Monkeys, Waterfalls and Mountains - Part 3

In the September senior missionary trip to the Volta Region, we included an opportunity to climb the tallest, free-standing mountain in Ghana; Afadjato.  And, we visited the village at the base of the mountain, Liate Wote ("Lee ah tea Whoa tea)".  At we Wote enjoyed the local high school kids perform local dances and then walked through the village to visit with the villagers and learn how they prepare cocoa beans for market, prepare palm oil for use and basically see how life is for these people.  

The local school put on a demonstration of local dances.  The boys played the drums and the girls did the dancing.

Sister Eastmond talking to the dancers.   Irene and Nick are on their third African mission and have a deep love for the people.  It is easy to see.

After the lunch and cultural show, we walked through the village.  Here is some of what we saw. I need to say that the villagers were surprised at the honest interest we showed them.  We wanted to know who they were, their family members, how they prepared their food, what they were doing, we helped them at their work where we could, played with kids and talked with the adults, and smiled a lot. It felt really good to be there.  The village is unusually clean and organized.  And, the villagers smiled a lot too.

Cocoa beans drying in the sun. (Nick Eastmond, Jon Duke, Lisa Derr, Kathy Kittelson (from the back), Steve Kittelson, and Ryan Jones (Accra West Mission handyman. Donene Jones is the mission nurse.)

Palm seeds.  We had handed out some Books of Mormon earlier in the day to our mountain guides.  It wasn't an organized effort, some just had the opportunity and took it.  They were well received.

A village family home and yard.

The maize (corn) had been harvested and is now being shucked to dry out so it can be ground into flour at the village community mill.  Some of the corn is, of course, eaten on the cob.

The whole family gets involved in the process.  Sister Call is finding out who the little guy is.

Elder Call is talking to the father of the family.

Another family yard, and how laundry is dried.

Irene and Nick Eastmond.  This is a path that meanders through the village.  You can't see these from the street in any village.

This is Kennedy and his family.  He was one of our mountain guides.

Palm seeds are being cooked to get the oil out.  

"People are people" where ever you go in the world.  These ladies were resting under the tree on a community bench just visiting and watching the little kids.  Donene Jones stopped to talk with them.  She is the nurse for the Accra West Mission.  She and Ryan came along with us with permission of the president.

We had a chance to talk with the owner of this cocoa bean operation.  It takes a huge amount of work to prepare cocoa beans for the market. (Joann Munk, Irene Eastmond, Nick Eastmond's grey hair, Jon Duke in the hat, Cynthia Call, Shauna Duke's red hat, Kathy & Steve Kittelson, Sherri Despain, Kennedy, a villager, back of Dale Munk.)

Downtown Wote.

Everybody on this trip to Liate Wote enjoyed it; the villagers and the senior missionaries.  It is a special place.  It is clean.  The villagers work together to improve their lives.  They have a bright future.