We had a wonderful African adventure on Dec. 8. We took a trip down the Volta River, the largest river in Ghana. We rode in in a small fishing boat, known as a "pirogue," to the Atlantic Ocean, and then to a remote island inhabited by 1000 people, 600 of which are children. Along the way, we saw fishing villages, oyster farmers (fishermen), Ghanaian resorts, and lots of other fun things. It was an interesting day and a great learning experience. These pictures and captions tell the whole adventure.
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| This the group that went with us. They are Elder and Sister Glanfield, Redlin, Winegarden, Pothier, our guide for the day, George Thompson, and of course us. |
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| Here is the group getting ready for the tour. |
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| We encountered these children on our way. They enjoyed getting their picture taken. |
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| This was our launch point and Oyster farming village called Big Adda. The men go out in their boats and collect the oysters and bring them back to the village, where the women take them from the shells. |
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| The women put their laundry on the piles of oyster shells to dry in the sun. |
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| The oyster meat is then laid out on this big tarp to dry. They are then cooked in boiling oil before eating. |
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| While we were waiting for our boat to arrive, part of a catch was being taken by wagon to the "shucking" areas. |
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| These are the types of boats the the oyster farmers use and the type of boat in which we would take our cruise. They are called pirogues. |
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| Our group loading into the boat. |
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| One of the nice resort areas along the way. |
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| Gilligan's Island??!! |
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| Here we are at the mouth of the Volta River with the Atlantic Ocean in the background. |
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| A boat coming in with their catch. |
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| Catch of small fish. |
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| Arrival on the island of our destination. It is called Pediatorkorpe. |
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| The island is blessed with a small health center and a full-time nurse. |
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| This is the delivery room!! We took a video of the inside, but it doesn't work here. I wish you could see it. I'm sure glad I didn't have to deliver my babies here! Extremely primitive and not sanitary. |
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| We have now arrived at the school. |
These are some of the 600 children on the island. The merry-go-round on which they are playing is in fact, a generator. The generator provides power to charge 40 lanterns so the children can have light in their homes to do their homework. They share the lanterns.
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| Some of the school children. They seemed intrigued with us. |
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| He is telling me how old he is in answer to my question. |
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| One of our favorite parts of the trip was interacting with the children. They were so sweet and cute! |
Inside one of the classrooms.
We felt like we had gone back in time many years.
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The children's morning and evening prayers. |
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| Assembly for dismissal at the end of the day. They sang to us! |
Then the children were off to their homes. These are some of the mud huts in which they live. If you have a home made of concrete blocks, you are considered to be rich.
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| This is an outdoor kitchen. |
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More mud hut homes.
A basket weaver's shop. |
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Waiting for our water taxi to return at the end of our island tour. |
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On our way back to our home destination after a wonderful trip.
Boat owner and captain for the day. The motor stalled on us once, but he managed to get it started again and get us on our way. However, we were a little leary of the motor after that |
Last, but not least, George Thompson, our guide for the day. He did a great job providing a wonderful experience for us.
