This time, pictures first:

I know, too many pictures, but the sights and faces of Ghana are too wonderful not to share.

The guest house where we are staying is actually a bed and breakfast. Clement, the owner provided us with hard boiled eggs, toast, and a large green thermos filled with hot water. We added our granola, dry milk, and instant coffee. It was a fine way to start the morning.

By 9:00 we had packed up the “tech suitcase”, an old black Samsonite hard shell suitcase that held the camera gear, tripods, and hard drives, batteries, microphones, and a rats nest of cables. Our recording studio, Pastor Joseph’s church, was only four of five speed bumps and a dozen potholes away from the guest house.

The extreme daytime heat of being so close to the equator shifts daily life. Ghana wakes up early. By 5:30, when I get up to prepare the tech, I can hear the sounds of the village – roosters, people sweeping, and pots and pans. By 9:00, the village is buzzing with motor bikes, overloaded trucks leaning to the side as if they will topple and spill at any moment, workers carrying building supplies, women gracefully walking in single file along the paths balancing large basins stacked with supplies on their heads. It’s not possible to carry such loads on your head while slouching, and the hardworking women of Ghana maintain their elegant posture throughout the day.

Every time we emerge from Ray’s truck carrying our suitcase and backpacks, the Ghanaians rush to our aid, eagerly unloading the truck and carrying our gear. Yesterday, the neighborhood kids started the day unsure of the tall white foreigners with stringy straight hair from another world. Today, they raced to meet us, broad white smiles gleaming. While we waited for the speakers we would later record, I played goofy games with the kids, juggled, and soaked in the joyful sounds of giggling and laughing.

At midday, the crowd of kids peering in from the doorways is finally rewarded for their patience. Laura and Emily take some of the sports equipment friends back home donated and line up the kids. Laughing, yelling, cheering, and confusion is joined with running, twirling and balancing as Laura and Emily set up relay races and team games. The sun and heat pound down on us, yet everyone wants to join in. Sweaty hot kids dusted with red dirt compete fiercely, and while the kids could probably keep playing for several more hours, Laura and Emily finally take a water and shade break, and steady themselves back inside to catch their breath.

The last recording of the day was a team from the local health facility. We recorded them providing information on community health topics, including malaria, malnutrition, clean water, breast cancer, ebola, cholera, HIV, dental health, and conjunctivitis. We recorded about 15 different topics for the community health portion of the audio we will produce. Life in a mud hut without running water or sanitation can be harsh. Malaria is an ongoing problem. Yet joy, hospitality, and kindness abound in this small church family. We are thankful that we can be here and support the local pastors working in this community.

Emily VanHuis:
Another long but rewarding day in Africa! More beautiful smiles. More friendly faces. More joyful greetings.

We woke up in Walewale for the last time this morning. Pastor Joseph and his beautiful wife met us at our guest house while we were finishing up breakfast to record a video to send to our American supporters. His joyful spirit proclaimed his people’s thankfulness for the work that we are doing as a team, both American and Ghanaian.

After wishing Walewale goodbye, we crammed everything into Wofa Ray’s truck. The rest of our day was filled with driving (stops along the way)…but the continual conversation made the many hours fly by more quickly.

Our first stop was in Tamale, where we met our friend Grace (Pastor Joseph’s daughter) for some shopping and lunch. The Beckmans knew of a Batik shop that they had wanted to visit for many years, but every time they have tried, it had been closed. Finally, this time, it was open! Mrs. Beckman (or Auntie Beth :)) and I were able to get some material for the seamstress there to make dresses for us. We intend to pick them up at the end of the week. Poor Mr. Beckman was a good sport…waiting for all the girls to finish their shopping. It’s a tireless event, to be sure. But even he was able to pick up something fashionable.

After eating lunch at the Luxury Restaurant, we all got back into the car again and drove to Zamashegu, where we stopped to greet an old friend, Pastor Paul, and his family. Along the way we saw many beautiful people and landscapes.

As it was getting dark, we drove one more leg to Gushegu to meet Pastor Matthew, our contact for the Dagbani language recordings. After discussing with him our plans for the recording process of this language and checking out the location where we will be working the next few days, we checked into our guest house to bring our day to a close.

While we were eating dinner in the lobby of this house, we noticed two furry little friends scurry across the floor. Of course the whole rest of the meal was spent with the pranksters (Mr. Beckman and my dear mother) touching everyone’s feet, pretending the mice were back. I broke a little common courtesy and put my feet up…just too risky to leave them down. :) At least we haven’t seen any cockroaches like this morning!

We’re just praying for good health and endurance to make it through the rest of the week. As hard as it may seem, God is sending little reminders to be joyful always. (Philippians 4 comes to mind.) The signs at the house at least brought us some good laughter: “No Smooking” with a cigarette crossed out behind the words led to some hearty laughs. Our personal favorite is the sign above the toilet that reads: “Please Flash Me!” Hmm.. Ironic? The best part was listening to sweet Auntie Beth explain to Wofa Ray why that was funny to us Americans. He answered by saying, “These people need to do a spelling bee!” How relieving it is to laugh. :)

All in all, we had another successful day and are looking forward to continuing the recording process tomorrow. Even though this hasn’t been necessarily easy, we know that what we are working for will have an eternal impact on many lives. The faces of my many little friends, always eager to smile for a “snap”, make me remember why we are here. What an experience.

It has been a busy two days. Sorry for getting behind. A long power outage and simply lots of work have postponed Internet time. Below… a slew of pictures. Also, at the bottom, Laura wrote up a summary.

Laura VanHuis:

When the roosters begin crowing just outside our windows at 4:00am, we know another full day of recording is about to begin. Yesterday and today we have spent in Gushegu and surrounding remote villages in the Northern Region of Ghana. As of now, we currently have recorded 97 tracks of testimonies, songs, prayers, and community health teachings. We are thankful to have been so productive thus far!!

When Jesus talked about the “uttermost ends of the earth”, I am fairly certain we were standing there yesterday. Pastor Matthew, our Ghanaian pastor in this region, led us on his motorbike over incredibly rough roads strewn with enormous potholes and rocky obstacles and ditches. We drove 10 miles deep into the bush as we passed scrawny cattle, boys whipping donkeys which carried carts filled with market goods, and the occasional woman balancing a weighty bundle of long wood and sticks. (Where in the world is she coming from? And, even more perplexing, where is she going??) Ray drove his sturdy pick-up truck with “team-blondie” bouncing and banging around in the backseat for nearly an hour. Eventually, we stepped out of the truck into an almost surreal scene – almost no sense of civilization looking anywhere in a 360 degree radius for miles and miles beyond. Primitive, open, remote, picturesque Africa.

Within 15 minutes of our arrival, and at the sound of the Ghanaian drums beats, over 100 people of all ages crowded into a tiny church building to watch the recording of the children’s choir singing in the Dagbani language. (It’s amazing how quiet all of the babies, toddlers, small children are under the watchful eyes of their mothers and the warnings of their village elders!) Our favorite song was an impressive verbatim recitation of all of Matthew 1, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. The song leader sang his lungs out for nearly eight minutes in doing so – incredible. It makes sense to me why Africans would enjoy this type of song: they are entrenched in a culture that is dominated by tribalism and family lineages. How beautiful to know these people are coming to a first time realization that their true identities are in Christ, and that as Christians, we all belong to the same Father!

Finally, I’d like to share a bit about how much I appreciate and enjoy each member of this fantastic team! Ray is the epitome of servant-leadership: he taxis everybody around, buys water when necessary, and has done a great job of preparing the national pastors for our visit. He’s the real deal. Joshua, Ray’s Ghanaian mentee, translates for us and works hard to check for accuracy in the testimonies and Bible stories. He has a wonderful demeanor and is a new and special friend. Pete is incredibly gifted with technology and the brains to put all of this project together. His photography wonderfully captures the essence of what words cannot. Mama Beth’s meticulous attention to detail has kept everybody on track. She logs every detail of what is being recorded, which is a necessary task. Beth’s heart for helping Ray thrive here is evident in all that she does. Emily is content to stay in the background, faithfully working as Pete’s assistant with videoing and photography. I’ve been so proud of her no complaining, positive attitude (despite mice, cockroaches, spiders, 105 degree heat, and no electricity while “sleeping” last night!) She is a valuable asset to the team. I’m so grateful to experience this with her.

Tomorrow will be another long day. We are looking forward to it already!

The roosters living outside our window announced the workday had started. We were ready to wake up, anxious to drive north to Gbintiri for the Celebration, and also simply ready to give up trying to sleep comfortably. Our last few nights have been interrupted by sounds from a nearby hotel. The wooden headboard to our bed had four roughly hewn drawers, two stacked on each side. Each was large enough for a pair of small shoes, or possibly a water bottle. The two-story, four room hotel had an active night life, and every few hours when their party became too lively, I would don my headlamp, snatch something dangerous looking within my reach, fling open the drawer next to my head and stab at the large rodent in room 2A. Sometimes the party would scamper off to room 2B, and I would crawl over to Beth’s side of the bed and try a more stealthy approach. Mostly, I postponed their celebrations for a couple of hours. Using my mini tripod as a pair of pincers, I did end up shortening one of their tails. I expected word to spread of the mighty white hunter, but they didn’t seem impressed, and continued to drop by. So we said farewell to our little guesthouse and began the two hour drive further north toward the border of Ghana near Togo and Burkina Faso.

One of the northernmost villages of the Komba people is Gbintiri. Two years ago, when Beth and I were last here, the road north was almost entirely a dusty red ribbon cut straight through the bush. It took hours of kidney crushing bumps down the washed out route to travel a short distance between villages. During the wet season, the road turned to slop, and communities were simply cut off. Today, however, a thin asphalt or “sealed” road as it is called here has made it most of the way north. The government intends to connect the road to Burkina Faso. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We have been slow to blog because we have been just too exhausted at the end of the day to keep our eyes open. After the cool trickle of water from the shower dissolves the salty white lines around our necks and the orange-red dust is rinsed into the drain, we spend an hour eating dinner and slurping down bags of filtered water. So before I describe Gbintiri, I’ll share some highlights from the day before.

After a few more recordings, rounding out our collection of Dagbani language choirs, prayers, and Bible stories, we drove to one of the small villages where the water filters we have raised funds for are having significant impact. Water is life here in the bush, and women and kids spend time walking miles to find water. Most of the “bore holes” (wells) donated by NGOs are close to the road, where a large drill rig can be driven in. Departing the main road and driving the truck down a motorcycle and donkey path for 20 minutes brings us to one of the countless small villages where the only water available is miles away in ponds and rivers where livestock wallow.

The water filters that Ray helped distribute months ago are inexpensive. They are made by a company in Accra. A simple clay filter and plastic bucket allows gravity to slowly pull the water through to the spigot at the bottom. Our visit to the village would help us refine the program, and understand if there were problems with how the filters were being used. As is the custom, we stopped first at the chief’s hut to thank him for letting Ray donate the filter to the women of the village. Standing watch on each side of the door was carved wooden posts topped with small gourds and covered in animal blood and rotting parts. The chief was an animist, or “traditionalist” as they refer to themselves. I took a breath and we followed Ray into the circular mud hut. The hut stank. My eyes slowly adjusted to the windowless room. Another roughly carved post covered in animal parts was behind the chief, who reclined on a 8” riser of adobe. I impatiently waited for Ray to provide introductions and get permission to walk around the village and talk to the women who had been using the filters. Moments later, we were in the sunshine, lookup at the bright sky and breathing deeply. With permission, we entered a compound and talked to the wife. She demonstrated her working water filter, and told us how important they were for her young kids. I took pictures, played with the kids, and managed to coax Emily and Ray into demonstrating how the women pound cassava roots to make fufu, a local dish of sticky white goo that is dipped with your hand into a sauce.

The water filters are working well, and while the clay pot only lasts 2 or 3 years, they are effective, and reduce the prevalence of parasites and other problems with their youngest kids.

Back to our story… heading to Gbintiri

After a few hours on the uncompleted road, we reached the small outpost of Gbintiri. Mud huts, tin roofs, power lines, pigs, chickens, and a few cement buildings, such as the school, stood out in contrast to the miles of surrounding bush. An unfinished gas station hoped for completion of the road.

Two years ago we recorded some fantastic choirs here and began our partnership with the Lutheran Bible Translators. LBT had been working with a group of local pastors to translate the New Testament into Komba. They were just finishing up the translation two years ago. However, with the Komba language first written in 2004, there were not many native readers, which is precisely why the audio version was so important. OneWay funded local Komba speakers to participate in a full audio recording of the first written version of the Komba New Testament.

The celebration scheduled for today was to mark the completion of that project. Future Bible+ audio players would have the local choirs, community health information, Bible stories, and the newly completed NT.

Small boys picked up wooden benches, struggled to lift them, and then rested them on their heads, carrying the to shady spots in front of the stage, which was simply the side of a building. Ray had given permission to rent a loudspeaker system, and African beats were blasting. The shady spots filled quickly. African dresses and shirts gave vibrant, loud colors to compliment the earth-tones of the landscape. People kept coming. A few folks were beginning to dance to the painfully loud music. It finally hit me how big a celebration this was going to be…

After formal introductions, prayers, and a song or two, Beth and I took our turn to address the crowd. We thanked them for their help and participation. The people of Ghana are wonderful, and we were warmly received. Wow. More than 2000 people were in the crowd, and after we examine the photos, I think the number will be closer to 2500.

Dance! After about 90 minutes, it was time to dance… and dance we did! Emily VanHuis led the way, gathering all the women into a large dance circle. Ok, maybe not, but everyone did join in and dance. The lively colors of Africa swirled in a giant circle, breaking out into the middle when the circle got too tight. My ears throbbed with pain as I passed the speaker, but was easily outweighed by the joy of the celebration. Wow! If only we could get suburb families to dance like Africans. Too much fun….

AND WE HAVE VIDEO!

Ok… we are on our way home now. The next blog post should be from the USA, wrapping things up with some pictures of Ray and his family.

Home

Suddenly, the traveling is over. The trip is not. It will never be.

Reaching out, flashing a smile, giving a subtle wink, sharing stories, dancing with abandon in scorching heat, breaking bread together, allowing my heart to share pain and joy with neighbors I’ve only just met, reflecting on my life, my failures, my hopes… they are milestones of a journey that never ends. The trip is not over. It should never be. We need unceasing reminders of Grace, Hope, Joy, Forgiveness, Faith, and Love. Our intense, over-scheduled, distracted, do-it-all, disconnected lives numb us. Periodically breaking free helps, but it is a temporary salve. The trip must continue.

On our last day, we enjoyed some time visiting with Ray at his house:

Next? Work on the pictures, videos, and do a presentation at OWC. Also, work on the Dagbani and Mampruli audio a bit, making some improvements. Then we can start planning for another trip in a couple years…

Thanks for everyone’s thoughts and prayers. Until next time….

-Pete and the team