Our friend Phyllis asked us what “waist beards” are. I thought that the rest of you might be wondering about the “waist beads” too. The women and girls wear waist beads around their waists. Women wear them as an adornment sort of like we wear necklaces and earrings. In the days before underwear were available they used the waist beads to keep their loin clothes in place. Even today waist beads are put on the babies to keep the cloth pieces of fabric they use instead of diapers in place. Usually at least 2 rows of beads are worn together so the fabric can be interlocked between the rows of beads. Any beads could be used for waist beads but the ladies prefer the small seed type beads. When I first came to Ghana I was 14 years old. I immediately fell in love with the beads. I wore them as necklaces. I noticed the kids pointing at my beads and giggling. My dad said, “they are laughing at you because they think you are wearing your underwear around your neck!”
Steve was successful in getting the paper work turned in this morning for the renewal of the Child Center. We are happy to have that behind us for another year. Maybe they will not make any changes before next year’s registration.
After we dropped off the paper work we went to the Cultural Center on High Street. It is a very big market with arts, crafts and carvings from all over Ghana and the countries around Ghana. We do not get to this market but every couple years because it is on the other side of Accra and the traffic is awful. The ministries where Steve had to go this morning for the renewal of the Child Center is close to the Cultural Center so we took advantage of being on that side of the city. I brought an extra suitcase just in case! See how my mind works! For your information we will not be taking the suitcase back empty!
This afternoon we went to the gold smith to see if he could repair a pair of my earrings but we missed him. He had already closed for the day by the time we got there. The traffic was awful.
Take care and have a great day!
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
