Success

Happy Day

        Thanks to the help of some friends we have finally gotten a project done that we have been working on for about eight months. Maybe you have sensed that different people here in Ghana have touched us deeply. There is not always a specific reason, just that sense that you want to help because you feel a connection no matter how remote. Just such a person is a beggar that is on one of the corners that we frequently pass in downtown Accra. His name is Yeboah. We have tried to get a skateboard for him to sit on. 

        Other beggars have told us to go to a certain area in Makola market. We have had gofers in the market look for skateboards for us at "sports" stores. We have looked for shoe skates in the shoe area of the market. One beggar offered to sell us his for 100 cedis. That would be many days work all at once. We even were taken to medical supply stores by people trying to help but we had no success in any area that we tried.

        In the interim we were able to get Yeboah a wheel chair that he has at his house. The Church has given thousands and thousands of wheel chairs out around the world. Ghana is no exception. The Church donates them to the government and then they pass them out. Through our welfare department we were able to get the name of the man at the ministry in charge of the wheel chairs and send Yeboah there. He was so excited.

        One of the businesses that we met through Andy Meede at the Stanford SEED Group was a furniture manufacturer called Furnart. The owner Nii made us the board several months ago but we could never find a skate. Sister Hill went home to Canada for a wedding and sent a kind email asking if there was anything she could bring back for us. Yes please, how about some pecans, blueberries and a roller skate? She sent her son on the excursion to find one and was able to find a pair for $5.00 at a used store. When she arrived back in Accra we went with skate in hand to Furnart and they assembled it and even added the cushion. It is the fanciest beggar's skateboard in town. We were so elated to get it delivered today. Smiles are always the greatest reward.