March 19, 2011 Saturday
We had a busy morning. I had a knock on the door at daybreak from the Methodist pastor and his assistant from Walewale. They wanted to walk the land in Walewale where they’ve purchased land for a church and a parsonage. The land is on the current edge of town, but they rightly concluded that Walewale will grow up around the new church. They appealed for Bibles, a pair of steel drums, and funds for a new church building. We promised that we’d buy the Bibles and drums right away. We’d pray how to build another church.
We went back to the Moonlight Lodge to pick up Kofi Boakye. We took the motorcycle that we purchased in Bolgatanga to dedicate for use by the Bugiya Church pastor, Paul. It was exciting for the church elders and children to see a new motorcycle in the village. Paul preaches at two churches that are far apart. He will give his bicycle to one of our other pastors.
Our next stop was at the Guakudow new church construction. The masons were working on the “lintel” level of the church. The lintel level is a pour section of concrete above all of the walls. It gives the church walls more strength to hold up the roof. The chief of the village was there watching the construction. A woman who we called the “church mother” was also at the site. She brought food for the workers. She is also “overseeing” the construction so that every block is strong. She is really proud and excited about the new church.
We wiped anointing oil onto the windows and doors of the new church to ask God to make the building strong. We also prayed to God to protect the church and keep evil out of the building. The church mother helped us anoint the church with oil. We asked the church mother if she wanted to be the first person baptized in the new church. She said yes. The chief watched as we baptized her. Her baptism was such as meaningful moment. I asked the chief if he wanted to be next. He said no because he is still a Muslim, but I don’t think it will be long until he starts to come to church there to worship.
We traveled on a new road to get to Diani to give Pastor Elisha a bicycle. He wants to preach in a neighboring village, but needed a mode of transportation to go there to preach. He is seeing the excitement caused because Pastor Ibrihim is starting the Singini Church and Pastor Paul is starting the Guakudow Church. Pastor Elisha wants to be involved in the spiritual growth and renewal, too.
We drove to Gbani to see their damaged church. One-half of the church roof was blown off in a storm. The people have become discouraged and the pastor has left. We saw the damage to the church. We went to visit the chief. I told him that I remembered the day in September 2003 when I helped to baptize seventy-one people with about one hundred and fifty watching from the riverside. We prayed for God to bless his village and for his church to be resurrected. The church was built by World Harvest. Apparently, World Harvest has abandoned their efforts in northern Ghana. All of their churches are closed. I pray to find a way to get the roof back on this church. Gbani was one of the first villages I visited on my first mission trip to Africa. Gbani also is special because it is where I experienced my first mass baptisms under the leadership of Pastor Bill Barker.
We were finally on our way south after visiting many of the local churches. Our goal was to reach the three boreholes paid for by Rotary matching grant 69066 near Karaga. It took us about three hours to get there from Walewale. Most of the trip was on dirt roads that were under construction, of course. We couldn’t have made the trip in the rainy season. Two of the boreholes are in one village with the remaining borehole located at a neighboring village. The boreholes were really needed. The young local assemblyman accompanied us from the center of town to the boreholes. He gave us a speech that the boreholes were really needed and that a few more would also be appreciated.
It took us about two hours to make it to Tamale. We found a really nice Bible Book Store where we bought a case of English New Living Version of the Bible. We went to Gilbert’s Bible Translation Office to buy about 500 Mampruli language Bibles. The next goal was to buy three steel drums for three more churches: the Methodist Church start in Walewale, the resurrected church in Brubia, and the new church start in Guakudow. We sent Kofi Boakye back to Walewale with the Bibles and drums so that our churches could worship with praise music and God’s Word. Finally, we had a chance to eat a meal together in Tamale. We stayed with Dr. Seth Wanye in Tamale. He had stayed with my family in Virginia. It was great to have the chance to join him for dinner and be a guest in his house.
March 20, 2011 Sunday
We went to the Ebenezer Methodist Church in Tamale. We made it for Sunday School where they were discussing repentance. The worship service was a mix from early hymns from Charles Wesley in the 1700’s to rock and roaring local language praise songs. We had a good time. They had a wedding at the end of the service. We toured the Tamale Teaching Hospital and Tamale Eye Clinic with Dr. Wanye. They are building a brand new hospital and refurbishing the old one. The changes are exciting to see.
We drove from Tamale to Sunyani. It took almost the whole afternoon to travel to Sunyani. We stayed at the Eusbett Hotel in Sunyani which is a tourist hotel. It was nice to get some pampering after the “bush guest house” called the Moonlight Hotel in Walewale. We had hot and cold running water, air conditioning, and soft bed with two actual bed sheets. I met President Samuel Obour for dinner to talk about our goals for my visit. It was good to see him and catch up on the matching grant work. We will have an active couple of days reviewing our matching grants.
March 21, 2011 Monday
We were supposed to have a relaxing start for today. We are going to meet the Rotarians at 10 AM to inspect the mechanized boreholes. Instead, Pastor David Donkor knocked on my door at 6:45 AM. He convinces me to travel just outside of Sunyani (about one hour north) to his orphanage and school. Rev. Donkor talks on two cell phones while driving 120-140 kilometers per hour. I make a note to do the conversion to find out later how fast he was going. It is good that we know God because we are praying to get to the orphanage in one piece.
Rev. Donkor introduced us to his wife, Rose. She is full of energy and runs the orphanage. I’m glad that we took a few minutes to travel to the orphanage and school. They are raising chickens for the eggs and income. The orphanage also needs a deep well. He shows me. Jon and Kenny are completely entertained by the children. They latch onto Jon’s arm and do not want to let go. I tell Rev. Donkor that we need to leave at about 9:15 AM to get back in time to meet the Rotarians. Mike tells Rev. Donkor to relax and he’ll drive us back to town. We return at about 9:55 AM.
The Sunyani Central Rotarians arrive in a large bus from the Sunyani Polytechnic University for us to travel to the borehole (deep well) sites. The first stop is to the Sunyani Municipal Assembly Primary School. The Sunyani Central Rotarians have poured a lot of effort into this school. They partnered with Canadian Rotarians to build a fence to prevent squatters from taking more school land. They have other grants that added a computer lab, installed white boards in each classroom, and made other improvements to the school. Matching grant 69051 made for a mechanized borehole for the school. The school now has two large polytanks that are filled by the electric pump down the borehole. I visited this school in 2008. It is hard to recognize the place. Several of the classrooms have new roofs and the number of students at the school has increased. The school is an excellent showcase for the goals of Rotary to increase literacy and the health of children.
We travel next to the Notre Dame Girls Senior Secondary School in Fiapre near Sunyani. The school has over six hundred students and forty-five teachers. The school is growing and has a strong need for more clean water. We drilled a new borehole. It is also mechanized to pump the water into an overhead polytank. We met with the headmistress of the school, Ms. Lucy Donkor. She is “most grateful” for the assistance of the new borehole. She is very interested in hand washing stations to enable the girls to wash their hands with clean water. We tried to get a US Embassy grant to help with that goal, but we’ll try to find a way to improve the sanitation situation at the school as well. The headmistress and about fifty girls join us for the tour of the new borehole. We took a lot of pictures and one of the girls drank the water to celebrate our work. The school is a beautiful place where the teachers believe in hard work to get a good education. It is a great place for one of the Rotary deep wells!
The next stop is Sacred Heart Senior High School in Nsoatre, Ghana. We added a second mechanized borehole for the school near a girl’s dormitory that is being built. This is another fine school with about eight hundred students. I’m proud of the work being done to provide safe water to the future generation in Ghana.
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