The Ladner Archives: Week of 20250629 - Ghana Week 68: Brakes; Church at Ola; Tachie-Mensons; Baptisms; Enraged Driver; Hospital at Night 2X; Full Polytank; Mankessim 2 and 1; Flatbread; Cooler Bucket; Agona Abrem

Week of 20250629 - Ghana Week 68: Brakes; Church at Ola; Tachie-Mensons; Baptisms; Enraged Driver; Hospital at Night 2X; Full Polytank; Mankessim 2 and 1; Flatbread; Cooler Bucket; Agona Abrem

= Sunday, the noises made by the truck were alarming; so, we stayed in Cape Coast instead of driving to Mfuom for church. We attended at the Ola chapel, where it turned out that the Tachie-Mensons were attending there for their first Sunday in their new calling.
= They both served missions. They raised five children, then adopted two more. Those two are with them on this mission. For six years, they worked with For the Strength of Youth (FSY) events across Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. The Stake President spent a lot of time with President Tachie-Menson when they were both young men.
= Water was out at Ola; so after church, we drove to the Cape Coast chapel behind IBC bank for baptisms, arrived an hour early, and rested in the truck. Five people were baptized, confirmed members of the church, and were given the gift of the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost.
= A driver who had wanted to pass me on the right became enraged, drove around me on the left, stopped his car, and tried to block my passage by standing in front of me. I drove ahead and he moved out of the way. He did it again, this time blocking both lanes in this direction. Passersby and other vehicle drivers worked to calm him down and gently but physically escorted him back to his car.
= At Cape Coast Teaching Hospital, Steph helped a missionary from 4:30 to 9, at which point a senior doctor there decided to keep him for the night. (Malaria is no joke if you wait too long for treatment.) Home, we learned that a missionary had fallen in the shower and sliced the top of his head. Companions got him to a nearby hospital, where a doctor shaved the top of his head and sewed the long gash. I finished my work at 0100, work I would have done earlier if we had not been in the hospital. Steph was still awake at 0115: usual insomnia.

= Monday, we learned that the Office Elders and Assistants have been excused from the Monday meeting going forward so they can have a full preparation day. President Tachie-Menson is not just a lawyer and an accountant. He is a vendor for the church; he has been a construction contractor for 14 years. So, he understands both sides of Brother Bright’s job. (Brother Bright has vendors fix apartment issues.)
= When Kojo Dadson looked at our truck in the afternoon, he showed me that a portion of the passenger-side front brake had detached; he forced it back into place with a tire iron (!) so he could drive it to the shop. We borrowed the Office Elders' truck to help the Elder who was being discharged from Cape Coast Teaching Hospital; After an hour of paying for treatment and buying more drugs, we drove the missionary and his companion to our compound to stay with the Elders next door. The Dimmicks swapped trucks, leaving us theirs for the evening.
= At 9:15, we drove the ailing Elder and his companion back to Cape Coast Teaching Hospital for the third shot of the series (spaced 12 hours apart). Then back to our compound, where they would stay the night with the Elders next door and then find their way back to their apartment in the morning. I worked to finish a blog episode and completed that before 0100.

= Tuesday, after I dressed, the power dropped. I brought my laptop to the office and spent most of the day there; Steph elected to say put. Kojo returned the truck at 4:30. Our compound ground-level polytank was full! For us, the seasonal drought is likely over.

= Wednesday, we were at the office, expecting to talk with the Mission President. That didn't happen; we accomplished minor tasks. Home, listening to harrowing experiences of the guests on Sunday on Monday, I felt drained afterward. I handled a couple of minor mission tasks; we were in bed by 9:30, but I was restless.

= Thursday, we inspected two apartments in Mankessim. The "road" to the first apartment (Mankessim 2) was so bad that locals advised us not to use it as we left, but we had already taken it to get there. (I should have asked for a better route.) We inspected Mankessim 1. Much had been done in that apartment to make it better.
= Home, I approved the purchase of a bicycle pump with the proviso that it be featured in their weekly bicycle video going forward so we can track it as we do helmets. I altered an Italian Flatbread recipe very well. Ingredients: ¾ c. flour plus a little to dust hands (or rolling pin) and the rolling surface; ⅓ t. Salt, 2 T. sugar; ⅓ t. baking powder; ⅔ t. Italian seasoning; ⅓ c. milk (2 T Nido, 1/3 c. water; mix); 2 T. butter, melted (in microwave). Blogged until 0200.

= Friday, I tested the fit of a detergent bucket on our cooler jug to stiffen the jug so it wouldn't collapse when water was drawn from it (a problem we've encountered lately). I put the bucket on the cooler jug at the office, loaded two bikes, and I drove to Agona Abrem. I've been our only driver since the end of June. At the apartment, we swapped bikes.
= We bought serious snacks at the Elmina Shell station for Date Night; we checked out the new "China Mall" near the office: like a sparse "Big Lots". At the office, Steph briefed a new missionary who had arrived out of cycle. A doctor wanted to schedule an invasive procedure on a missionary but didn't want to provide a description in advance; Steph said no; she needed it to consult with the Area doctor. The clinicbook keeper (!) called Steph, intervened with the doctor, and sent a (blurry) copy of the description.
= Home, we watched Star Trek - Next Generation until almost midnight. I missed a day of Quizlet

Ola Baptisms at Cape Coast Chapel

The Cape Coast chapel has no attached steeple.

Getting to a main road from the chapel is harder than it appears here.

The KK says "On God".

Nyame So {On God}

[It was interesting to encounter these, one right after the other,with the same thought, expressed differently.]

Someone has neatly carved a hole to divert water off of the "road" approaching the Audit building.

We're still crushing construction debris to get to our house.

From a wedding?

Gases being moved between hospital buildings.

View of the ER entrance from an adjacent waiting area

Still Emmanuel

Eric Tembo conversing with Steph

[Eric comes to the compound to maintain the grounds.]

Photographer

Trash trucks are tearing up the road past the mission compound.

Houses above the compound have balconies with no guardrails yet.

The compound generator is getting attention.

The car in the center is in position to be worked on.

One side is as good as another.

Checking the water meter. Water was flowing vigorously!

Don't Miss This [scripture discussion]

Coming out of our compound, we can't avoid this ditch as we turn to go down the hill.

The presence of bamboo says there's serious construction happening (across from the small store within sight of our compound).

Is it a flying fish?

It's a bird!

This package (not ours) cost $100 to ship and the equivalent of another $10 to pick up.

The water cooler at the mission home started doing this the same time that our water cooler did; faulty jugs?

Hard at work

Sure, it fits; watch!

Checking the crops

Nice

The Big House door

[It's the house next to ours; we're in the Small House.]

This insert, brought with us from the States, makes it possible to use bags that lack pockets.

Nyame ayɛ {God has done it}

Onua means {sibling or cousin}

A handy soda vendor at Yamoransa

God's Time

The moon and star (usually star above moon) indicates a Muslim connection. The truck is packed to the gills without overflowing.

Tray of goods and a stool to set the tray on

Waiting for someone?

I wonder what country this truck was imported from, whose national theatre.

Unless they kill God [{.. they can't stop fill-in-the-blank} =or= {.. you will be restored}]

By God's Grace - Special Kitchen

Stacked high

A fishing net was spread out at a school.

I assume it was for mending, but young kids are making a memory.

Attention-getter

Pushing a serious cart

Nothing is impossible with God

Young

Serious firewood

Nice compound. The classic design includes a raised guard house. This one has outward-facing storage underneath.

Heading to Mankessim 2 apartment.

Even in 4-wheel drive, this muddy stretch rocked the truck, threatening to tip it into the trees.

The apartment

Same stretch looking back. Our hands were too full for photos while navigating it.

To better "road"

We normally see a dozen or so with a herder, not a few on their own.

Near the corn

A child carrying.

A pig wandering, off to the side.

One Day One Day Enterprise

More free-range pigs

Have plantains, will travel.

Notice how little room there for traffic to flow both ways at once.

..the stroke specialist

King of Kings

Missionary beds have a net permanently attached and a standing fan (which they prefer to keep in the net when sleeping). The air movement makes it harder for mosquitoes that happen to find their way in to navigate. The box on the floor is to lock up phones at night so they can't be dragged through barred windows by a thief. It has a built-in extension cord for charging.

Mankessim 1 has a spacious back yard in the compound.

Happiness Food Milling

Vendor-to-vendor market?

People travel long distances on foot to sell wares.

Teen pregnancy saga

People build what they can.

Wide load

Let us pray

Not by might

Home for lunch?

Catering school

Celebration at a school

Anointing

Finished product

Consulting?

Fires don't worry people here.

Mercyful Grace Jesus

Tasty squid, seasoned, cooked, and then cut up for us by a roadside vendor

We laugh at ourselves; for more than a year, we thought they were odd-shaped pastry and avoided them. [rueful grin]

Carrying firewood on treacherous road

The higher you build, the better the breeze.

Wrecks do occur.

Problem..

He took too long to pass us..

forced a vehicle off of the road and continued to try to pass the narrow truck in his lane.

And as we tried to stay back from that stupidity, someone else squeezed past us.

.. and made it..

And set up to continue passing. Notice the oncoming white truck.

One made it..

And the other as well.

The new gas station at the turn from N1 to the mission home

Work was being done on this building at the turn for our home.

Marty's first Italian flatbread..

was tasty

Our truck. I spotted my reflection in the window.

The rock was there because I had thought to use it to hold a gate open.

Elder Dimmick found that putting a bucket on the jug kept the cooler from crimping it. So, I brought this bucket from the house to place on the cooler at the office.

What's being dispensed here is propane, not gasoline.

Taking a break

And maybe selling a little coconut

Imagine going into ocean waves in a craft this narrow.

Pushy driver..

Inconvenienced at least two drivers

King Solomon

Seagoing canoes near the breakwater

Live food on a stick

Probably snails, but we didn't stop to ask.

A man doing a little small-scale fishing where the river meets the sea

This initially looks like a way to carry a spare, but the tire is not in good shape and is not on a rim; perhaps it acts as a bumper?

May we all be great

Nice marketing..

Notice the spoon, covered dish, and fork in the design.

The hollow fish is eye-catching, but what does it represent?

Travel and see

[then let it change you and others]

Men on a mission

The Lord

Moving day?

Roads are lifelines but not always well-maintained

Driving this is like pushing a baby stroller over cobblestones.

This shallow depression is filled with water once more.

Construction tools (mostly bamboo for temporary supports)

The road feels the way it looks. Drivers try to avoid the worst spots.

Ride

An unnamed benefactor has created this lovely pump station.

Careful at corners; people share this road.

Once you leave the Agona Abrem apartment, the easiest way to turn around is to drive through a portion of town to the Catholic church that overlooks it, and turn around there. Here's the view from that point.

Another benefactor created this, probably a toilet paired with a place to bring a bucket and wash yourself in privacy.

As mentioned earlier, this was a dry mudhole at the end of the dry season.

Goats can mow

Wide load

This clinic has a lawn but no driveway. OK, because, most people don't have cars.

Lamb crossing

Graves

Not your typical power pole..

Nor this one

Not just loaded on top; the trunk is open.

The vehicle in the center says: Never give up.

And the red taxi at the left says: Hope.

Psalm 23 - The Lord is my Shepherd..

Much speculation surrounds this name: Wife 2.

Traditional for him

The red vehicle says: The battle is the Lord's.

Jesus is Alive - Beauty Salon

Some people don't play nicely with others..

Fish!

Adom No Nti {For the sake of grace}

Good Master

The store at the Elimina Shell station..

Has great stuff!

Propane delivery (typical)

Boats and nets

Most nice homes keep their distance from N1 where it runs close to the ocean at Cape Coast.

Long way up

[The bags are items to recycle.]

A young boy I have seen do this successfully has his knees out so his feet are flatter against trunk; I don't know whether this person will climb as easily.