Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Ghana, Non-Medical missions

So I am a little behind but I thought I should write a bit about my time in Ghana. I am serving with an organisation called Reach Beyond.  Missions are full of confusion so they second me to the organisation known as World Gospel Mission (WGM) that I work with at Tenwek. Anyway, Reach Beyond divides up the world into regions and I am part of the Sub Saharan Africa region. A few times a month I have been meeting via Skype with the other missionaries in the region. It was time to meet in person and with visitors from the American HQ coming out to Ghana it was a good time to go. So beginning of January I took off for a few days.

I enjoyed my time in Ghana. I got to meet the rest of the team and their families, the children who had previously been annoying shrieks over voice Skype were now fun to play with. I also enjoy visiting other parts of Africa. Africa is a huge continent with diverse cultures. When travelling across the continent it is interesting to see what is similar and different. Nairobi has much more western malls and fast food than Accra, Ghana but in Accra you can safely walk after dark.

While meeting the rest of the team in person was the best part of the trip, I really enjoyed seeing the non-medical side of missions. The rest of the Reach Beyond group on the team are not medical but do radio. It was really great to see the work going on. Christian broadcasts going out in local language, spreading the good news of the Gospel, another group who has recorded audio bibles in 300+ languages, visits to a community where the water source was a puddle and with some help from reach beyond and a visiting team, a well was put in. Changing the health of a community. The medical side of missions is great, however I enjoyed the exposure to another side, which is also great.
Rather than say more I will share a few photos
I did do some medical work, assisted a nurse in putting a dressing on the finger of one of the boys in the village.

Just like Kenya the kids love photos and strange looking people with white skin and red hair.

Recording live for the radio, we all were in the room trying to be quiet. 

It's a jungle

The DJ at work.

Cocoa beans -yum.

Village's old water source.

New water source, tastes good I drank it fresh from the tap.