Grass Cutter for Dinner

One of the unusual delicacies in Africa is the grass cutter a type of bush meat. You can see these for sale along the road to Cape coast. We stopped to buy pineapples, and saw a family preparing some grass cutter and Fufu for dinner. Grass cutters are also called cane rats.

According to Wikipedia :

 Greater cane rat (Thryonomys swinderianus) is one of two species of cane rats, a small family of African  rodents. The cane rat lives by reed-beds and riverbanks in Africa.   Cane rats can grow to nearly 2 ft in length and weigh a little less than 19 lb. It has rounded ears, a short nose, and coarse bristly hair. Its forefeet are smaller than its hind feet, each with three toes.

Cane rats live in small groups led by a single male. They are nocturnal and make nests from grasses or burrow underground. Individuals of the species may live in excess of four years. If frightened, they grunt and run towards water.

However, the peoples of the region  utilize the cane rat as a food source as bush meat, considering the meat a delicacy.

                   Hungry children waiting for dinner. Sister Wilde chose not to stay for dinner.

                                                        These are a substantial meal.

                                             Mom with the family dinner for tonight.

                                    Two hunters selling grass cutters on the side of the highway.

                                                            Ready to cook. Yum yum.

Christmas Comes to Africa

Our ordinary apartment filled with Christmas joy today when we received a package from our children and grandchildren. Our friends Tom and Stephanie Curtis came to visit Jane and Lee Curtis and were kind enough to bring this present from Salt Lake. It SNOWED in Ghana today and we loved it.

Cape Coast and Elmina Slave Castles

‘Cabo Corso,’ meaning ‘short cape’, is the name the Portuguese called the area now known as Cape Coast. It is the home of the Cape Coast Slave Castle. Cape Coast Castle is one of about thirty "slave castles", built on the Gold Coast of West Africa (now Ghana). It was built for trade of timber and gold but the principle trade later became the slave trade. About 1000 males slaves and 500 female slaves occupied the castle at any one time in gender separate dungeons. Each slave would be locked up for 6 to 12 weeks or until they died, waiting for their turn to board one of the ships. The last door they went out from the castle into the ship is called the door of no return. The dungeons were unbearable with hundreds of slaves crammed in together and no toilet facilities. In many cases they were stacked and simply laid down in layers to save space. Above them the people had a chapel and held church each Sunday. As you walk into the chapel, there is a peep door where they could look at the slaves as they came and left. There were only a few windows to let in the fresh air in the dungeon and the urine and feces completely covered the floor of the dungeons and were left to accumulate group after group. Most of the slaves were shipped to Brazil and the Caribbean. About 10% of the slaves were shipped to the United States. Many of the slaves died on the voyages. This is one of those historical places that you want people to remember so that this will never happen again.

Solar Power in Gomsa Oguaa

         We went with Brother and Sister Bullocks, our humanitarian missionaries, to inspect the solar power project the Church had just installed in the Gomsa Oguaa Community Health Clinic. Gomsa Oguaa is on a long dirt road about an hour and a half outside of Accra. The clinic serves a number of surrounding villages. It is managed by Henrietta Pratt, a licensed physicians’ assistant. Because the location is so remote there is no work there for her husband so they live miles and miles apart and see each other on the weekends. The facilities are rudimentary. The solar panel project will allow the clinic to have stored electricity for use when the power goes out which happens a lot in Ghana. This simple sounding project has improved the lives of many people in a remote location.

                                                   The road to Gomsa Oguaa.

                                                  A home in a village on the way.

               This signs explain all the services which are available here in this small clinic.

                     The clinic is way off the main road and serves many villages around.


                                                         Water for washing hands.

Polio has not yet been eradicated from Ghana but the Church is involved in a house to house project to eliminate it from the villages.

                If you look closely you can see the solar panels which are barely visible on the far end of the clinic's roof.

                                               Sister Bullock and Henrietta Pratt,

                   Heniretta explains to Elder Wilde how the solar panels work.

Mothers and women gathered to get medical help at the clinic. 

Church in Cape Coast

At Cape Coast we met James Ewudzie who was, in 1978, the 4^th member of the church to be baptized in Ghana. He took us to his home and gave us a cold drink and told us his story.

 This is the original building where the “Momons” were meeting before the first missionaries came. It used to bare a sign that read,"Church of Jesus Christ Inc". Today is is used as a school.

This beach is called  ”Baptism Beach” by the members here because it is where the first baptisms were done.