June 5th, 2018 by alexroney

After what my mom has described as a “whirlwind trip”, things are finally beginning to settle down. A week and a day ago we were leaving New York to come home to Kansas City and start packing. The two days flew by quicker than I could learn how to say “Good Morning” in Mampruli (The local language spoken here in Nalerigu). But somehow we managed (mostly my mom, bless her heart) to get most if not all of our ducks in a row before heading off to the airport on Thursday. So far we haven’t recognized any major misses on packing but there is still a lot of time for our lack preparation to become apparent. After saying goodbye to my dad at the airport (we miss you a lot) and exchanging hugs we were off to our connecting flight to Newark. That flight would take my mom and me to our next flight where we would travel over the Atlantic Ocean for the first time. In spite of about an hour and a half in delays, we boarded and left for Newark.

We arrived at Newark and made our connection. Turns out we had plenty of time and our worrying was for naught. And that’s all I have to say about Newark. Not a very noteworthy airport and in a rather industrial part of town.

Our next flight was the trans-Atlantic portion of our journey. This was easily the biggest plane I’ve ever been on and probably the fanciest as well. With in-flight meals and many comforts I hadn’t ever had on an airliner before, the 7-hour flight didn’t seem so bad, however by the end I was getting up to go to the bathroom just to stretch my legs. Anyway, pulling a complete 180 from Newark, we arrived in Brussels. The airport was surrounded by green and church steeples formed the skyline of the distant city. Sadly, a close connection left us little time for exploring and confined us to the airport. After a brief check of our visas and our boarding passes as well as one last text to families and loved ones (I miss you Jamie) we were allowed to go to the gate and board. Since our first 7-hour flight it was obvious that long flights had lost some of their appeal. But with an inflight meal that was delicious and Belgian chocolates we had made it to Accra, Ghana.

With luggage in hand we met our driver who would take us to the guesthouse for the night. My first impression of Ghana and third-world countries was that it is very easy to understand why motor vehicle accidents are such a big problem. Driving was not for the faint of heart. It was for the thrill seekers who wanted an adrenaline rush. But to the Ghanaians it was just a normal commute. Arriving at the guesthouse I have never been so happy to see a bed in my entire life. So settling down we went downstairs and ordered dinner, which was prepared fresh for us by some ladies in the kitchen and my goodness was it delicious. Ghanaian dishes are traditionally spicy so how could I not love it??

The next morning I woke up feeling rejuvenated and ready to go. We grabbed breakfast from the lovely chefs and hit the roads back through traffic to the airport (terminal 1 could’ve fit inside the church auditorium). We walked out on the runway to board our next flight. When I reached the top of the steps that folded out from the plane I could see straight over the top of it. I feared for what space I would have to contort myself into for the duration of the flight but was pleasantly surprised with my aisle seat that offered all of the leg room in the world (whenever the aisle was clear that is). The flight was only about 50 minutes long and as soon as we were up in the air we started descending. The airport in Tamale (pronounced tom-ah-lay) was 1 building with metal rollers like the ones used in factories functioning as a luggage conveyor belt. Collecting our luggage we set out with a prayer that our driver was waiting for us. William met us in the parking lot. William is the husband of the main surgeon for Baptist Medical Center, Heidi. The Haun’s (Will and Heidi) have two children, KJ and Trey and they live in Ghana full time (minus occasional trips back to the states to remind those who support them that they are still alive and doing work in Ghana). Will does photo journalism as a missionary and travels to neighboring villages to spread the gospel. So Will drove us in to Tamale where we picked up his son who had been waiting at a restaurant, and we headed to the market to do some shopping. The markets were crowded and Will said the stock changed weekly. They basically took whatever came on the supply trucks and threw it on the shelves. The market places were packed and the same was true of the city itself. It was clear that people flocked to the urban areas. So after Will’s shopping and two trips to the ATM (they have a problem with the machines running out of the larger bills so many times people have to go back to the same machine 3 times to get the amount of money they want) we headed out.

We drove through a downpour and had to drive with all of our luggage in the cab of a small size pickup with five passengers. It was nice to get out of the city and find a little bit of space and fresh air in the countryside. Farmers were just starting to plow as the rainy season was obviously on its way. After the rain let up we made really good time towards Nalerigu. Nalerigu is a small town in the northern region of Ghana. It is home to the Baptist Medical Center, which is the main area hospital for a large part of the region. Turning onto the dirt road through the center of town was an experience all on its own. But there will be more on that to come later.

Thank you all for reading so much. I hope it wasn’t so unbearable but please give me a shout out if you have any questions about what life is like over here. I do have much more to say that I will get to in my next post. To my family, I miss you so much; the same goes for my girlfriend and everyone at church. Thank you all for your continued prayer.

With Love in Christ,

Alex