Day 1: Final Preparations for the Villages

After the longest traveling day of our lives we were beat and slept in the next day (Friday the 21st) until 3PM local time and probably could have slept longer.  I got up and met with Eric, our tremendous host and friend without whose help this effort would have not been possible, to plan our giving strategy the next two days.

We whipped up some instant oatmeal, and then left the confines of the hotel (barbed wire fence, secure gate and all) to head into town to buy food and drink for the village children the next day.

The traffic was bumper-to-bumper which afforded the hundreds of roadside entrepreneurs we passed to hawk their wares with ample time and earnestness.  We passed on buying anything as we had other, more important purchases in mind.  But it's always fun to see what you can buy on the streets of Ghana:
Dried plantains?
Elf ears?
Santa mask anyone?

Once we got to the mall we ran into some real characters.  Some familiar and some...not so much.

Ghana Claus?

Fruit Drink Salesman

Eric arranged for 250 small bowls of chicken and rice for the next day and we hunted for 250 bottles of soda for the children.  All paid for by money raised from Save-A-Thon For Africa.  Both the meal and the drink are considered a real treat for the kids, which they maybe get only once or twice a year, and only if organizations like ours provide them.

Vincent, our driver and new friend, loading up ten cases of soda we bought at a roadside shop for the kids .

Once we had purchased the food and drinks we decided we needed to get gift bags to put the smaller items we would be handing out the next day to keep some sort of order to the process.  We drove down a few streets and stopped at a little shop that we had actually stopped at the night before at 11:30PM while looking for dinner and bought a loaf of bread.  Think Hawaiian bread.  Very good and sweet and about the only thing safe for us to buy off the street. We ate half of the loaf before falling asleep the night before.

Once we had the bags in hand we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a night of preparing for the village visits.  Dinner was beef stroganoff for me (had good luck with it in March so went with that), spaghetti and french fries for the girls.

We stayed up a while making gifts bags for the kids while I organized the more than 60 sets of reversible uniforms we would also be handing out the next two days.

Santa's (er...Adam's) helpers making gift bags for the kids in our hotel room. 

Organizing the uniforms into sets of 15 for teams in the villages.

Also, did I mention that we were changing hotels the next morning?  Forgot to tell you that I had arranged to stay at the dorm-like ancillary house at the LDS Temple in Accra.  My wife and daughter had stayed there four years ago and this was a place where we could stay more cheaply than the hotel we were originally booked for and in a safe and more pleasant environment.  However, when I called this facility from Houston right before our flight to London to confirm our arrival (had already been told we could stay all 4 nights) I was told that a large group of visitors from Togo had arrived and that there was now "no room at the inn."  I was a bit upset and the girls were concerned we would be sleeping on the streets of Ghana.  But with a connection or two I had up my sleeve by the time we got to London we were able to work it out to stay at the Erata Hotel (where I had stayed on my last trip to Ghana) for two nights and then move to the housing at the temple.  This way we were able to save some money ($45/night versus $100/night) and diversify our lodging experience in Africa.

So, with a big day ahead on Saturday the girls drifted off to sleep around 11PM but I didn't fall asleep until around 1AM.  Unfortunately, though understandably, the girls woke up around 2:30AM and couldn't go back to sleep.  They were on the free wifi texting, Instagramming, Facebooking and giggling until our scheduled wake-up call at 6:30AM.  Despite my pleadings to get some sleep or at least let me sleep they stayed up the whole night while I got what fitful sleep I could.  I understood, but didn't like, why they were awake since 6:30AM in Ghana is 11:30PM the night before in Utah but I was worried about their energy and strength for the next long day with the kids in the village.  With little choice in the matter the clocked just ticked on and we eventually got up, showered, ate free breakfast, packed our bags and went to the new "hotel" to get ready for the journey to the village.

Read on for details on Day 2 in my next post.

The Journey to Ghana

We left for Ghana on December 19th (the morning after my oldest daughter, Mikaelyn, was married and the day my other daughter, Marissa, turned 17.)

The day before our departure to Ghana.  The girls with Mikaelyn and their mother.

We flew over 9,000 miles via Houston, then London, then Lisbon, Portugal, then finally into Accra, Ghana.  We left the house at 9AM on Wednesday--fully loaded with supplies and gifts--and arrived to our hotel in Ghana at around 4PM Thursday (11PM in Ghana) for a grand total of over 30 hours of traveling.  All bags, and people, accounted for!

We each had 2 checked bags of gifts and a one carry-on with our clothes.

Before take-off in Houston bound for London on the red-eye.

The plane that carried us from London to Lisbon.  We landed after our scheduled departure to Ghana.
Thankfully, they held the plane for us (and 20 other passengers) so we stayed on schedule...mostly.

The red carpet and Christmas decorations that greeted us at the airport in Accra.

Digging Out

We have been home from Ghana for over 48 hours now and I am finally ready to share.  It feels like it's been much longer than that but my heart and mind have been a jumbled mess of emotions, exhaustion, gratitude, and perspective and I wanted things to calm down a bit before writing.  I apologize for the delay to the many supporters we have earned over the months and months of this effort and am excited to share with you the final chapters of Save-a-Thon For Africa for 2012.

As you likely know, Save-A-Thon For Africa was all about me keeping a promise to a young boy growing up in a very poor village in Africa.  Nine months ago I promised him that I would bring him and his friends soccer balls to play with and break up the monotony of the difficult lives they lead there.  I was able to engage my soccer player daughter, Kylie, to use her skills and love for soccer to help raise thousands of dollars to travel there and personally deliver the balls, school supplies for the girls, and a Christmas meal for about 300 children in this boy's village.

This picture of my two daughters and this young boy, Borges, sums up the trip as a success but there were so many other blessings along the way.  Stay tuned the next few days to this page for a detailed account of our trip.

Quick Update

We have limited wifi at the hotel now but wanted to briefly re-connect with the world outside of Africa and give you a glimpse of the last 48 hours.  All is great here as we head into Christmas Eve.

The girls, and therefore, I, had a terrible night's sleep Friday night.  They slept until about 1AM when I actually fell asleep then stayed up all night giggling and Instagramming (is that a word?!) despite my groaning and occasional snoring.  So despite the horrible night's sleep we were excited to get going for the visit to Borges' village.  The photo below is our VERY full car of 250 meals and 250 bottles of soda (bottles not cans because they like to keep the bottles to play with.)  We literally rode 3.5 hours to the village with large bags of food and gifts on our lap.  Traffic was horrible and it was a less than pleasant drive.

These next two photos are us with Borges.  His smile and gratitude for keeping my promise to him made the discomfort of the ride there, the thousands of dollars it cost to be there, and the sleepless nights made it all worth it!

We had a great time with the village and have lots more pictures to share.

Also, today we went to a smaller village about an hour from here and had an even better experience.  These kids weren't expecting us at all and we were so delighted with their happy response.

More updates as we travel to Lisbon and London in 24 hours then home and get more reliable
internet connection.

Merry Christmas from Ghana!

Ghana Update

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So, we arrived about 24 hours ago to Ghana.  Today was recovery day.  After 31 hours of traveling and fitful sleep on four different planes we slept in today until 3PM local time!  We didn't actually fall asleep until 3AM this morning so it wasn't that late but it did feel good (plus that is 8AM Utah time).

We made final logistical preparations with our great host and friend, Eric Peasah, and then bought 240 bottles of soda for the kids and ordered 300 meals of chicken and rice.

Loved being with my girls, Marissa and Kylie, today!  Tomorrow is big day as we visit the village and give the boy who inspired this adventure, Borges, his soccer ball and fulfill my promise to him.

As long as we have wifi we will keep posting pics and comments, etc. Stay tuned.  It's about to get interesting...

Here goes SOMETHING!

Well, we start our 9,000 mile, 30 hour journey to Ghana in less than 8 hours.  We are all very excited for the adventure and the children and people we are going to help.

Thanks to all who have supported us.  It is not too late to help us help others have Christmas this year in a very remote and poor part of the world.  Still need to raise about $2,000 and every little bit counts!

Visit this ink to donate:  http://bit.ly/UrrIQc

Stay tuned to this page to experience our journey in the coming days.

May God bless you to have a Merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season!

A Promise To Keep

In case you missed the Chalk Talk 4 Charity I am posting a video slideshow of the beautiful children of Ghana set to a hugely inspirational song called "World" sung by Five For Fighting.  I love the words: "History starts now."  What my daughters and I will do in one short week, with the support of many generous donors, may seem small but what excites me is to think that this small effort may, probably will, inspire at least one of these kids to change the course of their life and rise above the cycle of poverty.  Through their efforts, supported by our action now, TODAY, change will happen.  History will be made.  It's up to us to act.  We are still more than $2,000 short of our goal to raise badly needed funds to help them.

Every little bit helps.  Thanks for watching.  Enjoy!