In July, 2007, I visited Ghana as a representative of the Lackawanna Presbytery in Pennsylvania. Barbara Winter of the Franklin Hill Church also represented the Presbytery on this trip to visit our many partner churches in Ghana’s Brong Ahafo district. We left the United States on July 7 and spent the first three days attending a conference of Ghanaian and US Presbyterians from many parts of Ghana and the United States who are engaged in partnerships. Then Barbara and I traveled up to the Brong Ahafo area. We stayed with our partner churches for several days: I visited Dormaa Ahenkro where Covenant Church’s partner church, the Schaefer Presbyterian Church, is located, and Barbara visited in the town of Nkoranza. Then we went to Sunyani, where the Brong Ahafo Presbytery is located, and visited other towns throughout the region. On July 22, Barbara Winter returned to the U.S. I stayed to travel throughout Ghana, and returned to the United States on the fifth of August.
The Conference was held at the Women’s Resource Center, located in Abukobi, on the outskirts of Accra, Ghana’s capital – a fine site, comfortable and welcoming with lovely lawns and trees. The grounds not only included living quarters, and dining and meeting buildings (all on one floor) but also many “palaver houses” (round huts with thatched roofs and cement floors, where small groups gathered.
 The program on the first day set the tone. We celebrated the Lord in Ghanaian style – dancing and singing with a Ghanaian band and singing group, shuffling our feet, our hands and arms uplifted – a style of worship that we found in many of the churches we visited. The first day we discussed the progress of our partnerships in a large group meeting. Later we broke into small groups to look at aspects of our partnerships, to review challenges that we can work at together, and consider some of the different problems we face. Sometimes men and women met separately to discuss the special issues that were confronted by the sexes. Each day began with worship services.
On Friday, July 13, Barbara and I and the moderator of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery, Rev. Robert Brobbey left Accra at 5 am and traveled by land rover to Sunyani , in Brong Ahafo where we were greeted by many of the ministers of this Presbytery and shared welcomes and refreshments. Then Barbara moved on to Nkoranza, and I traveled to Dormaa Ahenkro. It was a long day!
I stayed in Dormaa Ahenkro from Friday evening July 13 until Tuesday noon. The days were filled with new experiences. I went to choir practice on Friday evening, and on Saturday attended a lengthy funeral service for an elderly church member. Later we went to the small town for the burial. In the evening I had dinner with 20 of the 30 catechists of the Dormaa Ahenkro church and heard of the many challenges that these Christians face in the towns where they serve, often far off the main roads, with no electricity or transport. On Sunday Rev. Edward Foh, the pastor took me first to two of the small chapels outside the town where worshippers crowded into the small buildings. And when we returned to the main church, we visited two small chapels on the church grounds – one for hearing impaired persons and another for people from northern Ghana who do not speak the languages used in the Dormaa Church. In the afternoon we went to visit a catechist in a town on the Ivory Coast border, and in the evening we attended communion service in another small church on the outskirts of Dormaa. It was an astounding day.
Monday was also full of experiences. We went to the Dormaa Ahenkro Hospital which is – like the catechists and the Girl’s Vocational School - a focus of Lackawanna Presbytery’s partnership efforts. I delivered supplies that our Presbytery sent to the Hospital and which were much appreciated . I was given a tour of the hospital, was astonished at the crowded outpatient division, and met many staff members. All of the doctors spoke of the need for equipment especially microscopes. The sonar machine that we sent to the hospital a few years ago is in use every day
 Later that day Rev Foh and I traveled for more than an hour over dusty roads to visit the catechist - Mr. Solomon Twum – who receives support for his training from Covenant Presbyterian church. Like other catechists he does not have a salary from the church but holds a job as principal in the town’s school. That evening I attended a meeting in the church where Rev. Foh talked about wills to a group of interested parishioners – many of whom were market women with many questions.
On July 17, Barbara and I returned from our partners to Sunyani. We spent the day in seeing some of the special attractions of the region including a monkey sanctuary, a wonderful untouched forest region. We also visited the Grotto, an unusual Catholic shrine in an area of unusual rock formations.
The next day we visited Techimantia, the town where the Presbyterian Church of Brong Ahafo was founded. A service was held and we also visited the elementary school, utterly stuffed with children in their bright blue uniforms, and their desks and chairs. Whenever we visited a school (and we went to several) , the common introduction was “These are the future leaders of the country” – an important conviction! And at the entry way to the school was this saying “Love wisdom and she will make you great”.
 Barbara and I spent that night at the Margaret Buechner Girls’ Vocational Institute which is also a focus of Lackawanna Presbytery support. We also attended church services that evening in the town of Duayaw Nkwanta. The school has many needs, and it has lost its main supporters – the Buechners -who died. Barbara and I are hoping that a group from our Presbytery can come to the school next year to work at improving the facilities including painting and repair work as well as providing some equipment and books for the library.
The next day we visited Rev. Brobbey’s home town, where a service was also held. Later we returned to Sunyani and had a tour of this extensive town, and the Presbyterian facilities. On the last day we attended the meeting of the Brong Ahafo Presbytery. We had the opportunity to share the gifts that our Presbytery members had sent and we also received gifts, and offered messages. It was an opportunity to reflect on the days that we had spent in Ghana and to consider ways in which we can strengthen our partnership in the future.
Since our return to the United States, Barbara and I have had the opportunity to take an active part in services in the Montrose Presbyterian Church and in the Franklin Hill Presbyterian Church where Barbara is a member. I spoke at the Covenant Presbyterian Church on World Communion Sunday October 7. That afternoon, we planned a program for 30 young people at Camp Lackawanna. We will be talking about our experiences at the next Presbytery meeting in November, and we are contacting some of the other churches where we hope to speak. Through these talks we hope to encourage and strengthen the partnerships of individual churches in Lackawanna and Brong Ahafo, and increase the understanding of the wideness of God’s love. |
