Leah's Journal
ACCRA GHANA WEST AFRICA 2013
I just wanted to give you a glimpse of my trip to Ghana West Africa this year. We finally got to Atlanta & then they sent us to Amsterdam & on to Accra.
We left Saturday morning at 6:00 for a 3 hr. drive to Frankadua . If you remember this is the girl’s home for the Trokosi girls, (sex slaves to the Voodoo priest). These girls, there were 45 present, do not know when they were born so have never had a birthday. We decorated the room with streamers & balloons, put up 3 long tables where the girls would decorate their own cup cake with icing, decorations & sprinkles that we took, they had a ball. We took a karaoke machine, which we left with them, & played music. [Several of the ladies] taught them songs & dances. They had a ball. Then using $1.00 bills we crinkled them up and stomped them on the floor, picked them up & straightened them back out & told the girls no matter what we did to them they were still a dollar bill & still had the worth of a dollar bill. We closed with Bible verses & prayer by Reverend Grace who is a wonderful Christian lady who strengthens the girls each day in the Lord. Oh my what a day of joy for us all. Pictures & saying goodbye were very hard but we had a 3 hour drive back to Accra for another day of missions. Sunday Sunday morning we went to church for 5 hours. All 14 of us spoke & taught a Sunday school group with a translator. They really worship with song & dance pouring out their hearts to the Lord. We went back to the Guest House for lunch before heading out to Karbokasi where we would feed 1,000 children chicken & rice & hand out mosquito nets. They had 1,010 boxed up meals & ran out of food. The children were told stories & played games with balls we had taken & had a blessed evening.
The next day was a medical mission in Noka where last year the well the Urschels donated was put in & Kairos helped build a brand new Clinic that is state of the art for that part of the world. Of course Noka is about 2 ½ hour drive & when we arrived there were a few people waiting on to see the doctor and the missionaries, but when the village saw us, they came running, probably 200 people. The Urschels' well was routed so it could serve the clinic & then go into storage tanks with spouts for the villagers to get their water.
The clinic has one large gathering room with 2 hospital beds, 3 other private rooms & a running water bathroom & marble floors with a large covered veranda in the front. WOW. We served here for 2 days & saw over 200 people. We had doctor, nurses, and pharmacist. Eye glasses & prayer for each person. I was on the prayer team. Everyone that we checked in had or previously had malaria. Children with ringworm, worms, sickle cell anemia, malaria & so many with very high fevers up to 105. One man had lost 2 toes from gangrene, and the doctor said he would die. Many had very high blood pressure & heart problems. We leave them medicine with the sun representing morning & the moon representing night, printed on the outside of the package so they can tell when to take the meds.
Wednesday morning Pastor Odai arrived at 6:30 to drive us to join the others at Ayibontey where Paula Marshall donated the money to build a school with 210 children in attendance. 95% of the village & those around are illiterate. This is changing a whole generation to be schooled. The children were lined up outside like military, saying yes sir as the teacher gave them directions as they repeated bible verses, sang & danced for us. One lady from our group had taken red clown noses which she gave to the children along with candy, and they were elated, such a gift. We gave them balls & Dr. David treated almost every head that had ringworm. We always deworm every child we see by putting a worm pill inside a tootsie roll. We then went to the village to hand out nets & to the convention, a tent meeting to hand out study bibles to pastors
From Ayibontey we drove about 3 hours to Afroh Ajai to dedicate the water well donated by Danny & Jolene Urschel in memory of Greg Urschel, my sister Nancy Wilson, and several other donors. When we arrived at the village along dirt roads for miles the villagers met us to show us their village & the horrible water hole they had been getting their water from. Then we returned to the area where the well was. It was concrete about 6’ X 6’ with the well in the middle surrounded by ribbons & balloons. The priest spoke & thanked us for the well that would give them the gift of life. The well & granite stone were covered with lace table cloths. Matilda a young woman in Ceremonial African dress danced around the well & then a young girl dressed as well brought scissors to me to cut the ribbon, then they removed the pin that kept the well from working & had me pump the well to bring the delicious water & take the first drink. I CANNOT TELL YOU THE GRATITUDE IN MY HEART FOR THIS WATER, & to think my sister’s name along with the others would be in the middle of the jungle forever as this fresh water would be for all who came to this wonderful place. When the ceremony was over I was literally drained from all the joy I had experienced. THANK YOU URSCHEL’S FOR THIS GIFT OF LIFE.
