Saturday July 29, 2006, was a red letter day for us.  It was loading day - the day we were actually putting all the resources we had gathered for Damongo area schools into the containers.  In my mind there were definitely similarities to being pregnant:  basically nine months of prep time, lots of weight to pack around, and 'delivery' day seemed like it would never come!  However, it could not have gone better.  Here is a picture of part of what we had collected in the warehouse.   The local paper ran an article about Tools for Schools Africa using a picture much like this one.
 
We met at Nossack's warehouse at 7 a.m.  Diana had the coffee on, and Darren arrived from Edmonton right on time.  The containers had been dropped off by Vic on Friday, and were ready to go. Darren, from Cratex in Edmonton, started working on the bracing for the Explorer in one container while the rest of us began loading the other container.   Diana Vico (Nossack's warehouse person) was a mad woman on the powerjack, and the way she handled the loading was a thing of beauty.  Some of the pallets were brought to the loading area with the hand jacks and some Diana took by powerjack directly into the container.  Diana loaded four pallets at a time and then the rest of the area was hand loaded box by box.  Gradually the first container began to be filled.   Finally, the first container was full, and we congratulated ourselves heartily!   There was a real sense of satisfaction in closing that first container, and more than a few high fives.  My favorite picture is the three girls (Marilyn G., me and Diana) at the back of the container just prior to lifting the ramp and pulling the truck away.  While Vic  closed the first container and took it to his yard,  we pushed the Explorer into place in the second container, and hand bombed boxes around it.  Then Darren built a bulkhead to stop the load from shifting, and we proceeded to fill the second container.
 
On Thursday we had been frantic about not having enough crew, but by Friday night we had so many volunteers that we asked some of them NOT to come.  We had two shifts of crew coming on Saturday, but the loading went so smoothly we could soon see we would not need the second shift, so again we did a phone out to cancel.  We thought we would be loaded by 2 or 3 p.m., but in fact were loaded by about 11:15 a.m.  It really pays to have a crew that digs in heart and soul.  About twenty unclaimed bikes were donated by Red Deer RCMP, and they were loaded into free space near the top of the container.  In the end, we had room for about three more pallets, but having loaded almost sixty pallets, we cut it pretty fine as it was, and it definitely was better NOT to have extra cargo left over.  The total cargo was approximately 60,000 pounds.  The Explorer was about 4,000 pounds, so that means we collected, sorted, boxed, loaded and carted about 56,000 pounds of books and school resources.  Not bad for two 58 year old women!!  When Dan walked in one Friday night, he commented that I had lost weight.  I had not taken the time to get on the scale for a month and a half, and lifting those boxes in the heat of this July was not altogether a bad thing.  I had lost 12 pounds!

Many thanks to all the people who helped get this project to the 'loading' stage.  Specials thanks to Nossack's Fine Meats (Ingrid and Karsten Nossack, Diana Vico, Patrick and Logan among others) for several months of storage space, help and many strong backs.  Thanks to Andy Buruma or Andy Buruma Enterprises who got two containers for us, and donated one of them.  Also thanks to Vic at MVP trucking who moved the containers for us, and donated part of the hauling fee.  We could not have done it without the help of Darren Ransome of Cratex Edmonton.  Darren donated his time and materials, and drove down from Edmonton just to help with this project.  We know a lot more about bulkheads than we did before.  Of course there are huge thank-you's to all the loading crew, especially our families.  Craig, Chris and Dan drove four hours from Lethbridge to help us out, and boys, we appreciated every minute of your time.  I hope you enjoyed juicy steaks on the way home.
 
We have learned a great deal about collecting books, containers and shipping in the last few months.  Getting the containers through the port in Tema may teach us a little more.  They are now in the Cratex yard in Calgary, and once they are loaded on the rail cars for Montreal, Garry Vastila at Global Cargo Services is in charge.  He will assist us in getting the containers to Damongo.
 
A year and a half of planning, and nine months of collecting is now complete.  On to step two....

*Please see the TFS-Africa -Photo Gallery
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The generosity of this community and our friends continues to amaze me.  It was July 7th when we decided to send a second container, and as of yesterday, the cost of the purchase of the second container and the shipping of the second container were both paid.  I guess all that angst was for naught!  Anyway, I will take the shipping invoices down to the Foundation office tomorrow, and the funds will be forwarded to Shirley at Universal Aide, paying off the balance owing.  The containers are now in Calgary and will be leaving by rail to Montreal on August 31.

Marilyn and I are busy booking accommodation for our first few nights in Morocco, Tunisia and Ethiopia.  There seems to be little space available in Addis, so Marilyn has written to some of the Catholic guest houses seeing if they can find room for us.  Speaking of accommodation, we just heard from Susie in Damongo as well.  As of last week we were not sure we had a place to stay, but this week she informed us that she will be moving into a bungalow.  We are welcome to join her in the bungalow, so that sounds terrific.  This week I also sent a letter off to Bishop Philip and Father Lazarus as we will have to work out a system for unloading the containers at the warehouse in Damongo.  I think they will be very pleased when they see the quality and quantity of books we are bringing to the community.

The summer has been fabulous here – just right for people heading to warmer climates.  We have about a month left before departure on September 26th.
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Well, here it is September 18th and we are only a week away from departure. I have feelings of anticipation, adventure and excitement mixed with feelings of uncertainty and concerns about being away from the family for such a long time. Well, the commitments have been made now, so we will be away soon.

Recently there have been a couple snags. The first snag is that the shipper had to have an exact street address to which the containers are to be delivered. We have only a box number and mailing address in Damongo, and the internet is down so we have no communication. I think Marilyn G. was going to try phoning sometime today, so we will see if she is successful at getting through to someone in Damongo.

The second problem is with our teaching assignment is Lusaka. Last year we had organized some professional development sessions with the director of the international school in Lusaka. Communication through the summer fell silent, and when we finally got through a couple weeks ago, we were informed that the director had been replaced and that our contract was one of the casualties of the acrimonious situation. So at this late date Marilyn G Fedex-ed our tickets to Bob in Washington DC. Since they were issued there, they must be cancelled there, and he is working at trying to resolve the ticket changes which would take us through to Ghana about a week or ten days earlier. We hope we get the tickets back within the week or we won’t be going anywhere!

Today I had three more phone messages from people offering to donate to the Tools for Schools Africa Project. What generous people we have in our community. We also are trying to set up a meeting with the Foundation regarding the transfer of funds to Tamale, Ghana.

Interesting times, and certainly there are many more ahead of us.
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The trip was uneventful, although long.  We arrived in Marrakech at 7.00 p.m. on the Sept 27th.  Luckily Hassan met us at the airport or we would have never found our way to our hotel, the Riad Dar Tamlil.  It only has four rooms, and is certainly authentic!  The main floor has a lounging area open to the sky, and all four rooms face that tree filled area, although we are on the second floor and have a wrought iron scroll work balcony looking down onto the lounging area.  The people at the hotel have made us feel very welcome, and although it is not the Ritz, we are very comfortable.  We were served a lovely breakfast with freshly squeezed orange juice and wonderful fresh pastries.

We have discovered one of the great traditions of Morocco, which is steaming hot peppermint tea.  They fill the small silver Arabian-nights-styled pot with fresh mint leaves and cover them with boiling water.  They steep only a short time, and pour the tea into a small cup with at least one lump of sugar added.  It really is delicious.  Marilyn G is enjoying the coffee.

Today we spent the day losing our way around the souks, the small windy market streets in the old city, called the medina.  One does not laze leisurely in the streets as there are donkey carts and motor scooters and bikes coming from every direction with little warning.  The souks that have been most impressive to date are those with piles of spices coned up, often with birds flying in to help themselves.  The colors and the smells of the cinnamon, oregano, ginger, turmeric, curry, pepper and others are wonderful. 

Also, the stalls with many varieties of olives are fabulous.  We tried to buy some from a stall today but it was fairly early in the day and the vendor could not make change.  Anyway, we had some for supper as part of a great meal in the main square in the medina. Also there were swarms of people because Ramadan is on and they cannot eat until later in the day.  The snake charmer, and belly dancers, and story tellers, and henna painters were all there too.
 
It was quite a sight.  We stopped and had another peppermint tea at the Cafe Argana, a lovely restaurant on the edge of the square where it is possible to people-watch just about forever.  We were trying to decide, as we sat there, if we were really seeing a true representation of the general population, and since we saw all ages and both sexes, we decided we were.

Our little Riad is well situated.  it is near the main square and walking distance to most of the older buildings in the medina.  Tomorrow we are going to go to some of the museums and gardens.  Saturday we are thinking about leaving for the coast, although that is not yet firm.

Time to send a message to my family.  I did have a few twinges of homesickness today when I heard some north American music that Gary and I have often danced to. It will be great to hear from Gary and the boys.  What a joy the internet is!

The internet in Damongo has been down, and so we have had no communication for some time.  I was very pleased to have an email today from Father Lazarus letting us know that he would meet the plane in Ghana when we get there, and will assist us in getting through the airport, a feat in itself.
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October 1, 2006

t has only been a couple days since we posted the last blog, but it may be a while before we can post again, so I thought I’d update.

Today was a great day. We started off by foot to the tanneries for which Marrakech is famous. We had seen pictures and wanted to see the real thing. The pictures were true to what was really there, but a rather sanitized version without the smell. A man at the gate handed us a handful of mint to put under our noses in the worst parts. The whole area is configured like outdoor double-sized bathtubs with lime in some to de-hair the hide and colors in others to dye them.

The Berbers, the original inhabitants from the Atlas Mountain area tan the smaller hides, such as the sheep, goats, etc. The Arabs tan the larger animals such as beef and camel. They talked about the hide of the chamois - the camel.  Now, that was a link I had never made. It was amazing to see the whole process, no matter how foul smelling.

After exiting the tannery area we somehow ended up at a Berber rug dealer. The Berbers come to Marrakech just on Sunday to market what they have made. They make silk rugs, so we each bought a very small one.

After lunch we found the area of the medina where the dyers work. They were tie-dyeing fabrics in vibrant colors for garments and wool for rugs. Their dyes are all natural. Henna is used for orange, saffron for yellow and cobalt for blue. We took some good pictures that we hope to be able to post soon. Right now we are just lucky if the message actually gets sent, let alone pictures. Every once in awhile you press a key and get a total surprise!

The highlight of the day, which you will hear us talking about, was our visit to the hammam - the community bath.  We had walked just about the whole day and drank a lot of water, and then we found out it was 42 degrees, so we realized why we had been so thirsty. Anyway, it seemed like a good day to visit the baths since we were so hot and the streets today seemed grimy. We headed off and after directions from four or five different people finally found the hammam. A couple older ladies were sitting near the door so we walked in and paid our 10 D or one dollar each. In the end we paid a little bit more because they could see we had no idea what we were to do. We were in a twenty five foot long room of marble with heated marble floors. There were taps on the wall, and they gave us about five or six pails. Then some older ladies came, and with no nonsense approach, began scrubbing us down. It was not even fine grit sandpaper they used, it had to be at least medium grit, or so it seemed.

They flopped us over when appropriate and doused us with another pail of water every once in awhile. We sputtered and tried to keep breathing without getting mouthfuls of water. They shampooed our heads, and scrubbed us down again. We both left feeling a couple pounds lighter, and very clean!!

Tomorrow we are heading out to the coast to Essaouira for a couple days, then we are back in Marrakech for another two nights before we fly to Tunisia. I doubt that we will find internet in Essaouira.

I’m really not taking the time to compose these blogs well. It is more a shoot from the hip type of approach. I’m not sure whether the spontaneity helps make up for the lack of composition, but i hope it does. Invariably we are rushed as we write.
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Tunisia is wonderful.  We love this country!

We arrived last Thursday, fairly late.  Friday morning we started out on our quest to find materials for the grade three social studies unit on Tunisia.
 
Friday was our lucky day.  First we visited the Tourist Bureau and they gave us some wonderful resources - better than we could ever have hoped for.  They sent us down the street to the *party* house.  We had no idea what that was but it ended up being the guest house for the President. We talked our way in and got two flags. As we were walking down the street taking pictures; a girl in a parked car told us we should be careful what we took pictures of, and then invited us into her car for a brief background and chat.  She is a university student, and she gave us a really good idea of what we need to see in our week here.  She also told us that all Tunisian kids have free education even at the university level, so it is not surprising the country is moving ahead so well.  She and her friend also drove us to a French speaking international school.  We found an English speaking teacher there who is interested in having a student exchange:  For the most part we are dependent on Marilyn G’s French which is better than mine, and on reading directions by the waving of hands!

We have stayed three nights at Sidi Bou Said (which is 20 km north-east of Tunis); a lovely little village on the Mediterranean.  The water is unbelievably blue; so beautiful and so warm:  We have been exploring this area; taking pictures; buying things for the kids’ boxes; swimming and lazing on the beach.

The most attractive thing besides the sea are the white houses with blue doors.  The whole village is the same with tall dark green cypress and bougainvillea blooming in many colors. It is a painters dream.

A nice lady in an office is letting me use her computer but is standing at my shoulder waiting for me to finish so I guess this is it for now.   We have one more day in Tunisia and then we head for Egypt and our travels down the Nile.

Send us a note and let us know what is happening *at home*. We hear little international news and nothing of Alberta. By the way; we are next door to the Presidential Palace which we discovered when the security told us to get off his beach.  We thought about telling him that we were good friends as we had visited his guest house in Tunis but thought better of it.  Today we head back to Tunis and we fly on Thursday.

Hope everyone is well and happy.

Marilyn

Visit the Links page to learn more about Tunisia
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November 1, 2006

Nairobi, Kenya

Well, we are back. It is very difficult to find computers and internet both working at the same time in Eastern Africa! Today we have both, AND free usage thanks to the International Schools Association in Nairobi. A computer with an English keyboard, and enough speed to move between screens is a real luxury, one of the things we certainly take for granted at home.

We have gone many miles and have had many adventures since the last blog. When we last wrote we were just leaving Egypt. It was amazing to see the treasures of Ancient Egypt, something we will never forget. But, we were not sorry to leave the totally insane taxi drivers of Egypt behind. We truly wondered if we'd to get back to the airport alive. They treat driving as if it is a video game, traveling at speeds of 90 kph with about two inches between vehicles, jumping from lane to lane, and creating a new one when none is available. The highlights of Egypt for us were the trip down the Nile, Abu Simbel Temple and seeing the whole treasure trove that came from King Tut's tomb.

We were welcomed in Ethiopia by the Salesian Brothers, a fine group of people who offered us superior accommodation at very reasonable prices. We stayed with them in Addis Ababa before heading north to Bahir Dir. Father Roberto arranged a car and driver, and we started traveling through the beautifully clean Ethiopian countryside. We were so impressed to see well cared for homes and farms. It was a festival day, so there were large numbers of people on the road.

We took pictures of women carrying unbelievably huge headloads of fuel, including wood and leaves, and dried cow patties. To get to Bahir Dir we crossed one of the two branches of the Nile River. The terrain was much like the area around the Grand Canyon, and we descended for perhaps 20 km and then ascended the same amount on the other side. We had had very good roads to that point, but from the time we started dropping into the valley, the road was "under construction" - that is, it had had no attention for the past ten years.

Sheer bedrock stuck up between the rain eroded gullies. It was unbelievable. Our small car scrapped bottom more times than you can imagine, and each time we checked whether we had left the oil pan behind. The one thing we were sure of is that we were NOT going to go home the same way.

We left Addis shortly after 8 am and finally arrived in Bahir Dir well after dark, about 8:30. On the way we gave the driver a lesson on how to dim lights for oncoming cars, something that was unknown to him. He seemed unaware of why all the oncoming vehicles kept flashing their headlights at him!!

Bahir Dir is on Lake Tana, and on the shores of Lake Tana (and on the islands in the lake) are 22 monasteries built as early as the 12th century. Father Roberto says that Ethiopia was the first Christian country in the world. We took a boat out to some of the monasteries, and were surprised to find they were built in the round style of many of the African huts (manyattas). Many of the original icons were still there and also some of the old texts painted on vellum, sitting on dusty shelves. They leafed through the books showing us the original 12th century hand painted vellum pages and allowed us to take pictures.

We flew back to Addis. Back in Addis, Father Roberto took us to one of his favorite projects, a Street Children Project where boys on the street are taken in and offered an education, a place to live, and skill training. It is an amazing project and both of us were awed by the staff's dedication and the money that is going into the project. At present they are building a new 400 bed facility.

We left Addis and flew to Nairobi to be welcomed by Miffie Greer, a friend from the AISA tour of 2003. She kindly offered us accommodation while we are in Kenya, and it was wonderful to see her again. We stayed with her overnight, then headed out last Saturday on a safari into Tanzania. We left at 7 Saturday morning and took a local bus to Arusha, Tanzania. There we were met by our guide Pius (pronounced Puce) who drove us to Lake Manyara. We went on a game drive that afternoon until dark. We saw many animals including baboons, giraffe, hippos, and zebras, and just as we were heading out of the park, a large group of elephants moved very near our vehicle. One huge elephant was no more than a couple arms length away. I was holding my camera tightly as we were wondering if he was going to put his trunk into the vehicle.

That night we stayed at Lake Manyara Lodge, which was pretty luxurious compared to the usual hotels we had been staying in. The food was also fine, as was the hot shower!

Sunday morning we stayed at Lake Manyara before moving on to the Ngorongoro area in the afternoon. We visited a Masaii boma (village) just as the herds of cattle were coming home. The Masaii believe in following traditional customs and live the same way they did hundreds of years ago. They still live in houses constructed from sticks, animal hide and mud/manure, and their diet still consists of blood/milk together and meat. They do not grow or eat fruits and vegetables. As Pius said, “The Masaii do not know how to cook. They only know how to burn meat." Pius is a "modern Masaii", one who has left the village and traditional ways because he wanted an education. He has done well for himself. He is 27 years old and has been working as a guide for 5 years.

Monday was an all day animal drive in the crater. It measures 15 miles by 12 miles, and the animals that are in the crater pretty much spend their lives there because the sides of the crater are very steep, and animals such as elephants could not get out if they wanted to. The bottom of the crater was less fertile than we had expected, with most of the grass very dry and few acacia trees except around the edges. There are a few natural springs in the crater creating the necessary water holes. In them there are hippos lazing away their days in the sun. One water hole was situated beneath "Pride Rock”, an out cropping of rock where lions kept a keen lookout. We were fortunate to see about a dozen lions throughout the day, several of which would just lie down in the middle of the dirt road and move only into the shade of one of the safari vehicles, resting against the wheel and falling asleep. Even when the vehicle moved on, the lion just slept. One of these sleeping lions we could have touched through the window of the jeep. In the crater were also large herds of zebra, wildebeest, gazelles and cape buffalo. The road out of the crater was rough and very steep, not for the meek driver, for sure.

As we left the lodge and ended our safari we still met with cape buffalo, and were fortunate to have a leopard cross right in front of us. The Big Five are the most dangerous land animals: lion, elephant, cape buffalo, leopard and rhino. We had now seen four of these. Our last animal sighting was of six giraffe crossing the highway as we headed back for Arusha. The trip by bus was long, but we are now in Nairobi enjoying our time with Miffie. We leave on Sunday for Zanzibar.

Never take fresh water, laundry facilities, salad, high speed internet, and chocolate for granted.

The one thing that we have had the most practice with is patience.

Webmaster Note: Go to the Links page for reference links mentioned in this entry.
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November 7, 2006

Well, here we are in very wet Zanzibar. Yesterday was Stephen's birthday and it is times that are usually family occasions that I really miss.

After leaving Ngorongoro Crater and the Safari, we headed back to Nairobi. The good part was that Miffie welcomed us to her home one more time, but the bad part was that I brought a little wildlife of my own with me. So far Marilyn G. has escaped, but I have been fighting bed bugs. My goodness, what a trial it is. I have been showering and washing and bleaching clothes until the skin on my hands is as dry as parchment, and my hair is not much better. I think I have the bugs pretty much beat - touch wood.

Once we were back in Nairobi, Miffie arranged a car and driver for us for two days. We went to visit the David Sheldrake baby elephant orphanage. The youngest elephant was just two weeks old. It's mother had her trunk caught and then cut in a snare. Once an elephant's trunk is cut, they have no way of gathering enough food to survive, so she starved to death. The baby was at her side suckling her dead mother when it was found by Samburu people. They got word to the orphanage, and the baby was saved, although they had to give her huge doses or antibiotics because the Samburu had given her cow's milk which can cause pneumonia in elephants. Anyway, all is well. There were ten orphans there at the moment. They stay up to two and a half years, and then they are gradually released back into a controlled environment. Even after they become wild again, the trainers say that when they have babies, they bring the babies back to show to the trainers. Proud mothers are everywhere I guess.

We also visited the giraffe centre where they are attempting to keep the Rothschild giraffes alive. There are nine varieties of giraffes, and Kenya has three. The Rothschild giraffe is different from the others as it has white legs below the knee. We visited a number of other places in Nairobi as well. I think Marilyn G's favorite was the Masaii market. She haggled and negotiated her way into a few treasures. For my part, I bought a brass pass holder. When Kenya was still a protectorate, all the Africans had to carry passes around their necks. I had read about this and knew what it was the minute I saw it. I guess the history part was what appealed to me the most. Ten dollars seemed pretty reasonable.

We left Nairobi very early Sunday after standing in line at the Nairobi airport for a couple hours, but finally we got to Zanzibar. It was pouring then and has not stopped much since then. On the drive from the airport the van was up to the axles in water and the engine was sputtering. It has rained every day, not all day but many downpours that have a lot of water in them. I only brought one pair of sandals so it feels like my feet will be growing either mold or else webbing between the toes very soon.

Today we did a tour to see all the spices growing on the island. In fact, Zanzibar supplies about 80% of the world's cloves and many other spices as well. We saw cinnamon, pepper, cardomon and many other spices growing, and enjoyed smelling and tasting them all. We also visited the slave caves. When the British shut down the slave trade here in the 1870's, the trade simply went, literally, underground. They moved up the coast about fifteen kms north of Stone Town, and simply dug caves in the coral in which to warehouse the slaves until the next shipment. The ships flew French flags to throw off the British, and the trade continued until 1907. From the 1840's, Zanzibar was ruled by a sultan, so there is a heavy Arab influence here. In fact, the first sultan here also controlled the whole coast of East Africa from Somolia south to Tanzania, so there is a very similar culture all down the coast. We also went for a swim in the Indian Ocean, even while the rain continued.

Tomorrow we are heading for the north end of the island and the fine beaches. Hopefully we will leave the rain here! We will be back in Stone Town on the 10th and back in Nairobi on the 11th. There may be time to blog then, or after our train trip to Mombasa.

It is not long until we head for Ghana. We know the containers were at the port a couple weeks ago, so are hoping that the containers will be in Damongo when we arrive, or shortly after.

Send us messages - we love to hear from home. The longer we are away, the more important those messages become! Stay well, and bed bug free.

Webmaster Note: Go to the Links page for reference links mentioned in this entry.
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November 18, 2006

We arrived in Accra after a five and a half hour flight from Nairobi to 42 degree steam. I say steam as the humidity is so high it seems to be not too far from steam. We were met at the plane by Father Lazarus, a priest from Damongo, who took us to the Catholic guest house for supper and a bed. The traffic in Accra is terrible - just short of gridlock just about all the time from what I can see. As we sat in traffic the hawkers appeared at the vehicle window non-stop, selling everything from ornaments to newspapers, fruit, toilet paper, car floor mats, crafts, bread, etc.

The containers are still in the port in Tema. There is a 3,000 dollar charge that the Catholic Church in Damongo has already paid, but we are accruing daily storage charges and are trying to get the containers on their way north. To that end we will stay in Accra until Monday morning, hoping to get it sorted out and the containers on the road.

We got a phone call last night from Susie, who has been our contact in Damongo for most of this project. She has been away but is back in Damongo for a bit so we hope to see her at the end of the week. We have emailed and talked for months but have never met.

Greetings to everybody - drop us a line when you can. We will be in Damongo at the end of the week and hope for an internet connection there although the Ghanaian internet is notoriously unreliable. ‘Hope everyone is well.
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November 19, 2006

by Marilyn G

Good morning from Accra, Ghana. We arrived yesterday as planned and are now in the process of trying to get the containers out of the port and shipped to Damongo. They are still in the port, just sitting there. Ghana is very hot...when we landed it was 42C and very humid. The traffic here is very slow and tedious because of the number of cars and the few roads. But, we aren't walking.

Our final stay in Mombasa was an all inclusive beach holiday along the Indian Ocean. We went snorkeling again, but the runoff from all the rain in Kenya has made the water murky and difficult to see much more than coral and starfish. Even so, the swim in the ocean was pleasant and enjoyable.

Mombasa is much like any other African city that we have seen with its narrow streets in the old city, old buildings with their faded beauty, and the inevitable bustle, noise, smells and color of the market. We are definitely not the ‘being catered to’ type because we kind of felt guilty having every whim looked after and people repeatedly apologizing if we did not have a napkin, etc. But there is hope and I think we could get used to it, so everyone, start practicing!! We will be expecting great things from all of you when we get home! I haven't been getting many emails, and none from Tom or Paul. Are they not coming through, or just not being sent?

Please send emails to m_ganger@hotmail.com since my rdpsd account is not letting all the mail in or out. I do not know when we will get to the computers again, because we seem to be getting farther away from working systems as we get into Ghana.

I saw a sign yesterday that said "Season's Greetings” and I was thinking that we are very far from that. Then I realized that all the decorations will be up in Red Deer and the craft sale is probably this weekend, or the Festival of Trees. The hot weather is not conducive to thinking about Christmas just yet, although there are Christmas decorations for sale.

Signs in Accra make it appear that the people are religious. Jesus Saves Pharmacy; God is the Answer Grocery Store; God is Trust Tire Store, etc. The fact that the only people that we have met are the priests, sisters and workers at the Good Shepherd Guesthouse Bar and Restaurant make this even believable for us. With all this Catholic influence before long I am sure that we will have Marilyn P making the sign of the cross...correctly and not with her left hand. (Just kidding!)

Miss all of you.
Marilyn G
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December 6 , 2006 by M Ganger

This blog covers the time from Accra to Damongo. We arrived in Accra on Nov. 17 and were graciously escorted, guided and hosted by Father Lazarus.

We made a trip to the coast at the Gulf of Guinea and looked to find Antarctica which lies directly south. We visited the coffin maker’s shop which does custom work in making specialty coffins to suit personalities. We saw a cow, lion, airplane, car, coke bottle and a beer bottle.

We are at about 4 degrees N latitude having crossed the equator several times while traveling to Ghana. This is the cold season, their winter, so it is cool at only about 35 C. Apparently it gets much hotter. This is also the harmattan season, the harmattan being the wind that blows south from the Sahara desert bringing dust and the immense heat. As a result the farther north we travel, the drier it is getting and we are beginning to get 'pruney'. We did a test to see how much lotion we could apply before it did not absorb and ran out of lotion.

The containers arrived in port on Oct. 28 and as of Nov. 17 were still in Tema. We spent the morning of Mon. Nov. 19 with the National Catholic Secretariat going over the paper work to ensure a speedy delivery of the containers to Damongo. We were assured that the containers and the vehicle would be on their way directly. We set out for Damongo that afternoon.

Along with Father Stephen we traveled for about five hours to Kumasi, the second largest city in Ghana, and spent the night. There we were as night was falling over the city, the A/C was on in the vehicle and the dust was swirling around us when we heard our first Christmas carol of the season - Michael Bolton singing 'O Holy Night'. The next morning we started with a relatively empty Land Cruiser, but then we stopped at the roadside vendors in the villages along the way for huge bunches of plantain, oranges, bananas, loaves of bread, and the largest juiciest pineapples that I have ever seen. The shopping concept is very different here and is done because of necessity. The main shopping areas are open air stalls set up along the streets or in the markets similar to our farmer markets. Goods and produce are also offered to travelers at stop signs or along areas of slow traffic by the vendors who wander between the vehicles offering bananas, small bags of water, shoes, car mats, phone cards, fabrics, toilet paper, pictures, booster cables, plastic dishes, etc. Most carry the items in large pans balanced upon their head.

As we headed north the road improved for a considerable distance, but was littered with broken down vehicles waiting for repairs. At Buipe Father took us on a short cut over what he referred to as safari Road. Quadders would love the road with its bare rocks and wash outs. We bounced our way into Damongo to the tunes of Don Williams and a Jamaican singer, Don Carlos, in time for supper. Arrangements had been made for us to stay in the comfort of the Unity Centre Catholic Guesthouse, where we have been ever since. We eat at the restaurant and have been introduced to Ghanaian foods such as fufu, banku, groundnut soup and TZ.

We have met many people since arriving. Our first visitor was Susie Zook, a Texan on a mission in Ghana and our contact and project partner from its onset. We have visited schools and met teachers and students.

The project has been well received by everyone here. We have come to realize that all parents, no matter where, want the best for their children and for most that means a good education.
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December 6 , 2006 by Marilyn P

It has been a long time since I did a blog. Sorry, there are a number of reasons, none of which matter. But, I am online today and will get this away unless the server crashes before I am done. It has once in the last half hour already. I still do not have my vehicle so it is hard to get to the internet, but we are hoping to have it by the weekend.

We are now in Damongo, as you will read in Marilyn G's blog. It is very interesting to be back after such a long time. There are many changes, but the first noticeable one is the increase in population. There are more villages, many of them where it used to be only field and forest. Even the existing villages are much larger. Still, life has not changes much for the average person. Most are living in mud houses with thatched grass or tin roofs, and many are still subsistence farmers. The town of Damongo itself is less organized than it used to be, and less prosperous looking although there are more small one room shops.

I went to see our house and the hospital where I used to work, and both structures are still there, and looking pretty good. They have aged better than I have! The house has changed little although all the trees near it are gone, and other buildings have been built fairly nearby. The hospital is much larger and a new ward is being built by a German organization. One of the biggest chances I have noticed is the decreased amount of culture. There used to be drumming and dancing almost every night, and talking drums in the night often. There used to be quite a few locally produced handcrafts of good quality. Now there is enough TV and radio available that the evenings are not spent in traditional ways, though cooking is still on the fire in the courtyard in the same large pots. And the stew still smells fine!

We are being accommodated at the Catholic Church Diocese Guest House which was built about ten years ago, and is very nice. Since we arrived here we have been treated royally and everyone has gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. We have electricity quite a bit of the time, and when it is on, we have a fan in our bedroom. It looks like we will be moving quite soon to a different location in order to have a place where we can cook.

We have had some interesting events. One was a night drive last week over the cut-across road, the equivalent of a bad pasture road in Alberta. The lady in the front seat spotted a snake on the road, so the driver reversed and turned into an attacking Rotweiller, driving back and forth over the snake and then pinning it under the wheel. He got out of the truck to club it to death. Africans do not like snakes!! We refused to have it riding in the van with us, dead or not, so it was tied to the front grill for the ride home. The next day the driver arrived with puff adder stew, and to my amazement it was really quite tasty although filled with bones. Snakes have a lot of 'ribs'!

We have had some interesting times trying to get the containers of schools supplies to Damongo, but they finally arrived last Saturday morning. We were walking down to breakfast and we spotted a truck with a container sitting at the roadside. So, Saturday Dec 2 ended up being 'unloading' day. It was quite a lot different than loading day as we had no pallet jacks, and in fact no way to get the full containers off the flatbed. So, we backed the trucks up to the warehouse door, and women walked to the back to the truck to pick up headloads of boxes. Sometimes they carried two boxes, and even the boxes of encyclopedias that weighed 80 pounds! Of course many men were helping too, but it was the four women who really impressed us with their work ethic. We were finished unloading both containers about 2:30 in the afternoon, so we dashed all our helpers a used blanket, and they were all thrilled.

The issue of payment for the transportation of the containers from the coast to Damongo has been haunting us for some time. The money was in the account in Accra, but the drivers had not been paid or given gas money to get back to Accra, so they thought they should be collecting 20 million cedis per container. They sat here with the trucks for three days as we tried to get it sorted out, and finally yesterday they were on their way. Getting the containers themselves off the flatbeds without a crane was interesting too. In case you are wonder how that works, you drive the truck under a tree, chain the container to the tree limb, and back up the truck until the container is raised just a bit off the flatbed. Tree trunks and branches are then inserted under the container. The truck then drives to the off loading location, and a winch pulls it off the back of the flatbed, rolling on the tree limbs. It hits the ground with a mighty crash. Some priests later told us they didn't know the containers were being off loaded and they thought it was an earthquake!

So, we have the container inventory, and have been sorting it with the help of three strong young men. Already four truckloads have gone to the girl’s secondary school, and they are more than pleased with what they have gotten. Of course there are many more schools, and we will reach the fifty or so that we can.

We have also set up a teacher in-service day for teaching reading and spelling on Saturday Jan 13th. Because teachers are coming from a distance we have agreed to pay for their lunches although transportation costs will be theirs. We are looking at setting up a few other sessions in different locations so that we can reach the outlying teachers who have even less at their disposal.

One thing that has really slowed us down is that the kids all are writing exams until Dec 15, and then school is out until Jan 9th. That really limits the time we can be in the schools, but we will do what we can. There are more teachers here who are part of a student employment program than there are trained teachers. Some teachers that we met at Buipe are volunteers, hoping that if some money does become available, they might be in line for some. We have visited a number of schools and will be visiting many more. I wish this server could handle pictures - you would be amazed. We will send a CD to Sandy soon so hopefully there will be some new pictures up on the website in January.

The farmers in the area are burning off the tall elephant grass, so we wake to the smell of smoke in the air, and MG noted that she has not seen a truly blue sky yet because of the constant smoke haze. A goodly number of telephone poles have been burned accidentally by the fires, so we have had no land line into Damongo for some time. As you drive down the road you can see smoking posts and the headers hanging on lines near the ground when the posts have been burned away. Needless to say, it has not improved the access to phone or fax.
We have to drive five and a half hours over poor roads to Tamale to send a fax, and have had to do that once. Our closest bank is also Tamale, so it is good that the cost of living is cheap. Yesterday the truckers said they were hungry as they had run out of money while waiting to be paid, so we fed five of them for the equivalent of $2.50.

It has truly seemed like Christmas since the container arrived. We open up our food boxes and exclaimed with joy over almost every item. Iced tea!! Stoned wheat thins! Almonds!!!! Granola bars!! It was the same with the cargo in the containers. Shampoo! Here's toothpaste!!! Glue stick!! So, I think the container cargo will be our Christmas for this year. We appreciated each one of the items as much as if it had been the most wonderfully wrapped gift. For Christmas we will likely be traveling with Susie, the lady who has been working with us for the past couple years. She has now been transferred to another Diocese in Ghana so it will be our last chance to spend time with her, and she is a fine person. We are thinking about going into Burkino Faso as we have to leave the country in order to have our passports stamped again. Our visit 'visa' is only good for two months so if we leave and come back again it will be renewed.

We have a cell phone now, and it has been great to talk to family. It is cheap enough that we will try to call some friends before Christmas. If you wish to call us please contact Gary for the cell phone number and he will pass on the details of how to reach us.

All for now. We hope you are all well. Drop us a note, or give us a call if you have time. Just one question - are you serious about Ed Stelmach?

Love,
Marilyn
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Dec. 13, 2006 by Marilyn G

Greetings from Damongo, Ghana! We are well and happy.

We have moved from the guesthouse and are now living in a three bedroom bungalow. This bungalow is built around a central courtyard with every room opening onto it. The setup is interesting. The kitchen is across the courtyard from the dining room and the toilet, a separate room, is across the courtyard from the bedrooms. The furniture is minimal to the point where we are bargaining with a carpenter to build us a shelving unit in exchange for some of the wood that was used for blocking the vehicle in the container. Sounds promising! We are also employers and have a driver, a housekeeper and a night watchman complete with two dogs. Unless we want to, we no longer have to drive, cook, shop, do laundry or clean the house. All this country living does not come without cost - there must be several roosters in every nearby compound and they all take turns crowing, not just at sunrise, but all night long!

Since the arrival of the containers we have been busy sorting and handing out the supplies to the various schools and to those that could transport them to places like Tuna, Bole, Tinga and Bususu. Because the priests of the diocese were in Damongo for a retreat, we decided that sending supplies with them was the only way that distant schools that really needed the supplies could get them. Approximately a dozen truckloads of books and equipment have left the warehouse so far. We ourselves have been busy closer to Damongo.

We were very excited to see the two book shelves in St. Anne's Girls Secondary School fill up and overflow to the point where they will need to have two more shelving units built. Tables have been built for the computers that we had earmarked for that school so SAGISS should have a functioning computer lab with 16 matching 4 Gig Dell computers before Christmas. Fortunately for us and the school, Casey, a Peace Corps volunteer with an IT degree, is at the school until June. This will ensure that the lab remains functioning and that people are trained to take over when he leaves.

We have visited many schools of various levels, sizes and condition. One of the things that we have been checking out is the security level that would be available for any supplies that we would leave. Unfortunately those that really need the help often have no library and no place to lock in the books and equipment. Another school that has been getting our special attention is the Presbyterian Primary and Junior Secondary School. We took over supplies and visited the school last week. After talking to the head mistress and observing the classes we offered to come and spend the day teaching in the classes. MP chose to teach the P3 class decoding techniques and World geography, and MG taught the P6 class World geography and watercolour painting.

The challenges we met were the large classes (54 and 52),our accent and use of language, and the interest that the other classes showed in what was happening by hanging in through the windows and door and noisily jockeying for a better view. "Erase” was not understood; they "Clear" the page instead. "Fill the space" should have been "Occupy the whole area". By the end of the day -1:00pm, we had sweat buckets and were exhausted. This morning we decided not to work at all, just have a late coffee.

We have been getting the whole Ghana experience. We shucked field maize last night at the neighboring compound, we 'backed' a baby (tied a baby onto our back with a piece of material), used a mortar and pestle to make fufu, bargained at the local market, carried a huge loaded pan of wood on our head and eaten kenke with the other teachers at the school. Although we think that we are 'fitting in', babies still start to cry, or small children feel our white legs letting us know just how different and white we are.

Since we will not be in Red Deer for the holiday we have decided to go south. While we are at the coast in the heat, and in the noise of the pounding surf of the ocean, sitting under a palm tree, we will think of all of you.

Missing you,
Marilyn G

Webmaster Note: Go to the Links page for reference links mentioned in this entry.
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Dec. 27, 2006 by Marilyn P

Dear Friends,

A belated Christmas greeting to you all, and best wishes for the New Year! We have been out of range of the internet in our travels, and sometimes out of phone range as well. I was able to talk to most of the family, some longer than others as the calls are often cut off with no warning. Sometimes we just are not able to send or receive.

It was an exciting day when we finally got my 1995 Ford Explorer. I was beginning to think we would not get it until after Christmas, but it arrived in Damongo December 16th. The paint had been quite badly damaged in places during shipment, but it is running like a dream, and we love having it here. It has been carrying loads already.

We have a driver named Mahama. He is a fine man, and we are so fortunate to have made contact with him. He is illiterate but has maps of the entire country of Ghana, and its cities, in his head. In the evening I have been giving him reading lessons, and his progress has been amazing. He is already reading road signs and billboards in Accra, and is now reading his third book. Not bad for about 8 lessons. The desire is certainly there, and that counts for so much.

Many of you know about the backpacks that were put together for the girls at St. Anne's Secondary School. The Treasury Branch was a big help with them as were other organizations. I just want you to know what an explosion of joy results from your generosity. We placed all the backpacks on a table, and each girl came up and chose one, but we did not allow them to open them until every girl had one. When we finally allowed them to open them, there were murmurs, and few small cries of delight, and all of a sudden the roof just about flew off the building. The girls held up item after item, just screaming, crying out in joy, and often jumping up and down. A few girls sat and cried. Many came and thanked us. (Link to video)

A couple young people from Seattle, Casey and Laura, live in staff quarters quite some distance away. They had no idea what was happening, but when they heard the roar, they told us later they thought nothing less than a lion had attacked the school!! Many of the girls came up asking what the items were. What is lotion? What do you do with it? What are bath beads? How do you use them? There were no happier girls on the planet that day, and their joy did not lessen in the days following. Thank you to all of you who helped make such a fine thing happen. Before we left that night, I thanked them for a wonderful Christmas. There could be no better feeling that having been a part of the backpack project. We took pictures, and have sent a CD home, so I hope they will arrive and Sandy will be able to post them so you can see the joy for yourself.

We have about a dozen girls from St. Anne's working with us to record the stories of some of the older women from their villages. The Mormon Church and many families helped us gather 'family wellness kits'. Some of them are being distributed to these older village people. The girls are excited about the project, so during their three week Christmas break they are interviewing village elders, and bringing back their stories in January. We will help them record the stories of these elders and see if it is possible to make multiple copies of them for all the girls.

Just before Christmas we have traveled to Addah (Ada), an area east of Accra where the Volta River dumps into the Gulf of Guinea. One morning we took a boat down the river, enjoying the villages on the banks of the river and the fishing boats coming back upstream. Our driver was with us. He got back into the truck and said, "It was amazing to see the water of the river joining the water of the sea. I will remember it all my life until my bones are rotten!"

Just before Christmas we were in downtown Accra, and met a lady from New Zealand on the street. We spoke, and she invited us to join her for Christmas in the mountains. Marilyn G. has told you about that experience I think. We especially enjoyed with drumming and dancing of the kids, and a three part chorus led by a Barry White sound-alike. They were fine people, and when we signed the guest book, we discovered the people two entries ago were from Red Deer, Alberta! Now, that was a coincidence!

Now we are back in Accra. Before Christmas we came south to speak to the powers that be regarding items that had been taken from the container at the port. A report is to be filed by today, so we will see if we meet with any success in getting some of the things back. Of greatest importance is my laptop as I have all my PowerPoint presentations on it, and have 140 teachers coming for an in-service on teaching reading on January 13th. I cannot get word to the small villages for the teachers not to come, so I am really hoping that the computer and projector surface. Tomorrow we will see what progress has been made. We told them we are not leaving without it.

The work in the month ahead is onerous. We have shipped out a lot of books, but there are still many, perhaps two thirds, still in the warehouse. Some of those are to be delivered over quite a distance. (We are finding accommodation and food to be very reasonably priced here, but gas is not!) The fact that the schools took from December 15th to January 9th for holidays has held us up. And, we understand that often the teachers do not arrive back that first week, so really it is about a month off. While the kids are out, we cannot deliver books as the schools are closed. So, we will be going top speed as soon as they are open again. Well, as 'top' speed as we can in this heat. We sweat buckets every day. Today at about 4 it was still 36, so I don't know what it was earlier in the day. Life just goes on.

Best wishes to you all for a wonderful year of 2007. I think Gary is counting days until we are back as most of the meals in the freezer have been used! And it will be great to be home. It was tough to be away from family over Christmas, but the girls at St. Anne's gave us a great helping of the Christmas spirit. Again, our thanks to all of you who contributed in one way or another to help all this happen. We also have backpacks for the younger girls at St. Anne's boarding school which we will deliver when we get home.
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Dec. 27, 2006 by Marilyn G

Merry Christmas to all from Ghana, Africa!! We are doing very fine and as they say here, ‘very kickin'. We have been to the south eastern coast where the Volta River meets the ocean for a few days and stayed in a hotel with a pool so that we could rinse and cool off after our walks along the beach. 35 C is very hot, you know. Then we moved up the mountain to a place called Haphzibal Christian Centre for the 24 - 27th.

We had been invited for the Christmas concert and supper that they were having. The first part was a group of adult singers. The leader had a voice quite like Barry White and he knows how to use it, so the singing was very good. Then the children came on and their skits and African dancing stole the show. Our supper was very good and much different being of the appetizer variety. We added our own Christmas pudding and a glass of wine at the end. It was a very different Christmas and I certainly missed being home with the lights, the cold and all the family and friend activities. There is no commercialism here, no lights, and very few presents are exchanged, and those that are given are mostly food. We have much to learn from the Africans in this regard, but just a few lights besides the two candles we had would have been so nice.

We are back in Accra today and feeling the full effects of the harmattan. When we first arrived in Ghana we were told that the 35 degree weather was the cold season while the water was just dripping off of us. Now we know what they were referring to - hotter days with drier winds and more dust in the air from the desert. The sun is one big red ball of fire during most of the day, but especially at sunrise and sunset.

We visited the woodcarver's shops yesterday and the bead market today. The crafts that are made here are usually with wood, leather, straw and glass. The beads are often centuries old and were once used as currency in the trading of goods. We have learned to enjoy the African way and have acquired the knack of taking our time in bargaining for whatever we wish to purchase.

The signs for the names of shops continue to impress us: Sweet Is Not Always As Usual, God Knows Brakes and Transmission Shop, etc.

We are both fine and enjoying our stay. The schools are shut down until Jan. 10 or later so we can just travel and enjoy. We are going along the west coast starting tomorrow where we can enjoy more of the local foods such as pineapple, bananas, mangoes and papaya.

We have met many people including locals Damongonians and the students and teachers in the many schools that we have visited. One of the events that truly made Christmas for us was the delivery of the backpacks at St. Anne Secondary School. The excitement, joy and gratitude of the girls was demonstrated by a continuous excited scream for about five minutes. Our driver, Mohammed, has been very forthcoming with information about Ghanaian life and has answered any and all of the questions that we have asked. In the evenings, MP is teaching him to read and he is doing extremely well. In his words after he read his first book, "Amazin'!!" My job is just to read with him and to encourage.

Thinking of all of you and wishing you the very best in 2007.
Love Marilyn G
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January 15 , 2007

The schools in the Northern Region were closed for almost a month over Christmas, something we had not anticipated. So, we headed south to holiday a bit, but mainly to try to find our information on the items that disappeared from the cargo at the port. We had several meetings, went to the Canadian High Commission for help and finally filed a police report. Both Marilyn G and I decided we did not want to cross the legal line here. The prisoners stood about six feet behind the desk, leaning through the bars, watching the goings on. The floor was dirt, and the cells were very crowded. I told Gary that I thought some of the officers had a steady diet of Claude Van Damme movies for breakfast!

Anyway, we headed back north on January 5th, and when we got as far as Kumasi we had a traffic accident. We were driving slowly down the road when a taxi can screaming along and swerved right to avoid a pedestrian on the side of the road. He sideswiped us, so we followed until he stopped. We got out to look at the damage, which was not as bad as I thought it might be. The driver was 25, did not have a license and obviously did not have two nickels to rub together. We finally decided to send him and our driver off for a hacksaw to remove the spike from his wheel that had caused much of the damage, and to repair our running board as much as possible. They finally returned and the taxi driver fixed the vehicles as requested. We had threatened to call police, so he was shaking, and when I told him that I was giving him a break, he got down on his knees to thank me. I decided to fight fire with fire, so I told him that I was putting a curse on him that would bring him bad luck every time he drove recklessly. In the end the owner took the cab from him, so he is jobless as well.

When we got to the Kumasi guest house, I got sicker and sicker until I realized it was malaria and began taking malaria medication. We laid over an extra day and then again headed north, stopping in Yendi to visit our American friend, and new owner of the Explorer, Susie. She told us the story of the local Yendi chief who was beheaded by a rival faction of the family and spent 4 and a half years in the freezer as they could not bury him without his head. Another story for another day....

Last Saturday we had a teacher training session for 140 teachers from the Damongo area and closer villages. We did not know what to expect, even whether they would come. But we arrived an hour before the session began, and there were twenty five or thirty people there before us. We had handouts ready, and door prizes of teaching resources for all. In order to hand out the door prizes in an orderly fashion, we had decided to write numbers on their hands in felt pen, something we do in Canadian schools upon occasion. We never stopped to think that black marker does not show on black skin!

I had placed whiteboards on chairs, and whiteboard markers on most, but in the last minute hurry I forgot one section of chairs. When I went back to get markers, I was just about mobbed. Finally we got organized and started, and the session ended up being very good. The teachers were most appreciative and the evaluations very positive. Most had no understanding of vowels, and had never had any instruction in how to teach reading or spelling in a language many of them do not understand that well themselves. So we went back to the basics, but they were intrigued with the concepts, and there were many of those 'teachable moments' that every teacher strives for.

Today we are in Tamale. We are getting used to that road now although one can never stop their teeth from rattling over the incessant washboarding. We are here to get some photocopying done, and to get extensions on our visas. The copies are for the next teacher training session we are running in Tuna this Friday for 150-160 teachers, and the visa extension is necessary as they would only give us two months at the airport on the way in. We hope that we will be able to accomplish both tasks and get back to Damongo tonight. The immigration officer seemed to like his new pen very much, so we are hoping. We are not wishing away our time here, but we are still very aware that we have only three weeks left and a lot of books in the warehouse. The next three weeks promise to be the busiest yet, so wish us good health and good luck.

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Feb. 13, 2007 - Red Deer, AB

The time between our last entry and our return home was hectic as we worked to complete our project. Our time in Tamale was well spent. The visa extension man was very pleased with his pen and Canada pin, but the clincher to getting the visa extensions that day was the chocolate chip cookies that we passed around. The workers in this office cannot be bribed or "dashed", but you can give them a gift! This particular man was also very susceptible to the charms of MP and how good she said he looked in his green uniform. The photocopying for the inservice on the 19th was expected to take two hours tops, but when we arrived to collect it we were advised to spend the night, and maybe come in early the next morning to help collate and staple the handouts together.

During the few days before we went to Tuna for the second teacher in-service we visited a few more schools, helped a local lady make peto(local beer), and put resources together for the teachers. We had a really full truckload as we headed off 100 km. North West to Tuna on Thursday afternoon. We passed through villages with the circular mud houses that had been plastered with cow manure and we saw the endless headloads of water and wood that are carried by the females, some as young as 6. In one village where we stopped it became noticeable that there were only boys gathered around the truck, and then we saw the girls silhouetted against the setting sun coming back from the dam with headpans full of water. It is not easy to carry these heavy loads, and nearly impossible to lift them onto their heads without help. (We tried.)

The presentation was very successful with over 150 teachers sitting on backless benches from 9:00am to 4:00pm. These teachers were keen and attentive, very receptive to MP's presentation. They loved their duotangs with paper, the books and supplies, especially the glue sticks and the little globe pencil sharpeners. (Thank you Lacombe Library for these crowd pleasers!)

We had taken to carrying extra books, supplies and wellness kits in the truck to give away whenever the opportunity arose. One such opportunity came on our way home when we saw an old woman on the roof of her compound. With permission we climbed up to help her flail the guinea corn and were soon joined by another 20 people. We gave her a kit with polysporin, bandaids, Purell, nail clippers, etc. The roof held. Another delivery of wellness kits was made to a Lovi village, a village that had maintained their culture. We left three kits with the oldest ladies and were rewarded with our first (but not last) live chicken. Fortunately for us our night watchman was quite willing to look after it for us and get it into our freezer for future "chop".

There were some schools that we had visited more than once and it was a pleasure to see that some of the supplies that we brought were being used. Posters were up and plans were being made for storage and/or distribution of the books once they were stamped. In some cases the priests had been the delivery men for their diocese. Often they had a large area to cover with many schools under their care, as in Tuna. When Fr. Sylvester took a load of books they were put in the warehouse and the teachers were invited to share them. They did very well until they came to the one set of encyclopedia and needed Fr. Sylverster's help with dividing it. We sent another truckload with Fr. Sylvester; this load had three more sets of encyclopedia.

The week before our departure was cleanup time. We cleaned out the warehouse and gave out all the books and supplies. The container was next and many of the supplies from it went into the 43 kits that we put together into backpacks for the newly created Teacher Resource Library, a lending library for the teachers in the Damongo area. Marilyn Ganger worked long hours to get these kits put together. Next we had to give away all of the things that we had at our house, so we had a party for the people we had worked with and gave away many door prizes. The real sought after prizes were the folding camp chairs but really, they all liked just getting a prize. We left many reminders of Canada there because so many were included in the shipment in the form of Canada logo'd t-shirts, hats, socks, flags, Frisbees, stickers, etc.

During the last week we also said goodbye to our many acquaintances - the girls and staff at St. Anne's Girls Senior Secondary School(SAGISS), the priests and sisters that we worked with, our initial contact in Damongo Susie Zook, our driver Mahama, night watchman Philemon, our housekeeper Benny and the Frafra family from down the road. We enjoyed learning about the life of a subsistence farmer by watching their activities as the corn was picked, shucked and removed from the cobs. We were always made to feel welcome whenever we stopped by so we gave them a parting gift of books for the children and a blanket for the chilly 20C nights. The next day we got our second chicken.

During the week we were also the guests of honor at a party at SAGISS. They danced, sang and presented us with gifts in appreciation for their new library, computer room, bicycles and the backpacks. It was a fair trade.

• Everywhere we delivered books people have been most appreciative and we have been abundantly thanked. We accepted their thanks on behalf of the many who have helped make this project so successful. Some of our successes included:
  
• delivering all of the books and leaving the warehouse and containers empty.
  -in-servicing 300 teachers and leaving each with a 44 page handout, teaching supplies and lunch
  
• completing an operational 16 computer lab at SAGISS on 8 new tables
  
• developing a functional inviting library at SAGISS
  
• donating five bikes to SAGISS and two bikes to St. Anne's boarding house
  
• delivering backpacks of personal effects, clothing and school supplies to 150 girls
  
• creating a Teacher Resource Lending Library with many excellent books and 43 kits in backpacks for area teachers
  
• delivering about five truckloads of books to Presby Primary and JSS, enough to inspire them to create a library for the school
  
• supplementing the library at St. Anne's Primary and JSS
  
• delivering supplies to many more schools and children.

Every fifth night was power saving night and that was the night we really got to appreciate the brilliance of the stars. I will miss those nights and the simplicity of life. We were told that we acted as if we had been in Africa before because we were accepting and unfazed. I think it is because Damongo reminded me of my life as a child, running around barefoot and living on whatever we had.

Neither of us will miss the 44 C heat, the sand in the air blowing down from the Sahara desert or the smoke from the constant bushfires. It was good to arrive home to see our families, but we have very warm thoughts of the many fine people we met on our journey. We feel very blessed to have had such a wonderful opportunity, and once again we thank all the people that supported the Tools for Schools Africa project.

With our most sincere appreciation,
Marilyn Ganger and Marilyn Pottage

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