14 January, 2007

Today I went to a very small Methodist church with Nancy. The church is located inside a nice community in Pokuase. Nancy lived in the community before she moved out to live on site at Rafiki. The church is made up of one back wall, (that was not built for the church but separates the community from the other side of the hill) four post and an awning. The back drop that covers the walls has four white strips of cloth hanging from the awning with a strip of black, yellow, and orange African cloth in between them. It was simply set up with only 30 plastic chairs and a podium. It reminded me of when my family and I worked with the apartment ministry not too long ago in Garland. Like I mentioned last week in my Sunday letter the people do not generally show up on time and today was a different location, different people but same tardiness. Do not misunderstand me, my family has never been the type to always get the first pew on Sundays on account to punctuality. (We're Baptist, when you show up late the front row is what you get.) However, here they plan on people being late. Some of that is due to the fact that people do not have cars and they must work around the schedule of the transportation they are taking.

Anyway the service started and not far behind was my confusion. I have not attended many Methodist Churches before and especially not ones in foreign countries. All verses that were read were read in English first and then read again in either Twi, Ga, or Fanti. Even last week, a service that I was more familiar with, was confusing. The order of the service is not like anything I know. They sing a lot, and then pray a lot, and then sing some more, read some scripture, have a sermon, spend a lot more time singing and praying and just when you think its over it starts all over again in another language. I try to follow along but I never quite know when we are praying or the pastor is preaching. It must sound as though I am just not following along with how things are going but the thing is as much as I try to follow along the more confused I get. I believe this will become an issue of prayer with me.

Like I mentioned the service was outside and what a glorious place to have church here. Surrounded by so much, however people always have a way of interfering with God’s time. The season right now is harmattan. Its when a huge gust of sand from the Sahara blows down and hovers over everything. This is what makes winter here. The sand covers the sun and so the heat is not so intense. Its just another facet of God’s amazing splendor. During this season it is cooler but also very dry and like things do in the States when it is dry, things burn. We are in the middle of bush country where there is plenty to burn as well. A game people like to play is hunting but not like our hunting. What they do is they gather about 30-40 boys and men and travel out into the bush somewhere. They take an area and they set it on fire and what ever runs out they catch and eat. What people catch in these fires is not enough to feed even one person a meal let alone all these men and their families but this is a weekend hobby. They set fire during an already exceedingly dry time to bush that is very vital to the life and survival of people to catch maybe two snakes and a grass cutter (the wood chuck of Africa). People were doing this about 200 yards from where church was being held this morning so breathing during service was not easy and soot was being blown all over everybody. Women and men alike had on beautiful dress even some wearing all white that was patched with black soot after service. So, not only was I confused but because of the smoke there was a lack of oxygen getting to my brain.

Bush fires have been a constant problem here in this area for some time now. There was a law that was passed about 10 years ago that anyone caught setting fire to the bush during this time would be shot dead on the spot, no questions asked. (how do you think things would change if we had laws like that?) However, due to the lack of policemen and lack of patrol cars, which there are basically none, this law among many others are not enforced.

Bush fire is actually the cause of our lack of electricity at the moment We found this out just yesterday. A farmer that was harvesting sand on his land put fire to his bush and it got carried away and burnt down a series of electric poles along our way. I was told the last time this happened this area was out constant electricity for nine days. We are lucky though to have a generator so that we can keep our food and have light at night. With the sand that is in the air the light of the moon and the stars is non existent. I have never seen such darkness in my life. I opened my door last night to see outside and there was absolutely nothing there to see. Someone could have been standing right in front of my face and I would not have known it. I can not even see my own hand when it is up to my face! The past two nights have brought me a new appreciation for the moon, God’s flashlight.

Yesterday the older kids from here had a funeral to attend of an elder from their church. Funerals here are not anything like funerals in the states. Someone could be dead up to three months before they bury them. The reasons for this are as followed: funerals here are done much like weddings. They are only on the weekend That way anyone can attend and does not have to worry about work. Also, money has to be raised to bury the person and pay for the party that follows the ceremony. Entire streets are closed off all day for a funeral. They will pitch tents in the middle of a busy road for a funeral and there’s really nothing that anyone can do about it. Also funerals can go on for a couple of days.

Something very interesting here is that a chief will not be buried until another chief has been appointed. Chiefdoms are not inherited they are appointed so this could take quite some time for all the providence to agree on one chief. Not too long ago there was a dispute in one area about who would be chief that lasted over two years. Two years and they still did not bury the chief that had died! Even after one was appointed and they buried the last they still fought for years until that chief died. The region of Accra is split into many different areas. For every area there is a chief. None of the obrunis that I have talked to really understand how the government and the chiefdoms work together and do not actually know if they do but they do know that there is no way that chiefdoms will ever die out because they are so vital to the people here.

Yesterday for dinner we had something new. New to me that is. Its called gari. When I saw it I immediately identified it with malt-o-meal. Then when I ate it I identified it to a gelified malt-o-meal. The texture was so, for lack of a better word, different. I can not make a connection with this one. It was served with a fish and spinach stew. I learned though that gari is like the pizza of Ghana. In America we college students will all meet over pizza and coke and talk and get together. That’s how anyone gets a college kid anywhere is to tell them pizza will be there. Well it’s the same here with gari. When they all get together someone will bring a huge bowl of gari, someone else sardines, and someone else will bring a sauce of some sort. They all sit around a huge bowl of this gelatin substance and eat right out of the bowl. Dipping it in sauces and wrapping it around fish. Eating with your hands is as common as eating with silverware in the states. I have learned to eat more with my hands here than I ever have before. I told my Nana the other day that I’m not losing table manners, I’m just changing table manners.

I feel like a little baby while exploring this new place. Everything is new and fresh. The Missionaries here like when new people come because they get to experience Ghana through new eyes. I feel as though I never blink here- afraid I’m going to miss something. There is still so much to discover about this place and just think most people would be leaving by now. I do not know how. There is too much I don’t know, too much I haven’t seen.

Always learning and loving it all!

Sarah

Prayer Request:
-That the electricity will be fixed soon. We start school tomorrow and it could get very hot with out fans.
-Pray that as school starts all will go well. I am very nervous about this and I try to plan and plan but the more planning I do the more nervous I get.