tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8776464546974080982012-02-18T14:40:09.610-08:00The chronicles of Bruce and Brandy, two Canadians from Victoria, BC, who travelled to Ghana, Africa in November 2007 on a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip to help build four homes alongside local families.Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-44388801383902296782010-10-01T09:12:00.002-07:002010-10-01T10:15:09.024-07:00

Hi Everyone,It has been a long time since we first set up this blog (I still can't believe we only went to Ghana three years ago - three years does not seem like that long ago and yet it feels so far away!) and a long time since I felt like I might have time to post all of the remaining details of our trip and adventure. I still hope to do that here.In the meantime, I've received word that

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-45674190579042348502009-08-08T11:56:00.004-07:002009-08-08T13:09:31.660-07:00

. . . since we left Ghana, since I posted to this blog.Today my friend Jen shared this TED video with me. I found it so moving. It brought me to tears. It brought me right back to Ghana. It immediately made me think of our friend Charlotte who is leaving for Uganda with Watoto in just over a week.Next, I thought of this blog. This past week I have been reminded of our travels on several

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-56328844090451325282009-02-24T08:04:00.003-08:002009-02-24T08:11:20.540-08:00

It's been a while since we have posted to this blog but I just received this email from the Global Village Team and wanted to pass it along since readers of this blog may be interested in learning more.Hope you are well,Brandy_____________________________Global Village Needs You! Europe has an urgent need to provide safe and affordable housing for the working poor who struggle each day to make

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-67194968880909476742008-01-28T20:10:00.000-08:002008-01-28T21:09:54.794-08:00

November 27 6:22amWe are sleeping in a finished house. It is fully light by this time of day but the sun is not high and bright and hot yet. Most of us are still sleeping or dozing but everyone and everything else is awake and they have been for an hour or more. Our cooks, Peace & Jane, are busy preparing our first meal of the day and the community is awake cooking and crying and yelling and

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-72093878613342863332008-01-17T20:25:00.000-08:002008-01-17T21:34:58.365-08:00

While we were in Ghana I found some time to journal about my experiences. I wasn't able to journal as much as I would have liked so I'll use some of my journal entries and fill them out with other details that we can remember. This post starts with Bruce and I close to arriving at Heathrow Airport to catch our flight to Accra, the capital city of Ghana. The next date is two days later. We

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-10134669607636092142007-12-16T07:40:00.000-08:002007-12-16T07:51:29.817-08:00

Well, today is our last day in Ghana. Tonight we head back to London, pick up our winter luggage in England at Bruce's Aunt's and then we are off to Ontario for the Holidays. We have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the people and culture of Ghana while we have been here but after a few days in the big city of Accra, we are starting to look forward to heading back to the snow and cold of

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-61191530887214870632007-11-02T09:46:00.000-07:002007-11-02T09:59:22.964-07:00

First, take a second and click this link: Our Group. I know I have mentioned this a few times but I'll give it one last plug. Before we leave Ghana we are hoping to send a blog update to you all, however it is unlikely we'll have very quick or lengthy access to the web. So, we plan to simply send an email to our blog which will make a post automatically and if you are signed up to our group (28

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-5588460182958605492007-10-17T23:43:00.000-07:002007-10-17T23:54:13.264-07:00

We're now just 18 days away from our departure date - we can hardly believe this is all coming so fast!Bruce and I will be away for almost two months and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Ghana for over two weeks will be the central point of our time away. There are so many things to prepare for and we made some progress over the past two weeks while we hosted family visitors leading up

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-39025671521814431962007-10-11T17:45:00.001-07:002007-10-11T17:51:19.498-07:00

Just a quick note since we've had a very busy two weeks with the long weekend, a big birthday celebration and lots of guests - but, we wanted to update our total and let everyone know we now have less than 25% to raise! Today, with a kind donation from Carolyn and Peter, we hit $4,569.43!Thank you to everyone who has mailed donations in, donated online and gave generous donations in lieu of

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-32575196742863305622007-09-27T18:17:00.000-07:002007-09-27T20:55:24.760-07:00

We're getting there!We have received several donations over the past few days and we're up to $3,842.98!!It was an especially nice boost to receive a box of rolled pennies from the Habitat ReStore in Victoria (thanks John & Margot!) as well as a generous donation from the Habitat for Humanity Victoria Board. In addition to supporting our trip to Ghana, Habitat Victoria has also committed to

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-75736288140388999062007-09-22T18:22:00.000-07:002007-09-23T21:55:00.469-07:00

Thanks so much to everyone who came out to our M&M Meat Shops Building for Ghana Charity BBQ!A BIG thank you! to Richard and his staff at M&M Meats Shops and also to Jon and his staff at Cobs Bread for their generous support of the BBQ! We were serving up some delicious Tasty Burgers and hot dogs on delicious Cobs buns!Sharon, Alison & Chantal serve up a hot dog, assembly line style: BBQ --> Bun

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-57842978892741990172007-09-21T22:48:00.000-07:002007-09-21T22:56:10.709-07:00

Well, I'm off to bed but I hope to see lots of you tomorrow at our big BBQ!If you're in beautiful Victoria, join us from 11am - 3pm at 3637 Shelbourne Street at Cedar Hill Cross Road. A special thanks to Richard and the team at M&M Meat Shops and Jon and his team at Cobs Bakery for their support!Not only can you buy a tasty hot dog or hamburger, but you can also buy your own Habitat House for a

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-79172116317552837732007-09-17T22:11:00.001-07:002007-09-18T21:31:46.273-07:00

M&M Meat Shops Building for Ghana Charity BBQ 11am-3pm Saturday, September 22, 2007 3637 Shelbourne Street (Shelbourne and Cedar Hill X Rd.) Come on out on Saturday to enjoy some burgers or hot dogs and don’t forget to tell everybody about our barbecue! Thanks so much to Gerry, Chantal, Zeta, Crystal, Alison and Al who have offered to volunteer for the event. If anybody out there is

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-84379934376923014352007-09-13T22:17:00.000-07:002007-09-13T22:32:01.669-07:00

A very big thanks to everyone who donated items and helped out setting things up on Saturday. The grand total raised was $1,039.88!!!Jen & Sharon - our early rising helpers!We met a lot of people on Saturday who were very supportive of the Habitat cause. We were also able to spread the word about the work that Habitat does both internationally and in Victoria. I think we recruited a few

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-14940691713195218242007-09-05T22:33:00.000-07:002007-09-06T00:34:33.078-07:00

Very exciting news indeed - thanks to everyone who has donated so far, we have now officially raised $1,090.33 - we are almost at 15% of our goal, thank you!We have received donations online (woo hoo, the links work!), a donation from the sale of someone's car (how cool is that!?!), several generous donations from the local faith community and we have received an entire room full of items for

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-91352546822573702632007-08-26T10:55:00.001-07:002007-08-26T10:55:29.935-07:00

So, if you're one of those thermometer watchers (Sharon!) then you will notice we've kicked things went up a notch around here!Thanks to Ana and Sharon who offered their much needed help, we had a very successful 2nd Bar Candy Blitz. Thanks to the generosity of the following clubs, and their patrons, we raised $319.68 last night - we are very impressed!BarCode $ Darcy's Pub $ Hugo's ‘ $ Hushplan

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-71818110176632194842007-08-17T22:32:00.000-07:002007-08-20T08:55:07.919-07:00

We're back (we were in the Okanagan visiting with Bruce's family for 10 days) and are excited to announce that we have successfully raised $320 to date!!We raised $120 at our 1st Bar Candy Blitz which was quite successful and pretty fun (sorry we forgot the photographic evidence). We' still have quite a stash of candy and mardi gras necklaces so we'll be out and about in Victoria selling these

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-8298826617344758732007-07-26T22:36:00.000-07:002007-08-17T23:04:29.328-07:00

Okay, our first fundraising act is upon us!Join us Saturday night as we hit downtown Victoria to sell candy necklaces, candy bracelets, suckers and mardi gras necklaces to friendly bar and club patrons.We'll meet at our place at 9:30pm for drinks and then head downtown at 10:30 or so and see how much we can raise to get things rolling towards building some houses!Drop me an email at

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-82417078654919162852007-07-22T17:06:00.000-07:002007-07-22T18:18:37.684-07:00

Okay, so now that we've shared our exciting news with you, now's the time and place for details!We'll be joining a team of 20 or so Canadians who will come together for the first time in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, on November 24. After a night of getting to know each other we'll head to a community outside of the city where one of Habitat for Humanity Ghana's local affiliates is based (

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-877646454697408098.post-1450146144362619622007-07-20T19:21:00.000-07:002007-07-20T19:30:37.346-07:00

On Saturday, July 7th we got some pretty amazing news from Rick & Suzanne, our new Team Leaders . . . we were accepted to join a team of Canadians to build houses in Ghana with the Habitat for Humanity Global Village Program from November 24 - December 9, 2007!This blog will be a place where we can chronicle our experiences as we prepare and fundraise for the build and the trip and hopefully

Brandyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18011439104676058035noreply@blogger.com0