Gentle Konkomba voices were raised in song. The sun would rise soon. My eyes, now open, took in the early morning landscape. A dry breeze moved through the shea trees. The songs and prayers of the students, gathered in a nearby classroom, were lifted in thanksgiving.

In Naperville, our early morning routine begins with hot coffee in hand, a woolen blanked draped across our legs, and a comfortable couch as peaceful music streams over AirPlay.

Yet here, as the sun begins to reveal the day and break through the clouds obscuring the horizon, morning prayer and music is participatory. Voices are raised. What have I lost to a playlist? Can I learn from the Konkomba and restore the traditions of my ancestors?

As I sat in a blue plastic chair, writing in my journal and knowing the cool morning air would soon give way to the 100 degree heat of the equatorial sun, students passed by smiling, then crouching low to the ground as a gesture of respect, offered a “good morning” greeting. This is a land and a people with rich traditions, beautiful song, and smiling faces. Thank you Lord for peaceful mornings.

It was not long before the men and women started their daily tasks. Justice, always ready with a broad grin, eagerly gave me a tour of the simple buildings and surrounding farmland. Our visit during the dry season hides the fertility of the land. In the rainy season, yams, corn, peanuts (ground nuts), rice, beans, grow rapidly in the daily showers and bright sunshine. The rain transforms many roads into impassable, muddy bogs. Yet Justice is familiar with the land of his ancestors and looks forward to the rains that will come. He beams with excitement as he describes how the 20 acres of dusty red dirt will yield a harvest to feed students. I asked him to pause during his description so I could record a video, in his own words, describing what he sees.

Click the video below to hear Justice

After I finished recording the short video, we chatted a few minutes more — his smile so full of hope, joy, and peace. As he ended the tour he looked out over the buildings and dirt and summed up the situation — we have a well and pump for water, a classroom for the school, places for the students to live, and we will plant crops — “we have everything we need”. He paused and said it again, “we have everything we need”, his smile even larger than before.

Lunch

In the afternoon, the students began preparation for lunch. In many parts of the world, grains are transformed into bread. Here in Ghana, grains and starches are not converted to dry loaves with ovens, but rather fermented, cooked, and stretched into banku. Harvested corn and cassava root is dried and ground. After adding water and a bit of salt, the mixture is allowed to set and slightly ferment, similar to sour dough. The next step is labor intensive. With a wooden paddle, the mixture is vigorously stirred and folded while it cooks over the fire. In the blazing sun and heat of the afternoon, Beth and I got dizzy just imagining folding and whipping the sticky mixture over a fire.

After cooling, the cooked dough is measured out into bags and formed into balls. The “bread” is commonly served with a savory soup, fish, or sauce. Today, the students butchered a guinea fowl for the soup. Lunch here is not Farm to Table, but rather Yard to Table.

The words of Justice continue to roll through my mind. “We have everything we need.” We pray each day for our daily bread. In this case, the simple dough of corn, cassava, water, and salt, cooked over an open fire. Lord, thank you for our daily bread.

The School

About thirty young adults, a few married and with small children, are now living and studying at the Philip Centre North (PCN). This two month session is for the Konkomba School of Missions. While most of the classes taught by Justice and Stephen are in the native language, Konkomba, the instructors also provide help learning English.

The photos below provide a small window on the dynamic and energetic students and their classes.

In October, after the growing season and rains have passed, we plan to return to PCN to help set up the instructors from Create Mobile as they reach a new group of students from around Ghana and the nearby countries in mobile-phone-based short-form videos.

An Improv Show

The Philip Centre is only 0.8 miles from the main road. As we drove here, Beth marked the GPS locations of cell towers on the road. The nearest one is 2.4 miles away and slightly over a hill, with a heading of 200 degrees. Justice is having a very difficult time communicating with the office in Accra because the cellular signal is so weak. In the cool of the evening, it is sometimes possible to exchange a few WhatsApp messages, or if the conditions are just right, place a voice call. But sharing photos or other Internet-based communication is nearly impossible.

I brought a pair of log-periodic antennas with 9db gain. My hope… really a wild guess, was that maybe, with the right orientation and setup, I could configure some improved communications. I brought everything I believed I would need, that could also fit in a suitcase.

To make it all work, we fashioned a mounting board out of a cement mortar board, sent someone to Gushegu to find rebar tie wire, built a power washer from a water bottle, made a step ladder from a blue barrel, and borrowed a hammer from a nearby home.

But, as the sun went down on our day of work, both the directional antennas and Justice were beaming. Results below :-)

Saying Goodbye

In the morning, we once again awoke to singing. I snapped some additional photos and everyone gathered to see us off.

Like the singing in the morning, African style prayer is participatory. Instead of everyone listening to one person, like we are prayer spectators, Africans pray in unison, aloud, and each with their own words and themes. While to the American ear it may at first sound strange, it carries with it awe inspiring crescendo of passion. Even as Beth and I could not understand any of their words, the kindness and sincerity of their prayers moved us. I could not help but let my thoughts return to Justice’s earlier words — “we have everything we need”. I thought about the simplicity of the Lord’s Prayer — and our daily bread. I considered the chasm between the desires of my heart and the satisfaction of hard work, song, praise, and daily bread.

It was a tremendous visit. So much learned and so much accomplished in just one and a half days.

After leaving the Philip Centre, we drove to Tamale. If you are curious about driving in Ghana, the short clip below shows a very small glimpse of the excitement.