The area presidency admonishes us to take the time see Africa. To encourage us, one couple has been asked to coordinate outings. On September 10-12 eleven couples traveled to the Volta Region to climb the highest mountain peak in Ghana, Mt Afadjato, about 85 miles from Accra. That sounds like an easy drive, but this is Africa—it took four hours. Some roads are paved, but have potholes, other roads are not paved and have bigger potholes. We formed a caravan of six grey Mitsubishi trucks bumping along through the towns and villages to Ho, the capitol of the Volta Region where we spent two nights in a surprisingly nice hotel built on the side of a high hilltop with spectacular views of the small city. (See images 1-2 below)
On the way to Ho (not to be confused with Hohoe) we drove through an area that is well known for the baboons that live in the trees and entertain passing cars by walking along the road. We were told that baboons were not friendly critters, so it is best to stay in the car. Sure enough we spotted them. One had a baby that clung to the underside of her belly so closely that it was hard to see the baby at all. An African man, driving by stopped, and got out of his car as the baboons were jumping at his windows and climbing on his roof. The man laughed and laughed at their behaviors, opened his trunk and threw a large stem of bananas to the ground. Those baboons knew they had been given a feast. The bananas were grabbed, peeled and eaten within the snap of a finger. (See images 3-5)
We had been warned that bribe-seeking police officers in Ghana love to stop white people with the intent of pocketing cedis. As we got to the lovely arched bridge crossing the Volta River, the police monitoring the road waved the truck in front of us to pull to the right. We were second in line and waved to pull to the left. The officer demanded we show our passports and other official papers. As we were searching through our glove compartment to comply, the officer who pulled over the first truck appeared at our car window, pointed out our missionary tags to the humorless officer who stopped us and said, “Latter-day Saints.” He then waved us on.
We visited a village where kente cloth is woven and heard the legend of how it came to be. It is woven by men. Boys begin to learn the trade at about seven years of age when they practice winding bobbins. There are traditional designs with interesting historical tales. It was pouring rain outside the weaving structure, so a few of the weavers stepped away from their looms and let us give it a try—it takes two hands to move the shuttle and toes from both feet to move the foot leavers. (See images 6-8)
Our next stop was the Tafi Atome Monkey Sanctuary. The guides tried their hardest to get the monkeys to come to us, but the rain was keeping them in their tree top homes. Only one brave monkey ventured down for a banana, so there we all stood holding bananas in our hands, looking up at the trees as the rain fell. It was pretty funny sight. Dale decided he wanted to be rid of his banana, so he tossed it up to a monkey that was peering down at 22 white faced humans. This monkey put on quite a show as he leaped and swung to catch the fruit tossed in his direction. (See images 9 - 10)
As the rain poured down the ground got saturated and very slippery. Dale demonstrated his agility and interal desire to remain clean as he and our guide put on an amazing show of grace. (Image 11)
We were all very ready to move to into our rooms at the Volta Serena Hotel for the night. The next morning, we headed to Mt Afadajota where people chose to either hike the mountain or walk to Togbo Falls. Dale and I chose the hike.
At 2904 feet above sea-level, we thought it would be a mild hike. But, oh my, it was straight up a steep mountainside that was covered in heavy foliage, in dripping humidity, over slippery rocks and exposed tree roots. Dale kindly stayed with (pulled) me as we climbed. We weren’t the last to the top, but we weren’t the first either. It was fortunate for me that there was a knotted rope along the trail to pull on through the steepest parts. On the way down I slid on a wet rock, rolling 1 ½ times off the slippery trail into the soft jungle brush. Bless my heart. (Images 12-14)
The village at the base of the mountain welcomed us with guides to show us how they lived. We saw how they grow cocoa and corn, have bore holes for clean water, and cook on open fires outside their homes. They showed us the ripe orange cocoa pods on a tree, split one open so we could see the snowy white seed pods inside and suck moist fibers to taste the faint chocolate flavor. Typically, they harvest the ripe cocoa pods, crack them open, remove the seeds and put them through a fermeånting process, then dry the seeds in the sun. Can you believe that chocolate, yes, all chocolate goes through this very labor-intensive process before its refined in a factory. The villagers do a similar process with corn to make a popular corn grain. The houses are mud/adobe with thatched roofs. Footpaths through the jungle connect the houses. It was as if we were walking through a 1950’s movie set. (Images 15 - 23)
The best meal of the weekend was at the village “lodge” where we had cabbage soup, curry bean soup, biscuits and fresh lemonade to drink. The local teenage girls performed cultural dances as the boys beat native drums. They did this in hopes of earning money to buy a toilet for their school. Can you believe, no toilet? Our group gave generously! (Images 24 - 26)
At the village and up the mountain climb we had about five young men escort and climb with us. At least two members of our group gave Books of Mormon to guides. We have since learned that these young men and the villagers were so taken with our group, that over 30 villagers/dancers are now taking the missionary discussions.
In anticipation of our visit, the Ho district president asked Dale and I to conduct a question-and-answer Fireside with his YSA. The first question asked was on jobs. These YSA want jobs, most are very educated (BS & MS degrees), but there aren’t jobs. After we talked through all of the jobs questions, we moved to the subject of marriage. Exciting conversation! The girls were literally sitting on one side of the room and the boys on the other. It was a perfect picture of why there are few marriages. We talked and answered questions, then bore our testimonies that marriage is ordained of God—have faith and move forward! Fun meeting.
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