We arrived in Ghana on October 15th. Sometimes getting started with writing is like untangling a wad of yarn. Pulling on the start of the string looks promising until the remaining yarn tightens into a knotted ball. I’ll try to pull one of the colorful loops out just a bit, and then another, and another, until the story unfurls itself — it may take a few days.
BWOOTH
Every trip to West Africa begins with months of prep, from vaccines and visas to water filters and wireless routers. Balancing simplicity and preparedness is an elegant goal – up until three days before departure, when the sobering triage starts. Surrounded by handwritten notes on scraps of paper, printed itineraries, and spreadsheets, Beth and I sat at the dining room table and create the one final list, the BWOOTH – Before Walking Out Of The House. Everything not melded into the BWOOTH must wait. It’s the “must do” – and since we are now in Ghana, the “was done” list gives way to planning for tomorrow.
At 4:30am the Mahindra will be saddled with more luggage and gear than the mighty little Indian truck should be asked to bear. Beth, Jacob, Cyrus, Josias, and I will start North with six new recording backpacks and the necessary equipment and tools to support 21 students and 5 instructors for 4 weeks of training in a remote, off-grid village.
We met Steve, a friendly, ready-to-brainstorm-new-plans, film director and media instructor at a lunch table in a small Dutch caravan park about 1.5 years ago. He had a hint of bay stater or townie accent and enjoyed laughing. To our surprise, his home base was Falmouth, on Cape Cod, and we quickly discovered mutual acquaintances, since I’m still involved with Camp Good News. Steve was presenting a short course at the tech-focused missionary conference where Beth, Cyrus, Clement, and I were attending in the countryside caravan park.
My next lunch with Steve was in Mashpee, on the Cape – his home turf. I was at Camp Good News for an end-of-summer camp reunion, and so we met half-way between Falmouth and Camp. We enjoyed lunch and made plans. Steve has a very unique job for a film director, script writer, and media instructor – he and the teams from Create Mobile train ordinary people to make life-changing movies. While some of the movies are what you might consider full-length films, the team also teaches a four week smartphone course. Students make 4 to 10 minute gospel-inspired videos in native languages. The Create Mobile team has made movies in Uganda, Malawi, Cambodia, Togo, India, China, Sierra Leone, Japan, Sweden, and the list goes on… I encourage you to explore this list of the beautiful videos Create Mobile teams have helped students produce.
The green curry was wonderfully spiced, too hot, and begged to join the white rice in the adjacent bowl. Our third lunch together, this time in Thailand, included Steve’s wife, and Issa – the team leader from Cameroon. It was May. The year had passed quickly since that introduction in the Netherlands. The what-ifs and we coulds had become we plan to. Issa, a tall, broad-shouldered man with a bit of gray in his thin goatee asked good questions. What topics should the course include? How many students, and from where? Will there be other Francophones? After dinner, we prayed, planned, and soothed our tongues with coconut and mango ice cream. Beth went into action and the dates were locked in the calendar. The work had begun.
Yesterday, October 15th, after the full Create Mobile team had arrived, we shared another meal. For Steve and I, it was our fourth continent breaking bread together. Anticipation for the work ahead built quietly in the team. Beth and I reflected on our trip to Ghana 5 years ago, when on this day, my father suddenly passed away. From the hospital, he had provided one last instruction: “don’t come home, finish your work”. He departed and arrived.
This morning, at 4:00am Beth and I awoke and joined Cyrus, Jacob, and Josias loading the truck for the 10 to 12 hour drive along the eastern corridor, across the Volta, and to the Philip Centre North.
We will pull on another loop of yarn tomorrow.