Christmas in Ghana

Facebook & Family

2008-04-09T19:43:00.000-07:00

So I am going to host a group on Facebook called Christmas in Ghana. I have around 600 friends on Facebook and in combination with emails, your connections on Facebook etc I think this could be really awesome.

I want to shout out to all my friends about our projects. I want them to be able to help however they can. They can donate, they can send things,etc. In order to do this I need to know what you are working on and what you need??

For example: my project is the LED battery operated lights and so I need people to donate money for me to buy them or for them to buy them and send/give them to me.

So what do you need?? I know Clay needs soccer jerseys but I don't know what everyone else is doing??

I think someone should do mosquitoe nets as a project to help stop malaria?? any takers??

Well let me know when you think I should post this Facebook shout out and if you have any other ideas that you want to add.

Love you all and I hope you are all still as excited as I am to give the Ghanians a Christmas they will never forget!

I'm So Excited!!!!

2008-01-11T11:52:00.000-08:00

I have a passport a some money but that's about it! I'm so excited though!!! Yay!!! Good thinking Dad!!!

Wahoo!

2008-01-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Chelsea this is awesome! I am so excited. I even have some of things on the list completed

I've had my Hep shots
I have a passport
I can work on the battery lights as my donation project ( unless someone else wants it)
I'm fine with whatever we do but I would love to see monkeys, elephants, babies, and life in Ghana!

I'm so excited to read about how people are doing and how things are coming along! Thanks for putting this together and thanks Dad for such a life changing idea! This will be the best Christmas ever!

AKWAABA! Waterfall

2008-01-10T14:51:00.000-08:00

There are waterfalls on the way up to the monkey village.

Akwaaba! Beyin Stilt Village.

2008-01-10T14:42:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFahAUTW68g

Watch the you tube video at the above url. This is about 3 hours away from cape coast. You hire a guide to take you through a hike through the bush and then canoe out to a village built on stilts in the middle of the lake. You can actually stay at the stilt village or back on land at the hotel above over looking the ocean ($30 per bungalow- only place with hot water and your entire trip )

AKWAABA! Ghana Temple!

2008-01-10T14:40:00.000-08:00

The temple is in the same city, Accra, that you fly in and out of. This takes about 1/2 a day.

AKWAABA! Cape Coast slave castles.

2008-01-10T14:38:00.000-08:00

Come learn about the trans-atlantic slave trade from inside the very castles which held such atrocities. This is in Cape Coast and takes about 1/2 day.

AKWAABA! Kakum National Park

2008-01-10T14:27:00.000-08:00

Kakum park has canopy walkways overlooking the rainforests. It is a small hike and semi circle of about 9 walkways. It is located outside of Cape Coast. This takes about 5 hours to get to from Accra and Kumasi (the city near our village). However, it is located by the beach, the slave castles, and about 1 hour from the stilt village, so you can do all 4 in the same couple of days. This would take 3-4 days to do all.

AKWAABA! Mampong Babies Home

2008-01-10T14:23:00.000-08:00

Mampong Babies Home is located about 30 mins away. It is always needed to help wash diapers, bath kids, feed them, hold them, etc. This would take anywhere from 1/2 to 1 day.

AKWAABA! Lake Bosomtwe

2008-01-10T14:21:00.000-08:00

This is a huge lake in the middle of the country. It is about 30 minutes from our village. It would take about 1 day. You can take little boats out into the lake.

AKWAABA! Attend a ritual healing ceremony

2008-01-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

This is what I do every week. You can sit, listen, and watch an Asante ritual healing ceremony. This is really interesting but also a little scary for somewhat young (i.e. spirit possession and animal sacrifice). This takes about 1/2 a day.

AKWAABA! Busua beach

2008-01-10T14:12:00.000-08:00

Busua beach is about 1 hour outside of Cape Coast. It is a beautiful beach where you can do swimming. The hotel and food is pretty cheap for beach front property (max $30/night per bungalow). It is fun to go explore the local town, etc. This would take about a day.

AKWAABA! Boabeng Monkey Village

2008-01-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

Boabeng is about halfway to Mole and is a village where monkeys and humans basically life together constantly. The monkeys are SO used to humans that they eat out of your hands. You can see a couple different types of monkeys as well as amazing trees that they don't have in the states. This would take about a day. 1/2 day to drive there, 1/2 day to hike through the village. There is a little hotel there where we can stay.

AKWAABA! Mole National Wildlife Reserve

2008-01-10T13:59:00.001-08:00

Mole National Park is an open wildlife reserve. We stay in a little hotel over looking the watering hole of the elephants. Every morning and afternoon you can go on a hike with a guide who takes you to the watering hole and within touching distance of the elephants. There are also wild boars, bucks, baboons, and a swimming pool at the park! This is the place that takes the longest to get to! It is about 12-15 hours away from Accra, 7 away from Mike's and my village. There is a lot to do in the surrounding towns (a 14th Century mosque made out of mud) and a hotel there where we can stay. This takes about 3 days.

AKWAABA! Welcome to Ghana!!

2008-01-10T13:56:00.001-08:00

Instead of planning the whole trip for you, Mike suggested that I make a list of all the fun things that we can do and then everyone can choose one place that they HAVE to go. That way we all get what we want and we'll try to fit in everyone's favorite! (you can't see it all in only 2 weeks! -well maybe, but you'll be exhausted!) So I've created posts of a bunch of our favorites things to see while in Ghana. These are not comprehensive and you might want to invest in a Ghana guide book at your local book store to find other things that you particularly want to do. (Chelsea has done most everything. These are just her favorites- so if you see something else, she's probably done it or knows friends who have). Not to mention, some of the best times are sitting around in the village learning how to cook, playing football, attending a ceremony, going to school, etc. All things you can do everyday!

DONATION POSSIBILITIES

2008-01-10T13:29:00.000-08:00

I often have a hard time with developmental projects and/or donations to Africa because sometimes people don't really know what or how to give. Sometimes what we think is best, just doesn't translate to what people actually need. For example, people sometimes bring toothpaste and toothbrushes. Well, in Ghana toothpastes is SO sweet that the children eat it as candy and they sell the toothbrushes for $ because their chewing sticks work just fine on their teeth! As such, I have created a list of what people could actually need and use. I thought it would be a really great idea if everyone in the family kind of took on one of these ideas as their project, tried to get the items donated, packed it in their luggage, and then was in charge of donating it when you got here. Mike suggested that instead of assigning people things, I would just make suggestions and then everyone can choose something that they are interested in!

Battery operated lights: Every other day the power goes out in Ghana. Sometimes without warning. People use "torches" or what we call flash lights. Newly invented LCD lights run on batteries, last a long time, and are the perfect solution to the most frustrating problem most Ghanaians complain about! You can get a package of 3 lights that can be stuck anywhere and all of the batteries for only $13 at Costco. (Mike and I just bought one- See picture above) I have already talked to Costco and they are willing to donate $25 toward the LCD lights per person with a membership per local Costco! Think about how many we could get if we contacted all our family and friends to get their local Costco to donate $25 each! I'm sure that we can do this with everything on the list!!!
Medical Supplies: Last year one of the students had a friend that worked at Walmart. This friend talked to their supervisors and were able to get 5 hand held blood pressure machines donated. The doctors were so grateful. They said that we had saved them hundreds of dollars (I think the machines were only $20-30) and many years of savings! Any supplies are helpful even things like: Gauze, rubbing alcohol, gloves, neosporin, etc.
First Aid Kit: The local high school asked us if we could donate a first aid kit because they have to pay for the students to go to the hospital for every little cut or scrape because they don't have any of their own supplies. If we got them a basic kit, they would save tons of money!
Soccer uniforms/balls: EVERYONE loves soccer! It is the town sport. For years one of my good friends has wanted to have village uniform so that they are a team whe they play against other teams. The only cloths there are what is given by D.I. to the cities, so there is hardly ever an entire team's worth of jerseys! Plus, the local boys in town always borrow the BYU students ball every day so that they can practice. They were using balled up grocery bags as their soccer ball.
Baby Formula and Cloth Diapers: The local babies home is run by the Anglican church and lives off donations. All the babies there aren't orphans. They have fathers, but their mothers died in childbirth and their fathers can't take care of a young baby. These babies are basically orphans until they turn 5 when they are old enough to return to their fathers. (i.e. the baby that Madonna adopted) When I was there I would go and hold the babies, feed them, give them baths, change diapers, just help out, etc. You can buy formula there and cloth diapers are really the only sustainable way to keep the place running. They are always looking for more formual and more cloth diapers.
Church supplies: Everyone there loves the little green CTR rings, Mormon ads, etc. The distribution center in Accra has some of these for good prices, but a lot of the people Mike and I go to church with need basic things like: white shirts, ties, nice pants, skirts, etc. Last year Mike and I had our ward donate church clothes and then we brought it over to our ward in Ghana.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY?

2008-01-10T13:22:00.000-08:00

Goal: 1, 700 per person

Suggestions for how to earn the money:
If people know it is for a charity or non-profit organization, such as, "Christmas in Ghana" they tend to gived/donate more. Remember, this isn't just a fun thing for you, if you collect some things to donate, you really will make a HUGE difference in other people's lives!

Get a job and save the $: You can calculate how often you need to work to save enough!
Bake sale: make cookies, cake, hot dogs, lemonade, etc. and sell it outside of football games.
Silent auction: auction off family services like Dad=construction, Mom= prom dress, Kati= tutoring, Ali= babysitting, Clay=lawn mowing, Camryn= house cleaning.

Track Financial Progress

2008-01-10T12:39:00.000-08:00

Costs:
(I've included the costs for the entire family: Mom, Dad, Kylee, Dani, Kevin, Kati, Ali, Clay, & Camryn. It'll be easier to all work toward a large family goal! That way we all pitch in something for everyone. )

PRE-GHANA:
Flight: $1, 500* x 9 people = $13,500 ($1,500 x 6 people= $9,000)

Visa: $50 per person x 9 =$450 ($50 x 6 = $300)

Shots/malaria pills: 0-$160 (?)**

Passports: $60 per person who doesn't have one (?)*** x 4 = $240

*This is a moderate to high estimate for that time period. Hopefully we can get "Student" rates for almost everyone. This typically knocks off a couple hundred dollars. I will look into that further!

**Kaiser typically pays for these on the family insurance. Kylee, Dani, and Kevin will most likely have to pay for these. Mike and I can probably provide the malaria pills until we reach Ghana were they are only 1 dollar a week! See next blog post for needed shots.
***I'm assuming that is only Kati, Ali, Clay, and Camryn.

IN GHANA:
This all depends on lenght of time in Ghana. However, things are extremely cheap once you are here. Plus, if Mike and I get funding to go to Africa, we would like to pay for things in the country. I've planned for about two weeks, but everything is negotiable. These are just preliminary estimates!

Housing*: $30 per day for entire family x 14 days =$420

Food: $15 per day for entire family x 14 days= $210

Travel: $20 per day for entire family x 14 days= $280

Incidental costs, Souveniers, Park entrance fees, etc: $5 per day x 14 days =$70

*While in the village you won't have to pay for housing, however, in the cities, at the temple, etc. the prices are higher.

Total: $15, 170 or a little less than $1,700 per person.

Shields Family "Christmas in Ghana"

2008-01-10T12:28:00.000-08:00

Yeah! I am so excited! (As you can tell from my "I Love Ghana" shirt and newly created blog). Mom just told me about Dad's Family Home Evening where he discussed not having Christmas next year and instead using the money to come to Ghana. It will take a lot of work but I promise you it will be a Christmas you will NEVER forget! I wanted to create this blog for four main reasons (see four posts below): Track financial progress, check the preparation TO DO list, plan our itinerary, and discuss donation possibilities.