Visiting the local villages

Thursday was such a good day. I have been waiting to go to a village called Dompa since I arrived here in Amakom and met some people from there who continually invited me to visit them. The fishermen at the lake, some of the workers at the clinic, and my friend YaYa are all from there. It is a long walk and about a 30 minute drive so I have been at the mercy of others to get me there. The team from Ireland was going to greet the chief and I took it as my time to visit Dompa. We travelled a very bumpy road to a beautiful village a quarter of the way around the lake. When we arrived everyone was sitting in the town square with all the chiefs and elders there and the Obrunis sitting opposite them.

We greeted them and received the nice gift of a sheep.

The sheep was going crazy and I was wondering what in the world we were gonna do with such a thing. Well we decided to tie him to the top of the Patrol which I thought was kind of crazy but how else do you get a sheep down a rugged bumpy African road. So there he goes thumping along as me and my roommates are in the very back getting sick and all the sudden you see the thing hanging off the side of the Patrol dangling and kicking to get free. He was literally hanging by his neck. We all started screaming and our driver Charles got out and tied him up there better. The next day I found out what you do with the gift of a sheep while I was eating my sheep soup. Yes it was very sad but tasted very good actually and was the most tender meat I’ve had since I’ve been here.

The time in Dompa was awesome though and we announced that we wanted to do a community service there Sunday so I know that will be a blast.
I can’t wait to come back. I even saw the fishermen I had met at the lake and got to talk to them again. We had to rush away after the greeting and of course I was the last one for Andrew to say tell Hollie we have got to get going. That seems to be the norm for me. I think it’s my ma’s fault. Lol.

We were on our way to a village called Nkwatepong way up in the mountains. We were going to greet the chief and we had surveyors with us that were going to check to see if Nkwatepong would be eligible to receive a borehole. When we got there children ran out to greet us and they set us up in the local church.

It was impressive how many people came out in just a few minutes and filled up the place and also how the chief opened and closed with prayer. It was very unusual to see that but very encouraging. They were very welcoming and informed Andrew that they need a borehole because the water is causing many sicknesses and they also need a stretcher to carry sick people the hour it takes to walk to the clinic. Please pray for this village to get good water because the surveyors said the roads were not passable for the equipment it would take to dig the borehole. I’m praying that God will give them mercy for these people that they saw and try to make a way for it to happen.

Juliana saw a snake. It scared me to death. I wasn’t there when she came upon it in the kitchen but I heard she almost fainted and came out running and screaming. She said it was 4 feet long and the size of her arm. It got away before anyone could kill it so I’ve been a little more nervous walking around after sunset. Other than that one I haven’t heard of any around here so that is definitely a blessing.
Friday I went to Kumasi to run errands and boy did we ever run. We ran here and there and everywhere and I was definitely with a couple of Ghanaians eating off the street and seeing how things work here in Africa when it comes to money, supplies and business in general. Michael and Osa argued and negotiated prices for cement, steel rods and frames and I helped shop for fruit and vegetables and other needs.

The highlight of the day was visiting Michael’s family in Kumasi. He hadn’t seen them for a while because he is always so busy when he comes to Kumasi but we decided to stop by for a few minutes. It was so cute how excited they were to see him and have guests in their house. Michael started speaking some English to me to explain what was going on and his dad smiled and told him he had never heard him speak English before. He was such a proud daddy that day.
This is me with his ma, dad and uncle.


We got home by 8:00pm which is very late but got a lot of things accomplished which is good since we have a team here trying to get a lot of work done on the clinic.



The clinic looks great! There is so much work going on. Everyday the hill is filled with workers and there is constant noise and action going on til 3:30 every day. It’s been cool seeing the excitement that is going on and to talk with the workers and community about everything at night when we walk into the villages.


Everyone wants to be a part and that is special. This is going to be an amazing addition to this area. I was handed some screw drivers and pliers today and given the job of taking out all the electrical switches, lights, fans from the old portion of the clinic.

It was a hot, gruesome job and so much fun. I even had a little apprentice with me named Gideon who just wanted to hold the tools for me and hand them to me as I needed them. He was
so cute.

I was a mess when I got done but glad that I could help.