The jungle was flooded

 We had a visitor from Church headquarters and also one from our area headquarters in Ghana that came out to look at some of the past projects. They're trying to determine if old completed humanitarian projects have been sustainable over several years. 

We were out in the jungle for 3 days mostly on dirt roads. On the last day it poured rain. We were on muddy dirt roads and had a lot of pretty deep water crossings. It was fun. We were part of a three-car convoy so I didn't worry about getting lost or stuck. Luckily everyone made it through but sometimes the water was up to the bottom of our doors on our high profile four wheel drive Toyota pickup.

All of the villages are organized with a formal leadership structure. There's usually a village Elder, a village leader, a head woman and other types of officers. They all have a gathering area. The villages are so rural that they have very little manufactured materials. This is where they all come together for their village meetings. 

In most of these villages we were interested in the water pumps we installed. We determined if they were still working and what sort of program they have to maintain and repair the pumps. We were pleased to see that the fee collection system is still in effect and the people who have been trained to repair the pumps have actually completed some repairs. It's easy to put in water pumps, it's very hard to keep them operational

We visited a school where we put in a bathroom and a water system. The school sang to us and made signs to show their appreciation. Our visit was on a Saturday when there was no school but they still came just to show their appreciation. Part of the project was a hygiene program that teaches the children to use the bathroom and to wash their hands. They learn songs and principles of hygiene to support that.

This is a village group where we established a Savings and Loan program and a nutritional program.  To get an idea of how the nutritional program is going we asked one of the ladies what she had for dinner last night and what she had for breakfast this morning. Last night she had dry rice which means rice without any additions such as meat or vegetables.  Then this morning she did not have anything because she had no food. 

This situation can sometimes occur in the rainy season, as it is now, because it rains so hard and makes the soil so flooded that few things grow. With the exception of the lady on the left end these women were very thin. 

The man on the right is Paul Who is the humanitarian employee from Church headquarters in charge of evaluating all these projects.

We finished projects at Gbokollah School and at Kpallah school.  One of the schools gave us a gift of ceremonial clothing. We are standing in front of the sign we installed.

These hand over ceremonies are pretty elaborate. At this one Cheryl is giving a short speech and cutting the ribbon officially opening the new cafeteria area. Lots of school officials always show up. The government does not devote much money to improving the schools but they sure show up when it's time to celebrate the finished product. In this picture standing at the left side of Cheryl is a man who's running for a government position and on the right side, in the blue suit, is the church assistant public affairs director.

Lots of speeches and thank yous at the ceremonies. This picture is mostly of the parents of the school children. All of the school children are off to the right of the picture.

This school district had an elaborate ceremony where I unlocked the door to the building then I gave the keys to the government officials and then they gave the keys to the principal to officially begin to use the improved building. In this picture is the district education officer, two County Education officers, the chairman of the PTA and the principal.