Last Day in Africa – Dodowa & the Labadi Beach

With almost everyone now gone, we got to sleep in and take our time getting ready in the morning which was a rare treat.  Our big plan of the day was to drive to the Dodowa Health Center and donate all our leftover snacks, drinks and supplies to them.  Today was Ghana Independence Day, but our contact Evelyn had arranged for someone to meet us anyway. 

Throughout the week as we were driving around past schools, I kept noticing large groups of kids marching around on their playfields.  At first I was concerned that this was all they got for PE, but I later learned that part of the Independnce Day celebrations includes a marching competition by the local school kids.  Other than that, its just a big family day with lots of folks hanging at the beach.

Shelby, CS & I made the trek to Dodowa, while Carly & Kristi tied up loose ends at the hotel.  Thanks to the holiday, traffic wasn’t too bad and we met up easily with Sabina to make the drop-off.  We fely slightly bad because she had her car full of kids wth her and they had come straight from the marching demonstartions, so I hope we didn’t disrupt her day too badly.  But, I think the center will enjoy putting the drinks, snacks and supplies to good use in their community.

Yesterday I gave you a list of shop names GB & I had created.  Today I share with you a list of ACTUAL shop signs spotted on the way home from Dodowa:

Glorious Touch plumbing

Gloriland Building materials

Lordy Pharmacy

Respect the Teacher Enterprises: Experts in House Painting

In Him is Life video shop and phone dealer

El Shadai lubricants and auto parts

Back in Accra we spent the afternoon emailing and packing before heading over to the Last Supper, back at Gauchos.  I can’t believe this trip is over.  It was long and hard, but fun, especially due to the folks that were also working this trip.  We had a lot of laughs and it was nice to have final gathering together (though we were missing Rick who left the night before with the rest of the exec team). 

Given the craziness the exec team had the night before leaving Accra, we planned to get there a little earlier to hopefully avoid any back-ups or problems.  Our planned worked as we got through customs quickly and all received the business class seats we deserved.  The only weird hiccup came as we went through security.  I had a bottle of wine in my carry-on.  Since I was getting off in London, I checked and they said I could carry-on.  The girl at security said it needed to be in a duty-free bag, not the grocery store bag I had it in (and even though I hadn’t bought it at duty-free).  So, I went over to the Duty Free store and explained my situation, and asked for a bag.  The lady of couse questioned the fact that I hadn’t bought it from them, but gave me bag anyway.  Back to security I went, but the girl said that wasn’t the right bag.  I responded that this was the one they gave me, and she said “OK.”  My wine was now apparently secure.