Evacuation of missionaries

The missionaries are all being taken out of Sierra Leone and Liberia due to the Ebola virus.   There are about 257 in total I think.  Many will be brought to Accra and will stay in temple housing and the Stake centre on the temple grounds.  They will be reassigned, most likely to their home countries. 

Our two humanitarian couples from those countries will come here from the sounds of it and will try to complete their projects from here and also help out with some in Ghana.  

We hope they all arrive as planned.  The Church is chartering planes and last night they didn't get to leave the airport in Liberia because Ghana said they couldn't land here.  It sounds like they are sending some on a Commercial airline tonight.  The charter flight is suppose to leave Sierra Leone tonight and come here.  We are hoping it happens without any problems.  

There is no Ebola in Ghana so we are fine.  Hopefully it gets under control before it gets this far. 

Hope all is well with everyone.

Love, Nancy

Dr. Baah's Vision Clinic handover

LDS Charities has helped with this clinic a couple of times now.  Dr. Baah is a good man, doing a lot of good for the people in Ghana.  He is very grateful for our assistance and had a big party for the hand-over ceremony and fed everyone that came as well.   He had newspaper people there as well as TV stations.  It was great publicity for the Church, which is good as it helps to make people aware of us.

He presented we ladies with a dress made from Kente cloth (they took our measurements on Monday and had the dresses ready for Wednesday morning).  The men received a traditional top (don't know the official name for it).  That was very nice of him to do that.  We don't usually get such gifts and it does feel a little weird.  We were presented with our dresses and told to go change and had to come back and make a grand entrance.  I was a little worried about it but they did a good job and the dresses fit and looked nice.

Rubber tree plantations

Here some pictures of them collecting sap from the rubber trees.  It was really quite interesting to see. 

Also pictures of of high density housing in Abidjan along the river.

We came across a Scout meeting at one of our Chapels and I just had to get a picture of them.

Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire)

We spent almost a week in Cote d'Ivoire.  Almost everyone speaks French there so it was great that Jim has as much French as he does.  He struggled and his brain worked overtime, but he managed pretty well.  It certainly did help a lot. 

We traveled with our vision specialist from SLC.  First thing on our arrival,  a driver had been arranged for us, and we were driven to visit a small clinic.  They essentially have nothing but Bro. Hunsaker feels like we can help them.  His opinion is 'if we build it, they will come'.  So he will write up a project and give them a couple of items for their Optometry room.  They do have an optometrist and he had very meager supplies to work with.

The next day we headed to Soubre, place about 6 hours away.  Some said 4, some said 7, but it took us 6 hours.  We rented a vehicle and when you rent vehicles in Ivory Coast that includes a driver.  I guess too many vehicles got sold, instead of returned!   He was a good driver and did a good job of missing most of the many potholes.  It was a rough ride though.   We went directly to another very small hospital/clinic.  They had requested some medical equipment.  They virtually had nothing to speak off (6 beds with mattresses and some IV stands).  We will help them out with a few things.  Our Area Initiatives must be less than $25,000.  We even added a couple of stethoscopes and thermometers to the list as they only had one. 

 We stayed in a hotel that maybe could be classed as 1/2 star -- but that was the best they had there.  We ordered pizza from the menu at the hotel and got it after about 2 hours of waiting.  Sigh!  That's Africa!   We left early for our 6 hour ride back to Abidjan.   We did stop at one point and take pictures of a grove of Rubber trees, where they were collecting the sap from the trees into little pails.    We also stopped to look at a water well and while there Sis. Hunsaker and I saw a lady with a basket of fabric so we checked it out and each bought a piece or two.  It was a good deal.  Plus the fellows we were with who took us to see the clinics bought us each a piece as a gift.  Hmmm.....     they must really want these projects approved.  ;)

We arrived back in Abidjan and stayed in a beautiful hotel there.  Nice!   At 5 pm we met with 6 stake presidents and the Area Authority Seventy at a Stake Centre and did some training on the 'member food and small animal production' initiative.  There are 6 stakes in Abidjan and 2 missions in Cote d'Ivoire.  The training went well even with the language barrier.  Some knew English and could help translate back and forth but again, Jim did pretty good.

Sunday we attended a Sacrament Meeting in an open pavilion-type structure.  It was great.  The weather right now is quite pleasant -- not too hot, but not cold.

Dr. & Sis. Hunsaker left after Church to fly back to Accra and then connect to their SLC flight.   We stayed in Abidjan to look at another project request to help a Literacy group that are teaching adults, that have never learned, to read and write.  We were impressed with what they are doing and will write up the project and give them some books, exercise books and supplies. 

We also met with an assistant to a  Government official about the needs in Cote d'Ivoire that they are focusing on.  He wasn't a lot of help and next time we need to arrange with at least a month's notice to meet the right person.  O well.

We met again with the fellows from the Clinics and had a nice chat with them.  They brought us more gifts; an African outfit for Jim (pants and matching shirt) and brought me a dress that I like.  I need to lose 10 lbs. though to wear it.  O yeah, and Jim's outfit comes with a little hat too!  hehe

The Mission President for the newly formed 2nd mission there came and picked us up at the Hotel and took us to the mission office.  We had a satellite phone for him and Jim helped him get it set up and make his call to SLC.  Each mission has a satellite phone for emergency purposes and Jim is in charge of making sure they all make their test calls to SLC twice a year.  They report to Jim when the call has been successfully made.

We headed back to Accra on Wednesday and have been busy catching up at the office and starting to write up the projects.  Nothing has been done in Cote d'Ivoire so we hope to be able to help them out there.  We don't have a humanitarian couple there.   

It is a beautiful country.  It is rainy season so everything was green and lush.  Thick forests/jungles.  They have rubber tree plantations and cocoa plantations.  Lots of gardens and maize growing right now.  The people are wonderful, just like everywhere else here. 

I am sending some photos of the countryside, potholes, bigger potholes, and biggest potholes.  Hehe!    But, just to show that there are some good roads I included a photo of a freeway in Cote d'Ivoire that runs from Abidjan up to the border of Burkina Faso.  It was great and we got to drive on it for a couple of hours as we traveled to Soubre.  The other four hours were not so nice.

Ivory Coast

Just a quick note.  We leave tomorrow for Ivory Coast (usually called Cote D'viore, here).   We are going with the vision specialists to looks at a couple of places requesting help and then Jim and I stay a  few days longer to looks at some other projects requests.  We don't have a humanitarian couple there so we are it!

We have been super busy lately and one of these days I will post some pictures and do some writing.   Today we had a great hand-over ceremony where we gave some eye exam equipment to an Eye clinic.  Dr. Baah owns the clinic and he certainly knows how to throw a party.  He had drummers, dancers and of course, lots of speeches.   It was great.  He even presented three of us women involved an African dress made from Kente cloth and then men all got an African top that is worn by the men here for special occasions.

After that ceremony we visited another Eye Clinic that serves many many people and will most likely do our next Vision project for them.  Elder & Sister Hunsaker will write that up and do is from home (Utah) and then come when the equipment is delivered early next year and do the training on it.  It is called a major initiative.

Wheelchairs arrive here next week - a container of them (about 350 or so).  The short term specialists will come in Sept. and do the training that is associated with fitting them to the people etc.   We partner with Ghana Health and they will distribute them and report back to us.   

The weather has been pleasantly cooler lately.  It is rainy season.  We are really enjoy the milder temperatures but still run our AC most of the time.  It is just nice to not be hit with a blast of hot air every time you step outside.

We would love to hear from you!!   We are doing well and staying healthy.

Love to all,  Bullocks

Making dinner for the Boarders at the School

These ladies are making rolls for the students who board at the school.  Boarding schools are quite common here, especially for the High Schools.  Children are assigned a school to attend and if they live too far away they will board at the school.  The rooms they board in are large and filled with bunk beds (sometimes 3 high) and the beds are sometimes so close together that there is only a small walkway between.  Their clothing and belongings are kept on the bed (perhaps the floor at night).  They don't have a lot. 

They LOVE seeing their photo!

Jim took a video of the kids and is showing it to them.  As you can see you love it.  They followed Jim down to the truck and some were hanging onto him and hugging him.  It is so easy to make them happy!