Our group of Mission Presidents at the Cape Coast Slave Castle. We had an informative tour of the castle and the museum. It was hard to see and hear about, but it was good for all of us to get the sense of what has transpired in this place. It makes us appreciate the West Africans even more when we understand the extent of their sufferings in the past. All of West Africa is working so hard to move past the tragedy of those days. It looks lovely from the top where the British lived and ran the exporting, but underneath where we are standing was were the cells and tunnels were located where the slaves were kept prior to shipment - just like so many cattle. How sad to witness man's inhumanity to man! 

The young man in the blue shirt is our tour guide. He just graduated from university and was very articulate and knew his stuff perfectly. He is grateful to have a job. Elder Thompson, our Executive Secretary is in the center. President & Sister Ounlou (blue dress) are the mission president in Ivory Coast. 

A little fishing village exists just outside the Cape Coast castle. The men repair their nets on Tuesday because they say that Tuesday is never a good day for fishing. They get fish and also lobster along Cape Coast. We also saw some boys diving for oysters. 

The work of these fisherman goes on just like it has for centuries 

Fishing boats and nets just outside "the door of no return" 

I couldn't resist this perfectly framed picture of Cape Coast taken through one of the castles ramparts 

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These are some of the cannons that protected the Cape Coast castle from other countries seeking to take over the slave trade. 

Another view of the lovely Cape Coast just at sunset. 

This was taken on the beach outside our hotel. You can see the Elmina Slave castle in the distance. There were dozens and dozens of these slave castles in the past that dotted the coast of Ghana, but now only a handful are in good enough condition to allow tours. We're not sure what condition the two old duffers in front are in. 

These are some of the beautiful plants that grow across the street in our neighbors yard. It is the most vibrant orange color and is called a flamboyant tree. No wonder the Ghanaians love beautiful colors in their clothing. They are surrounded by beautiful color every day. 

One of Ghana's tro-tros (public transport) loaded in the usual way with wall to wall bodies inside and piled to the sky on the outside. 

These are pictures from our trip to the mouth of the Volta River. These are actually vacation huts that can be rented. Any takers? The Volta is the water you can see, and the Atlantic ocean is just a block away on the far side. The huts are just shelter, no toilets, kitchens, or furniture, but the Ghanaians do use them for vacations. 

Somebody obviously has money on one of these islands. It is most likely the Lebanese who have built some vacation homes on some of these islands. They own all of our grocery stores in Ghana. I couldn't resist the contrast of the old fishing boat with the new jet ski. 

They still work the river like they have for centuries. These men are hauling sugar cane.

Their sail is made of rice sacks. It feels like we've stepped back 300 years. 

Here we are landing on an island with our friends the Murrays and Deanne Krieger. They are getting acquainted with the children. You can see our tour boat behind them. Pretty basic! 

We had our picture taken with some of the children and our basket maker. The kids were so cute. 

These are some of the villagers fishing boats.  

The villagers are bringing in the catch of the day. 

Any of the grandchildren want to live in this tree house? 

This is how they pile a lot of the public transport vans (called tro-tros). It is no wonder that we see so many of them broken down by the side of the road. No load is too heavy if it means a fare for a tro-tro driver. This is an untypical road through a village because it has so few potholes. Walkers, sellers, and tro-tros all share the same road space. 

This is a mango tree with hanging mangoes and we can't wait until they ripen. They say the mango season starts again in about 1 week.  

This is Cedi, the man who owns the glass bead factory. He is a real artisan and was giving us and up close demonstration of the technique to make the different style of beads. It is painstaking work. 

Cedi is showing us the drum they use to turn the glass shards into powder. The pestle he has in his hands weighs about 50 pounds, and with that much weight even I was able to smash the glass into powder, but I certainly couldn't have done it all day long. Once was enough for my arms 

Here is a close up of Cedi filling the molds with the powdered glass mixed with pigment. He designs the bead by the way he pours in the powder. Kind of like pouring sand into a bottle creating a design by the way it is poured. The little pouring spout is also made from recycled tin cans. These Africans don't waste a thing!