Fufu and Banku are the 2 most ubiquitous foods in Ghana. You just cannot escape them. We've documented a detailed recipe for banku that will be posted at a later date. Fufu is made out of pounded cassava and plantains. It is a very physical - and somewhat dangerous - process, as you will see in the attached video. Due to limited bandwidth, this low-res version will be replaced with a higher resolution compression at a later date.

Progress Report on the GeoDiscovery Lab

THANK YOU, to everybody who donated money to help build the GeoDiscovery Center at OrphanAid Africa. We've completed the mud walls and thatch roofing. The final layer of mud (made of termite mounds, so they are a vibrant red) is drying as I write this. The furniture is under construction and our shipment of wall maps from the National Geographic Society is scheduled to arrive today. If all goes as planned, our opening ceremony will be next Monday.

With the rains, our solar panels have not been able to support computer use. Therefore, I am working from the nearest internet cafe, 45 minutes away by "tro-tro". I am kicking myself for forgetting the photographs that I have taken so far of the lab!! We have, however, installed a new router that is going to turn the entire orphanage, Ayenyah village and the surrounding 1 Kilometer into a wireless hotspot. Once we are hooked into the nearby hydroelectric system created by Lake Volta (the biggest man-made lake in the world) we are going to be able to create a new Computer Lab for area students. Please visit www.RyanFlahive.com in the next couple of weeks to find out how you can help make this happen.

Since I don't have photos of the lab with me, I will instead share these photographs of our first GeoDiscovery Field trip to Boti falls with the children. More on that later too!

Ayenyah Womens' Group Field Trip

Ryan and Denise recently joined Ayenyah's womens group on a tour of the biggest bead market in West Africa and the local "factories" that produce beads. In a village where the average family has far less than $100/year, very little cash makes its way to women. By learning how to produce beads, we hope to provide women with income that they can use to pay school fees and purchase food.

Here is the group photo:
Molds are made out of Plaster:
Glass is ground into small pieces. As you probably expect, there will be plenty of wine and beer bottles left behind when Denise and Ryan leave the community:
Pieces of glass are placed in the molds:
And melted into beads in the fire. Once they cool, each bead is painted by hand.

Football - Orphanaid Africa (green) vs. Ayenyah Village (red)

Football is a religion here and Ghanians play rough and fast. Ryan has been playing with the under 14 group and still has boys and girls running circles around him and taking the ball away just when he thinks he might be able to make a pass. The 18+ mens team has asked him to join, but we think they are just being polite. The final score of this game was OA 6, Villagers 3.

OrphanAid Africa

We have been in Ayenyah Village, Ghana, for 2 weeks now and have many stories to share with you. Our power system and internet connection is illustrated below, so I hope you will bear with us as we take advantage of any days with strong wind or sun to get caught up on our blog entries.

Working with Mama Lisa (pictured below) has been incredible. She came to Ghana eight years ago, leaving a very successful career as a publisher to start OrphanAid Africa (formerly Orphanage Africa). She has taken both of us under her wing. Every day we wake up with a new challenge (fixing the solar panels, designing water systems, researching health insurance) and every night we celebrate our successes and lament the challenges over a beer or bottle of wine. This woman is absolutely amazing.
Why we are here. Little John Paul (2 years old) pictured with Denise.

The Guest House. Evelyn's food is the best we've had in Ghana.

The Door of no Return - Ghana's Slave Forts

Most of the slaves that went to Europe and then to the New World came from Ghana. European powers fought over control of these forts for 400 years. Of course, we all learned about this in school. Being here in the flesh, however, is truly blood curdling.



The door of no return. The door is shut, the ladders are pulled, and there is no escape except for death.

Nzulezu Stilt Village