A Full Day!

January 19, 2009
**WOW** what a day!!!
The day started early as George picked us up at 7:30 AM. We drove for just under 2 hours (past the camp travelling west) to the Pan African Christian University where we are sponsoring a student. Prince is his name and you can't even imagine how happy he was to see us… not even imagining he would expect us to keep our promise to him. Marsha met this Liberian man at the camp last January when she sent him to school. Most of his studies are theology and he pastors the church at the camp that we're working with. He has no living relatives that he knows of and so he calls us his family. It was a great visit. We enjoyed a Coca-Cola with the dean of the school in their cafeteria, we felt very honoured. We piled him in the small car with us and away we went with our luggage hanging out the back. Upon entering the camp, the UN saw our supplies under the half-opened trunk and gave us a rough time entering the camp. What do they care when organizations come in to help? CONTROL CONTROL CONTROL!!! or should I say a bribe is all they wanted??! Prince should have registered us at the door and the guy was real ticked. After that episode, we continued our rough ride through the "road" towards the church, dodging people, sewer, garbage, and scrawny chickens. We ended up walking the last bit since George's car was dragging with all that weight. Hannah came running and we held one another for a long time!! She is a single mom and life is very tough at the camp for her. As a midwife, she had just finished delivering a baby that morning and went home to clean up and was worried she wouldn't be there on time.
We were welcomed at the church with loud singing and dancing, welcoming us in Jesus' name – very emotional to say the least! Prince could hardly speak for the joy was overcoming him as he introduced us. Then we laid out all the clothes, shoes and Bibles. The Bibles were taken up immediately by the church staff as they are short on Bibles. Hannah doesn't even have one so shell get one. George only has a New Testament so we'll take care of that, too. They are hungry for the Word!!
While we layed out the clothes and started distribution, some men went for a few bags of rice. In the meantime, it was total mayhem – we have never in our lives seen such greediness for used clothing!!! They were each allowed to take one item and then once everyone had one, go for another and so on until all items were gone. Of course the shoes, sandals, and crocks went first and then the fighting began…. You'd think something like this could be simple but not so in a world where there is nothing!! At one point we actually feared for our lives… ok, *I* did, Les was more calm.
An electrical cord caught on fire and all of a sudden the women and children stood up, screaming on the top of their lungs, rushing out the only door in the back. The immediate thought of guns and fighting came to mind. We were at the front so I was thinking as fast as I could how we could take our stuff and run….. After a young girl stepped on the fire, someone pulled out the plug and the episode was over with our hearts pounding.
This mayhem lasted for a few hours and we just wanted to leave and let them deal with it the way they know best. Our voices just weren't loud enough – wish Marsha was here!!! But Prince begged us to stay, saying it would be a lot worse had we not been there and so we did. We called Marsha on the way home and she encouraged our perspective on things here… we can't even imagine being that desperate!!
We read out names of the sponsor kids that we had and found the ones that were left at the camp. We are not starting any new sponsorships at the camp but will be faithful to those we have committed ourselves to. We hope and pray that those who have started sponsorship with these kids can continue. We will be registering them tomorrow morning first thing and then finishing up with rice distribution to the sponsor families. Sponsor families, please check your email for more info on this. We'll get an updated status on the camp tomorrow when we meet again with Prince and Hannah. We will also have more info about our sponsorship in Liberia once we have been there and have assessed the situation for ourselves. Contact us when we return if you are wanting to sponsor someone or check our website in a few weeks when we have the updated information on this.
On the way to the camp, there's a toll booth, we got pulled over asking us again about the luggage. The police were standing there with machine guns. Just wanted to know what we were transporting,
On the way home we picked up our lost luggage – yay! a fresh change of clothing was very welcomed. :) All of a sudden our modest guest home seems very clean and luxurious. :)
To God be all the Glory and Honor and Praise!
Sending our love from Accra,
Les, Jackie, Kyle & Kelvin.

Culture Shock!

Greetings from Accra, Ghana!! Warm today, low 30's,… having a little culture shock as we drove around and did a few errands today. Still trying to get used to the time as we all had a restless sleep for the first few hours, but when we did finally sleep, we woke up with a shock finding out it was 2 PM!!!! Panic! We jumped up and called our driver George.
As we drove to meet Claudia today, we saw a man without legs sitting on something like a skateboard trying to sell his goods. George, our driver, is a very pleasant and trusted man around here who has ONE wife and four children. :) We needed to get money exchanged so instead of going to the Forex, he took us to this park and yelled something to this guy on the street who met us just around the corner as we pulled off the road. He traded in some cash for Ghana Cedis – felt like a drug deal as everything is done pretty secretly. George says these private vendors give better rates.
Oh, back to Claudia. Terrie from Chilliwack is adopting Claudia who is Liberian but lived at the Buduburam Camp. She is in a foster care type home and one of the volunteers there is from Halifax! Had a nice little chat. We met Claudia with Marsha 3 years ago and that's how long the adoption has been in progress. Please pray for this adoption : Canadian Immigration declined her Canadian visa and now has gone to appeal, date set in March.
We saw this cutest little baby girl in her mother's lapa at a roadside vendor.
After an hour at the airport tonight, our lost luggage still isn't with us. More patience to be learned and today we are thankful for the clothes on our backs and the food in our stomachs!!! That is more than what 80% of this world's population has.

We actually went to the pool this afternoon, just for 2 hours as we needed to relax a bit and didn't have an agenda today. The water was great! We picked up some eggs and jam to go with our bread, we just had dry bread for breakfast - it's amazing how we can make do... trying not to bear the burdens of Africa on our shoulders but it's so hard...
That's it for today. Tomorrow we leave early for the camp with 200 lbs of clothes, shoes, and Bibles.
Thank you for your prayers.
Love, Les Jackie Kyle & Kelvin



Here is a picture of us with our driver, George, putting some minutes on our cell phone:

















Jackie with Claudia:

We've arrived in Africa!

It's been a long day and a half but we have arrived safely minus one piece of luggage, the one that has most of my clothes in it, I guess our first lesson to learn is patience!!! Good flights, great airline, had strong headwinds over the Sahara so that slowed us down. We were late arriving here but praise God that the driver from the guest house has more patience than most North Americans. He waited 3 hours for us!! By the time we got through customs and claimed our lost luggage, it was an extra 2 hours and such is life out here. Another trip to the airport tomorrow night to pick up the one luggage that was rerouted to Nariobi!?!?!
Within minutes our sweat glands were sprung into action, around 28 but the humidity is shocking. Oh, the first smells of Africa... sewer, sweat, garbage and diesel. Feeling a little out of our comfort zone but after a good night's sleep things should be more clear to us.
The flights felt extremely long but the boys were thankful for their psp's.
It is now 11:00 PM here, 8 hours ahead (Amsterdam was 9 ahead). I don't think Africa changes their times.
We miss the girls a lot, especially when we got to the guest house and are staying in the same room we first found the girls!! sob,sob...
Will keep you posted...
Les Jackie Kyle Kelvin

We're at the airport! Flight changes...

Hello everyone... we're at Vancouver Airport right now (it's 11:20 AM) ... went through customs, etc. Our flight from Portland to Amsterdam was cancelled. Big episode... but Northwest Airlines was absolutely FANTASTIC!!!!!!! Can't say enough about how they just worked it all out. So they rerouted us from Vancouver to Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Accra. Better flight because going to Amsterdam won't be as long this way. We won't be leaving Vancouver until 1:00 this afternoon now instead of 11:45 this morning as originally scheduled. Some of our luggage was overweight but they didn't care about the few pounds. One bag was over but looked like it was under because half of it was laying on the ground. God just works it out in His own ways!!!

We were getting breakfast this morning and the guys were ordering and I thought "we need something for the girls, too". Miss them already!! It is sooooo quiet.

Traffic was good coming into Vancouver, just fog. Thanks, Marsha for the use of your laptop. We are enjoying a free wireless connection.

Les & Jackie


Here's a picture of us just before check in ...

Leaving soon!

In just a few hours we will begin our exciting and long journey to West Africa. We are extremely grateful to all of you for your prayers… and also for those of you who have so generously given financially with this trip!!!! We are humbled by your support!

Please pray for our two precious daughters as we leave them behind with Jackie's parents. It wouldn't have been possible to take them along and we will miss them terribly!!! Please pray for an extra measure of energy for my dear mom & dad as they have their hands full – but are fully capable.

Please pray for direction as there are many decisions to be made in such a short time. We will miss Marsha's wisdom and discernment on this trip but are trusting God to impart His wisdom to us also.

It will be 24 hours by the time we leave Vancouver and arrive in Accra, Ghana. God Willing!!!

5 more days ...

Please pray for us as we plan a trip to Ghana and Liberia. Les, Jackie, Kyle & Kelvin are planning on leaving this Friday, January 16 for Ghana. After a few days work at the Buduburam Refugee Camp, we will fly over to Liberia for 6 days and then back to Ghana. If you're interested in sending anything along for the children at the schools in Ghana and/or Liberia, small items such as balloons & hard candy are a real treat and you can contact Jackie before Thursday to get these items to her.

During our trip we will be sending regular updates, as our internet access allows, so be sure to check here regularly for those updates as well as pictures.

Welcome to our blog!

In January 2009, Les, Jackie, Kyle and Kelvin will be traveling to Monrovia, Liberia and Accra, Ghana for two weeks on a missions trip. Be sure to check this blog as they relay their experiences there.

For more information about Hearts for Africa, check out our website at http://www.heartsforafricanow.com/, or email us at heartsforafricanow@gmail.com .