I have received a number of request and questions about Ghana. Yeah! I am glad you all enjoyed the experience as much as we did. It is still something I think about daily. Aaron is working on the video this week and we are hoping to have it as a special feature on an upcoming Signing Time DVD. Yes we have video of the crocodile run, the canopy bridges and my feeble attempt at carrying water on my head.
After my blog that showed Alfred and the first elephant carving, my friend Natalie called and said, “I love my elephant! When can I come get it?” I started laughing and said, we actually got you something else. Natalie thought I was kidding. She said, “I read your blog and it says you got it for me.” I started laughing and I told her to wait a few more days and she would read in my blog about what we special ordered for her instead of that elephant. She still thought I was teasing.
A few days later one of Lucy’s workers came over for a yearly interview. We were talking and she looked up at a shelf in my living room and said “That’s Alfred’s elephant!!!!” I was sort of shocked that she too had been reading my blog. I guess there are a lot of lurkers out there. Don’t worry, I love lurkers.
I asked Aaron to take some photos of the different pieces we brought home. Here they are with descriptions!
Here, of course, is Alfred’s Elephant
Here is our special order for Natalie. Elephants, Mother and Child.
These are the tortoises we special ordered for Lucy. Keep in mind, special order means he carved them at our request. Remember we had asked for a baby turtle and like a true businessman he carved a larger one as well.
When we went into Accra I told Aaron and Leah that if I saw any figures that looked like me (at any point in my life) I would buy them. This one has no resemblance at all, but I bought it anyway:)
Later in Aburi I found this figure and it cracked me up. Leah said, “That doesn’t look like you at all!” (I’ve trained her well!) Then she asked, “Will you please stop buying naked ladies?” LOL I guess she prefers wooden animals.
The night that we did not find a family of four carving, but Alfred promised to carve us one, I bought this wooden bowl. It was perfect to keep our cocoa beans and money in.
Alfred’s older brother, William, carved this family of four for us. He taped a piece of paper with his address and email address to the bottom of it. It is about 10 inches tall.
We picked up a small piece called “Lovers” for our neighbors who had fed our fish while we were gone.
The final piece is the large “Unity” carving that we had picked out and when we returned Robi was looking at it. He later special ordered a smaller one.
In Aburi there was one shop with countless necklaces. We picked out this one for Aaron’s mom. She loves jewelry and asked us to bring her something back. I should have bought two. Can you see the necklace on the lower right hand side? I wore the necklace to her birthday party and she noticed it, “Did you get that in Africa? It’s beautiful.” I smiled and said, “It’s for you!” She was surprised and happy.
Luckily, giving away all of our clothes and supplies left plenty of room in our suitcases to carefully pack all of the carvings. We were happy to find that all of the pieces arrived without any breaks or cracks.
Today I got some more good news for the Signing Time Foundation. You can now use Good Search.com as your search engine and raise money for The Signing Time Foundation! When you search the internet and use Good Search with Signing Time Foundation as your non-profit of choice, each search generates 2 cents for us. This may not seem like a lot, but think of how often you search the internet and think of how many of us there are! It uses the Yahoo search engine. One way to remember to search for us is to set www.goodsearch.com as your homepage. It’s just a little thing, but it can make a big difference! So, spread the word, the more the merrier. Do a great thing and start using GoodSearch today!
Hi Rachel!!
I clicked on the http://www.goodsearch.com link you have in your blog and it’s directing people to goodseach with no “r”.
Just wanted to let you know so we can all update our search engines and make some MONEY for The Signing Time Foundation!!
Thanks for all you do! Our family loves watching you guys daily (ok, who am I kidding, we watch hourly in this house!!)
Nicole Tatro – Reno, Nv
I signed up using the second link and it worked well. I have already made 4 cents for the foundation. this is cool:)
I double checked the links after I got Nicole’s comment. They should all be working now.
I loved seeing the pictures of the items yall bought in Ghana.
I was so excited today I was looking in the TV Guide and found out Signing Time was coming back on next saturday. I love the show. I can’t wait.
Jessi
The craftsmanship on the pieces is phenomenal.
I’ll be adding Goodsearch to my bookmarks and using it for searching. As often as I search for things, it’s good to know the Foundation will benefit.
I’ve given you a Friendship Oscar~ check it out http://kei-unlimited.blogspot.com/2008/03/id-like-to-thank-christie-for-this.html
Hi Rachel, wasn’t sure how to email you, but wanted to tell you thank you for doing what you do. I’m friends with Kei and we received a very special gift today. Here’s the link to some pictures and a little plug for Signing Time! http://cbranam.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-lighter-note.html Thank you!
My sister and I are founding a non-profit…Skills for humanity (skillsforhumanity.org) We are working on a project in Mali. My sister will be going to Africa in about a month and we will be trying to create opportunity for a self-sustainable income for local people. My sister has been able to do this in Bali and in Nepal. Although, this is the biggest undertaking so far. For this project, one thing we will need is craftsmen to do carving. I noticed that you had gotten William’s e-mail and was wondering if you could help connect us with him. I am sure that there are lots of carvers that could do something similar but it would be wonderful if somehow we could help him.
It was so nice to meet you briefly in person in Los Angeles. We are so awed by the work you’ve done. Practically every Mom I know is signing here in Pasadena, CA 🙂