January 22, 2008 – 2:43pm (GMT) – Accra, Ghana
Ghana is a fresh breath. I really feel like I am back home in America here. I’m not sure what exactly it is. It could be a number of things, but probably a combination of them. It hit me almost as soon as I got off the plane at the airport, just a feeling of relief, when I didn’t even know that I was uneasy about anything. There is certainly a lot of things here that you simply wouldn’t see in America, the booths right out along the road for one. In fact, after we left the airport last night we were stuck in traffic, pretty much at a standstill, and here just like Lagos there are people walking up and down the roads selling stuff. In Lagos, many of them don’t even bother to stick to the side of the road, the walk in between the cars; here they generally stuck to the side of the road. I even saw a few guys carrying small tables that they were trying to sell to the people stuck in traffic. They were really nice tables and I would have bought one except I had nothing to do with it. It gives a whole new meaning to drive up service. There are of course parts of the city that are slums. But the difference is number one: there are also parts of the city that are not slums. In fact there are large parts of the city that are not slums. I suppose there are parts of Lagos that are considered more upscale, but it doesn’t look like it not to me. Everything in Lagos looks like bare brick and tin. Another thing and I think this is probably a bigger part of the difference, is that there is actually room in Accra. In Lagos, there is no room, the houses come right up to the street corner, and they are stuck together and piled on top of each other. Here the houses have yards, and even the shacks that people live in are set back from the road and from each other. Nigeria no matter where you went there were people a lot of people, people everywhere. Here they are there, but it isn’t the swarming clouds of Nigeria. Also everything is a lot cleaner here in Accra. This isn’t too surprising since Ghana is a tourist nation. Pastor Gideon told me today that Ghana’s goal is to become like America. The homes along the street of the hotel we are staying at are very beautiful. I have taken a lot of pictures of the city here, and posted them under Accra. If you compare them to the pictures of Lagos perhaps you’ll get a sense of what I am talking about. Speaking of similarities between Accra and the US, I was stopped on the streets while I was out walking by a couple of JW’s. I told them I was Lutheran and they didn’t want to talk anymore.
On to more important matters. We worshiped on Sunday with the church in Lagos. The pastor there is Essien Michael, who is in no way related to Mike Essien. Mike Essien is the son of E. Essien and brother of Martin Essien. He is a lay member at the church in Lagos. He was preaching there when they didn’t have a pastor. You should be able to find pictures of both of them under the Lagos Church gallery. The church there is very small. Pastor and Mike are very hopeful that it will grow. They are especially keen to get a hold of a vehicle. Many of the members in Lagos are spread out and can’t make it to church on Sunday because they have no money for transport. Pastor and Mike think that if the church had a vehicle to pick them up and bring them, they would have many more members and the church would grow quickly. They asked us if the mission board could pay for such a vehicle, they wanted about $3,000 US. Koenig told them he would ask, but isn’t hopeful. There are too many other things that need to be done first.
Here in Ghana the work is progressing slowly. Pastor Gideon was previously a pastor with a Pentecostal congregation, after meeting and talking with Koenig he left to start a Lutheran congregation. He has had some difficulties since. Previously he had been in the Denu area where he has a home. Although there is a small congregation back there, he couldn’t get much more started, so he moved here to Accra. Here, without a house he lives in a small hut, you can see it in the pictures under Pastor Gideon. He tried to get a job driving for the government, which we attempted to help out with giving him money for his schooling, but apparently there weren’t any opportunities at this time. He used the money to start his own business selling phone cards instead. That is another difference between here and America. Although everyone and I mean everyone, has a cell phone here, nobody has plans like we do. Everyone just pays for so many minutes and buys more when they run out. There are small roadside stands selling minutes everywhere. That is what Pastor Gideon does. He is still hoping to drive for the government but in the mean time he makes a living selling phone minutes. He seems a very optimistic, very happy individual. He was very grateful that he met Koenig and learned the truths of scripture. He has certainly gone through some difficulties because of his dedication to the Lord, but he remains faithful and joyful in his work. We certainly praise the Lord for this individual’s dedication to His work here.
Tomorrow we head over to Togo to visit with the pastor over there. Apparently there are possibly three or four pastors in Lome (Togo) who are interested in talking with us about the CLC. We pray those meetings will prove fruitful. We will be back here in Accra and meet with Pastor Gideon’s congregation on Wednesday, January 30.
The weather here in Accra is absolutely gorgeous. It is maybe high 80’s something like that, but Gideon says this is the hottest it gets all year. Perhaps it is cooler simply because it is so close to the Ocean, I don’t know. Also there is a fairly steady breeze I assume from the ocean. The African football (soccer) cup is taking here in Accra. It started two days ago and continues on into February, so there is a lot of hype about that. Everyone on the plane from Lagos wanted to know what team we were supporting. That plane ride was unlike any other plane I had ever been on. Instead of everyone sitting back and keeping to themself like respectable travelers, they were all talking and joking, and generally having a good time. Probably half the people on that plane also had T-shirts supporting their favorite team. The only thing they were missing were obnoxiously large fingers. If I get a chance I might have to drop in and see if I can catch a game.
With peace and joy in Christ, from Africa,
Matt