it's sort of like camping...

so i just spent a month in the village have-kofe (pronounced ha-vay - co-pay) with my friend denis. his family graciously invited me into their lives and home, and it was a FABULOUS experience.
have-kope is in the "no man's land" between ghana and togo, but the kids go to school on the togo side, so everyone speaks ewe and french. lucky for me, i am not at all fluent in french. :)
i had my own room in the house, which was constructed from mud walls about 8 inches thick and a tin roof. (denis claims you can shoot a bullet at the wall and it won't go through, but i'm not willing to test the theory...) the shower was a stall built out of some cinder blocks and palm leaves...you carry in your own bucket. and the toilet was a hole in the ground outside of town. the kitchen was in the common area outside all the rooms. needless to say, there was not electricity, running water, cell phone coverage, etc...
to get to the village you have to take a car to the village ketsi-nkwanta, then walk two and a half miles. carrying all your stuff. up and down mountains. and cross a river--over a downed tree. needless to say, this place was remote.
i had a great time really, actually doing nothing. but it got me thinking...
what if you have no opportunity in life to "do something meaningful," as we would term meaningful-great job, teach a child to read, make lots of money, tell people about Jesus... anything we would term as "important." if you can't do any of this because your daily life is focused on survival, what is the meaning of life?
should our lives, those of us who are much more privileged, mean something "more?" something different? the same?
does God expect us to do "more?"

warthogs, waterbucks, and elephants, oh my!!

i went on a real safari! okay, well, we (me, anna, nora, and nora's parents) drove around in a 4 wheel drive and saw tons of animals, -- i didn't walk much b/c i sprained my ankle a few days before the trip...but
i went on a safari on crutches!
how many people can say that? it was pretty awesome. we saw an elephant up close, even i hobbled out of the car for that one. the guide didn't want me to get out in case the elephant charged, and then i wouldn't be able to run away.... yeah, whatever. rules are made to be broken! (but not ones from your parents, kids!) it was so cool! we also saw baboons, waterbucks, warthogs, some other deer-shaped animal (i forget the name) and we saw an elephant fetus in the museum. they kept the fetus in an old coleman cooler filled with formaldehyde. not gonna lie, it kinda stunk when they opened it. :)
props to nora's parents for bringing me along on the african road trip of the year, crutches and all. imagine 5 full-grown people (and nora's dad is 6'4") stuffed into a geo prism, with WEEKS worth of luggage, and crutches. then imagine REALLY bad dirt roads. then imagine the tail pipe falling off and having some kid from a random village tie it on with some ropes... you get the idea.
oh yeah, and did i mention that that car didn't make it all the way to the national park so we had to rent a different one --read: church van-- to make it the last 86 kilometers? cause that was awesome too!
i was a heck of a trip, and a great way to see africa!

graduation...

well, the students at the ceremony have officially graduated. 12 theology students and 15 music students are out in the big wide world ready to teach, preach, play, and praise the Lord.
the ceremony was held on a sunday, and started at 9 or 9:30 am (depending on what your inviter decided to put on the invitation :) ) outside in the courtyard of the seminary. i was a great SUNNY day. my feet got sunburned b/c they were sticking out of the tent!
we had an official procession of graduates, handing over of diplomas, consecration of catechists (like a lay-pastor), installation of the new principal, speeches by invited guests, passing out of awards, stoles, and bibles... and it all only took six hours.
it was such a different feel from what i remember my graduation being like. everyone brought pre-made food and drinks in coolers -think tailgating- and stashed it around campus during the ceremony. the students (and me too!) were allowed to invite whoever and how many ever people they wanted to, so campus was overflowing from friday on! plastic chairs were carted in, people sat on the grass, or anywhere they could find!
the ceremony went on fabulously, and i even received a citation (which is a good thing here) for hard work in the library! all in all it was a good day, and a big celebration.
most things here are celebrations like that. the more the merrier. you can always squeeze one more person in, or find food for one more guest, or throw a blanket on the floor and call it a bed! everyone is more concerned with being present to support the event or person than with their own personal comfort. (even i shared a small bed on graduation night with nora, and another friend camped out on the floor in my small room!) what a great way to celebrate life's big achievements, or just life in general, with everyone crowded around showing support.

i heart eating meat...

warning: this is a little bit graphic, if you like animals...

late last thursday night, i'm in my room reading when i hear...
"adzo, adzo!" (that's what they call me because no one can say kimberlee. it means a monday born girl.)
i open the door to see my friends denis and divine standing on my porch. denis says...
"we caught some rats. and we're gonna cook 'em."
me: "what?"
him: "WE CAUGHT SOME RATS AND WE ARE GOING TO EAT THEM."
me: "you caught RATS, and you're going to EAT them?"
him: "yeah"
me: "um, i've got to see this! i'm coming with."

so they take me over to the tree in which they caught the rats and show me the whole procedure. we then realized there was another one in there, so i got to see the whole thing in action. the rat is rather large, about 10 inches long, and another 8 inches on its tail. divine pulls the rat out from the tree roots by its tail and throws it up against the classroom building, breaking its neck. denis then grabs a 2x4 and gives it a good whack on the head to be sure it doesn't suffer. i notice a bit of blood on the floor; it brings tears to my eyes, which the students don't understand. they keep asking me "is it a sin to kill it to eat?" i have to answer no, so then they don't understand how i can be sad about it. we are so far removed from much of our food gathering in the u.s. that seeing things like this are hard for me. and i don't even like rats. what if it was a bunny? :)

anyways, we build a fire, and throw the rats in to burn off the fur and "sterilize" them. torchey (another student) pulls them out and starts cutting them up. he discards some of the insides, but most of the guts get thrown into the pot. in all this there is so much excitement and merriment among the students--arguments about how to make the stew, how much each will get, who will supply the onions, etc. (ps-arguments are merriment here!) and, to my horror, torchey cuts up the tails and throws them in, too. "it's very sweet." is the only explanation i get.

so we cook the rat stew and divide it up as evenly as possible... i am served first, and every one watches in anticipation. i pick up the choice piece they have given me, its a leg and it kinda looks like a chicken leg. i take a bite. you know, it wasn't that bad. i give the guys a smile and everyone cheers.

a few minutes later i realize the claw is still on the leg i'm eating. a little grossed out (and really not that hungry in the first place) i decide i'm finished. "you're not going to eat that?" asks denis. i reply "um, it's a foot." he reaches over, grabs it out of my hand and bites the claw right off. wow. its like real life fear factor. :)

but hey, i survived. and no one believed me when i said not only had i never eaten rat before, but i didn't even know anyone who had thought about eating rat before. you know, it kinda tasted like chicken. and at least i didn't have to eat the tail.

ps- i should have something up here in a few days...
www.pcusa.org/missionconnections/yav
under the ghana section, naturally.

i've troubled for you, from time to time...

as i sat in the heat watching the embers in the fire pit burning, i thought i heard "troubled for you"... and then i realized i wasn't at stronghold at a summer evening campfire, but rather it was a february afternoon, and i was burning my trash. oh life is so different here!
well, anyways, things are going well here. i have adopted the "do something, even if it's wrong" method of work in the library, so i took it upon myself to clean out a storage room the other day. apparently anything on the campus that people didn't know what to do with they stuck in this storage room. but i got it in order. :)
some days i can't believe that i've already been here for six months, and other days i can't believe i've only been here for six months! i feel like i'm starting to get the hang of just "being." i've found that i enjoy not being crazy busy. it's nice to have "down time," maybe not as exciting, but nice. since i am focusing on truely being involved in the seminary, i don't have many awesome stories to report this time... daily life is never as exciting as travel exploits!
my friendships are really growing with the seminary students, and i am very thankful for that. we have been having many enthusiasic debates about many things, and we are all suprised to see differences between africa and america where we thought there'd be similarities, and similarities where there'd be differences! one big difference we've noticed is the difference between what we think God expects from us. or maybe, more accurately, which comes first, faith or actions? i don't know what the answer is, but it was one heated debate, let me tell you!
thanks for your prayers, and know that you all are in my prayers too! i hope everyone has a spirtually productive lent!!
peace-
kimberlee

merry christmas!!

christmas is coming the goose is getting fat...
okay, well we'll be having pork roast instead of goose for christmas dinner, but i'm just glad it's not fufu, a traditional dish here! the girls and i will be having christmas dinner at the hallead's and i'm sure it will be a blast!
nora and i just arrived in accra from a week of travelling, and we got to experience the best and the worst africa has to offer! what sights to see!
nora, leigh and i visited kakum national park, took a walk on the suspended canopy walkway many, many meters above the rainforest, took a "night" (4am!) hike to animals (didn't see anything interesting) and slept in the forest under a mosquito net--props to leigh for really roughing it on her first camping trip!
then nora and i took off on a quest to the other side of the park to see elephants, which didn't really work out, seeing as noone told us they move during the dry season! but we got to see a "bamboo orchestra" which was neat.
then we travelled to the domama rock shrine, an amazing three storey tall rock formation in the middle of the forest. really cool. i climbed to the top using only vines, which was really hard!! but really cool to see the forest from on high.
it was a great trip, but we are glad to be staying in the same place for a few days!
the fall semester at the seminary wrapped up and we are all enjoying christmas holidays now. school will not start back up until mid january, so i am a free woman until then... don't know what i'll do with my time!
some prayer requests i have, if you're looking for some, are...
please pray for the evangelical presbyterian church seminary where i am living. tuition had to be raised this year to $500 dollars a semester for theology students and $200 a semester for music students, and as a result, many students can not pay the neccessary fees. even though some students are recieving some scholarship money from their home churches, it is often not enough to cover tuition. on a good sunday in this area, the morning offereing in a church might be 600,000 cedis, or about $60, often it is much less. you can see how scholarships don't often cover all the costs. because money is not coming in, it also cannnot go out, and seminary professors have yet to be paid at all this school year. so please pray that the oldest theological institution in ghana will be able to sustain it's activities for another 142 years.
please also pray for the students in secondary school, or high school, especially my host brothers, peter and samuel. the public schools are staffed by teachers who are paid by the government, and earlier this year they went on strike for higher wages. while the students enjoyed the break, they are now feeling the pressure as exams approach. at the end of the school year all students wishing to graduate must take a standarized test that is the same across all west africa. since the teachers wer on strike for over two months, the ghanaian students are at a serious disadvantage. these test scores effect the students' ability to go on for any further schooling, so the test is a big deal. please pray that the lack of school, through no fault of their own, doesn't relect poorly on the students.
i would like to offer a celebration that harmatan has arrived, the"winter" of ghana. during this time the dust blows down from the sahara desert, so everything is REALLY dusty, but all that dust hanging in the air blocks the sun a bit, so it's a little cooler, and i am very thankful for that! also, i am starting to feel like peki is home. i have become close friends with some of the students at the seminary, so i am not only relying on the other girls from the u.s. for emotional support. i even got to direct the theology department for a song in church the other day. i taught them "will you come and follow me?" and played my guitar and everything. it was great! i would like prayers for a continued sense of purpose. sometimes it's hard to remember that my work in the library is important when i see the poverty around me everyday. i feel like i should do more or something else. but then other days i can see that my presence is really helpful to the seminary students. all the classes and worship at the seminary is in english, but english is a second or third language for everyone there except me, so i have been able to help a lot with proof-reading sermons and the like.
thanks again to everyone who has written/sent things, i can't tell you how meaningful it is to recieve news from home!
peace and god bless!
-kimberlee

wow...

i don't even know where to begin!
i have settled into my life in peki at the evangelical presbyterian church seminary, and am learning how to be a librarian... it's going well.
we have morning devotions as a seminary community monday, tuesday, thursday, and friday at 7 am, a sunday morning church service, and wednesday nights we have a communion service to which a local choir is invited. this week i got to read the english bible selection for the wednesday service. i was a bit nervous b/c the student who asked me to read was VERY nervous about me reading. he kept telling me "sometimes people can't understand your english." and he made me practice a gazillion times!! but it went very well, and most of the visting choir were surprised to see a white girl up front! the students at the seminary really want me to preach, but i kind of think they just want to get out of their preaching duties!! we shall see about that one!
this week i also got the chance to play football (soccer) in a friendly seminary vs. the town game. i was the only girl who played, and no one could believe i actually wanted to play! it was quite fun, although i was quite tired! and of course, the seminary team won!
on wednesday morning i met the students at 6 am (look at what a morning person i'm becoming) to help mow the lawn. while it sounds like no big deal... except in ghana you mow the lawn with a machete. A MACHETE. small children carry them everywhere and have to bring them to school b/c they are responsible for keeping the grass short. so here's me at 6 am with a machete bent over trying to cut the grass up a super steep hill!! needless to say all the students were laughing their heads off! one even ran to get his camera to document the hilarious occasion! surprisingly, i wasn't very good at this... one student told me i should practice the motions in my room to build up my muscles!! haha!
the more time i spend at the seminary interacting with the students, the more i realize that lots of events in my life have been leading me to the exact place i am in right now. i am uniquely suited for a job at a seminary that trains pastors and church musicians. it is great to to meet people who share my interests in church music, worship and other things like that. i have gotten into many intense debates about church realated issues where i've been very thankful for my previous training!
i have also started drumming lessons at the seminary which are going well. it's a lot of fun, but a little embarassing b/c it's not something that comes easily for me, and everyone can hear all my mistakes!!
i celebrated thanksgiving yesterday in ho with nora, ashley and nora's two housemates becci and anna. we had a big turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, macaroni and cheese, candied carrots, green beans and apple crisp and ice cream!! it was a meal to make the pilgrims proud! and then we had the left over apple crisp for breakfast today. delicious! what a treat to have a real american dinner!
as you can tell, i don't have much acess to the internet over here, so my blogs will be few and far between! but if you write me a letter by snail mail, i promise to write back! my address is
kimberlee frost
e.p. church seminary
p.o. box 29
peki / volta region
ghana, west africa
thanks to all for your thoughts and prayers and letters and packages! i have loved every single one of them!