Assin North Visit to look at possible borehole for the Village

Today we met up with the Chief of this Village (sitting next to us at the table).  He came to our apartment at 7 a.m. and he rode with us to his Village.  Clarence also went with us since he is the manager of our water projects.    It took us 4 hours to get there and the villagers were waiting for us.   We met  and Jim, Clarence and the Chief did some talking.......none was in English except for Jim's.  

We will consider if they qualify for a borehole since LDS Charities does have some criteria that they must meet which helps to ensure the sustainability after it is done. 

We were impressed with the Chief though and what he has done for his village and the people.  He has lived in the USA for 20 years but is back to do business in Ghana and live here.  He was asked by his home Village to be their Chief.  He really cares about them.   His wife is still in USA (nurse) and his two children are in University there.   His wife is from Ghana too and will eventually join him here when their kids are settled in their lives.

We loved being in the Village.  After the meeting we walked around and saw the boreholes (handpumps) that they have now but it isn't really adequate for 2000 plus people.    We also saw a rice mill that the Chief has set up.  The mill employees 8 people and gives the villagers a place to bring their rice to sell and have it milled (the outer husk is removed) and it is bagged for selling. 

We then sat by the Chief's home under the shade of a couple of huge trees and they went and cut coconuts off the coconut palms.  They cut the top off and we drink the coconut water and then we get a scoop made from the husk and use it to scoop out the soft coconut meat.  It is quite refreshing.   After some pictures we headed out for the 4 hour trip back to Accra.  Lucky for us the traffic through Casowa Junction was not as heavy as usual (we think it was lighter because Ghana was playing football (soccer) and everyone was watching.) 

All in all, it was a good day and we are tired.  It was hot and humid.  The weather is warming up again for the hot, dry season. 

All is well!

Love,  Elder and Sister Bullock/Jim and Nancy

Beautiful Children & Chickens

We were at the Village and we always love taking pictures of the kids and they love having their pictures taken.  These kids were a little nervous of us at first but warmed up pretty quick. 

This and That

I wish I could attach a copy of the 2014 Historical report that we compiled for the Welfare Department .  Each Humanitarian couple reported on some projects they did this year.   With the help of Elder Terry, a computer expert, I put the reports together.   It is about 40 pages and it is too big to email so I will make a copy and add to it the projects we do before we finish here and take it home with us. (or I could put it on a pen drive).  :)

Last Saturday we went to a 'market'.  It is huge.  Bernice Ankrah was our guide.  I had been once before and suggested that Jim should come along since it is an experience you don't want to miss doing, at least once!   We would get lost there without a guide.  It is so interesting though.  Hundreds of little shops selling pretty much anything you could want to buy.  We tell Bernice what we are looking for and she takes us to the right places.     The fabrics there are amazing and so beautiful.  They do a lot of batiks here and they have such wonderful bright colored prints.  I haven't done much sewing for a few years but have decided I may have to start again.   I have bought several pieces of fabric.  I am not sure what I will make but.......      Luckily I have someone who has agreed to take an extra suitcase or two across for me. 

It is Harmattan season.  Harmattan is the dry winds that blow sand and dust down off the Sahara Desert.  It is much worse this year than last year.  It looks like a fog across the country and we mostly notice the thin layer of dust that accumulates on our vehicle every day.   Also the swimming pool does not stay clean these days from the dirt settling in.     The airports north of here closed down last weekend due to the thick dust -- it is even much worse in the northern part of the country.    One benefit of Harmattan is that the temperatures have been noticeably cooler (quite pleasant, in fact) and the humidity is less.     It will start to get hotter soon -- March is the hottest month.

Today is Saturday and we have been grocery shopping.  We go early to beat the rush and the traffic.  We will do some cleaning in our apartment and Jim irons his shirts/pants for the week.    I guess we better get at it.

Love to all our family and friends,

Elder and Sister Bullock

John Buah, Africa West Area Welfare Manager

I just wanted to say a little about John.  We work closely with him and admire him so much.  He is a quiet, humble man but when he speaks it is usually profound.  He is wise and can see the big picture.

He has worked for the Church longer than any other employee in the Area office.  He has worked in several different departments, one being finance.   He has served as a Mission President in Nigeria and is currently serving as a Bishop here.  It is interesting to listen to him when he starts telling about some of his experiences he has had over the years.

He just took his annual vacation time and redid his garden at home.  He did some reading and learned about raised garden beds.  He built 10 boxes, each 5 feet x 30 feet (he has a big garden space) and put good soil mix in and has started planting.  He gets up a 4 a.m. so he can spend an hour or so in his garden before he comes to the office each morning. 

John rides a tro-tro (transport bus) to the office.  It takes him about 2 hours, and often more, to make the trip one way.   He also gets up early so he can walk his daughter to her bus and see that she gets on safely, as she was attacked one morning several months ago.   He has a wife and 5 children, one son serving a mission right now.  

We are grateful to be able to work with John.

Ga West Hospital Project

Yesterday we went to visit this hospital to say hi to Enoch, who is in charge of the Lab there.  We found out that he has been promoted and will now be over all the labs in the District.  This is the second project we have done at this hospital lab.  The first project we had counters, cupboards, table and desks built for the lab.  It was an empty building that had been provided by another organization.  We also bought them a blood chemical analyzer.  This second project was to give them more supplies for the lab to make it more useful.   This District Hospital is very busy and serves a lot of people.  They are so grateful for our help.

We took Elder (Doctor) and Sister Hill (from Okotoks) with us.  Dr. Hill is the mission doctor here in the West Africa Area now.   We had a tour of the hospital and realized that they have some serious water problems.   Some areas have sinks and taps but no pipes bringing water to them.  Also there is no sufficient water coming from their borehole to satisfy the needs of the Hospital.    We will work with Enoch and others and see if it is something we can perhaps help with. 

The Humanitarian Department wants us to do bigger projects that have bigger impact.  For example, choose and area and build on it gradually, as we have done with this Hospital and hope to continue to do.     We have been discussing and coming up with areas of focus for  2015 and Bro. Buah, our Welfare Dept. manager, will take it to the Area Presidency on Monday for approval.    We want to focus on Medical, Education and Water and have some good ideas.

We have much happening in the next few months.  We finish here about the first part of May and will be very busy. 

Fwd: Hand Over

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christina Olson <coolson1@icloud.com>
Date: Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 1:24 AM
Subject: Hand Over
To: Elder Olson <dmolson2@cox.net>

There was a hand-over ceremony for a project we did at a hospital in Techiman, where Elder and Sister Olson are serving.  It is some distance from here to we ask them to take care of it.  Here is their great report.  It sounds like it was a wonderful day with some great outcomes.

Elder/Sister Bullock

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was probably the best day of our Mission.  We really saw the hand of The Lord in all that led up to this Hand Over.  So many threads came together to form this amazing tapestry.
It was scheduled to start at 11 am.  A Sub Chief was asked to be the Chairman and he arrived with some ceremony.  His name is Nana Afena Nketia II - Twafo hene.




The Dever's and we arrived a little early and so did President Robert Awiisi, our Vatican City Branch President.  He was dressed up and did a wonderful job introducing the Church members present.  



Brother Robert Paintsil (a physician Assistant) gave the opening prayer.





Dr. Kessie then spoke and introduced the Chairman and gave a history of the hospital.
They started with no money, just a dream.  He divided his house in half in 2004 and when that got too small he rented another house.  He talked the bank into buying a piece of land for him and holding it until he had the money to pay for it.  Then they saved every penny to buy blocks. 
10,000 at a time. He went to the magazine area and hired men to make them drip line holders and beds. They have been building ever since.
Dr. Kessie said several times how grateful he was to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for this expensive Blood Analyzer Machine.  He was so touched that the Church let him pick out what machine he wanted.  He said, "I guess beggars can be choosers".   








Dr. Kessie also mentioned how humbled he was that Elder Olson had faith in him to remove a cancerous growth on his hand and how we were so willing to help them.  When he mentioned Elder Olson was a retired Veterinarian who had worked on horses for 42 years, the Chief sitting right next to Elder Olson got excited.  Evidently this chief has the only horse in Techiman and he wants to see Elder Olson again.  Coincidence? 
Elder Dever spoke next and gave a wonderful account of how the Church Humanitarian Program got started and it's roll today.
The next speaker was the Municipal Disease Control Officer.  Leaning forward in the picture.

To be continued......




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Fwd: Hand Over II

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Christina Olson <coolson1@icloud.com>
Date: Sat, Jan 17, 2015 at 1:26 AM
Subject: Hand Over II
To: Elder Olson <dmolson2@cox.net>

The Chairman Chief, Nana Afena Nkertia II spoke next.  He had helped Dr Kessie build the hospital and was with him from the start.  He mentioned how amazing he thought it was that a Church that Dr. Kessie did not belong to would make such a big donation so willingly and with no demands.  We also found out the Chief owned a radio station and we had heard from some of our missionaries that some erroneous things had been on the radio lately.  There were also 3 or 4 radio media in attendance.  The Chief said several times how grateful he was for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and how they had helped. Coincidence?

Elder Olson then gave a wonderful talk about how we had become acquainted with Dr Kessie and the hospital.  He then gave Dr. and Mrs. Kessie a statue of the Savior and a beautifully framed copy of The Proclamation on the Family.  Which they received most graciously.

Mrs. Kessie then presented Elder and Sister Dever and us with gifts.  The men got new shirts and we got beautiful necklaces with ear rings.
Sister Dever's and I were asked to officially hand over the machine by cutting the ribbon around a box that symbolically represented the Analyzer.

After a few concluding remarks, a few of us went to the Lab and the Chief did the official ribbon cutting.

They had refreshments for us all upstairs in their Conference Room where we took more pictures with Elders Dever and Olson with their new shirts on.

Another thread was Brother Painsil took a tour of the hospital with us after the ceremony and he wants to work there.  He had never been there before and was very impressed.  Also the young Lab technician who was the M C of the program spoke with President Robert and told him he wanted to join the Church and they set up a time for him to meet the missionaries.
It was a most wonderful day.  The Lord's Spirit was there in abundance.  We were so thankful to be a thread in this tapestry.
Sincerely,
The Olson's

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