Riley's News Exerpts...

About bringing stuff for the kids, they will love anything you bring or
give them, one of them has one of those cheap handheld electronic
games and he played it every day when we first got here, one day I
asked him to show it to me and it didn't even work! it just made
sounds lol.

The other girls brought small water guns and bubbles and they loved those alot.
They like flip flops but they are EVERYWHERE here, when you go to the
market there are piles of them....basically anything 'football' they love, I brought out another one of those soccer balls the other night and by the end of the day it
was basically done/almost all came apart cuz they play with it non
stop...

these shoes are actually being worn daily by this child.  We will be packing a supply of flip-flops!

Those eyes....beautiful children

Laundry day! That's quite a sunburn Raegan!  Where's your spray??!!

Some of the village people gathering to welcome the volunteers

The preacher at the Presbyterian church

The Presbyterian Church

The school where they teach each day

off to a bucket bath?

that is sweat covering the back of Riley's shirt!

Riley with the kids

Riley strolling through the village

Yay for more Photos!

I was happy to come home at noon today and see that Riley was finally able to succeed in posting a few more photos.  He gets them going and then the internet connection will shut down - frustrating!  But amazing that they even can get a signal!

They attended a Pentecostal service on Sunday - 90 % of the sermon was in a different language but it sounds like the preacher was lively and loud and entertaining enough to keep their attention!

They will stay at this location for one more week continuing with school construction and teaching.

Riley got to ride a motorbike around the village - said it was a LOT of fun...and it appeared he was the only one in the village that actually knew how to operate it.

Raegan went to the hospital today to see if her tummy problems could be diagnosed but there was such a crowd of people waiting that she decided instead to go to the pharmacy and see what they could recommend.  She came away with some over the counter medicine that seems to be helping.

Ghana 'nother Day!

From Riley's email today... The nice thing about DIVOG is that they can answer all of our questions, help us get around, speak good English and are very good at making sure we are always drinking the right water and the right food. This gives you more time to go and do what you want to with kids and the area. You never have to worry about buying food, water, anything..If it wasn't for the phone we would not have spent 1$ yet.


The kids loooove match box toys and yes,  bring glow sticks for sure...the kids would love those at night as it's hard to think of stuff to do at night and so the kids just jump on me!
They will love almost anything you bring. Those animal shaped bracelets and little hotwheels cars - they fought over those for a while.
They liked the frisbees but they loved the soccer balls - bring more!

Wli Falls

The daily drinking water

Love, love, love...

Fun with stickers at the orphanage!

Little dolly

Hauling water to make cement for constructing the school in Biakpa

I can't flip this - don't strain your neck

Using his Head! Riley's Day

Things are going great, feels like we have been here at least a month

already, the days go by at normal speed but everyone feels like

they have been gone from home for a month already. The construction of the school is going good. We start at about8:00am and then teach school from 11-12ish and then go back and help with the school if we like. It's pretty fun and neat to watch because everything is done by hand and in flipflops. All the wood is cut by hand. Next time I come im definitely bringing a jig saw, it would help out soooooo much haha.

Richard and Robert  (the volunteer leaders) are fine, we are with Brite right now who is also with DIVOG, he has a hard time understanding our english sometimes but they are all great guys and our saftey is always important to them.

We went to the "winery", it was a half hour walk/hike through the forest where some palm trees had been cut down and they drain the palm oil/wine from it...kinda like sap from a tree.

Im not sure why they dont have a saw...it probably just cost too much

to get any power tools and if they did they couldnt afford them all,
how would they pick which ones to get? Cellphones are very cheap here,
when you come you can just buy one here. Robert said his
phone was like 40$ and then everything is pay as you go from there. So
cell phones are pretty cheap and most adults have them.  In this village there are masons, carpenters...etc. and they
all just work together, I don't think anyone is paid. It's just kinda
like a mini Zion here lol.

Yea, some teaching ideas might be good, I'm teaching 10 years olds. So
far the only game I know to play after the lesson is heads down thumbs
up or seven up...whatever its called. They really like it though.

Brite is from Ho...everyone in DIVOG is from Ho so far, and none of
them have ever left Ghana. Robert has tried to get a visa 3 times but has
been denied every time. He says it doesnt really matter what you say,
they just kinda randomly choose who they give visas too. it cost 115$
to try and you can only try every 6 months.


I've "used my head" more in the last couple days than I ever did in high school or college!  I've carried logs, wood, cement, water, sand all on my head for the last few days! 

Today's Update straight from Raegan

 Here is an exerpt from Raegan's email received today...


Soooo things are good except my tummy!!! hurts the MOST when i EAT!! i cant even explain it,.. i have to like hold my stomach and take deep breaths like im having a flippin' baby!! Construction work was hard today but good.  We carry water, mud cement etc on our head!!! We shower with buckets of dirty river water that we go fetch!!  Teaching went good..it's just for an hour so it's nice,,, i do feel super dumb tho cuz i chose to teach the older ones and today's lesson was about adjectives.... do ya think i remember that??? hah so i just had to wing it..we're teaching with some teachers that are doing practicums for college so it's fun. 

We slept  better at the orphange...the orphange was alot nicer for the shower and sleeping because  it was quiet and for there was a  toilet..the food was not good at all - we would  get a pot of yams with a sauce   or a pot of rice with a sauce VERY BORING. BUT THE kids eat the nasty stuff so we are lucky.

 

Yes, we have electricity everywhere so far so that is nice... here at the village we eat good - very good!!! watermelon, oranges, pineapple, good rice, good pasta, good chicken, oatmeal, good eggs (says Riley) I dont eat them!   Toast and pasta salad!! 

 

We were lucky about our bus the other vooluntters had a hot sweaty van crammed with people during the day... ours in the evening had air conditioning.

 

Yes, Riley just crushes the malaria pill in granaola bar or jam.. so he's fine.

Right now I am just sitting in my room with Freida and Missy!!! They are the cooks here -  great cooks!!!!!

 

 

Mystery Illness in Biakpa

Riley and Raegan are now in a small village of about 800 people - Biakpa.  Raegan fell ill two nights ago with vomiting and a severe headache.   Riley is fine so they do not think it is something she ate. She slept for hours and hours on Saturday and yesterday they were able to attend a Catholic church service which was very different from the church services they are accustomed to!

Raegan says she is feeling a bit better today and she spent the day helping construct the school saying that staying active seemed to help with the pain she gets under her upper ribcage.   She washed all her clothes by hand today and Riley really enjoyed the construction project.

They have put some photos up on facebook but I have not been able to pull them successfully into this blog.  Any tips on that anyone?

Getting to Know Ho!

Day 2 in Ho!  Raegan called this afternoon (they are 6 hours ahead of us, so almost bedtime for them).  After breakfast, which consisted of an egg and one of their very precious protein bars (they are grateful they packed these as Riley mentioned he was afraid those eggs that sit on the table all day might hatch) they headed off to the school (which looks like a shelter at one of our local parks here at home) to teach for the morning.  There were about 20 young (4 - 5  yr old) children and they sang songs and played games.  The children spent most of their time jumping all over Riley.  

Raegan feels bad that Riley is subject to so much 'wide open' breast feeding!  They (the breasts!) are everywhere and children are still nursing at age 3 and older.  This will soon become 'normal' to him I am sure but for now Raegan sends out warnings of nearby "nursers".

Lunch was rice with a sauce that Raegan did not care for but Riley thought was ok.  T  She will be with them for just 2 weeks.  Supper today was yams - with the same sauce as the rice - thus Raegan enjoyed her yam for supper.  Their host mom did offer them each an orange after school today and they really enjoyed that.

Their food comes to their room as they eat differently than the children and adults who they live with. They know that the food they are served is of much higher quality.  The children are eating some sort of play-dough like substance, with their hands, but Riley and Raegan are given a utensil.  What they do not eat is frozen and served the next day.  The bags of water they are given taste fine.  They have not had a single mosquito bite yet but the other volunteer has counted 15 on her legs! (Chloe is from Scotland, and will be with them for 2 weeks).  However she is neglecting to use her net at night.

Raegan was anxious to help a young girl with the dishes yesterday but was told to go rest.  She tried again at supper and again was pushed away.  She checked with her host mom to see if it would be ok to help and was told that "the girl would have to teach you...you use machines...you do not know how to wash dishses"...which is almost true!  But today Raegan made friends with the young girl (14) and was able to help her.

Visas are here, mosquito nets have arrived and the malarone prescription has been filled!  We are ready to send Riley and Raegan off on an adventure of a lifetime!

Visas arrive!

Credit Card Bill Arrives!

After checking and re-checking the list we set out everything and attempted to pack three month’s worth of supplies into a duffle bag, a carry-on and a back pack.  We could not have squeezed in another ball-point pen!  Anxiety was at an all time high and I was feeling such gratitude for the many people who shared their enthusiasm, encouragement and tips with us over the last few months - mostly perfect strangers who had visited Africa and had life-changing experiences.

Prescription for malaria pills filled! (malarone)

The packing begins!

We were all together on Sunday night and Troy gave Riley and Raegan special blessings that brought much peace and comfort as they prepared for the next day’s events.  

We travelled to Great Falls on Monday, spending the night there to prevent any unexpected delays and to feel rested for the early morning flight.  Up at 5 a.m. Tuesday and a 3 minute drive to the airport where Riley struggled to crush and disguise his malaria pill in a cup of yogurt...we are hoping the will develop the skill of swallowing a pill while he is away!  This has been his goal for 22 years!

Getting through security was uneventful (phew!) and we watched as they turned the corner at the end of the long hallway to embark on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure!

Riley choking down his yogurt  laced with  malarone breakfast

No issues with security!

Back home we 'tune in' on-line to watch the long, long flight progress

AFter 10 hours in the air... 15 minutes till landing time!

They made it!