Day 4, Camp Buduburam, Thursday, August 20th
Sunday, August 23, 2009 at 6:36PM 
Yesterday Delilah and I also met again with the seamstresses and the beaders/batikers and talked about what would sell in America and how we can work on getting their goods into an American market.
They ladies showed us patterns they are working on (they practice sewing brown paper into outfits before they attempt actual material, it’s pretty cool to see, but it has got to dull a lot of sewing machine needles!!) They also showed us what they have learned about sewing pleats, smocking material and other techniques; it is so cool to see their progress and their enthusiasm—this training really does help bring focus and purpose to their lives and does and will make a difference to their futures!
Of course, the fact that their children are being cared for and fed while the moms are in training goes a long way to giving them peace, also! See once again just how dang cute these kids are!!
OK, good news and bad news...first the bad news. The Ghanaian government official who is the Commander of the camp decided against letting Gerald and I train the Liberian Camp Buduburam NEWAT. There were politics involved, of course. A few reasons which I won’t go into, as I wouldn’t want to stir up more trouble should this report make it back to the camp, but I will say none of the
reasons were founded in any reality in my mind or in Gerald’s or my intentions. 
We left a few instructions books we had brought over with us for the NEWAT Chief to look over and maybe we can smooth the path a little better next time. We look forward to being able to return and offer these incredible men and women some assistance with the tough job they have agreed to take on! They receive a nominal $15/month from the UN for their ceaseless volunteer efforts. The uniforms they have are old orange prisoner uniforms provided through the UN and they have worn them to a frazzle after a number of years. They have no weapons except for a few very old batons, very few flashlights to illuminate their night patrols, no handcuffs (or even plastic flex-cuffs) to restrain perps until the Ghana police can arrive to take control—not an ideal situation, and now we aren’t able to provide them with the experienced training we had every intention of sharing for their own protection and the protection of the citizens of the camp. Very frustrating, but we know that God is in control!!
Moving on to the good news! There were approximately 12 women who showed up to learn to knit!! 
While I was working with these ladies, more ladies showed up and wanted to take lessons, so I promised to come back to teach them tomorrow! If I can only figure out how I am going to do that without more knitting needles...God will provide! It was hot inside and the light wasn’t very good, so I talked the ladies into sitting outside the classrooms to dig into the yarn and start their latest trade endeavor. I wasn’t sure how the concept would go over and then I really didn’t know how quickly I could expect them to pick it up...usually knitting classes last a little longer than a couple of hours on a single day!
But they seemed to get the concept pretty well, some more naturally fitting into the craft than others. I have asked them all to practice this evening and then to come back tomorrow with any questions or problems. I also suggested that if they worked on it and just got frustrated it might mean that knitting is not their gift...not a bad thing, just not something they were meant to do...and if that were the case, I asked that they bring the needles back so I could teach the next group with a few more needles. I brought about 10 pairs, including a few circular needles. I will have to go through my knitting bag back at the hotel to see if I might have some more stashed away that I don’t remember bringing! This will be especially important as I greatly doubt anyone will be returning needles! Even if they decide knitting is really not their thing, these ladies are in a tough situation where they don’t often get items given to them. I spoke with Chris, the Ghana National Director for Point Hope in whose office we regroup at the close of each day and he confirmed what I suspected, I don’t believe they will want to give back anything they have been given, even if it is something they aren’t sure they will use. I guess we’ll see!
Back at Chris' office, some of the teenage girls who are being helped with schooling and training came by to see Delilah and received some school supplies from what we had collected.
Tonight we will be attending the board meeting for the Point Hope Ghanaian Board. Delilah has t
o head back to the states for a previous commitment, so she is wrapping things up tonight. We will stay for one more day before heading out. Rachel and Lexi are going to head home on Sunday and Phil is staying until Tuesday. I have to confess that Gerald and I have so enjoyed our time here and the chance to work with these wonderfully gifted, loving and generous people that we tried to extend our stay, but were unable to get another flight out of Accra any day for the next week, so we will be staying to our current schedule.
Some street scenes on the way home....
Reader Comments (1)
Thats crazy that they wouldn't let you and Dad teach the men and women. You would think they would want their volunteers to be able to protect and serve their people, seeing how they don't have weapons. Well I am going to keep praying that one day soon you guys will be able to help share you skills with those men and women.