(this was written there, and is just now getting posted) We have been very busy, and there has been little time to write, and even less time to type out entire papers on my cell phone’s virtual keyboard – let me say, that tapping out lots of text with my thumbs is slow and I lose my train of thought.
A few things I missed.
1) During the greeting ceremony, the local church members sang for us. The singing led to clapping, which led to foot tapping, which led to dancing and, ultimately to Bob, Nell, Eliot and I joining the dance and the chorus, which we later learned used the word “akbe” (spelling uncertain), which means “thank you.” it was a very joyous occasion all around.
2) during the ceremony, Nell (Sister Ama) got up to talk and was greeted with cheers and applause. Eric translated for her, as  she gave greetings and expressed her joy at being back to her second home, and she talked about the computers and the ongoing partnership between Ashfield and Mafi Dove. She also reminded he people of the shared commitment, a theme we will see so much of in the coming week, that it was an important lesson. She reiterated ground rules for the partnership that she had laid out in all here dealings with the development of Dove: we will help (computers, tools, expertise) , but the village has to do its part (teach with them, make them avail to the students, maintain a secure and clean environment). If the computers were locked up and not available, or if they were destroyed, we could not bring any computers back, next time. While it felt a little squirmy, I knew exactly why this is necessary, and how this was an integral part of her success with the earlier devlopment projects when she was living in the village as a peace corps volunteer.

(back at the school)
We had an opportunity to meet a number of important people in the village. Some are on the development committee, others are part of the school system ( the village provides the building and some funds for maintenance, and the government provides the teachers and some basic supplies), village elders, the retired regional education director, and other Dove ‘alumni’, many of whom are extremely excited to see their village’s education get a step forward. When I get settled back home with he list of names and roles, I will refresh my memory of who’s who.  We looked around the room, talked about the placement of the computers and issues of security and access and protection from dust and moisture.
After we had finished, we walked back to the chief’s palace to continue our discussion, meet with he chief and to have dinner.  We sat at our places on the couches surrounding the main room of the chief’s palace. In one corner was the chief’s chair. Nell sat next to  the chief on his left and we sat on his right side.

(PS, this is going more slowly than I hoped )

Next, the 8 computers and 2 printers were brought into the church and they were placed on the table to be presented to the community. There was a loud cheer, and excited buzz and the computers were shown to the assembled party. Next, the village leaders presented to us some Batik cloth that they had purchased for us to make shirts from, and instructions that we should wear the shirts back to the village before we leave. Because they were not clear what our measurements would be, they were apologetic that they couldn’t make them into shirts already. The material is very beautiful, in shades of green, and we could find a tailor in an adjacent village to make them into local styled shirts. As the ceremony wound down, and we all made our thank you’s and welcomes, the computers were gathered up and taken to the Chief’s house to be kept there until the next day. We left the church and walked over the the school building to see where the computers would be placed and again, the whole way there we were surrounded by excited children.
The computer lab is an 8×12 room in back of the headmaster’s office. They had prepared a line of tables with a tablecloth along the center of the room, longways. the front wall of this room has a row of bookshelves with small stacks of educational books. The back wall of the room has louvered windows, the walls and floor are cement, and the roof is tin. The temperature here has been over ninety degrees, and if physics wasn’t your thing, the sun on tin on a 90 degree day is one way to make an EZ-bake oven, but the breeze through the windows kept the temperature inside down to just “hot” but not searing. One of the amazing things about the school – the whole building was one of Nell’s many projects there at Mafi Dove as a Peace Corps volunteer, there, 10 years ago. The project to build the school was part of what she did to encourage the village to invest in education.

We left the chiefs house and crossed the village on foot, again surrounded by a choir of dancing, excited children. We headed over to the church, a set of partial walls of cinder brick and some lumber frame, topped by a corrugated tin roof. There were approximately 200 people in lawn chairs and sitting on benches with all children in the back five or six rows. We were escorted to the front of the church to sit at a set of decorative chairs next to the table. A service had been prepared for us that was a combination of chuch service and a welcoming ceremony. Since we were late, we missed the regular church service and so the resulting ceremony was a bit of prayer and a bit of introduction and a but of pomp and a bit of Amen. We were introduced and our credentials and a greeting from Eliot were translated into Ewe, the native language. Instead of saying a few words of greetings to the village from Bob and me, I lead a round of “seek ye first” and “joy to the world” and Bob and Eliot joined in, and we sang them in round.
All the while, children were oozing into the space through windows, doorways, gaps in the wall, and rows of chairs. They constantly watched with wide eyes following every move we made, and trying always to catch our attention to smile at us or to make faces or to try to get us to take their pictures. The children are always trying to get their pictures taken and whenever my camera would aim in their direction, kids would all try to hustle to be front in line or to have the silliest face or to be shown carrying things on their heads.
So anyway, back to the service.

When we arrived in the village, there was a sound like the buzzing of bees in the distance, but it was much louder and growing. Children had heard that Nell “Sister Ama” was coming to town. As we crossed into the school yard, on the edge of town, crowds of children came rushing toward the car, and cheers rose up in the most heart lifting tone, with the children’s voices coming almost in chorus, as though the were singing. Now I know what throng means and I was amazed at the sound and the pure energy and joy as they greeted Sister Ama. I have never heard such an outpouring of adoration since I attended a rock concert. And the children ran along with the SUV all the way into the village Chief’s house, cheering and whooping and waving all the way.
The chief wasn’t there, so we sat at his palace, a two story semi modern SoCal / Spanish style house with a large first story room lined with couches where the village elders meet and spend time.

Today, we landed in Accra, Ghana after a long overnight flight. The plane got off the ground almost exactly five hours late due to a deicer malfunction which required us to change planes in JFK. The flight was uneventful, particularly if one considers sleep an event, but it was good to get there and our arrival was only four hours late, not counting the twenty four other hours we lost from being delayed in Hartford.
When we landed in Ghana, we descended aluminum stairs to the tarmac and were taken by bus to the terminal. It was 90 degrees and dry, and not entirely unpleasant after a night on a cold plane. When we got to the terminal, we queued up in the immigration lines with our passports, yellow vaccination cards and immigration forms. Immediately in the terminal was a legal sign that reminded me why there are aome places i dont travel. That went smoothly, and we passed through to baggage claim and customs. We met our driver inside and headed outside to find the car. As soon as we stepped out into the heat, we were definitely in a different country. Most notably was the barrage of people that followed us closely all the way to our car asking for tips for “services” like pointing out where the curb was rough or where I might trip.
Our driver is extremely helpful and go an amazing amount of luggage ( at least 14 bags ) into the SUV. This involved some amount of squeezing and packing and putting stuff in our laps since there were five people ( including the driver ) in the car. We then went to pick up the sixth person.
Eric is a partner with Nell in the development of Mafi Dove’s project with the Peace Corps and has been a person on the ground with the village ever since. He helps maintain the communication which helps Nell plan and coordinate with the village.
Excitement rose in the car as we arrived and we saw the last road to the village come into a cluster of mud and thatch huts.

It is 10:10am local time, but we just left New York 8 hours ago and it was 9pm. Currently webare flying over the Ivory Coast and should be arriving in Accra on about an hour. Last night, the plane we boarded at JFK at 3pm, yesterday had a problem with the deicer over the left wing ( seeing a pattern here?) and crews worked on it until the realized it was not going to happen in a reasonable time, so the pilot anounced, the crew apologized and the passengers moaned and deplaned onto motion sickness test cabins. Delta called them people movers, but the Ghanaians on board joked that it was taste of travel in Ghana – if there were 100 more people and some chickens packed in. One fellow traveller explained to us that Delta is known for this “taste of West Africa, right here in the states. We were taken back to the terminal and queued while they got another plane, stocked it, cleaned it, fueled it and ran to within minutes of our necessary departure time to avoid hitting the maxmum pilot on-clock time. To assure that we hustled like good cattle, they kept explaining that if we did not board all 42 rows of the 767 in 30 minutes sharp, the flight would have to be cancelled. The slightly bullying tone was quickly disarmed when one of the English teachers from American International School yelled out that the destination is “pronounced uh-CRAH, not ACK-ruh, you nauhghty boy.” at which time a murmur of agreement, and a burst of giggles went out among the passengers.
This same teacher stopped by to give Bob and me her card and to offer their hospitality should we run into any trouble ( particularly medical) while in Ghana, and reminding us that this is a “third world country,” which is a helpful reminder, especially to keep in mind with healthcare needs.
We took off about 9pm, five hours (and a day) late. I never learned to sleep on a plane, and I had a rough time keeping a comfortable position, but I dozed some and with a tiny cup of warmish airplane coffee, I think I’ll start to wake up soon.

Here we are, driving to JFK airport to catch our rebooked flight to Accra, Ghana. After our flight was delayed, yesterday, we had to come up with a contingency plan. As a group, we had a lot to decide and many options to balance, and as a team we did very well at proposing solutions, weighing the risks and benefits and deciding on a plan of action.
We stayed at a Ramada Inn, near Bradley airport, and got a good amount of rest. I was asleep by 9 and awake at 7, which was a good catch up night.
Though it was a frustration to be late, it was a good thing to be forced to slow down a minute, relax, and think of the trip as a mission of giving and experience, rather than just an extension of packing. I actually feel more ready to take on the trip and to be more open to the experiences – all of them, including the frustrating parts.
I am also very grateful for Nell coming along with us, since she has done this trip before and has acted as tour guide and travel arranger. She also provides a great level of calm, when things change.
We are so very excited.