Ashley Shira’s Blog

Finally…internet access!! (Day One)

Hi all!! We made it on Friday but this is the first real chance we have had to use the internet. When we arrived on Friday we were met at the airport by one of the bible students from Manna Mission. We were immediately surrounded by 6 or 8 guys and we honestly weren’t sure who was in the group picking us up and who wasn’t.  The took our bags and carried them to the car then they started asking for money….it didn’t take us long to figure out that David (the bible student) was the only one from Manna. After we each gave away about $50 we were finally able to get in the car. Our ride to the mission was a little scary. There are no speed limits and very few traffic laws here….and the ones they have aren’t enforced. The car did have air conditioning which was a surprise.  We found out later that the car was donated from the US to Manna Mission. When we arrived at the mission house (our home for the next month).  We met Vida, the housekeeper, and she showed us to our room. Kim and I are sharing a room with a set of bunk beds and a queen size bed.  The house doesn’t have air conditioning, but the individual rooms do have window unit air conditioners so with the door closed our room stays pretty cool. After we got our luggage up to our room, Vida showed us to the kitchen where she had a cold bottle of Coca-Cola waiting on each of us….a refreshing touch of home! When we finished our drinks Vida walked us over to the hospital to meet Dr. Ablorh. When we arrived in Dr. Ablorh’s office we found out that there are two other students already here.  Emily is a nursing student and lived here at Manna Mission for 2 years while her dad served as one of the physicians at the hospital.  Kaitlyn is a pre-med student that goes to school with Emily. It was nice to meet people from the states!! Emily gave us the hospital tour then the four of us walked back to the mission house.  Emily and Kaitlyn already had plans for the afternoon and evening so Kim and I took a short nap.  We were awakened by a knock at our door.  It was one of the ladies from the mission, Grace, and she was letting us know that she had prepared fried chicken and rice for us for lunch….that was a great surprise!! After lunch Kim and I showered then went for a walk around the mission compound. It got dark quickly and we weren’t sure if it was safe to stay out after dark so we headed back to the house. Vida had prepared “spaghetti” for us and left it on the table, but we quickly discovered that our idea of spaghetti was a bit different than what was waiting for us. We decided to make one of the “just add water and bake” dinners I brough with me.  How hard could that be right….we had filtered water and a stove….hahaha!! After scavenging around for a non-rusted pan and washing it with bottled water we prepared the mix and went to pop it in the oven.  But to our surprise the oven wasn’t hot despite being turned on.  We turned on every switch in the house but nothing worked….defeat!! After some peanut butter and graham crackers we were revived and decided to try again.  We got out our flashlight and explored the oven…..turns out it was a gas oven! After a few expensive cell phone calls to the US for help we figured out how to light the oven and had a great meal.  We felt like we had really accomplished something! After a little unpacking and writing in our journals, Emily and Kaitlyn arrived at the house around 9 pm. They told us they had plans to go shopping the next day and we were welcome to tag along.  The driver Emily’s family used was going to be driving us because he already knew all of Emily’s favorite shopping places!! At about 10pm we decided to call it a night…we were exhausted!!!