Winneba

Yesterday we were invited by Elder and Sister Borden, the Area Family History couple, to accompany them to Winneba for church today. They are on their fourth mission to Ghana. Their first mission was in Winneba (2002-2003) where they helped with member retention. The reason they were making a trip to Winneba today was because a young lady they helped teach and baptize was in town with her family for the naming and blessing of their baby daughter. Their three next missions have all been as the Area Family History couple.

The map below is an attempt to show you where Winneba is in relation to Accra. It is about 25 miles west of Accra on the Cape Coast highway. It takes a little over an hour to get there but that is with very light traffic. We had a very light traffic day and made it in 65 minutes. Usually it takes about 2 hours to go the 25 miles. When I asked how far they said they really had no idea because travelling in West Africa is gaged by time not distance. That is true about traveling to New Legon each Sunday which is only about 18 km or 11 miles but it takes us 40 minutes to drive it.

The map would give you the impression that it is very open and you would be able to see the ocean; but for about half of the trip it is pretty much populated and you can’t see anything very far from the road, and when it is open there are enough trees and vegetation that you can’t see anything. The next group of pictures show this.

There are actually grass huts around, but hard to capture in picture moving down the road. We were lucky to get this snap shot. They are usually further back from the main road.

We saw another side of Accra on our way to Winneba. Unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures but I would compare it to a very poor side of town, a lot of shacks and dirt. The pictures below show street vendors which were right along the side of this main road out of town. One picture shows a street person under an A-frame sign that is right on the island in the middle of a very busy highway. This is notable because we see very few street people. Although they live in poverty, generally people are well dressed and clean and industrious.

We passed four different meeting houses of the Church along the way. It was fun to see the buildings that Stephaney often creates maps of when handling unit boundary changes. The first chapel we just stopped in to see in Winneba is in the older part of town. We took pictures of the baptismal font which we found unique because it is outside in the courtyard. This is where Elder Borden baptized the girl that blessed her baby today; and the Relief Society room, with the tiny kitchen.

The second Chapel, where we went to church, is in the newer part of Winneba on the main road through town. The building was more on the order of ones we are familiar with. There were interior halls unlike the New Legon modular building. The family pictured below is a family of ten children of which six are members. The mother and father are not yet members. It was their daughter whose baby blessing Bordens were there to see.

We drove down the streets of the older part of Winneba to get to see the ocean and the port where they have older fishing boats but they were having a celebration in town called the Deer Festival. It is held every year. There are two tribes in town, and evidenty during this festival they get out of hand with each other. Brother Borden said it was not safe to go nearer the ocean because of the potential of getting mixed up in it somehow. There were police everywhere. The pictures we did get of the ocean were at a distance. We hope to return and get some much better shots of the coast and beach.

Our work in the Area office continues to be interesting and long hours. We love being here to serve in this manner. Thank you all for keeping in touch!