Saturday January 26th - A Boat Trip in Ada Foah

On Saturday, we went with many other couples to Ada Foah, which is the District Capital.  It is a small coastal town in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.  The town is located along the Volta River.  It is also the capital of the Dangme East District and the seat of the District Assembly.

The Dutch were the first to open trade between Europe and Ada in the 16th Century and they built a new trading post i 1775.  Later the Danes took over, who at this time had power over the whole coast east of Accra.  They remained in Ada for more than 100 years.  To defend their trading post against the attacking neighboring tribes the Danes built Fort Kognenstein in 1783.  This fort actually gave Ada Foah its name.  Ada Fort, village of the fort.

When the British arrived at the end of the 19th century, the Danish sold their forts and trading posts to them.  During this time of trading with the Europeans Ada also became a major market for the slave trade.   After slave trade had been abolished, the Adas traded products of the African tropical forest such as palm oil, palm kernels and rubber.

We all met at Alema Court - this is where many of the couple missionaries live.  I took a few pictures.

Sister Smith from England and Sister Taylor from Illinois

Sister Warner from Provo and Sister Assard from Ivory Coast

Sister Klein from Arizona and Sister Curtis from Salt Lake

Brother & Sister Ribera from Logan and Brother Haws from Hooper, Utah

Sister & Brother Avery from Nevada and Sister Haws from Hooper, Utah

Bother & Sister Haws

Brother Slater and Elder Heid giving us last minute instructions
We divided into cars and left for Ada Foah

The first stop that we made was at the Ada Foah Radio Station
We were going to pick up our guide - but he was not there
People used the Restroom and they got in touch with the guide
This looked like a place that was used for gatherings.

Elder Warner, The Avery's, Elder Assard and Kent in the background

The Plants were awesome and there was even a Cactus!

Elder Houssian - It was Hot

The Curtis's and the Kleins visiting

This was the Radio Station and they were even on the Air

The Radio Announcer invited us in - so I took his picture

While we were waiting some brothers and sister wondered in and wanted us to buy some Tomatoes

The kids are really fun - we bought  some tomatoes from them

We were on the road again, only to run into a traffic jam of COWS
Check out how thin he is!

They came in all shapes and sizes

They finally moved to the side of  the road, so that we could pass

We went through a small village and the children came out and waved at us

Some were selling oranges

A small goat greeted us as we arrived at the Boat Dock

Our Guide and Boat were still not there - so we tried to find some shade to sit in

Dad tried poking fun at Elder Taylor
In the distant you can see a village where people live

This was a family that lived in the village, just laying on the sand

This little girl wanted me to give her my water bottle.

Before I got on the boat, I gave her my bottle and half of my sandwich

The children immediately went to the river ad began filling it up

My Favorite Picture - Drinking from the River - check out the Pot - it has holes in it

On the River at Last - we had two boats and we spent about 1 hour going down to the bottom
of the River where it meets the ocean

Some of the sites along the river

People live in villages that line the river

Some young boys out fishing

One of the villages

This is a resort and the trees were decorated with the Colors of Ghana

It was very pleasant and fun to see

This is Elder & Sister Heid, they are leaving Ghana on Wednesday - they planned the trip, they will be missed

After the river, some of us went to Ada

This Presbyterian Church was built by the first generation of Ghanaian Christians.  Next to it is the old Missionary cemetery.  When the missionaries first came to Ghaa they faced harsh conditions and many died very young.

This is the old Fort that is being washed into the Sea - soon there will be nothing left of it.

Me -  What am I doing - gathering Sea Shells - there are always shells and many are unbroken.

Beautiful Beaches - never anyone on them and the water is warm!!

Coming home, we pulled into a rest stop that had these awesome giraffe's

We also passed a home that had these great carvings

We had a terrific day.  Africa is indeed an interesting place.  On the way home, we had a rain storm - most cars had to pull off the roads which were quickly becoming flooded.  It was good when we finally got back.  We love you all -  Kent and Judy