Fante: It Is Finished!

By: Katie and Hilary

This morning the group enjoyed a late breakfast of pancakes, scrambled eggs, and oats. Celeste gave a powerful devotion on God’s grace and presence in our lives. She reminded us that we cannot earn His love, it is freely given.

After breakfast, we all scattered to finish writing our 2^nd drafts of our narratives. All four were due today so we were busy bees! They are all coming together very nicely though. We had a surprise visit from Nkrumah, the chief’s spokesman from Abaasa village. The chief sent him to find out what the books we had sent yesterday were for. Poor Nkrumah had to walk from Abaasa village to the main road to get a tro tro. He had the tro tro drop him off at the Fairhill road which he then had to walk uphill to get to the guesthouse. All of this totaled about two hours traveling time. When he came into the Fairhill he was pouring sweat so we kindly offered him a Malta (a popular Ghanaian soft drink) which he quickly drank. Unfortunately, Prof spent most of the morning at the bank so Nkrumah sat patiently waiting for him to get back. Once Prof arrived they cleared up the misunderstanding about the books. Then Prof had Dominic, our tro-tro driver, give him a ride home.

After typing until our fingers were numb, we took a break for grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit for lunch. After lunch a group went to Cape Coast Castle to spend the last cedis they had, while the rest of the group stayed back to….you guessed it…write!

Sadly, today was our very last Fante language lesson with precious Mr. Thomas Baidoo. He continued to teach us Fante stories and reviewed us on what we had learned. At the end, he called in a few students who were standing outside the library door to demonstrate a call and response chant. They were so excited to stand in front of the o'brunyis and teach us something.

For dinner we had two very special guests. We invited Ato and Philippa Koomson, a newly married couple that we met at the church we attended the past two Sundays. We enjoyed a lively conversation with this fascinating couple while eating wakyee rice, chicken, and green beans. They even taught us a few games that students play in Ghana. We all felt like kids again! One game was similar to Musical Chairs, but instead of chairs we used cups. The other game was similar to “Duck, Duck, Goose.” We are so thankful for the new friends that we made, and were sad to say our first of many goodbyes. This evening we will all be finishing up our narratives and spending precious time together as the final days are approaching.