She would laugh so hard when I "ate" her neck. It was so funny.
This picture is just so Sarah. A woman at the guest house put "black" on her eyebrows. She felt so glamorous...I don't think Gloria approved very much.
Here is Gloria, Kingsley's wife, carrying Ajua around on her back. Kingsley and I were out taking care of paperwork, we left Lois and Ajua at the school with Gloria.
Sandra, 11 years
Dorothy, 8 years
Paul, 9 years
Vida, 11 years
Mary, 10 years
Elizabeth, 13 years
Ebenezer, 14 years
Enoch, 15 years
Edward, 12 years
Patience, 11 years
Here's Precious and little Ajua. Ajua quickly became accustomed to a camera in her face. She actually started waving to the camera. Cute!
She wasn't quite sure why I kept taking her picture. lol. Do you get the feeling she's thinking, get it over with already, lady in this one? I do.
Looking through their package.
So Cute!
Robert loves this little girl. If she were an orphan I think we'd be submitting paperwork right now!
Here she is again, surrounded by other kids. She is so cute and so sweet.
Godfrid. I just love Godfrid. He's another one I would be submitting paperwork for. He is very quiet and crazy-obedient. He loves to help and is so kind to the other children. He stays at the school with Kingsley's family, so I got to spend more time with him. I can't say enough about how much I love this guy!
Ajua loves playing with my glasses. She puts them on and starts strutting around. It's really funny. She has quite a sense a humor. She totally knows when she is being funny, too. She hams it up and then turns to make sure you are laughing at her joke. It's funny.
Robert thought this tree growing inside a dead tree was particularly interesting.
Along with this sign...lol. You can't really see it, but at the bottom there is a drawing of a stick figure man peeing. It's pretty funny. Mostly because they pee everywhere and I don't think a sign would really stop them anyway.
The beginning of the canopy walk.
A nice view from one of the platforms.
Here is one of the bridges we walked across.
You walk across one bridge to a platform, then another bridge, etc. Typically they have 7 bridges open and you make a circle around. They had one or two of the middle bridges closed for repairs, so we had to walk out and back. It made for some unnerving traffic jams on the platforms.
Ajua couldn't understand why I was getting tired of carrying her. The walk up to the canopy was pretty steep. She walked herself for part of it, but when it got too hard, she wanted me to carry her. It was so humid and the work-out was tough. I had to pass her off to Robert a couple times.
Taking a quick break as we hike up to the tops of the trees.
This picture kills me. She is soooo cute!
On the way down. Ajua wasn't too thrilled with the canopy walk. She started crying on the third bridge. She wasn't hanging on to me very well and she was slipping down. I couldn't hike her up because the bridge wasn't exactly steady. So I was forced to put her down about 3 or 4 feet from a platform. She freaked out and started crying. I had to hold her arm and scoot her along with my leg. It was pretty funny. When we reached the platform a guide came to get her and carry her for me. We headed back after that.
The ocean at Elmina, the slave castle in Cape Coast.
Ajua watching the waves come and go. She thought it was amazing.
Me, Ajua, and Junior. Junior is Kingsley's youngest son. He is the funniest kid ever. When we arrived at the school for the first time, he came running full speed up to Robert and jumped on him. He loved Robert. Junior was always climbing all over Robert and falling asleep on Robert's lap. I think Robert secretly loved it.
I hope you can see her face in this one. She was so cute at the beach. I was really happy we went, even though the castle was closed and Robert couldn't see it. It's such an important part of Ghana history and truly amazing to see. I was sad Robert missed it.
A very large wave was crashing in - I thought it was a little scary, Ajua was all smiles.
The building on the left is the 'house'. It's where the volunteers, children, and Kingsley's family sleep. Some of the children sleep in the school rooms.
This is behind the house. This area is where the children play.
Additional school rooms are greatly needed. There are over 300 students who attend the school and only about 6 or 7 classrooms. Currently, Kingsley is working on building 4 more classrooms as he receives donations.
This is the unfinished Kitchen. Next to the kitchen is the unfinished library where books and school supplies will be kept. Again, Kingsley works on these rooms as money comes in. Currently, Gloria cooks for over 300 children every day over coals, outside. If it rains, she moves everything over by the classrooms where there is protection from the rain.
This is the road to get to the school.
Robert and Ajua. She's warming up to him!
Sarah was a little unhappy that I was showing Mathilda attention. She believes no one else should even touch me. She gets upset every time the other children swarm me and she gets pushed out of the way.
We took Mathilda into Accra with us and she had a BLAST! She is so funny! We stopped to eat at Frankies and she cleaned her plate - and I do mean cleaned. She picked every bit of rice off that thing. When she was finished she hopped down from her chair and took her plate up to the servers to return it. lol. It was so funny. She just strutted right up to them and handed it to our server. They were laughing and seemed to thoroughly enjoy her helpfulness. At the school, the children have to return their plates as soon as they are finished so they can be washed and loaded up for the next child. She will LOVE clearing her place after dinner at home, Jennifer!
Driving from the school to our guest house.
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