Pat's Update #5
Greetings from Ghana!
It has been a long time since I sent an update. We've been having long days and too exhausted to go to the Internet Café. We've also been trying to hook up Africa on Line for the evangelists and the workers from America that come over. After numerous tries and visits by their representative, we now can receive and sent email from the compound where we are staying here in Kumasi. Praise the Lord!
Thank you all for praying for me! I feel your prayers! The rash is gone but the itching is still there-though not too bad. Last week I was sick; I could barely move. I was able to teach classes but had to lie down in between.
Some interesting things I've noticed over here. The Ghanaians eat a lot of chicken and they eat the bones too! They eat fish with the head still on. Most of the Ghanaian foods are too spicy for me. That you Dacia for the packaged soups! Ghanaians eat bread at every meal. Most of the time without butter or anything on it. Though they wash their clothes in a bucket and hang dry, most of the Ghanaians are dressed nicely everyday and their clothes are not wrinkled-and mine are!
Two week here and I've had my second hot bath. It was nice to wash my hair with hot water. We have to boil water and are boiling a lot because we need it for tea, for cooking, for washing dishes and for hot soups. I fill up two litter bottles all the time with water. We have about 10 bottles and we re-use them over and over. For us Americans, we have to use filtered water for everything because our bodies are not used to the stuff in the water.
We go to the store everyday for food. Sometimes we go across the street to a shack that sells bread and eggs. I am now used to the Ghanaian money system and I can calculate the value into American money in my head now. We go to the 4X for exchanging currency.
Pastor Reinke has been letting Joseph (16) drive the van (stick shift) around the compound yard. It was about 70 degrees one night and it seemed strange that the watchman had on a big down jacket. People around town we wearing winter ski hats. Culture here has the women always serving the men. Mealtime, men don't get their own food; the women bring it to them. Also there is no concept of time here. If you say nine o'clock, it may happen by 10 or even later.
We are in the rainy season and it has been overcast most of the time. The air makes 80 to 85 kind of cool. It doesn't rain long, only in short phases. I've seen some geckos (big big crawly things) in the house and around different places. Lizards are all over. In outside restaurants, they come right up to you. I am learning to eat plantain-it kind of looks like a banana, but is a little drier.
People are very open about talking about Jesus! There is Christian words on most businesses: Resurrection café; Jesus Saves Bread; Trinity Cab; Lord's Mechanics; and so forth. I was told that it is probably not a sign of personal faith but rather something like a good luck charm and a cultural tradition. Over here everything is law oriented-the schools; the marketplace; the social system and the religious understanding of going to heaven and who will be saved. The students have been struggling with that concept, as well as infant baptism, law and gospel, baptism and Lord's Supper. We teach it again and again every day. I showed a filmstrip (thanks for all those who donated old filmstrips and projectors!) about Jesus' death and resurrection. I wasn't prepared for their response. As I explained the depth of Jesus' suffering on the cross for our sins, mouths dropped open and it was like they were experiencing the resurrection personally. After class, it dawned on me that they probably have never seen a film or video about Biblical events before. They struggle with English words while reading the Bible. I have to define 4 or 5 words in a passage every time. Words that we hear everyday.
When you ask them to read a verse or say the creed by memory, they always start with the Scripture reference and/or title "The Apostle's Creed". It was funny to see the Deaf use their off time to watch videos of American Sign Language. We have one TV for teaching. They watched them for hours.
Weather is a little colder lately; which is nice for us Americans who sweat a lot; the Ghanaians don't seem to do much of that. The guard at the International Café where we connect to the internet is so eager to get a Bible. He seems to be on fire for his faith. The people here outwardly show their faith much more than Americans. They talk about Jesus in causal conversation and pray real long (long) prayers.
Enough for today.
Pat
Pat's Update #6
Another Day, another learning adventure. Our days are full and our nights are very very short. That rooster crows so darn early!
We went to a poor village. We had to first meet the elders of the tribe and then be instructed on how to act in the presence of the chief. As we walked around, I fell in love with the people. They had nothing. Many of them were dressed only in their underwear. They cooked on an outside fire. They walked a long way to get water. Their compounds were mud brick with thatched roofs. There was no furniture, only benches. Rooms situated on the outside of a square with a common place in the center for cooking, washing, playing and socializing. It was like these white people were the pied piper and they followed us everywhere. We tripped over large rocks and walked a road that felt like hiking through a mind field. We also stepped in a few fun things like cow and goat manure too! Yes the animals were loose all around and it was interesting dodging them. Meeting the chief I learned new customs, every time someone says thank you, we shake hands again. Women are put in the most honorable place. You slightly bow in respect to the chief. We talked with him via an interpreter. The chief would speak in his tribal language to his elder, which would convert and interpret in Twi, then that person would interpret in English, then I would interpret in Ghanaian sign language. We were there to talk to him about the land given to the church a long time ago. He assured us that the land is still ours if we build on it soon. The deaf here is in the process of building a church and possibly a vocational school with a seminary attached. We were given permission and authority to be in their village and to see the land again. We walked the main road up the hill. The land is full of trees and there are many acres. It will be a blessing to the deaf in the village, if they can proceed on building their own church. The estimate for the church is a lot of money, even in American standards. Please pray that God would lead people to donate for this cause. The deaf are so eager to have a place where they can learn in their own language and develop skills for work and ministry. The leaders here must work secular jobs during the week and travel to various areas, including five of the deaf schools teaching and preaching.
Back to the experience in the village. The bathrooms are just a small mud enclosure with a small ditch running out of it for the urine to seep into the ground. Thank God I didn't have to use it! But I guess I would have like to experience one night sleeping in the village and living their life to better understand their life with little means. They live solely on farming vegetables and some fruit (things I never knew existed).
We had another meeting with a consultant on the development of the land. He came to the meeting dressed in native Ghanaian garb. It was interesting how he led the meeting and interacted with the Americans. He has a deaf relative and is very supportive of the goal of setting up and educational school. There were also people from the hearing Lutheran Church there (Only one in Kumasi) and educational representatives. We talked about building sizes, educational approval from the government, curriculum and much more. It was another day of traveling to church, a meeting at the compound, then a meeting with the architect. After than we visited one of the students homes because there was a problem with the family. Eight of us sat on wooden benches in a one room living situation about the size of a med-size bathroom. Again we had a three-way translation going on. We then when to their landlord and met in his one room home expressed our thanks and gave him honor for doing an unusual thing in letting this family of 3 live there without paying rent since the father had died and they had no income. When arrived back at the compound around 11 pm.
That morning, I traveled in Jamasi - about an hour away - and visited the deaf school. We met the headmaster and he allowed us on the campus. The school is just a shell of buildings with benches and old chalkboards for classrooms and just a floor and a few chairs for a dorm bedroom for 8 -10 students. The youngest was about three and the oldest about 21. The hearing dorm counselors didn't sign very well and the students were surprised that this white woman from America, could sign and they could understand her. We had worship in the cafeteria (only benches). They sang songs the Ghanaian way - saying the same line over and over and over again. They had a choir dressed up and signed and danced some. The children were very eager to hear God's word. We worshipped and then took a break while the school handed out malaria pills. In each row, the same cup was dipped into a large scrub pail and given water to first child and then it was passed down the row. Just think of the germs! We had another 2 hours of story telling and teaching on baptism using a filmstrip. The students loved the visual aid. After we finished, we walked into the boys compound to talk with the students and counselors. They loved seeing themselves on my digital camera. They were starving for attention. They go to school for three months straight and then have a few weeks off and then back to school for another three months. They don't go home or see their families while at school. Transportation cannot be provided because of cost. They only play basketball and soccer. They can't go and compete with other deaf schools because there is no money. The students did have a dress code of humble school clothes and white shirts and black pants (girls had to wear skirts) for church day. The evangelist is only able to come to the school twice a month. I wish I could have stayed to make a weekly time with them.
Food in Ghana has been fun to deal with. We were served Jollof rice, Yam with some kind of meat (I didn't ask), Rice Balls, Rice with bean stew, Plantain with bean and garri, Bonku with okra stew, Rice with stew with spaghetti, boiled plantain with stew, yam with green stew, and fufu and rice balls with soup and meat (goat and fish). We pounded the fufu in a stone bowl. It took several hours of four people preparing it for 30 people. We had that for breakfast too.
Oh, God-there is so much to do and so little time here. The needs are great. Fulfilling those needs is a definite challenge that solely makes us depend more on God grace and provision.
Until next time,
Pat
Pat's Update #7
This update will probably be my last until we arrive home. It is Friday morning and we are packing up to go to two more towns and then to Accra for meetings with the Evangelical Lutheran Church leaders. We fly out of Accra, to London (I saw something about some bombings there?) and then to Chicago and then back to Omaha late Wednesday night.
We had our closing day yesterday. It is a blessing to see how they have learned in just a short week and a half. They want us to stay or come often. Worship was held outside under a beautiful tree in the compound yard. We moved tables out there and sat in a square; sang songs and heard God's Word again speak to our hearts. We had communion and closing farewells. The deaf expressed their thanks and gave me a Ghanaian dress and headpiece. They insisted I model it immediately and I put it over my clothes and pictures were taken.
Immediately after that, we had another meeting with the committee on the land development of Adamrobe (In Kumasi). That was a four-hour meeting - we finished about 9:30 pm. Trying to understand the accent and interpreting it was difficult. But we survived. I can't imagine what the deaf will do when there is no interpreter for them here.
We then started to clean up and pack up the teaching supplies to put in storage. We also washed dishes, filled water bottles for the trip and continually complained about exhaustion and sore feet. The night before we didn't get to bed until 1:30 am and again last night it was nearly 2:00 am. I think I am looking forward to that bouncing six-hour trip to the next town-just to sit awhile.
We fed the Ghanaian students for the last time this morning and said our good-byes. One of the evangelists really like my Bible Dictionary and the Lord led me to give it to him for his work. We also provided a in-depth picture Bible; pocket Bible story picture book, Concordia self-study Bibles, a book called Daily Life in Jesus' Time, and a large set of teaching pictures with case to the evangelists who travel to the deaf schools to teach. That is why the weight of my suitcase and action packer was the limit of the airlines and I had to pay extra. Yuk!
I will miss the triple locks on every door. I will miss the roster crowing at 4:00 am. I will miss cold baths and heating up water or filtering water for everything. I will miss Ghanaians leaving meetings to urinate outside and announcing it boldly. The peanut butter sandwiches for daily lunches and the surprise suppers -I don't think I will miss. I definitely won't miss the sore feet! But most of all I will miss the people. They are not a people who desire our pity. They are a people of honor and endurance. They are a people who desire to make a good life for themselves and support their families. They are a people who want the Word of God known to their neighbor, friends and anyone that listens.
Please pray for them as I do. God has given me a love of a different kind here. Yes, some of their customs bugged and frustrated me; but still their genuine heart of friendliness and love prevails. Thank you all for your prayers. I do indeed feel them and that keeps me going. And thank God for the opportunity to experience sharing God's Word in a different far-away land.
Blessings to you all!
Pat