Team Updates

GRID and NEA want to improve health in the Carpenter area in a sustainable manner. We have been implementing large health projects and hosting international health teams in support of that dream. Both organizations believe that establishing a hospital in the area may be one of the next possible steps to achieving year-round access to quality health care.

This year, our board members are studying the feasibility of building a hospital in Carpenter. To do this, we need to have accurate information about building plans and costs, and so we have applied to Engineering Ministries International Canada (eMi Canada) for assistance. eMi Canada is a non-profit Christian development organization mobilizing architects, engineers, and other design professionals who donate their skills for projects like this.

Right now, eMi Canada is recruiting professional volunteers to conduct a Carpenter site visit and develop hospital plans so that our board members can make a fully-informed, prayerful decision about launching a hospital. A full team description is available on the eMi Canada site.

If you are interested in contributing to or learning more about this team opportunity, please contact Kevin Wiens of eMi Canada.

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

This was it…our final day. The excavation team worked a full day and they left the pond in Teselima with the project complete and the machines in wonderful working order. The build/teach team spent half of the day in Babator and were able to paint most of the exterior of the church, finish up renovations at the school, and sort out all the teaching materials left.

A few of us stayed in Carpenter to finish organizing the materials left here in storage. In the afternoon, many of us headed back to Teselima to see the work the excavation team had done since our last visit there. It was great to see both machines working beautifully together.

Tonight in our closing ceremonies, after our fabulous dinner eaten outside, and after watching the soccer match on a borrowed TV, some team members spoke on behalf of all of us. Phil praised the Ghanaians for their part on the team, noting that they rose earlier than the rest of us to fuel up and prepare the machines, and admiring how well and how quickly they were able to replace the bulldozer chain considering they did it all ‘by hand,’ with no fuel pumps to fill the tanks and no air compressors for powered wrenches.

Joyce encouraged and blessed the teaching team for all of their efforts and true investment of themselves to the challenging task at hand, and Pat thanked Abraham and his hospitality team for the amazing job they did feeding us three hot meals every day, cleaning up our living quarters each morning, and working so hard to get our very dirty clothes ‘whiter than white,’ scrubbing it all by hand and hanging it out in the sun all day. Joe praised the build team for their hard work that effectively touched the village in three areas: the church, the latrine and the school. Gifts were exchanged and it was such a joy to see each Canadian team member in awe of the beauty and forethought that was put into each gift. We missed Brenda’s presence these two weeks, but David and the NEA team did a wonderful job in her place!

Luggage is packed, weighed and sitting in the gazebo for its early morning pick up. We board the bus with ‘breakfast to go’ and start our way back to Accra. Please pray for continued health safety on the roads. Pray that as we watch the landscape pass by through the windows of our bus, God will remind us of the lessons learned. We are all aware that we are soon returning to life and business as usual three weeks away, but we rejoice in knowing that back here in Ghana, there are wonderful pastors and friends lifting us up in prayer as we do what God has called us to do.

May you too be encouraged and blessed for holding down the fort while we were away, and holding us up in prayer. Thank you all!

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.