Weddings - The Volta

This has been a very busy few weeks.  The Area Presidency has been in Salt Lake for the General Conference and while they have been gone, we have taken advantage of the time to travel and play.

THE WEDDINGS

There are three different ways that you can marry in Ghana and it is very expensive to get married, so most couples wait  a long time to Marry or they just live together.  To further complicate matters, before you can get married in the temple, you have to be married by a minister.  So one Saturday as we went outside, there were three different marriages going on at the Stake Center.  The purpose for getting married is for companionship for each other and to support each other.

The groom must present a dowry to the Bride's parents.  It shows that he can support his new wife and it pays the parents for the loss of their daughter who contributes to their household.  This is known as a customary marriage and after the dowry has been accepted, they can then live together as husband and wife.  There was one couple hold this party in back of the Stake Building and since they were member of the church, they were calling it an engagement party and the bride and groom were not going to live together, but  be married in the temple the following week.

The other marriage was in the chapel of the Stake Center.  We went to this wedding and watched the proceedings.  They had the Bishop marry them and they signed papers and the parents also witnessed and signed.

This was a picture of the Bride and her father was dressed in traditional clothes

The Women's dress were very pretty and their head gear was even more ornate.  All the guests were
extremely dressed up and there was a huge party afterwards that went on late into the evening.
They must be married in the temple within a week of ceremony or they have to wait 1 year.

Just for your information, polygamy is still legal in Ghana and it brings up some interesting complications, when they join the church and want to be sealed in the temple.

The Volta Dam

The Easter weekend is celebrated for four days.  They observe religious celebrations Friday, Saturday, and Sunday and then on Monday they play.  Since we were involved in wedding celebrations on Saturday and we had church on Sunday, we decided to play on Monday.  Several couples got together and drove up to the Volta Dam.

The drive takes about two hours and is very pleasant.  On the way to the Dam, we passed by the Shea Animal Reserve and several of the baboons were out sitting by the roadside, so we stopped to take some pictures.

The Volta region is very pretty and green, it reminds you more of the tropics.  The Akosombo gorge and the Volta River Basin was flooded to build the dam.  It created the largest man-made lake in the world.  It provides Electricity to 60% of Ghana and 100% of Togo.

This is a view of the gorge and the Lake taken from on top of the Dam - it was very pretty 

Kent  with Brother Cooper and Sister Haws 

Kent ad I -  it was a fun day

Me with our guide at the Dam

After we did a tour of the Dam, we went to the Volta Hotel for lunch.

The Sisters!!

The Inside of the Hotel had some interesting art work.

The Petersen's are from Arizona and have served in Ghana before.

The grounds of the Hotel were really beautiful - I couldn't resist taking some pictures.

You could sit out on their patio and see this 

We see these lizards all over Ghana, they have an orange head and tail.  They are very fast and then they stop
and their heads go up and down.

This is for Troy - We thought maybe Springville might like to find a new way to pay their water bills.
Roadside Service

On Tuesday when we returned to the office, there were a number of Missionaries wondering around.  We talked with several of them and then one of them came up to us and wanted to know if we were related to him.  His name was Elder Fitzgerald from Pleasant Grove.  After talking with him for a few minutes we knew that we were related.  He came through Prentiss Fitzgerald a son of Walter Wadsworth Fitzgerald.  He thought it was really neat.

Togo & Benin

Several weeks ago we we applied for visa's to go to the countries of Togo and Benin.  So while the Presidency was gone, we decided we would go.  They told us it would be an experience and indeed it was.  Togo and Benin are the two countries to the East of Ghana.  Both countries speak French, so they suggest that someone who speaks French go with you.  Another couple Mark and Barbara Taylor and an African named Zeddi came with us.  Zeddie is a young man that works for the MTC - he served a mission in Ghana and came from the Ivory Coast so he spoke French.  He is married and his wife is expecting their first child.  He was very pleasant to have along.

This is Zeddi

To go from Ghana to Togo it takes about two hours.  The roads a fairly good, except for the traffic and the tolls.  However, when you reach the border town, it is utter chaos with people, cars, trucks and no information.

Note the Roads

After passing this building a few couple of times, we found the border gates.

As we parked the car, we were surrounded by a number of young men, who wanted us to pay them, to show us what we should do.  There is absolutely no signs.  You have to go to one building to pay for your car and get a passport for the car.  Then you are sent to another building to show your passports.  Everything is written in down, there is no automation.  They take your pictures in another place.  All in all it took over an hour and money before they finally opened the gate for you to enter.

You then go through a few feet of no Man's land and have to go through the same thing on the Togo side of the border - it is indeed an experience.  I took a picture at the border crossing which is highly illegal.

There are people that pass back and forth on foot.

All in all, it took about one and half hours at the border.  The Roads in Togo were quite good.  Togo is twice the size of Maryland and is very narrow.  It only takes about two hours to cross the country.  It is quite green and you drive with the ocean on one side of you, so it is very pretty.  Below are some of the pictures of the countryside.

This is what some of the villages look like, as you drive by.

There are palm trees and sand ad the people do use the beach.

It was very beautiful.

As we drove through Lome, the capital of  Togo, one side of the
street would be the Beach, the other side of the street buildings like the one above

It is always fascinating to catch pictures of the kids.

Kent stopped the car to get this picture

Yes, Togo was very interesting.

This border was brimming with activity.
Check out the truck, trying to come through from Benin to Togo.

We spent another half hour at this border.  There were many people walking back and forth between the border on foot.  There were people hawking their wares.  When we went through the gate there was about 60 feet, where people were selling all kinds of things.  It was very colorful.

It was very hard to get pictures of them.

Benin is much like Togo it is very green and the road goes by the coast.  The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of govenment is in Cotonou, which is the largest city in Benin and is where the Mission Home is located.  The official language is French, but they also speak Fon.  It was known for the slave market in the 17th century.  Below are a couple of pictures taken as we drove towards Cotonou.

We stopped to take this picture of a house built on stilts.  There is actually
a whole village that you can visit that is totally in the water.

You can see the man fishing.

As got closer to Cotonou the road became dirt and there were thousands of motor bikes.  That is their main source of travel - there were very little cars.  If you see someone with a yellow shirt, it means he is a taxi and will give you a ride.  It wasn't unusual to see whole families on the bike.

Taxi - anyone!

The police watching the traffic go by - check out the road
it was like driving in the demolition derby.

It is very colorful.

Women sitting by the roadside.

As we got into the center of the city, the roads turned to pavement and the city was quite pretty.  We stayed in one of the nicer hotels called the Marina Hotel.  The grounds were beautiful with a very nice pool, but the rooms were in desperate need of refurbishing.

This was in the lobby of the hotel

The next day, we went to the Mission Home and Office and met with the missionaries to talk about the maps that they needed to make.  Cotonou is growing and dividing.  We met a mission couple and went to lunch with them.

The home is located in a nice area of Cotonou, many of the embassies are around the area.

We went for Chinese Food with the Simken's.  There is only the Mission President and two couples in Cotonou.
The Mission President also covers Togo and there is one other couple in Togo -  It is pretty lonely.

Late in the afternoon we met the Taylors - they had spent the day meeting with some of the ministers of Cotonou - during some PR work.  It was a good day for all of us.

We then took the opportunity to look around Cotonou - we went to an art center that is located in the downtown area of Cotonou.

This was one of the buildings in the complex

There were rows of shops and they had some very interesting things.

I bought a necklace from this older lady and her granddaughter.

We also bought these awesome giraffe's

We had a very nice trip and it was indeed an experience - the worst part of the trip was the 8 hour car ride back to Ghana and going through the borders again.  There is nowhere to stop, no bathroom facilities and nothing to eat, except the food that you bring with you.  We are happy that we did it, but would probably prefer flying next time.

Those of us who watched Conference

In closing - I hope that all of you enjoyed conference.  We were delighted that the Africa West Area was mentioned so many times.  We streamed conference on the computer and showed it on a large screen in one of our conference rooms.  We received the main sessions, but not the priesthood session, since that would have been 12 midnight here.  We love you all - til next time.
Kent and Judy