Ghana (part2)

He giveth more grace when the burdens are greater
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction he addeth his mercy
To multiplied trials, he multiplied peace.

[chorus]
His love has no limit, his grace has no measure
His power has no boundary known unto men;
For out of his infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth and giveth and giveth again!

When we have exhausted our store of endurance
When our strength is failed ere the day is half-done
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving in only begun.

By the time we made it to Accra, our burdens seemed great, our labors many, our afflictions added, and our trials...well, you could certainly the trials seemed multiplied. O, but our God displayed how much He loves to give good gifts to His children. Truth be told, in each difficulty, we DID experience grace, protection, mercy, peace, and strength. Of course, it took a couple days spread out on the beach to clear our vision and see that. Also helping remind us of our Father’s giving was the Sonius family’s INCREDIBLE hospitality. Though the Sonius’ had never laid eyes on any of us, and my connection to them was weak (my mom grew up with Lee in Liberia way back when), they welcomed us into their home as if we were 8 children who’d just returned from travels. Upon arriving to their lovely home, we were shown our rooms (complete with AC) and then told that dinner was ready. Have I mentioned that we hadn’t eaten a complete meal in 3 days? Right, so that chicken curry with all the fixings sent the 8 of us into a euphoric state for a few hours. The next day (after another nirvana-reaching pancake breakfast) Lee and Michelle ushered us around Accra, helping us find money, booking plane tickets, arranging transport to the coast and shopping for essentials at the spanking new Accra Mall. By the afternoon, our “tro-tro” had found its way through some muddy villages to the much-anticipated BIG MILLY’S BACKYARD!! Yes, that’s the name of the place at Kokrobite Beach we stayed for 3 nights. I wouldn’t exactly classify it as a resort...but it was like a little community with accommodations ranging from communal hostel-like beds to air-conditioned personal bungalows. I had been able to arrange for our crew to have the owner’s old house for $60/night (we split that 8 ways). This cute cottage worked perfectly for us, even with the one bathroom and a few less-than-modest individuals ;-)
I’ll spare you the play-by-play of our time there at Big Milly’s and just let you check out the pictures. Basically, there was a lot of playing in the waves, noses in the books, walks along the beach, soaking up the sun, meeting the locals, eating good food, laying under the fan in the house, dueling over “settlers of catan,” and wearing non-Nigeria appropriate clothes.

Our New Year’s Eve was spent there at Big Milly’s, too. They had this huge buffet dinner, bonfire, and a jammin’ Rastafarian band (think, Bob Marley songs + popular songs sung in a Bob-Marley-esque way). Other than getting mugged when some of us went out for a stroll on the beach that night (pretty scary, but we only lost a camera and a phone) the night was fun and certainly memorable. At midnight they set off fireworks via the bonfire, and apparently had only enough prudence to avoid serious damage. Dancing (to the same Marley-esque rhythm) went on till the early morning, but most of our group opted out since the mugging decreased our gaiety.

Now, here’s the top 7.5 reasons YOU should go to Big Milly’s Backyard:
1. Whole, fresh pineapple, cut right before you on the beach for less than $1. (Most of us went on the pineapple diet there)
2. Opportunity to play a game of soccer with the locals.
(My invitation happened during a chat with a couple local dudes helping sew a dress for me. Conversation went like this:
Me: So I see [from his shirt] you’re an Arsenal fan. When’s the next game?
Dude 1: oh, yeah yeah. Tonight.
Me: OK, cool. Are you able to watch the games?
Dude 1: yes. Are you a football fan?
Me: um, well...I don’t get to see many games, but I used to play.
Dude 1&2: YOU play football?
Me: Yep. I played for my university.
Dude 2: Prove it!
Me: Bring a ball in here and I’ll prove it.
Dude 2: No, you come at 4 and prove it during our daily village game.
Me: Um...ok! I’ll be here!
3. Eccentric 50+ sales women with years of sun-damage, bright green eye-liner, and tight cut-off shorts who come sit down on your blanket and convince you to buy her snazzy homemade jewelry or Ghanian clothes.
4. All food & drinks bought are put on your tab so you don’t have to carry money
5. Chilled out rasta-dudes who are happy to help you learn to play shakers, find cool places, dance ghana-style or beat you at ping pong for free (unheard of in Nigeria).
6. Watching fishing boats being pulled in (mostly by naked little boys) with fresh catches every day.
7.5 The name and the fact “Big Milly” is really a cute, petite 60 yr old British woman.
[sorry it’s taking me so long to write these blogs about the trip. I need to finish because stuff has happened back here in Nigeria I need to write about too...life’s just so full! Stay tuned for part 3 and check out those pictures in the mean time!]