The Dabanyin land has plenty of good sand, so we are making our own bricks to build with.

The bulldozers moved the soil and pushed the sand into a pile.  The workers brought in a poly tank to store water being pulled to the site with long garden hoses form the adjacent school.  The appropriate mixture is made, shoveled and packed into the molds.  The molds are removed and the blocks dry in the sun.

The blocks are then transported by wheelbarrow and placed in strategic piles around the building site.  Yikes!  Very hard work.

One day, to encourage our tiring bodies, I divided the 16 block movers into 4 teams of 4 and issued a challenge:

20 Ghana cedi ($10) to the team that can transport the most bricks from here to there in 10 minutes.

Each team had to have one obruni (white man):  I was on one team, Coleson (my son) was on one team, Mario (my son) was on one team, and Austin (my son-in-law) was on one team.  All other team members were local workers.  Mario’s team won, two days in a row!  It lifted our spirits and accelerated the work, but it sure wore us out.  We were tired (or maybe I should say, this old man was tired)!

Help keep the work moving; make a donation at www.ghanamakeadifference.org.

The village elders came to the land and blessed the ground in preparation for the building of our new children’s home.  The elders prayed and poured schnapps in libation, after which a goat was jugulated and bled out on the ground.

Construction of the home commenced, and a few days later we were formally welcomed by the village with singing and dancing.

We could use a few of your financial blessings.  Please make a donation and help us build a great home for these parentless children.  Visit us atwww.ghanamakeadifference.org.

The boyfriend of a friend of my niece has a friend whose father hunts in and knows the people of Dabanyin, a village about 11 miles west of where we are currently residing in Ghana.

Abraham the Hunter introduced us to the Queen Mother (female chief) and the village elders of Dabanyin; we met with this Dabanyin family/council four times.  We shared our plans for a new children’s home, and we were able to give Ironman watches to two of the village elders and a Ghana Make A Difference quilt to the queen mother.  They were fun meetings full of smiles, handshakes and photos.

On August 4, the Queen Mother of Dabanyin formally donated 24 plots of land (5.5 acres) to Ghana Make A Difference for the building of a new orphanage home.  The land is a perfect fit, really.

• Beautiful 600 x 400 foot parcel of fertile soil (room to build, run, play, and farm)
• Surrounded by pineapple farms
• Clean ground and clean air
• Just off the main highway
• Immediately adjacent to an elementary and junior high school that was recently refurbished by USAid
• Electricity and water
• Supportive community

Please expand our network:  Help provide food and shelter to parentless children.  Make a donation to Ghana Make A Difference today at www.ghanamakeadifference.org.  Pass it on!