Reconnecting 2

Two months have passed since we last wrote a blog entry. On 21st August we moved our things from Yendi to Tamale. It was quite a job, but with a lot of man power and help of muscular family members we were able to transport everything to Tamale and give everything a place in our house there. During the next few weeks there were still many jobs to be done in and around the house. We worked on our water system and we also had a lot of problems with the electricity supply to our house but these have all been solved now.

The boys started their new school on 10th September. Even though they were both excited they were still a little anxious at the same time. However, that same day we received the news that Joke’s mother was dying and we had to prepare for a journey back to the Netherlands. On 12th September Joke’s mother passed away. As a family we arrived in the Netherlands on the 14th. We are so grateful that we were able to spend a lot of time with our parents during our stay in the Netherlands in July. We have very precious memories of that period. We are also so thankful that we could be in the Netherlands with our family to celebrate the life of our dear mother, to remember, to cry and also to laugh. Despite the sadness about letting go of somebody who is so dear to us, we had a good time.

On 24th September we returned to Ghana and we made another start in Tamale. The last few weeks have been busy. Abukari had to catch up with a lot of work and host a Videre team. We had a lot of problems with the drainage system around our house which caused a lot of mess and dirty floors. The boys had to again get used to their new school but they now seem to have settled down and enjoy the place. As family we are gradually getting used to living in the city. In our next blog we hope to share a little more about the life in Tamale.

Below are a few photos to give you some first impressions of our home in Tamale:

Front of house

Back of house – they are still working on the water system

Having a break on the verrandah

Samuel and Micah use old plumbing pipes to make their own constructions

After working so hard their clothes are very dirty and need to be washed!

Lemons in the garden