Children's Hospital Boston in Ghana

The King approves

We had our audience with the King of the Ashanti Tribe yesterday morning, and it was absolutley incredible. No one could speak to him directly. They had to speak to his linguist, who then relayed the message to the King. In talking about this mission to Francis and Bev, he said he would do anything in his power to make it a success. That's saying a lot because he's the King of the largest tribe in Ghana and his followers listen to him closely. I'll post photos as soon as I have the chance and the technical capability.

On that note, we're making the long bus trip to Accra this morning, so I doubt I'll be posting before this evening, if at all again today. I'll check back in as soon as we sort out the Internet situation.

We're looking forward to getting back to the States. I think everyone's ready to be home.

- Matt Cyr

A trip to the Anikroma Primary School

Amazed! Grateful! Blessed! There are so many words I could use to express how I felt yesterday after our visit to the Anikroma Primary School. A group of us took a long, bumpy bus ride to deliver various donated school supplies to this small, poor village school. The morning began as we watched and cheered on the preschoolers as they got up one at a time and said their A,B,C's.

Then we were greeted by several of the tribal leaders of the Anikroma village. The interpreter thanked and blessed us several times for all of the wonderful donations we gave to their children’s school.

For me, the true celebration began when the children left their classrooms and came over to us singing and dancing to African nursery rhymes. Of course, we joined right in and began clapping and dancing with them.

Some of the children then began opening boxes and looking through the different school supplies we donated. The teenagers were excited to find a big bin filled with various American magazines for kids their age and the little ones liked the pencil sharpeners we brought.

It was another wonderful day here in Ghana and another experience that I'll never forget.

- Karen Horn

Our last day in Kumasi

The team had their last day of surgery yesterday and all seems to have gone well. I'll check in later with more detail, but they operated on 12 children this week. There were some hiccups, but nothing they couldn't handle.

Last night we had dinner at the Mayor of Kumasi's house and this morning we have an audience with the King. Something tells me they appreciate the work this team is doing here in Ghana.

I've been having problems uploading photos, but was able to add a gallery this morning of our trip to the Kente Village, which is known for its hand-weaved cloth.

While the Internet is playing along, here are 10 interesting things that I've learned about Ghana:

1. No one smokes here. I've seen exactly two cigarettes being smoked and that wasn't until Wednesday.
2. They have a lot of respect for the dead. The roadside is filled with billboards showing the faces and names of people who died recently.
3. There are a million places for women to get their hair done.
4. There aren't many trashcans in the buildings and what they do have are tiny.
5. They're very religious. One example is that cars everywhere have window stickers saying things like "Rejoice in the Lord" and "Thank U Jesus."
6. The women have names like Patience, Charity and Favour.
7. Soccer is on TV everywhere. It's like Red Sox season in Boston.
8. Celine Dion is on the radio everywhere. And I don't mean that in a good way.
9. They LOVE candy. The team hands it out to adults and kids and both groups seem equally crazy for the stuff.
10. An animal called a grasscuter, which is a large rodent like a mole, is considered a delicacy here.

- Matt Cyr