APOLOGIES FOR THE LATE POST! We spent month two in Sunyani Ghana! Ghana was so exciting and Sunyani is beautiful. Sunyani is about eight hours north of Accra, so we were far inland. I was pretty thrilled by this because we spent all month one in a bustling city along the coast and then transitioned to living in a community bordering a forest with rolling hills. There are several universities, so despite being smaller and more removed, the city is vibrant with busy students. Also, Ghana’s national language is English! That means we were able to converse on our own, mostly… Due to access to education many people in the city speak english very well, while the more rural parts only speak Twi. We stayed in a hotel near the church and were super thankful for our accommodations. We had indoor plumbing, running water and electricity. Also, I’ve been getting much better at hand washing my clothes, something I’m sure everyone is thankful for. Month two was incredibly busy so I’ll do my best to thoroughly cover it all!
Our ministry host for month two was Elim City church. They were absolutely amazing. They were organized, efficient, encouraging and energized about working in the community. When we arrived, Pastor Gospel gave us an overview of his vision for his church and it went like this: people often go to church to try and get blessings from God, but he wants them to come because of who God is. There is a lot of prosperity preaching in Africa, where people are encouraged to give all they have and are told that in a snap God that will make them independently wealthy. For the area, Pastor Gospel has an incredibly unique church concept. He creates an exciting atmosphere for people to join together in community and his church is thriving. Every Sunday we attended first service at 7:00 and then volunteered in the next service at 9:00. I taught Sunday school to the 10-13 year olds and I loved it. Once I had them try the game “Telephone,” but seeing as how they are all learning basic english, the words that came back at the end didn’t make much sense. We laughed until kids fell out of their chairs and it was glorious.
Because Elim City in Sunyani is only three years old, much of the work we did was to spread the news about the church. A core group of Elim City’s church members worked with us tirelessly every week, driving us to and from new communities where we spoke to the locals. Everywhere we went we drew excited stares from the adults and giggles from the children. They would point and say “Oburoni,” which means “white man.” There was one hysterical moment in particular where these children came running up to us singing in unison O-Bur-O-Ni. The girls first pointed shyly at my friend Miranda and myself, and then pointed at our friend Joni and said, “Black America.” We laughed for the rest of the day. Also, apparently similarity in names indicates familial relation, so Joni and myself have been repeatedly declared brother and sister.
There is a school in a nearby village that we visited several times during the month. It is beautiful, tucked away on a large property with a soccer field of red dirt at the center of all the school buildings. Without any direction, we were told to divide into pairs and were given free run of classrooms full of children for three hours. As you can imagine, it was wonderful. I had a class of 2nd year students with Esther and none of them had yet learned how to speak english. We walked in on them learning, “how are you?” and then responding with, “fine.” The teacher said next on the agenda was mathematics and that they needed to learn numbers in english. So, for almost three hours, Esther and I played games with the kids as they learned the spelling of numbers one through ten. The girls mostly dominated the class so we were seriously trying to motivate the boys. Also, the teacher left for over an hour so Esther and I shouted and clapped over-exuberantly trying to overcome the very clear language barrier with raw enthusiasm… And I think it worked! The kids were identifying and spelling their numbers correctly by noon! Mostly…
We went back to the school to play with the kids again and I was able to play soccer with thirty screaming children, which was basically a dream. We divided into teams and chose our halves, but two minutes into the game I counted twice the necessary players and was informed my team had switched directions. I scored and was taking a victory lap around the twelve year-olds when I was told it was own-goal since we had, in fact, changed directions. All I know is I’m counting it.
We had the privilege of being in Ghana during a rather exciting political time. In December, they will be electing their next president. Ghana’s political history is marked by violent coupes, only experiencing a sense stability since the 1980s. The democratic process here is freshly empowering and the people are passionate about their government. During our stay, there was a riot in Accra during one of the candidates’ speeches. No one was seriously injured and none of our teammates were impacted so no cause for alarm. Rather than being alarmed, I was secretly thrilled by the involvement. I heard from a couple locals that there is a sentiment in Ghana that longs for the return of British involvement in the Ghanaian government. The man I spoke with is highly educated and he carried a borderline deprecating perspective of his nation’s ability to manage itself without the “white man.” I’m excited about Ghana moving forward into their own future and I’m praying for positive self-perception and hopefulness over the country.
Prayer Requests:
- Ghana’s political atmosphere.
- The children’s ministry at Elim City Church.
P.S. My team surprised me repeatedly on my birthday and it was an amazing time! I’m so thankful for all these crazies. And also thank you so much to everyone who reached out, I apologize if my response was delayed. Internet in Africa was a constant struggle.
P.S.#2 We were super crazy busy this month so we didn’t have much time to explore, but our host took us all on an adventure day where we did the following:
ADVENTURE DAY: SUNYANI, GHANA
Adventure #1: Catholic Monastery 
It was absolutely beautiful! We ate oranges from their orchard, climbed onto a look-out point and played with their dogs.
Adventure #2: Waterfall 1
The tallest waterfall in Sunyani
Adventure #3: Waterfall 2
A prayer garden waterfall.
Thank you so much for reading! Month 2 was very busy and transformative for me and my team. We experienced a lot of stretching simply because of the schedule and we drew a lot of encouragement from seeing God’s hopefulness at work it this city. Thank you for your time.
Oh, and also… I AM FULLY FUNDED! THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL MY SUPPORTERS! I wouldn’t be where I am without you and I am so grateful. God bless you!
