Happy 30th Day Anniversary to Me!

There have been many days where I have been so beyond homesick here but this past Saturday was my 30th day of living in Accra!  I cannot even believe it!  During my homesick times, I feel time can't move fast enough until I get to see my loved ones again.  My little sister mentioned to me the other day that it seems I get homesick the most over the weekends and she is absolutely right.  Sundays especially because that is our family day at home.  

A few people pointed out to me the other day that I have been gone for a month and I was in shock!  Time flies when I don't sit around feeling sorry for myself because I don't have my family here.  I've realized the best thing I can do is to stay busy; even on Sundays.

...but I allowed myself a day all to myself this past Saturday for my Anniversary!

One of my guilty pleasures!

I've heard about the beaches here in Accra and that I need to be careful when choosing the one to visit.  Some have thieves, some are used as personal toilets (I'm pretty use to that now!) and some just aren't safe in general.  

However, Bojo beach is amazing!

When I first arrived I was the only person on the private beach.

You must cross the little river by boat to get to the white sand beach on the other side.

The picture below sort of shows what I am talking about.  I was on another boat on my way to the beach when I took this picture.

If I could speak their language, I would have asked them for a ride along the beach!  They looked so peaceful.

It was so interesting to watch the river behind me though.  So many different people float up and down this small river carrying just about anything they can on their small boats.

Food, weeds, animals, seafood, people, etc.... all while just using the one stick as their paddle.

So me being me, could only lay still for about an hour before I had to get up and move around.  I noticed all of the big boats out in the sea and was fascinated by it.  So I grabbed my camera and took a walk.

I came around a small bend on the beach and saw....

I was so excited to see all of the fishing boats and couldn't help but think about how much work goes into making a small amount of money here in Accra.

Yes, those small objects in the picture are people.  The place was packed!

In fact, I was so caught up watching the hundreds of boats and people that I didn't even realize what I had been walking over!!!

Please, someone, for the love of all, tell me what this snake creature is!  

I looked down and they were all over the sand...dead!

Then I looked further down the beach and all I could see were sick little crabs scurrying along...

...and rubbish!

I realized that I had been able to escape the dirty city for only about 100 yards.

People work so long and hard here that they sleep whenever and wherever they can.  I actually almost stepped on a girl the other day in a small shop.  She was sleeping under one of the racks and luckily, I saw her little hand sticking out before I took another step.

The girl in the photo loads up the bucket next to her with anything she can sell, places it on her head and walks all over Accra for the next 12+ hours.  Just to make enough money to make it through the next day....I'm talking about maybe $5 per day!

You can see some of the larger homes of Accra in the back.  There are a lot of big homes offered here as vacation rentals for about $350 per month is all; which is a lot to the Ghanaians.

Look at this beautiful man!

He is who returned me safely to land from the Ocean.

He said he has been working on the sea all of his life.  He is as happy right where he is as he could ever be!

He was thrilled to see his picture on my camera after I snapped it.

So cute!

It was just the type of day I needed.  

I thank the Lord for giving us such a beautiful world.