I slept pretty well last night, considering the hotel room didn't cool down until about 1:00 AM. Taking a shower was and experience. The shower head was disconnected, so I had to hold it the entire time. The water was hot and I was covered with dust and dirt, so I didn't care.
Before breakfast, I took a walk down on the beach area. The "resort" we are staying at is right on the banks of Lake Bosomtwe. I enjoyed the sound of the coconut palms blowing in the wind, and enjoying the nice breeze. I found a table to sit in the shade and worked on my blog, and prayed for the day.
They are feeding us well here. Breakfast at the restaurant was an omelette with lots of vegetables, a dense bread, with jam and bacon. Sometimes however, instead of bacon, they will feed us "sausage", which is more like hot dogs. My favorite thing to have with breakfast however, is pineapple juice with ginger. It was incredible! I also really enjoyed drinking the chocolate drink of choice here. It is from Nestle, and is called "Milo". The vegetables and food are always fresh. The restaurant is out on a patio so we can enjoy the view. However, this is the rainy season, and the local cats like to frequent around our table. One of the photos above is a distance photo of the patio.
Our driver David made it back to the hotel and we traveled down the very bumpy road full of potholes to the Touch A Life Care Center. Church had already started. Time is not something that is kept sacred here. They were supposed to start at 8:00, and we were there at 8:10. Songs were already over, and prayers had already started. Nan thought they probably started at 7:30. So, when they are all there, they go ahead and get started! When we arrived they were starting prayer time. Specific kids are called upon to pray for specific items. Sometimes, there will be 5-10 items on the list. So, that many kids will get to participate. I hate that we missed singing. We were able to get a taste of what it was like on Facebook a couple of weeks ago. Lots of drums, dancing, and singing in harmony. The like will take you to the Facebook video.
Church at Touch A Life
The message was a great one! The preacher spoke on the tongue and used one of my favorite passages from James. If you have ever attended or seen a traditional black church, that is what it is like. Lots of energy and repetition with response from the audience. He would call on one of the kids to read, and they would stand and read from their seat.
After church, we got to witness the making of Fo-Fo. Apparently it was on the menu for dinner for the kids that night. Ron said that we probably wouldn't like it. He said that the texture was similar to snot, and that it was a little bitter. It is a mixture of Casaba root, Yams, and plantains that are boiled and smashed together. Kristin was brave enough to try and make some, but I just enjoyed taking photos and a video.
Lunch for us was grilled chicken, rice, salad with cucumber, tomato, oil and vinegar and some spices, fried plantains, and of course, fresh pineapple and mango. They also served everything with a spicy sauce, which was too spicy for me. Some of the others on the team really enjoyed it however. Yes, they would fix food for us that we would enjoy. We didn't eat what the kids were having that day.
We returned to the Conner Creative Art Center to finish up on the t-shirts. When finished, we had a total of almost 175. Enough for all of the kids, the staff, and some of the staff's kids. As with yesterday, the kids just took over! They had them knocked out in less that an hour! Afterwards, we were able to take a few photos with everyone in their shirts!
When we finished with the photos, I got the supplies set up for doing an abstract watercolor landscape. We used different texture techniques and various colors. The kids were enthralled with how alcohol and salt impacted the paint. The colors were bright, and project was a success. See a smile on a child's face that is normally a selective mute made it all worthwhile! #artheals
The afternoon ended with dancing! These kids love to dance!
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