Surprise...I appreciate you.

Green habaneros...go into the groundnut soup

Surprise…I appreciate you.

Prepping to pound fufu

Really interesting things happen when you go to a country to learn and share instead of as a tourist.  Our day started this morning oversleeping (because we keep working late) and rushing down to breakfast to get headed off to work.  Our friend Emma was headed to work, but decided to stop in and say hi and found us at breakfast…..WAY COOL to be in Accra Ghana and run into old friends as though we were at the local diner.  More on that later this week (keep watching…)!

Our afternoon consisted of cooking Ghanaian foods with a local chef and teacher!  We got to go behind the scenes, with our aprons and chef hats, and watch, learn, taste and participate in making jollof rice, sobolo (a local drink made from Hibiscus flowers…yum), and fufu (plantain and cassava).  Now…fufu is made by putting the steamed plantain and cassava in a large part of a hollowed out tree and then having one person pound it while the other person turns it until it is soft.  Suffice it to say that we are thrilled that there are no broken fingers…..

Pounding and flipping

Today our work session started with an ice breaker around gifts or acts that have surprised us…not birthday, or anniversary, or Christmas, but recognition of something or some act that touched us or  someone else.  Too often we forget to recognize those small moments in life…someone who is doing what needs doing without complaining, or goes above and beyond the call of duty quietly, or does something for someone else, or sees an unmet need and takes care of it, or someone who just needs a lift.  The participants in the icebreaker recited things that happened as recently as this past weekend, but also shared moments that happened some 30 years ago that STILL remain in their mind today when someone recognized them.  

What if we all took a moment to LOOK FOR an opportunity to recognize someone during the next week?  Give them a small gift, a card, a pat on the back, a certificate of appreciation, or just acknowledge to them that you see that they are special.   Do it quietly, or share it with us on our blog…

Pounding and flipping...and hoping to keep all my fingers

Kathy serving the groundnut soup over fufu with Mary

The communal bowl is delivered to the table 

Kathy and Cathy eating groundnut soup and the traditional way...