In Agona we were told about an old man in a village nearby who had been paralyzed, and unable to leave his home for many years. It turned out that we had only one chair left after our work that day, and it was the right size for the man. So we got directions, which turned out to be an hour's drive through some pretty desolate forest to get to his village, Boamang. Only a few people could fit inside the man's house, so the rest of us played ball and talked with these kids from the village. They loved getting their picture taken.
But after about an hour it started raining pretty furiously. We went back into the van for shelter, but the kids wouldn't go home, they were so curious about us. I asked them if they knew any songs to sing, and they all sang some Sunday School songs to me. I pulled out the pocket trumpet and played along with them a bit, which they liked. The little guy on the bottom, he would put his hands up and imitate playing the horn, would sing me a line, and I would play it back to him, then I'd play and he'd sing it, back and forth. Really cool kids. This was the highlight of the trip for me.

It continued raining hard all night, and we were worried because Thursday's distribution in Kumasi was to be outdoors, at the Lebanon Club. But just as we pulled up to unload, the rain stopped, and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon, gave out 16 chairs (the last of what we had) and had a very good time with the people there. And as soon as we were finished working and back in the van, the rain started up again. Even more amazing, we ended up using the exact amount of supplies that we had brought, down to our very last strip of duct tape on the last chair we gave out.
Thursday night we visited Victory Bible Church in Kumasi, to bring one last wheelchair to a woman who was in the congregation there. We were welcomed very warmly, and I was asked to play a trumpet solo during the service. I played How Great Thou Art, while the congregation hummed softly along with me. It was a very, very beautiful moment for me.
Friday we went back to the Lebanon Club for the big wheelchair basketball tournament. This is a picture from the opening ceremony - the players sang and danced for us, and then we sang and played for them (you can see Brian with his guitar, I got cut out of this picture), and Kim, Liz, and Nate came out with some swing dancing for them.

This was a great day, hundreds of people came out, and it was rewarding to finally have a good amount of time to really socialize with people and watch the games. I met a few young kids who were studying music in school - we talked for awhile and they were surprised that I knew something about Ewe (Ghanaian) drumming.

After the championship game, we played a game of "obrunis" (white people) vs. the coaches of the five teams. They killed us. Then I realized how amazing these athletes really were, I could barely get down the court in a wheelchair.
On Friday night after the tournament we took all the people who had been helping us during the week to dinner at The Dish, a pretty nice restaurant in Kumasi. This is Kim and I with Reverend Newton and his wife, Esther. We all took a liking to each other that week, they are very special people.
On Saturday morning before we left Kumasi for Accra, we were interviewed on Garden City Radio, 92.1 FM, for about half the population of Ghana. Brian and Coach Sam spoke about the work we were doing and about the need for compassion to people with disabilities, and we all played and sang a song together.
The guy in yellow goes by the name of "Brain," he's a drummer/drummaker, and he runs a couple shops at the Cultural Center in Accra. I bought from him a dashiki that was made by his mother, and he took me back to his shop here to show me how they make the djembes, and he played for me a bit. I couldn't afford one of the big drums, but I ended up buying that little djembe from him, as a thanks for showing me around.
Sunday evening we went to the Ghanaian Village Restaurant on the beach in Accra for dinner. I noticed there was an Ewe drum and dance group set up to play, and on my way back from the restroom I saw them waiting to go on. I asked them if they were about to play, and one of the guys said yes, do you know anything about African music? and I told him that I was studying Ewe music in the States. So he grabbed me and pulled me up on stage to play with them...
Here I am sitting in on gankogui (the metal double-bell) with the Peace and Unity drum and dance group. I played one piece, went to sit down, and then they invited me up to play another. Thanks to Greg for getting this shot. Lucky, the shirt I had on even matched their outfits.

On Monday morning before we caught the plane back to London we were fortunate to have a hand drumming lesson with Kofi Missiso (that's his hand), a master drummer with the Arts Council of Ghana who comes to teach music to the clients at Echoing Hills.

Listen to a sound file of Kofi playing for us.
Here's Kim and I back on the beach at Accra. Monday night we left Ghana and got home about 30 hours of travel later. Truly, it was a great trip. Thanks for enjoying these pictures, and please feel free to contact me if you have anything to ask about the trip or about WFTW.
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