Green and pleasant lands

Tuesday evening brought a further power cut so it was quite a fitful night's sleep as the humidity was increasing.  It was no surprise therefore that there was a torrential downpour with a quite spectacular electric storm at about 0400 on Wednesday morning.   Two lightning strikes were so close as to not be able to count between the flash and the rumble.  Thankfully the mortar work done by the builders for Stephen's new garage doors was unscathed.

Last day in Ghana

We spent the morning on a short tour by car of Accra, passing by some of the key government buildings and the stadium before calling in to see Dorinda's (Stephen's wife's) mother who lives in a substantial old-style house close to the centre of the city.  We then ate a meal outside at a restaurant before heading home in good time for me to complete my packing and then travel to the airport for my journey home.

Homeward bound

It was a smooth flight.  The skies over southern Europe were mostly clear and I was able to see the east coast of Spain clearly by night.  As day broke, we flew up the west coast of France from the entrance to the Gironde northwards, bringing back memories of a sailing trip there a few years ago. Landfall in the UK was just east of St Catherine's Point (the southern tip of the Isle of Wight) which was about the only part of the UK that we saw until we descended on the approach to Heathrow as the cloud cover was extensive. 

It must have been about a 20C drop in temperature from Accra last night to London this morning.  The only common factor was the damp air, humidity in Accra, drizzle in London!


A few statistics might interest you over the time I have been away:

• Away for 29 nights, the longest that Sandy and I have been apart since our engagement in 1992.
• Travelled in excess of 8,000 miles (6,500 by air, the rest by road) over the month.
• I've worshipped in six different places (it feels like it should be more but that's all I can recount)
• I have not taken any medication, apart from the the box of Imodium for 'runny tummy' (as the Ghanaians put it!) and my prescribed anti-malarial tablets.
• At an average of about 3 litres a day, I've drunk more than my body weight in bottled water, not counting other drinks such as fruit juice etc.
• I have lost a couple of kgs in weight (nothing to be concerned about).
• Been affected by nine power cuts of varying lengths, and the running water supply also failed in Winneba a couple of times.
• Not drunk any coffee until breakfast this morning during the flight.

It is good to be back home and to have seen nearly everyone here now.  I am looking forward to collecting Faith and Maddy from school this afternoon, the first time I will have driven for over a month.  Must remember not to upset the locals by the Ghanaian approach to (frequent) use of the horn.

Prayer requests

Thanks for the opportunities that I have had over the past month, for the welcome I received and all those I met.

Thanks for safe travelling, personal safety and good health during my stay.

For my fellow second year students at STETS as their placements continue.

For our family as we re-adjust to being together at home again after this period of separation.

For the people of Ghana, facing a challenging economic situation and all that entails.

For the Amankwatia project, that it may proceed over the next few months.

For the Methodist and other Christian communities that serve Winneba.

Comments please

Over the next couple of weeks I will be sitting down to write up my placement for the assessment of this part of my training.  If you have any reflections on the content of this blog, then I would be glad to receive them.  What I would be particularly interested to know is whether any of my posts have made you think about particular aspects of life in Ghana as I have experienced it, also whether there was anything you thought I might mention but haven't done so.

Let me know- either by commenting on this post or by contacting me via other routes.  Thank you for your interest.

To finish, here's a 'word cloud' based on the content of the blog, interesting to see what has been occupying my thoughts as I have written.