Kim Lawson

We left Rod in Accra as he is heading to Malawi to visit his son, and Anees left the group at Heathrow as he was heading to India to visit his family, but otherwise we all arrived home safe and sound today: on time, and all bags accounted for, too!

It was wonderful to see the faces of our loved ones as we walked through the arrival doors at Pearson Airport. Hugs were filled with love, thankfulness, and the bittersweet realization that this short term mission is over …well, sort of. Practically, we are all now heading back to our ‘regular life’ and routines. Our prayer now is that this was really a new beginning to a new reality, and that we all take time to pause and let the Lord impress on our hearts forever this experience, knowing it will mean something uniquely different to each one of us. May the memories and stories we tell of this time bring the Lord glory.

Thank you all once again! Your love, prayers, support and encouragement breathed life and strength when we needed it.

Kim

After a lovely day of shopping and/or spending the day by the hotel pool, we are all sitting in our gate at the Accra airport awaiting our boarding call. While we wait, we are watching a crowd outside on the tarmac with traditional music and dance. Dignitaries with security are everywhere as they await the arrival of the body of Komla Dumor, a respected Ghanaian journalist who worked for the BBC and who passed away in London.

Thank you for praying for our safe travels and that we can get some good rest in transit!  We all look forward to seeing our loved ones very soon!

Early this morning the luggage was stacked high and skillfully tied down in the back of the pickup and the bus, our Ghanaian pastors and fellow workers rose to see us off, tears flowed as final hugs were shared, and then off we went with coolers packed with our breakfast and lunch, thanks to Abraham and his team waking at 4am like they did each morning to prepare for us. From the amazing spaghetti that welcomed us on the night of our arrival, to the egg omelet sandwiches with fresh bread to go on the morning we departed, we were so blessed and made to feel at home each time we gathered together with the Ghanaians in song, prayer, and to share daily reports at the end of each day.

Stopping twice for quick rest breaks, we were in Accra in approx 9 1/2 hours. The hotel was ready for us and the air conditioners were fired up in our rooms. Some rested, while some of us were wonderfully refreshed by leisurely swim in the hotel pool before enjoying a fabulous dinner buffet. Many of us are looking forward to sleeping in a little before we head to the market to do some shopping (or resting and enjoying the pool). We will enjoy dinner at the hotel before we depart for the airport tomorrow evening.

We are all looking forward to seeing our loved ones once again, with many stories to tell! Your love and prayers were so appreciated and necessary for us during this time. Thank you … and hopefully we are successful in packing a little African heat with us as we return to reported frigid and snowy weather!

Kim

A little rain in the morning didn’t dampen our spirits any, and it cleared up before we arrived at Babator. Our morning commute started with a lovely ‘pick-me-up’— literally and figuratively! We picked up some ladies in Bamboi. Most were able to squeeze into the back of the cargo truck that also contained many of our team members, suitcases of school supplies, tools, and the ingredients for an afternoon village feast for approximately 1000 people (a 650lb-ish live cow and the giant cooking pots that would soon contain him). Three of the ladies came onto our bus. Language barriers limited conversation with them, so they began to sing for us and being that many songs were in English, we tried our best to join in with them. They were the perfect diversion as many of the teachers were in their classrooms for the last time, feeling happy-sad: happy to bring our students through the Fun Day activities that Heather led us in organizing and excited to present gifts to all the children, but sad as we faced the fact that this was our last day in their classrooms, and after tomorrow, most of us may not ever see them again.

Despite a crazy Fun Day with gifts to give and receive, tears flowed from both the Ghanaian and Canadian teachers and many students as well. Those tears were pushed aside for a while once the drums started beating, the feast was served, and the dancing started. Heartfelt thanks was expressed beautifully by the chief, including an African proverb, “Although the oceans are vast, they still accept every single drop of rain,” describing the fact that although they know we Canadians have much and their gifts and attempts to express thanks may seem quite small, they still offer them to us in hopes that we accept them. The teachers themselves brought forward a gift of yams, which we humbly accepted, honoured to receive them knowing that that of the four, only two of them are paid and the other two are ‘putting in their time’ as they complete their teacher training.

The construction team was not able to paint the exterior of the church due to the threat of rain, so thankfully some of them helped us run the Fun Day activities, while others watched the butchering and food preparation process. The foundation work at the latrine was continued, renovations continued at the school, and more finishing details were done at the church.

Back in Carpenter and Teselima, the excavation team continued to work and now the have all the equipment up and running beautifully, ready for another day.

Thank you for offering to donate some snow to fill the fish pond! We know Teselima would love it. Today there was a little water in one corner of the pond due to the early morning rain, and the young villagers were seen playing in it.

Some token gifts we brought are packaged and ready for our team party tomorrow evening here in Carpenter after a short work day. It was requested that we begin the party earlier than usual so that everything is wrapped up in time to watch the Africa Cup final game together. (Go Ghana!)

Today truly was a day not one of us will ever forget. Thank you for all your support that enabled us to experience it!

Kim

Today some of our loving teachers shared tears through our lunch break and at the end of the day when they reflected that today was the last full day in class for them with the children who have made their way into their hearts. It has taken a lot of nightly preparation, daily energy, constant creativity and enduring patience as they struggled to find the most effective and enjoyable ways to teach while crossing the language and cultural barriers we faced. It has been an incredible blessing to have so many of our teaching team experienced and passionate about their role, and also to have the Ghanaian teachers embrace having us in their classrooms, eager to join with us in making the most of our time together.

After we spent some casual time this evening in David and Brenda’s home, the teachers were making final preparations for the twelve-station playday activities the entire school body will enjoy tomorrow with the help of some of the village women! Mid-afternoon tomorrow, our Babator team and the entire village will enjoy a meal together. It’s very exciting!

The building team has painted two coats on the interior walls and all the roofing is complete. The latrine foundations are rising out of the 8-foot deep hole that was dug. Several team members have taken on the task of making school benches and school maintenance projects. The new window and door frames required due to termite damage were built earlier and installed today after classes were dismissed. It was wonderful to see a couple of the teachers joining in with the demolition.

The excavation team continued to learn from ‘the best school’ of real-life mechanical challenges, but should be ready to return to Teselima with the dozer to complete the final touches on the pond. It’s a dry pond at this point until the rainy season begins, as the old well area has not produced water.

Insightful Amy suggested a theme song for the excavation team, who are using CAT machines. Sing with us: “But the CAT came back the very next day. Yes, the CAT came back. They thought it was goner. But the CAT came back. It just wouldn’t stay away.”

Through this time, our team members have experienced highs and lows, but continue to pray that we finish strong, leaving behind a testimony of grace, hope and love, bringing glory to God in all things.

Kim

The commute to Babator was incredibly interesting today. Three abrupt stops on the dirt road had us witness a school boy catching and killing a grasscutter (groundhog, a delicacy for Ghanaians); the toss of a yam into the moving cargo truck resulted in our team administrating some first aid care to a team member and later in the day a moving apology to the group; finally, our Ghanaian pastors and volunteers jumped out of the truck from every direction to chase a monkey into the forest! (No, they didn’t catch it, but the effort was enjoyable to watch.) Let’s just say ‘We aren’t in Ontario anymore!’ and everyone is doing well. Thank you for covering our travels in your prayers.

In Babator, the church continues to progress with the parging complete on the inside and it is ready to paint possibly tomorrow; the latrine foundation walls are going up; and the teachers enjoyed Braden entertaining the children in music and song once again.

In Teselima, the dozer worked for a good part of the day until it was brought back to Carpenter to begin the process of having the new chain installed, and the excavator ended a productive day with a hydraulic line leak. As David shared tonight, the blessing of all of these challenges are that they create ‘the best school’ for increasing the knowledge and confidence of the Ghanaian operators and mechanics as they work through these challenges as a team with Phil and Glenn.

Did they hit water today as we prayed? They certainly didn’t hit a gusher, but apparently there were some signs that there may be some water there. They will see tomorrow what has come of the work in that area. They will be finished the pond tomorrow and moving back to the Carpenter area to finish up the repairs and getting to some other projects David has in mind.

All is well, especially with our Ghanaian friends as Ghana won the soccer game tonight against Nigeria and they are headed into the finals on Friday against Libya. Go Ghana!

Thank you for your continued words of encouragement and prayers. With the hot weather, hard work and team dynamics, we know we need them each and every day! Thank you for standing with us in this work.

Today was a scorcher: 40 degrees on the thermometer with intense sunshine. Our JK/SK teacher, Frank, asked Joyce and I about “sunbathing for Vitamin D”. This was something he had heard during his lectures last weekend and he wondered what “sun-bathing” could possibly be! He was also wonderful explaining some cultural issues we deal with.

Ebenezer shared today that although the village chief does not share our faith, he helped clear the land for the church and is excited for it being built. It is known that where there are Christians in a village, the village develops for the better. Quite the testimony!

The roof of the church is six sheets of tin from being complete; the interior walls are all parged; one exterior wall is about two-thirds complete; and the latrine foundation was started.

In school we learned that our JK/SK children love spiders. It was fun to see the Grade 2 class marching around the school yard with tambourines, and to see the large smiles and hear the thrill of the Grade 3/4 class as they ran out of their classroom with their pinwheel craft today! The area school supervisor paid us a visit today and praised the work we were doing.

The excavation team had another ‘weak link’ to take care of with the track chain, but a good six hours of work was done with the dozer. Barring any additional delays, Phil expects the pond in Teselima may be completed tomorrow so they can take care of another couple of projects that David has in mind.

We expect everyone to be back on site tomorrow and are praying for continued good health and strength to finish strong. Phil asked us all to pray that as they finish up the pond, they hit water where there used to be a well, as this would be a real blessing. It would ensure that when the pond fills in the rainy season, it will never run dry. He gave us permission to share this request here so that you can join us in praying for this!

Thanks again for your comments!

Kim

Today several of our construction team were working up high in the rafters finishing the framing for the roof to ready it for the tin to be installed tomorrow. The interior walls were being parged, and tomorrow our team will start to work on the latrine.

Teachers were back to the classrooms reestablishing any routines that they had put into place last week. We were all surprised when a young lady came across the Black Volta by canoe with a gift of yams and dried fish from her father, a parishioner from Yaara who heard we were there.

Phil and Glenn returned late tonight due to the fact the dozer track chain failed once again after a couple hours running, and it took until after 7 tonight to get it running once again. New chains will arrive tonight, but will require a full day to install, so please pray that this last repair will hold so that Glenn can run these last days.

After dinner, the teachers gathered to continue organizing the play day we are having on Friday, and we hope to have some of the Babator ladies help us that day. We are hoping that this will be the opportunity to develop a relationship with them as we haven’t had a real chance to up until now.

Your comments and posts are REALLY appreciated. Please continue to pray for good health, workplace and commuting safety; that the equipment will run well; and that more than anything, we leave behind a beautiful lasting impression of Jesus’ love and provision.

Finishing well,

Kim