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We got up and got ready for our breakfast, and waited for the guard. When he showed up, and released us, he said the Foreman had some more bad news.

When we headed to the dining shed, we were walking through water that was about a foot deep. Once at the shed, Dauda started complaining about all the rain, and say he didn’t think we would ever get to leave. I thought to myself, not never, but that I thought we would deffinitly be ther for a few more days. The Foreman came down with our food, and sat down. He told us he had some more bad news, and that we would be there until the rains stopped, and that he had no idea how long that would be.

Naturally that upset both Kwaku and Dauda, but I was surprised by how calmly they were taking the news. But Dauda said he figured out, while walking through the water, that we wouldn’t be leaving for awhile. My big complaint was just having to sit around and wait, and that Kwaku and couldn’ do our training sessions. We finished eating and decided to stay at the shed, rather than wade back in the water and falling rain.

We stayed their through our next two meals, and until time for bed. We followed the guard back to the slave quarters, and the water hadn’t risen much higher in the pit. The guard then gave us towels, that he had brought with him, so we could dry off. He wished us a goodnight, then locked the gate and left.

We were now able to have time for our nightly conversation. So I started out saying, since the lights had been let on, that I was going to do some exercising. Both Kwaku and Dauda said they wouldn’t be joining me, that they weren’t in the mood. We started our talking, while I started my exercising, and I still joined in on the conversation. Soon Kwaku and Dauda said they were sleepy, and that they were going to sleep. Doing my exercises got me pumped up, so I continued on for awhile.

The next morning when I awoke, I could see Kwaku looking out at the rain, and I ask how does it look. His answer was not good, said the rain was still coming down hard, and that the pit was still flooded. Thanks to the lights being left on, I could see how bad things looked.

A little later the guard came and let us out, and we wadded through the water to the dinning shed. The water hadn’t risen much higher than last night, so I guess the drains were working better. I guess they could have been blocked, by some of the stuff that was regularly hosed out of the pit.

The Foreman brought our food down, and stayed to talk with Kwaku mainly, and telling us how bad the road going up the hill had become. So we knew it would be days after the rain stopped, before we could leave. We just sat around talking, and surprisingly the Foreman and guard stayed with us. This put a damper on my being able to do much talking, since I was supposed to be mentally slow. So I just sat there listing, and tried to act like it didn’t mean anything to me.

This torrential rain went on for three more days, and when it did let up, it continued to rain for two more days. The guard was finally able to walk to the village, and use their radio to contact Master Ansah at Araway’s mine. He reported the conditions here at the mine, and was given information about the road conditions between the two mines.

Once the guard had returned, we learned how bad our situation was. The road between the two mine had been flooded, and large sections had been destroyed along with a bridge. They said they had no idea how long before heavy trucks could make the trip. From the report, the Foreman estimated it would take at least a month, due to the bridge being out. No one was happy about having to wait that long, inorder to be able to leave.

A couple of days later the mine had mostly dride out, but the road up the hill was still muddy, and with some standing water. So we knew there was no place to go, that we couldn’t get up the hill. So the Foreman had decided to put us back to work.

The guard came and told us we would be starting back to work that day. I think we were all surprised, and wondered why we would be put back to work. I said I guess it’s to keep us busy, so we don’t get restless. I said I didn’t mind, because I wanted to stay in shape, and that was a good way.

The guard opened the tool shed, and we got our picks and shovel. The Foreman showed us where he wanted us to dig. He said there might be another vane near the one we just finished. So we started digging, and in less than an hour, we hit pay dirt. We had found another vane, so the guard went and told the Foreman the news. The Foreman quickly came down and took a look, and commented on our fined. He then told us to continue, and extract the ore like before.

We worked all day, and had extracted a large quantity of ore. The next day the guard went to the village, and hired the works to return. They would be loading the ore on the truck that was still at the mine, since it was not completely full. I would talk with the villagers each time I delivered a cart to the elevator, and they were glad to be working again.

A few days later I heard a truck come over the hill, and watch it slipping and sliding as it came down the hill. Once the truck was down at the mine, the drivers returned to the top, and a small truck picked them up. I wondered how the truck got here, since the roads we impassible.

I learned that Master Ansah had contacted another mine that was close. He had arranged to borrow one of their trucks, and that the road between the two mines was usable. So we now had another truck to fill, so we would keep on extracting the ore,

Four weeks after we should have left, we were still here extracting ore. That ment we had been working at Master Ansah’s mine for almost nine weeks. There seemed to be no end insight, to the amount of ore still available. We still hadn’t heard anything about progress, on the road back to Araway’s nine. So I figured we would still be working next week.

We now are starting our tenth week at Master Ansah,s mine. I’m getting my wish, ha ha, about staying in shape. I can feel the effects on my shoulder and arms, from all my shoveling. I told Dauda if he wanted to build his muscles, I would let him do the shoveling. He just laughed, and said he’d let the dumb slave continue building muscle. I just laughed, and continued shoveling, telling him he was missing a good opportunity.

At the end of our tenth week, we were glad for our Sunday rests, they gave us a chance to relax. So we spent Sunday, just eating and relaxing, and I did some walking around the pit. I was enjoying looking at the trees topside, and the colorful birds in the trees. I noticed two monkeys in one of trees, and they seemed to be watching me. So I waved at them, and started talking to them, and I noticed they had come down lower in the tree. They seemed to be listing to me, and then they started chattering back. I just kept talking, and they soon came over to the top of the pit, and kept chattering.

Soon the Foreman came down with our evening meal, and said he was glad for all the hard work we were doing, under the sercum stances. We talked for awhile, before it was time to sleep. So the guard took us back to the slave quarters for the night. I was glad we were no longer being chained, only locked in at night. He locked the gate and turned out the lights, as he left.

We didn’t do much talking, after he left, we just decided to get some sleep. We knew we had another hard day ahead.