Home Maintenance, Ghanaian Style

I have lived in the same house for over six years. It's a basic cement brick house built on very hard ground. When it rains, there is no place for the rainwater to drain. Over the years, the cement walls have started to crumble from the water seeping up into them. So, this past spring, it was time to fix that and a bunch of other stuff.

If you want your cement walls fixed, first all the bad cement has to be knocked out of your wall. What a mess! Imagine big, heavy hammers making big holes (or so it seemed) in your walls. Cement dust was everywhere! I was blessed to have a willing helper, Boniface, who would take outside the bad cement bucket by bucket since the masons didn't clean up after themselves.

After the old cement was knocked out, it was time for the new cement to be put on the walls. YAY!  My walls had a two foot strip of new cement about two feet up from the floor. Next came the mopping. Boniface was willing to mop, too. I mopped. Kataali mopped. Razak mopped. Fortune mopped. It was days before my floors looked normal again!

Before the walls and ceilings could be painted, the carpenter came to replace some sections of the ceiling. Again, he doesn't clean up very well. But it is finished and the painting begins!

All of the wall and ceilings inside the house were painted.

Then, the outside received a new coat of paint. And...

The roof was fixed, too!

Next, came the plumber to fix the water tank outside the house. 

It was the most exhausting ten days I had in Lawra. I went to bed with throbbing feet. And, I woke up with throbbing feet. I was tired to the point of tears. I am so grateful for those who helped me get my home back to "normal." I don't think I will have to go through this again. And, if I do, I'm running away!

An Interrupted Dream

Meet Lena. She came to Ghana in September 2016, as an eighteen year-old volunteer from the German organization Kinderhilfe Westafrika. She was posted at Methodist Clinic Lawra, along with a colleague, Seraina. Lena and Seraina were on a rotating schedule for work...one week in the Out Patient area, one week helping in the lab, one week helping in the consulting room,doing whatever was asked of them. They were always ready and willing to work. Then, Lena came down with malaria. Not once, not twice, not even three times since September. But, seven times!She traveled to Kumasi to have extra, more detailed blood work done, to find out why she was so prone to contract malaria. She was put on stronger antibiotics. But, within two weeks, she had malaria again. She was in communication with her organization and with her health insurance. The decision made for her was that Lena would have to travel back to Germany, cutting her service short by about ten weeks. I think all that knew her wept when they heard the news. Lena didn't want to leave. We didn't want her to leave. But, even when you are nineteen years old, an illness that can't be isolated and treated might have long term effects. Lena had only two days to pack and say "good-bye." We have all grieved her leaving us. Lena is determined to return"home" to Lawra someday, to finish her service. It may be later than sooner. We have to trust God for the timing. Maybe Lena will earn her University degree before she returns. We have all been blessed by knowing her. She may not be physically in Lawra, but she is here in our hearts. And, we pray, along with her, that her dream can come to fruition.