Discernment

February 19, 2008

This morning started off with a meeting, and quite an important/symbolic one at that. This morning we were meeting with the Bishop of the Kumasi area. We were meeting with him to discuss the progress of our project and to express our appreciation for his support and our partnership. He represents our Methodist brothers and sisters here in Kumasi and my first impression of him is a man who is full of joy and compassion. His continued work with our project and willingness to work with the First United Women is a real showing of the body of Christ. He promised to continue to aid our work here and our partnership. I was chosen to hand over the Penny Project’s gift of appreciation to him and say a few words… no big deal right? After our meeting with the Bishop we had intended to head back to the bus, only to find out that mama Twum (Rev. Twum’s wife) teaches at the school right behind the building we were at. So we went over to see the kids, interrupt class and gather crowds of children together for pictures. The moment we pulled out camera’s the kids flocked around us. There were actually two children who got into a little fight after one of them fell on the other. Yeah, believe it or not even children in Methodist schools in Ghana get into little scuffs. One interesting thing that I learned was that blue and yellow are the colors of the Methodist school uniforms here, so every time I see a kid wearing those colors I know there’s a fellow Methodist. Once the children were done mobbing us for pictures, there’s some crazy video of Kevin Furlong getting mobbed, we had to jump on the bus and grab some lunch. It should be no surprise that I can’t remember what we ate for lunch, but I can guarantee it was some sort of chicken, with either rice or noodles (or both), and fishermen’s soup (which may or may not include fish). When we got back to the bus we went driving to a Methodist hospital that the youth visited on the last trip. Rev. Twum decided however, to make a surprise visit to his retirement home that is currently under construction. It was in a gated area, we had to walk through a narrow street to get to it. Once he opened the gate to his home, the home it self was quite nice. He gave us a little tour and Rita gave me the task of drawing water from their well. This is a task that would normally not be too difficult except for the depth of the well. It was probably 100 feet down. When I was done drawing water for the garden we were off to the hospital once more.
The hospital was a pretty powerful experience for me and for everybody on the trip. It was a small hospital and pretty shocking by our standards, but you could definitely see the miracles and blessings of God. The entrance to the hospital was an open roofed waiting room with smaller rooms lining the outside of the courtyard. People waited on wooden benches underneath tents and there were chickens and roosters waltzing around. From there we checked out the Intensive Care Unit, where there was a small child sleeping and being cared for by four nurses. The room had several beds and a fan in the middle, with a small desk for the nurses. Afterwards, we walked back across the courtyard to the laboratory. From what I understand they had some fairly decent equipment and they were able to treat people with all kinds of ailments. They also had a birthing area, a surgical area and a x-ray room. Upstairs were the wards, male and female and where we met a child who had both of her legs wrapped because of a crippling fall. There were several mothers in the room with their children, sitting by their child’s bed, holding their hands, rubbing their backs, attempting to comfort them in any way possible. It was a powerful sight and it said a lot about the doctors, when you saw the mother’s eyes light up when they walked into the room. The doctors and nurses there do great work, for non-profit, and the community recognizes that. While we were there, there was also a team of dentists and opticians from California, who were dedicating their week to helping the children in the community. This hospital and the works that God does through the wonderful people there are one of the many things that the youth of the Penny Project had committed their hearts to, and I can see why. The administrator of the hospital is a man from Indiana and he said that if any of us would feel called from God to come back and work (they need any help they can get, all kinds of doctors, administrators, business people and especially, ministers) they would put us up and help us get there.
After the hospital visit I was feeling pretty emotional and I was considering some of the things the administrator had said. I wouldn’t get to entertain these thoughts fro very long however as we were heading to Bonewire, the Kente cloth village. The second we stepped off of the bus we were surrounded. People were grabbing at us, shoving their goods in our faces and constantly vying for our attention… and money. I immediately decided to follow Rita and Sally to the nearest shop to avoid the sellers. I ended up buying some Kente cloth for the Bonsell’s (the wonderful people who found in their hearts a calling from God to entirely enable me to travel here) but then had to leave the shop to find other goods. Apparently Ciarra was having some trouble as she most closely resembles the people here, so she is sort of an item of affection (and lust) for some men here. She had been offered a Cedi if she would come back to some of the men’s huts with them. I decided I would take her with me from there on out and stay very close to her the entire time.
After that experience we were all pretty tired. So Jeff, Kevin and I decided to check out the pool side at our hotel. I had bought a game similar to Mancala at the cultural center the day before and Boat had shown us how to play the Ghanaian version called Owari. So we grabbed a couple of Cokes, struck up some conversation with the woman who was bartending and played a couple of games of Owari. Eventually Ciarra came down and joined in. It seems a little weird having a pool and a bartender, but after a day like today, it was definitely well appreciated. Now I have time to discern my calling. Where is God calling me next? Could it be Ghana? Where is my ministry? One thing is for sure, never make plans, God will usually intervene in someway and mess them up.