Our trip north from Accra took most of the day. We took a domestic flight to the city of Tamale which has a much lower baggage weight allowance than the international flights we had taken. As a result we had to leave a trunk, a carry-on, and two boxes behind in Accra. We were a couple kilograms over our weight allowance (20kg each) but whenever I asked Jimmy how much it would cost he would reply with “It’s negotiable.”
Once at the airport I was told Trey didn’t count so we only got 40kg instead of 60kg. On top of that they made us check a carry-on which brought our luggage to a whooping 80kg! The cost? $40. I tried “negotiating” but got no where. Finally, Jimmy showed up and talked them down to $30. I seem to have lost my bargaining skills from when I grew up in West Africa. I’ll have to work on those these next couple weeks.
We were met at the itsy-bitsy Tamale airport by Pat and Peggy Ozment, two missionaries working at the Baptist Seminary in Tamale, and our drivers who would be taking us to Nalerigu. Pat had a car seat for Trey and I had brought several boxes of Splenda and sugar-free candy for him. He is diabetic and was very excited to receive such goodies from America – sugar-free sweets are hard to come by out here.
The drive to Nalerigu took about 3 hours and was only paved about 1/3rd of the way. We fed Trey in the car and after about an hour he fell asleep. The dirt roads were pretty bad due to heavy rain in the past couple weeks. We had to pack shirts around Trey’s head to prevent the brain damage he would have certainly received as his head slammed back and forth in the car seat every time we hit a pot hole.
Once in Nalerigu, we drove to the hospital compound (which I was surprised how large it is) and our driver dropped us off at our new home for the next 3 months. House #7.
Some of the neighborhood kids met us there and helped unload the truck and bring our luggage inside. They then hung out on the porch peering in the screen door as we unpacked. Trey had a blast playing with them through the screen.
A little while later one of the boys knocked on the door and asked “Madame, may we have a book to read”. Heidi grabbed some off the shelf and let them read them on the front porch. A couple minutes later there was another knock “Madame, my friend would like a book with pictures” Heidi opened the door and he returned C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters. Heidi exchanged it for a Dr. Seuss book of Trey’s and he was much more content.
Here are a couple more pics from the day. As with all of the others, click them to see larger versions:
