Christmas started with a bunch of parties in Tamale. One with some kids, one with my children’s club, and one with the widows and women that I meet with weekly. Everything went so well. They all decorated Christmas cookies and I have found out later they enjoyed eating them as well. YAY!! (I still have some in my freezer 😊)
But with all that, I was ready for a few days to sit still and enjoy Christmas more like I was used to. I traveled to Tumu. It is in the Upper West region of Ghana. It is 6 hours from Tamale. Since my car has not been so healthy, I decided to take public transport.
I was prepared for an adventure. I packed a power bank for my phone. I packed snacks to last me…well, to last a long time. I had a frozen water bottle to stay cold the whole time. I started from Tamale at 6am in a car that 3 other people were in. We made it to Bolgatanga in good time. At the station in Bolga, I had to wait for the trotro to fill up. Vehicles will sit until all the people fill it. There is no set time of leaving. It is only when all the seats are filled. So, I waited. I met some people who live in Atlanta, Georgia and are in Ghana visiting their families. I love hearing Ghanaian’s perspective of America.
We left Bolgatanga around 10:30am. I sent Charity a message that I was leaving giving her an idea of when I would arrive. But, at 11am, the trotro pulled over because we had a flat tire. We all got off and then they put the spare on, and we entered and sat down again. About 30 minutes down the road, the trotro pulled over again. The spare was now flat. We were at the junction where you turn to go the 100+ kms to Tumu. That is where I sat for the next 3 hours. The driver had to go back to the nearest town to fix the tire (he bought a new one). I don’t know what took him so long. Personally, I think, he stopped to grab some lunch 😊.
Like I said, though, I was prepared. I had enough power on my phone to recharge and watch downloaded YouTube videos. I had food and snacks aplenty. I had cold water. What had I to complain about? I had a pretty good attitude.
So, around 3:30 or 4pm the driver was back, put on the new tire, and we took off. We still had hours to go. The Tumu road is terrible. I really admire my teammates and the roads they have to drive on. Yikes!! Soft sand, dirt, gravel, rickety bridges, and potholes. By 6pm, though, my nice-y attitude had vanished. I kept wondering where we were. The people sitting next to me also did not know the road so they couldn’t help me in “how much longer?” By 6.30 I was thinking we must be on the wrong road. The phone connections are not good out there so I could not call Charity to tell her where I am. She got thru once to me, but I didn’t know where I was so I couldn’t help her to give her an ETA. But, around that time, I started seeing a few lights. Yes, Tumu was there.
Charity picked me up and I was in her house by 7pm. So, what should have been a 6-7 hour trip was 13! But, it only had to improve from this point and it did.
Christmas in Tumu was fab! So, the next day we just chilled. Charity cooked and baked lovely items like cinnamon roles and lasagna. My other teammates, Tejin and Merin and their daughter Besorah hosted me for a few meals also. They are from India and I got authentic Indian food and it was everything everyone says it is. SO DELICIOUS. So full of many flavors. We also played games together, went to church together, and chilled and watched movies together. I was so thankful for them to have hosted me.
Being away from Tamale, I really felt I could relax. I had no house issues to worry about. I had no people knocking on my gate. I had no food to prepare. I had no place to go or expectations put on me. It was a joy. And you know, Christmas is a delight to remember Jesus and what he did for us. So thankful for His gift to us. So I had a double portion of joy.
Charity and I headed to Navrongo on the 27th. We went to a Youth Conference. We were pleasantly surprised to find 260+ youth already there. The speaker was a pastor from Good News Bible Church. He was spot on. He was preaching clearly and enthusiastically. One thing he spoke on was about character. Our character will last longer than our charisma. We can be excited and energetic but that may fade, it is our character that will keep us serving and walking with the Lord.
I headed back to Tamale (with a very uneventful trip home thankfully) on the 30th.
I really give praise to God for the time I had at Christmas. It is not easy to be away from family. I miss them even more at this time. So, being with my amazing teammates, was filling a hole in me at this time.
Thanks for praying.
