Africa News

Hello Hello my wonderful friends and family!!!!!

I have so many wonderful things to tell you and I’m sure you’re anxious to hear! I’m sitting here under a helicopter fan trying to get a little cool. Lol. That is very hard around here haha. The electricity went out today for a couple of hours and as soon as it went out we just carried on as normal and turned our flashlights on and our little chargeable lamps beside our beds. No electricity is very common here.

Life is different here but I love Ghana!! We went to a little church today called Amakom Pentecost. We had so much fun! The three of us girls went with two guys that live at the clinic compound. We danced and Michael, the guy we hang out with the most around here, went up front and told one of the elders to get me to sing. So the elder said, “Sister Hollie is going to come up and sing for us”. Lol I was so nervous and I have been learning some Twi songs but I was afraid I would get the words wrong so I didn’t sing them. I sang the song ‘Hallelujah’ and they sang along with me. James, the guy who has been teaching me Twi songs came up and helped me lol but my first experience in an Amakom church was so great. A mom in the church came up and brought her little girl to our aisle and I held out my arms to her and she sat on my lap and then fell asleep throughout the whole service. As you can imagine, my heart was so taken with her. She was adorable. I seriously want to bring a child home. J haha make room ma and dad!
The other day when me and Rebecca, one of my roommates, walked through the village I heard all these children yelling and I was wondering what they were saying. When I stopped to listen I realized they were yelling Obruni, Obruni which means white person in Twi. I looked around and all over the village were little children yelling and waving and smiling and oh my word my heart smiled and I started taking pictures and showing the pictures to the children and they couldn’t get enough of it. I was giving hugs and hand shakes and then adults started coming up and wanting their picture taken lol. They were so cute. I took pictures with some of them. One of them said, ‘When did you get here?’ and me and Rebecca said, ‘Wednesday’. He said, ‘It’s Friday and I am the Assembly Man. Why haven’t you come to see me?’ I almost wanted to laugh because he was so serious but greeting those people in the village that hold a place of authority is very important in Ghanaian culture so we made sure to set up a formal meeting time and I am looking forward to the special time we will have with the Assembly Man and the Chief of Amakom.

Amakom is a village of about 700 people and I have no idea how people make a living. We are at least 40 minutes back into the bush in the middle of mountains next to this big lake. When you come over one of the hills the beauty of the lake and the villages takes your breath away. I was overwhelmed at how beautiful it is here and how nice our house is. We love it! We have mice often times and spiders as well. I let Rebecca sweep the mice out cause I’m not too keen on doing that. Lol. And she says she’s swept the same mouse out five times lol.

It’s the rainy season and when it starts to rain everyone stops what they are doing and goes inside. The rain is so hard and so loud you are just amazed at the splendor of God’s creation all over again. We often just sit on the front porch and look at the lake while it’s raining cause you can’t talk it’s so loud on the metal roof. Yesterday when I went to visit another village on the other side of us to meet with the chief we were on our way back and got caught in the rain. Everybody was running inside but I was already wet and it felt so good I just stayed out in it until it was over. I think the people here thought I was crazy. It’s really big here to get inside and everyone keeps asking me if I got sick though the temperature is so hot even through the rain. They were all covering up with long sleeves. It’s so funny!

We are now sitting here with our new roommate since yesterday Louise. She is from Ireland and has an Irish accent which she just said is actually Ulster but I figured you guys wouldn’t know what that was but only because I don’t lol. I have been mimicking her accent, which throws her into gales of laughter. We have had a good time together so far.

People come in and out of our house all day long. I haven’t figured out how I feel about that. Lol but the people are just so excited that we are here. Our friends Michael and James come over a lot and seem to show up at about dinner time every night. This morning though, I was woke up by a little clanging on a cup because our neighbor Michael had come over and cooked breakfast for us and was waking me up. I started just laughing as I heard my name and came out to a full breakfast on the table. They are such loving, beautiful people here. This week we will start going to the schools and teaching and playing games with the children. We are so excited to get to do that!!

I know this has gotten really long and I could write forever already but I will end with these things. Keep praying because there are not a lot of true believers on the clinic compound. We are striving to be good witnesses and good examples and help the Jernigans and the village as much as possible. Your prayers are greatly appreciated and any emails I love!! It might take me time to respond because my email is kind of slow here and internet is hit or miss.