Day 1 – 23/07/10

Last night at 10.30pm we boarded the airplane in Heathrow,
destination: Accra, Ghana. It was my first time on an airplane (apart
from Duxford) and the initial acceleration of the take-off was a
thrill. Soon we were high above the clouds with the M25 reduced to a
spirally line of lights while the passengers all around were trying to
figure out the onboard entertainment. Not being sure what to expect, I
was relieved to find out I had no unknown fear of flying – I would
liken the experience to being on public transport or on a ferry. Of
course nothing beats being on a boat.

Touch down at 6:15 local time (GMT-1), in a different continent and a
different climate. Nearing the end of raining season, the weather is
moderately warm, but very humid. Pastor Odai waited for us at the
checkout and guided us through to the buses.

Because of the night flight we didn't have much planned for this first
day, except to rest. We duly obliged. The accommodation for this
weekend is very comfortable, with most importantly good air
conditioning and nice food.

There is not much to mention about this first day so far, except
perhaps that one of our team members celebrated his birthday today:
Rob Whitaker. The celebrations were jubilant – we sang a song.

Accra is very close to the Atlantic Ocean, so some of us decided to
walk to the beach before dinner. However, it is nothing like the
British coast. Everywhere you look, the sea has washed up tires,
plastic, bottles and lots of flip-flops. Taking a swim was not even
considered.
Halfway through the walk on the sand we noticed little crabs crossing
our path now and then. They move so quickly in their crab-specific
sideways fashion that we had previously ignored them as litter being
blown about by the wind. Matt Maguire tried to catch one, only to be
bitten, somewhat predictably. We did point out to him that he was
probably infected with rabies by now.

So, here we are at the start of our mission trip. After all the
preparation, the fund raising events and the packing of the medical
equipment (an event worth mentioning in itself), we are waiting to see
what this week will hold in store for us, both with hopeful
expectation and a desire to just be useful to what God wants to do
with us this week . Some of our 24-man strong delegation are playing
cards in one corner of the room, others are reading or writing up some
notes for the upcoming bible studies, while I am using a laptop to try
and make an interesting account of our day so far with my limited
linguistic skills.

The 6 Americans who will join us on the mission trip have now arrived
and are unpacking their stuff, and soon we will be leaving to go to
the "all night prayer vigil". That was scheduled to start at 9pm, so
we will leave at 10.30. An account of that will follow tomorrow,
hopefully.

It feels strange to be so far removed from home, on a totally
different part of this wonderful globe we call earth, but it is
encouraging to know that people at home are praying for us and for
this mission trip. Please continue to do so.