Preparation and Travel

We began preparing for this African adventure years ago by earning/budgeting sufficient to pay off the house, and getting one of our children to live in the house while we were gone (Irene, Tim, and Dominic).  More immediate preparations were to get a leave of absence from Michael’s work, instruct Tim and Irene how to run the Fry Funny Farm (chickens, bees, and gardens), and then obtain passports for Mariah and Sam, followed by multiple attempts at Ghanaian visas for the four of us.  This summer was a bumper year for crops – berries, apples, honey, the garden, and even corn, so from August onward, we were running around with our hair on fire trying to harvest, process, and prepare for our departure.  We squeezed in a visit to family in the lower 48 (Dad Pratt and Louise, Emerson, Cassandra, Lily, and Christian, and then Micah, Rachel, and Rosy, Rilie, Mandy, Michael, Macy, Chase, and Charlie, and Oma, Opa, Marialyn, and Larry).  Even after that trip, we made an overnight flight to attend Rilie and Mandy’s wedding.  The wood storage is nearly full, the freezers and refrigerators, and bin storage is full, and we got packed ready for the trip.  I’m tired thinking about it.

We got up on 16 Sep 2014 at 0300, left the house at 0406, got to the airport and checked our 8 bags (each ~50 # -- they included lots of clothes and books for Tasha and the school), and then gate checked 3 more carry-on bags, and were off to Seattle.  Layover in Seattle was uneventful, and we headed for Amsterdam.  The flight was great with the good ol’ days of service from the airlines rather than trying to wring every penny out of you for digiplayers, food, luggage, etc.  We arrived at Schiphol airport near Amsterdam with 7 hours to kill, so we loaded up into the train to central station, took the tram to Albert Kuip straat markt, and bought cheese and chocolate for Tasha and family.  On return  to centraal stasie, we got separated, and there was some panic as the tram doors closed once Michael got on, but didn’t let Kristin and kids on.  They were quick enough to take the next tram and we were rejoined at the station.  We got checked in to our next flight and awaited the foreign part of our trip.  The flight to Accra was uneventful, and we arrived around 8 p.m. with the sun well set.  Passport control took some time (slow lines) complete with finger and thump printing for Michael and Kristin, and while we first thought our luggage didn’t make it (most everyone else had gotten their luggage, but there was nothing for us when we got to baggage claim), all of it did eventually arrive, and we cleared customs with our “helpers” – custom workers “assisting” us through customs and then looking for a tip afterward.  Finally we emerged into the dark outside and quite a crowd.  Fortunately we quickly found Emmanuel and Tasha and were able to get loaded up and on our way (not until another group of helpers were tipped – Tasha had prepared us for this employment method). 

The sights and smells of Accra were comparable to other places Michael has been (Sardinia Italy, Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia) – the acrid smell of burnt plastic (garbage is burnt rather than buried), the crazy traffic, the heat and humidity, but the traffic hawkers, and the unending stalls of street vendors was new – employment in Ghana appears to consist mostly of selling something from a shack alongside the street (or going car to car in traffic).  After an hours’ ride, we arrived at the school compound in Ayikuma, got to our apartment (student housing), unloaded, and went to bed).  We had arrived.

Michael