My Ward in Ghana

The church is such a wonderful organization! This week I attended yet another new ward (first week was the Jonestown branch, second week visiting in Abomosu, third week attended a Methodist meeting). This ward meets by the temple (same place as the Jonestown branch) and was a boost to my spirits today. The first branch I attended with was quite small, and while one woman did talk with me for a few minutes, I certainly felt like a stranger. The blessing of a ward who is open and inviting is huge. No wonder the prophets urge us to befriend each other. To reach out to new members of the ward. I now feel like I have a ward family here, and look forward to meeting with these brothers and sisters again.

Today was quite an unusual day in the ward. It started with having 8 confirmations. EIGHT!!! Most of them were sisters, and dressed in white dresses with simple designs. This ward was just split, and is continuing to grow – but even the ward itself commented that 8 confirmations in one day was a new experience. Beyond many new members, there were so many Obroni!! (Non-black, we interpret it as ‘white’, but really they include Asians, Latinos, Europeans… anyone not black.) There is a very young couple with a little boy who work at the US Embassy, a mother and daughter who moved to Ghana with their husband/father’s work and plan to be here for several years, a missionary, and I think 8 couple missionaries/temple presidency. It was very strange to have so many whites. Interestingly enough, the strangest phenomenon of having so many whites was actually the little boy (probably 6-9 months). Occassionally we see whites.. but they are always adults. The sight of a white child was just so unusual. Even to me. I guess I’ve adapted to the ‘black everywhere’ idea much much more than I had thought. I am still surprised at how everyone here is black, it just seems like too much… yet when I see whites they just don’t seem to fit in the picture anymore either!

After sitting with one of the sister missionaries, talking between meetings, sitting with the mother and daughter in relief society, and talking after church – I have a number of contacts and friends.

The relief society president – Peggy – is actually the sister of Stephen Abu, the family the Abomosu interns are living with. This means I have already met Peggy, and actually talked with her through a 2 hour car ride to Abomosu. I was surprised that of all wards, I was in hers! She is very sweet, has two young boys (… 10 and 7? ish?) and it felt so wonderful to recognize a local! I wasn’t very trusting of my senses initially, but there she was.

Sister Smith is the sister missionary I sat next to during sacrament meeting. She once lived in Utah, and knows Farmington! (Such a simple, but good feeling.) She is on what sounds like her second mission in Ghana. We now both have each other’s contact information, and I am invited to stay at their apartment on weekends. The apartment is just a block or so from the temple, but it would be so wonderful to do things with some of the women of the church. This gives me a great alternative to going out with ‘the guys’ on the Friday nights that we stay in Accra. She also explained where I can buy more Book of Mormons! (Sorry for anyone who is concerned about where the “S” is on that phrase..) I brought my quad, and then the single Book of Mormon that I gave out a week ago. I’ve been missing having a Book of Mormon separate from my quad.. and may be hoping to get the chance to give out another.

The mother and daughter, Tina and Brooke, were actually visiting the ward as well. They live in Kenyasi, close to the gold mines. Tina’s husband works for the mines and is teaching local talent the ins and outs of his job. They have been here a year and a half and anticipate being here a few more years. They only come to Accra once every couple of months, so I was very lucky to catch them! After today’s meetings, I have been invited to come and stay with them for a weekend. To see Kenyasi and some of the Western Region, and of course spend some time with some Americans. I told them I would bring up a brownie mix and chocolate chips J The only challenge now is finding out how to get there…. lol.

As a side note, there is a lesson I keep learning – well, have been learning for the past 6 months – about judging people by their age. Its absolutely ridiculous! We all have so much in common and should be able to relate and be friends with people of any age, and not doubt their abilities too much. My high school students were fantastic and brilliant students. They have great ability, and there is no reason to try and hold them back. Also, women who are older than us share so much. When the end of the day comes, life is life. We all get up in the mornings, go to work on our daily tasks, try to help those we love, face trials and frustration, and try to move on through life the best we can.

Rose is the final ‘new friend’ to talk about. We spoke after all the meetings while I was waiting for a ride. She learned I am giving loans here through a company, and told me about a grand venture she is doing. She has done microloans in Tanzania before – creating small groups of individuals to give loans to, and help them to improve their lives. (I don’t think that she recognizes this as micro-finance.. at least it didn’t sound like it.) She tells me that when she came back to her own country, she realized how much poverty there is here in Ghana, and wanted to do something about it. She and her husband have created a women’s center of sorts. Its goals include improving women’s health, women’s rights, economic support, and education. They have done breast cancer screenings and education, have made washable sanitary napkins, taught general hygiene, and take any experts they can get their hands on to help teach business practices, and specifically how to improve farming techniques. The surrounding villages are begging Rose to take her program to them, but she simply can’t afford it. These women live out very far from Accra, on the Western border of Ghana, and they do farming. The center has provided all kinds of equipment to help process the foods. From knives to peel, to who knows what goes into making gyree. The women simply bring their raw product, and then put it through the processing, and then can sell it. (This is a huge benefit to even thinking of doing this by hand… which would take away time from beginning the next planting.) One of the biggest problems facing them is that once the food is processed, they have to wait until all the food is sold until they can buy more goods to start the next planting. (Sounding familiar? This is exactly what most people Kingsbridge works with struggle with… except they don’t have to wait an entire planting season to earn their money back to pay a loan.) Rose is trying to fix that problem by selling their goods for them, and possibly loaning them a little bit of money to get started on the next round. The problem is now to Rose. How does she sell all of this gyree? (No real idea what gyree is by the way… except that it sounds like it is made with cassava.) She has to wait for people to come to her and buy it. What they really need, what I’m sure MANY Ghanaians are needing, is transportation of goods. Which is very very difficult on the poor roads, and without a vehicle cannot move the goods anyway. (An example of the roads : her center is roughly 270 kilometers away from Accra – 168 miles. It takes them 8 hours to drive there. Under US roads.. this would take about 3 hours.) This season is especially difficult because it is the rainy season, making the roads even worse. She needs a car. I don’t think there is any way she would be able to get a loan big enough for a car from Kingsbridge. It would simply be too expensive. A car would cost roughly $4,000. They have taken out a loan of that size before, actually even larger, but took 2 years to pay it off.. not something Kingsbridge is likely to add to their portfolio – additionally because the center is so far away making repayment, monitoring, and consulting difficult. Rose told me I will be coming home with her a week from next Sunday to her home – where she will show me pictures of the center, and tell me more about what they do. I’m very interested, but very at a loss to do much to help. Their heavy equipment has all been from donations (from the church, a group within the United Nations, and one other…) and the experts have been paid to come teach by one of these institutions, or come by volunteer. I’m hoping to look at the financial end of exactly what is happening.. and seeing if we can improve business in some way that can allow her to expand. She takes no pay but does this as charity work with her husband. I look forward to learning more.