Akwaaba

Akwaaba,
We made it to the Motherland! Our flight left JFK at 6:00 p.m. and we arrived at 3:40 a.m. (7:40 Ghana time). We had a pretty smooth flight. Wemanaged to all sit together, watched a horrible movie, had fun chatting and sharing our excitement and anxiety! We made it through customs and theairport. This place is simply amazing. It's amazing here. We are at a 24 hour internet cafe. The place where we are to go if we get lost.

We've seen all kinds of things- women carrying all kinds of items on their heads and men too! There are mini vans called tro-tros that have about 15people in them! There are people in the street selling EVERYTHING- I'm serious! We had a light breakfast of fruit and fresh peanut butter! Lunch was jollof rice and chicken. We've been careful not to drink water and have beendrinking lots of bottled water. It's hot here. We're staying at the University of Ghana.

The most exciting thing today was our naming ceremony! I can't tell you how moving it was for all of us. There was a brief ceremony for each of us and we were given our names based on the day we were born. The elders made affirmations for us anddeclared that all should be clear and full of truth for us. We were then blessed with long life, success, intelligence and prosperity from anotherelder. So far this has been awesome and interesting. There's a lot of the old mixed with the new.

Fabrics and carvings are beautiful. And can you believethat we've seen a bunch of people here that resemble folks in American. We need to run, we're going to dinner. We're learning the language (withgreat diffuculty- hey it's just our first day) and the customs. It really is VERY important that you do not use your left hand. We are well and ingood health and spirtis. It feels good to come home.

Bye