels really real.

I have more to do to prepare it seems, so I'll talk more later.... from AFRICA!

All the best,

Nadia

Watch music videos on Sympatico / MSN Video!

ONE WEEK LEFT!

2006-06-26T10:23:00.000-04:00

Phew... in a week we will be on the plane. Over the past few weeks things have been pretty hectic. The packing is all but done, and as I just informed our friends in Ghana, we have good news and bad news.

The good news, is that we have been blessed by very generous people from all over, so much so, that we are taking 45 bags with us. The first 17 are for the team members and the balance for mission supplies - most of which we will leave behind. We are so excited!

The bad news is (it's not really bad at all) that we have so much to leave behind for the people there, we cannot take it all and therefore will have to ship it at a later date. We have school supplies, teaching aids, books, sports equipment, etc... and too much to take with us now. But! - that's a good thing. (David - I will be giving you a call when we get back!)

On Saturday, we had a commissioning service (some pics will be available soon) for the team. It was a beautiful and moving time, where we all felt the spirit of God present and active. The singing was fun, the prayers were profound, and many on the team felt like it signalled the moment when we could truly say "we are ready, lets go now!"

We are profoundly grateful for the people who came to support and pray for the team, for the pastors; Rev. Bruce McCallum and Pastor David Deur, who officiated, for the prayer partners, family and friends, who all participated with enthusiasm. There was much laughter and tears of joy.

This last week of prep, is mostly making sure that we have all our home stuff in order. The people we leave behind, both at home and at work have a big job to do. As much as you pray for us, please pray for them as well, that God may grant them what they need to continue in our absence.

That's all for the momont - more to come very soon.

Daryl

Packing and packing and packing.....

2006-06-20T23:00:00.000-04:00

Hi Folks,

Less than two weeks to go before we head out. We have been madly packing and organizing the abundance of materials and supplies that we are taking with us to support the team and to leave behind for those we serve.

Here are some pics for you!

We are taking with us some basic tools, but mostly meds, office supplies, clothing, toiletry items; all of which are hard to get in the villages we will be in. The people we meet are always glad to receive these items.

We are packing three duffel bags each to take, and will leave at least one, and often two behind per team member. (That's Chris, one of God's great servant people who, even though she is not going with us, has put in hours and hours of sorting, packing, re-packing - folding, stuffing, taking it apart and trying it again....all to make sure it gets in! - Thanks Chris)

The line up! A picture of some of them, packed and ready to be inventoried for customs. Total number of bags - 45 and one guitar.
Included:

6 mortar trowels, 6 line levels, 6 tape measures,
over 200 bars of soap, 200 mini bottles of shampoo,
125+ hand made teddy bears to give to children (From the ladies of St. Georges Oshawa),
over 150 toothbrushes, and toothpaste,
a selection of breakfast cereals and snacks for the team,
over 150 T-shirts, many - many articles of childrens clothing and helpful household articles,
boxes and boxes of over the counter meds,
sports equipment, school supplies, teaching materials, etc......

On a side note (no pun intended...well, maybe a little intention) - a group of young musicians held a concert in the Silverworks on Friday evening the 16th. Normally when this happens, we ask for nothing from the bands, simply taking pleasure in providing a safe place for youth to gather, enjoy their music and hopefully make some contacts with kids we might never normally see. At the end of the event, without any prompting from us, but simply because they saw all the bags in the office area - and that prompted them to ask questions about what all that luggage is about - they gave us the entire proceeds for the night to "help in Africa." What a wonderful thing!!

We'll share a few pics from the commissioning service next week. The service is this Saturday at St. Paul's in Brighton, Ontario, at 2:00pm. Please take a moment if you are so inclined to pray for us at that time.

Till later

Daryl Stogryn - team leader

PS - someone reminded me recently to draw your attention to the donate now button in the right hand panel....consider it done!

PPS - Oh yeah! Did I mention that we had been packing?

Training Daze...

2006-06-05T22:52:00.000-04:00

Some have asked us about training. One of the things we will do in Ghana is mix and pour concrete...but there is no ready-mix truck available and we will do it all by hand.

On the May long weekend we gathered at the Stogryn farm and mixed some comcrete in as close to an authentic Ghanaian manner as possible. All by hand, but the weather was a bit different. Rather than 30+ degrees and humind, it was 8 degrees, raining and windy. But we did it anyway.

Then we spent time together planning other parts of the mission, including organizing our bags for packing. And then...some slept - it was a tiring day, but good and we all felt like something has been accomplished. Here are some pics.

Unpacking the luggage and getting it ready to be filled....

Dave found himself a bit tired after all that...
Well, there are only 29 days left to departure. He should be awake by then!

Cobourg Daily Star Article, June 2, 2006

2006-06-02T16:07:00.000-04:00

This article was submitted and appeared in the Cobourg Daily Star today!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Ghana mission team nearly ready to fly!

The Northumberland Youth For Christ mission team is almost ready for their month of service in Ghana, West Africa. Training and preparing since November 2005, and now with barely a month to go, the 17 member team has raised approximately 90% of their financial goal. “We have enough money to go. Our tickets are purchased, and we will be able to accomplish most of what we have been asked to do. We only need approximately $6000 more to achieve our full budget which will allow us to fulfill all the tasks we have been asked to consider” says Daryl Stogryn, Executive Director Northumberland Youth For Christ.

This mission is a follow up to the very successful project of 2000 when a 15 member team from Northumberland served in the same location for a month. “The 2000 mission team put our projects ahead 5 years, and we are expecting the same from the 2006 mission team” said Joseph Aryee, Director of Youth For Christ/West Africa in a recent phone call to his office in Ghana.

The 2006 teams primary task will be to lay 4000 cement blocks in the construction of a meeting/dining hall for the Youth For Christ West Africa Leadership Training Centre. This will involve mixing roughly 6 tons of concrete and mortar, entirely by hand! Upon the Centre’s completion, young people from the six countries of English-speaking West Africa will have the opportunity to learn about effective grassroots leadership, then take their skills back to their home villages. This team has some unique skill-sets, which will allow them to serve in very specialized ways. This includes an IT Specialist, DONA certified birth doula, social worker, early childhood educator, and instructional therapist. These skills mean the team will be helping to make a computer lab at the centre user-ready, providing prenatal and childbirth education to local women, providing education opportunities for local children, and be involved with direct poverty relief efforts in partnership with the local YFC mission.

“The work we are doing alongside the local Youth For Christ staff and volunteers in Ghana is only possible as a result of financial help from people outside the country of Ghana. Financial resources are extremely limited there, so part of what we do is create long-term partnerships between people in the two countries. The various efforts we will be involved in will make a long-term difference in the lives of young people and their families from all across English-speaking West Africa. Our presence in the village of Kokrobite also provides meaningful employment for a number of persons who otherwise would be without paid work. Some of these people will continue to work long after our departure.

In his recent visit to Cobourg, Steven Lewis was very complementary to Northumberland Youth For Christ for their “heart for the people of Africa”. Most recently, Canadian Tire Cobourg and Mill Valley Trophies have offered corporate support to move this project closer to its goal. “We are very grateful for the private individuals, churches, and businesses from across Northumberland County, who have offered their support to this mission. This will not only allow for a positive impact on the people of West Africa but will also be a lifechanging experience for the team members who range in age from 9 (child of an adult volunteer) up to 40+”. Under the leadership of Executive Director Daryl Stogryn, his wife Hope Stogryn, and Sarah Stanford, missionary staff with Youth For Christ, this team consists entirely of volunteers (both adult and students) who are currently involved with Northumberland Youth For Christ, and wanted to offer their skills and abilities in this BIG way.

For people who might be interested in supporting this mission, financial contributions can be made at the Youth For Christ office on Division Street, Cobourg on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays, or by mail, or at www.nyfc.org. There are some special materials which we still require such as over-the-counter medications which are not reliably available in Ghana. These first-aid and health supplies are invaluable in ensuring the safety and well-being of the team members. Any surplus first-aid-type supplies will be left with a local mobile medical clinic affiliated with our contacts in Ghana. For further information, or to provide support, please contact Daryl or Sarah at (905) 373 4707 or by e-mail.

First Post

2006-06-01T14:55:00.000-04:00

It's 32 days until we leave for Ghana. The 17 members of the Northumberland Youth For Christ mission to Ghana for 2006 are excited and pretty well ready to go. If you want to see what we did in 2000, and get a feel for where we are headed - please go to our archives for that mission.

We hope you enjoy this blog and feel free to comment.. The team will have an opportunity to share their thoughts for the next month before we go... and will continue to post as much as possible from Ghana.

Until next time - please pray for final prep!

Daryl Stogryn, Executive Director NYFC