Transition

The choir tour has ended. Everyone is back in the US, except me. It was difficult saying goodbye, especially to Audrey. But I am excited to volunteer here in Ghana. The choir tour was extremely successful! With the exception of the concert at the National Theatre, all the concerts had high attendence. Everyone had a great time and many mentioned that the tour was life-changing. I'm excited to see how the trip will affect their futures. Many have expressed a desire to come back to Ghana and/or to do something to benefit Africa.

Right now I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Kumasi. I went to Accra with the choir to see them (and my wife :( off to the airport. I had no idea what I was going to do that night when I left them at the airport. So I walked to the Accra Mall (about 1 mile). I had a really good pizza and called Uncle Yofi (Audrey's great-uncle) to see if I could stay at his house for the night. He was amazingly hospitable and even drove me to Ashaiman (about 15 miles) the next morning down the really nice Accra-Tema Motorway (its just like a US expressway - speedlimit 60mph)! I went to Ashaiman to deliver some gifts to my friend Rocklin's family. He just moved to the US to marry a friend of mine so he had a wedding DVD and other stuff for them. It was quite a contrast to go from Uncle Yofi's house, which is still being completed but has 6 huge bedrooms, 2 kitchens, basically its amazing! to then go to Rocklin's family's home which is quite simple and in a very poor neighborhood. Rocklin's mom made sure she fed me more than I could eat (and it was really good - fufu with palm nut soup and turkey)!

From Rocklin's home I took a TroTro (cheap transportation - like a large van with 20some people in it) back to Accra where I got a bus to Kumasi. The TroTro cost me $1 and the bus $9 for a trip that took 8 hours! Our bus broke down before we ever left Accra so we had to wait about 1/2 hour to get a new bus.

I'm gonna try to put some pictures on here after I write this blog. Audrey and her friend Maame Ama had the camera for most of the trip so there are a lot of pictures!

Well, I miss everyone already! Especially Audrey! But, I am doing fine and feel great...the 1 week of diarrhea is over! I should be on here leaving posts more often now that the choir tour is over. If you have questions about anything please leave them in the comments. Since this is my first blog I'm not sure what people would like to read about! Thanks.

First post from Ghana

Well! It's been an interesting week! Audrey and I arrived at Dulles Airport nice and early on Sunday, May 11th to avoid the lines. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 5:35PM. We waited until 6:30PM to board our KLM flight. At 7:30 KLM told us to get off the plane so they could service it (broken wing defroster) and we would be leaving in 2 hours. 2 hours past and they told us our flight was delayed until 6PM Monday Night!!!! A whole day behind schedule. They put us up in a Embassy Suites for the night (we waited in the pouring rain 50 degrees for over an hour with all our luggage for the shuttle!). The next day we left, at 7:30PM. By then the choir was in Ghana! Audrey and I made it to Amsterdam and made another connection to Accra.
Everyone is doing fine! We have had a lot of sick students from the heat and some of the food. But, no need to worry, everyone is fine! I even got sick Saturday. We ate at Cape Coast Castle Restaurant and I think I ate some bad chicken. I was vomiting all evening. Sunday I was feeling better, but not good. Today I woke up with diarrhea but now I'm fine and will hopefully be able to eat something substantial this evening for dinner.
All the churches have received us with open arms and pretty much filled concerts. We have sung with a lot of choirs! The only real downside on this is that almost no one showed up for the National Theatre performance. This was really depressing because we had spent $1800 on advertisements and $2000 to rent the hall.
Now we are at Hans Cottage Botel near Cape Coast. Just about everyone is feeling great (except me!). Well, I better get back to relaxing, maybe in our really nice pool! I'll have much more posted soon!
James

Two days till take off...

Wow...in two days we will be leaving the US.  I have been out of the country 5 times before - twice to Europe and 3 times to Ghana - but this is by far the longest I've been away!  I am going to Ghana for 10 weeks.  The next longest I've been away was 3.5 weeks to Ghana in Dec/January 2004.  

At my graduation party from Concordia University - St. Paul, Minnesota I told the choir director, Dr. David Mennicke, that he should consider taking Christus Chorus to Ghana in 2008.  The choir travels abroad every 4 years.  We went to Germany, Poland and Czech Republic in 2004 and had a great time.  I told Dr. Mennicke if he decided to take the choir to Ghana I would set up the entire tour for them and lead them around the country.  Over the next two years I regularly sent him emails with powerpoint presentations on Ghana, pictures of Ghana, music from Ghana, possible itineraries, etc.  And in June 2007 I received an email that the choir and Dr. Mennicke had decided to go to Ghana!  I began planning the tour right away.  In January of 2008 Dr. Mennicke and I went to Ghana for 1 week to meet with many of the performance venues we would be performing at and visit many of the tourist sites we would take the choir to.  

Now, everything is set and we are leaving in two days!  After the choir tour (May 27) Audrey, my wife, and the choir will return to the US and leave me in Ghana!  I will stay until July 21st doing an internship with West Africa AIDS Foundation.  I'm not sure what I'll be doing or where I'll be living....so this will truly be an adventure!

I'll be sharing my experiences and lots of pictures on this blog so check it out regularly!  I'll see all of you (that I know!) in late July!  I'll miss you!  Keep us in your prayers!