abetifi - three weeks

so last weekend we went to a monkey sanctuary... yeah. pretty cool. in this town there was a war between two tribes a long time ago, so the cheif of one tribe turned his tribe into monkeys. but then the other tribe captured the cheif, so he couldn't turn his tribe back into humans. therefore the monkeys in this town are believed to be humans and are treated likewise. they aren't denied anything!! :) when a monkey dies they build it a casket and give it a proper funeral and everything! it was really cool to see. we had to ride a two tro-tros, or mini-bus, for 6 hours to get there. these tro-tros are like a church van w/o seatbelts and packed to the max! :) on the way there our second mini-bus broke down and we had to wait on the side of the road until a new one came! what an adventure. we stayed overnight at a guesthouse at an orphanage for children with mental and physical handicaps. it was really cool and nice, and it was good to be able to support a good cause, too.
i have been thinking about how many people there are in the world...there are people EVERYWHERE in africa. there are a ton of people here in abetifi to get to know, and everyone of them has a story. and obviously i know a ton of people back home who all have their own stories. i'm not sure what all this means yet... but i have been thinking about it.
we went to a different church this sunday and they took up four offerings. people were told to bring 50,000 cedis (approx. $5) and those who didn't were told they still owed god. everyone was told to empty their pockets and the pastor walked around to see if people did! we were thinking if someone did that in the states, everyone would walk out of church!
on a funnier note, there is a song that plays often in the computer lab called "shake your booty for jesus." haha. there is a really interesting integration of christianity into culture here. store names are things like "god will provide justice brake service" it makes me smile.
we are finished with cultural orientation on friday and we will be going back to accra for a few days. i'm not sure what we'll do there... but that is the way here! :)
hope this finds everyone well! i love hearing from everyone!
peace - kimberlee

abetifi- two weeks

we have been in abetifi for two weeks now. it seems like no time and lots of time. :) we are having cultural orientation at the ramseyer training center. it's a good place to get started on africa b/c they train a lot of westerners!
life in africa is much slower paced than in america. that may be stating the obvious, but it really is true. we are learning how to "be" rather than "do." it's not easy for us "obrouni's." when we are walking on the streets kids of all ages call out "obrouni!!" which means "white person!" it's interesting be a minority. never before have i been the minority, and i think it will be even more different once i get to my placement in peki.
two weekends ago we walked to a neighboring village, pepease, which is about 4 kilometers away, and uphill the whole way back! :) we made for quite the spectacle. our cultural teacher told us that that town had probably not seen a group of four white girls walking through before.
so far we have been to church twice, in twi each time. each sunday the preacher took pity on us and translated a tidbit of the sermon so we'd have something to think about! the first sunday we also had communion, which the pastor said in english for us. it was interesting to see a presbyterian church in africa and how similar it was to my presbyterian church back home. just by the order of things i could tell when we were saying the lord's prayer, the confession, and such. it's cool how god works...!
yesterday during culture class teacher yaw (pronounced yao) took us to one of the town's garbage dumps. we thought that was a little odd. we commented that if someone came to our country we would never think to take them to see our garbage. but i was thinking maybe it is important to see that. to know that when my garbage is taken away, after dinner, or out of my room, it's not just gone. it becomes someone else's problem. it doesn't just disappear, something has to be done about it. teacher yaw told us that when the dump looks like it's getting full, someone, whoever sees it first, just sets it on fire. sounds dangerous to me!
last week we bought some fabric and took it to a seamstress to make dresses for us. that's pretty much how clothes are here. we went to pick up our dresses today, and we look like a regular african group! except that we cannot figure out the correct way to tie the headdresses! all in good time!
things are good here... and that's about it!

trying this out...

so this is my first "real" blog. i figured it was time. so here i will post thoughts about my time in ghana... but not today. next time i need to bring more money to the internet cafe. i am already out of minutes! peace!