Update #2
Hello everyone!
Well, now that I’ve been here for almost half of the time
that I’ve been scheduled to be here (not quite half, but almost), I thought it
was time I was sending out another update as to what is going on over here in
Ghana for those of you who are interested.
The weather here in Accra has started to change and I have
to say that I am very sorry to see the cool weather go… around 22, 23 degrees
is just about my personal perfect and it was so nice here during July and most
of August. Hardly any rain, bright sunny but tolerably cool days, nice cool
evenings. Yes, I miss them. But ah well, I knew it couldn’t last forever and
this is Africa after all. Things have started to heat up and I know we are no
where near the apex so I’m trying to mentally prepare myself.
The work at WiLDAF is going relatively well. Much better
than it was going when I first started. I now have a clear idea of how they
want me to do the work so that it is of the most use to them and the people
here. The only problem has been actually getting the raw information I need in
order to accomplish the task. If you have seen my blog you have probably seen
the picture of the Registrar whom I have to deal with at the Court, who has
been trying to negotiate for me to become his second wife in exchange for the
court documents that I need…
As part of my work here I need to interview some local
leaders in different regions in order to contrast how violence against women is
handled by the courts versus by the communities. Last week I got to interview
one local chief and one paramount chief as well as a tribal council. It was
very interesting, though somewhat discouraging with regards to the responses. I
have included some pictures of the meetings here. This is a meeting with the local chief in
Evelyn’s village (see below to know who Evelyn is) along with a couple elders
and Godwyn the young man. He is a Legal Literacy Volunteer for WiLDAF – he helped
me with translation.
Here is another photo showing my interview with the paramount
chief in another area
and then a picture of our meeting with the tribal council of
the same area. In that picture you see the man sitting in the middle in front
of the desk – he is the “linguist”. One speaks to the chief, the linguist then
repeats what was said (regardless of the language it is said in) and the chief
responds to the linguist, who responds to the rest of us. On the floor in front
of the linguist you see the two bottles of Schnapps which must be presented to
the chief in order to have an audience with him.
Last week I also had the chance to help WiLDAF return a two
year old girl to her village in the Eastern Region after a 6 month ordeal in a
hospital in Accra. This poor girl had her entire genital/anal region melted away
by her father who had been trying to apply a medicinal treatment to her to cure
what appeared to be a yeast infection. He apparently did not realise how hot it
had become and ignored the child’s screams as mere discomfort. The damage was
horrifying to see, but WiLDAF was told about it by one of its Legal Literacy
Volunteers in the area. The injuries would have killed her if not properly
treated, so WiLDAF staff raised the funds necessary to send the girl to the
teaching hospital here in Accra where she has undergone extensive plastic and
other reconstructive surgery. She has had to have the area completely re-made
and it was amazing to see what the doctors there were able to do to help her.
The girl’s father has fled due to fear of prosecution, leaving her young mother
and her 6 siblings (the youngest of whom was born only a few days after the incident
took place). So this family is definitely in need of prayer and support.
Especially for the young girl, whose recovery is still ongoing and whose life
is going to be inevitably more challenging because of what she’s been through. So
please do remember “Evelyn” and her family in your prayers.
On a brighter note, I’ve been enjoying getting up to Kumasi
every other weekend lately. Its been a real blessing to be there and enjoy
fellowship and times of worship with the Christians up there. The 6 hour bus
ride seemed daunting at first, but with a good book (and by not drinking too
much water…) its quiet doable and a good way to catch up on some reading and sleeping
at the end of a week. The last time I went, my trotro broke down three times on
the way, once for 2 hours, at the side of the highway, in the noonday sun… so I’ve
decided not to cut corners anymore, I’m just going to take the “VIP” bus and
pay the extra. There’s something to be said for reliability.
I was invited to lead the girls’ teenage Bible class this
coming Sunday in Kumasi so I’ve been praying about that. The make-up of the group
is quite different than the youth group I was a part of in Agincourt, so it
will be an interesting challenge. I’m really looking forward to it, if it goes
well and the girls are interested, I hope to keep working with them until my
time here in Ghana is over. I am tentatively planning to spend the first study
sharing my own testimony about how I came to be sure of the existence of God
and then how it was that I eventually came to the conclusion that the Gospel accounts
were true and what that meant for my life. Then if the discussion goes well, I
hope to talk more with them about how one goes about having a two-way
relationship with God and why knowing God matters, since I know that was always
a huge mystery to me. But if the discussion goes in a different direction
instead based on the interests of the girls, that would be good too. I’m
interested to see how God will use the time we have together.
Work with EPAWA (Enslavement Prevention Alliance West
Africa) is going well, and I have started to compile the evidence needed in the
case I am working on to try to initiate an action against a man who is
apparently stealing donor funds from an orphanage while forcing the children to
do hard labour and turning a blind eye to the sexual assaults that are taking
place against several of the children. It is a daunting task, but I’m glad to
be able to be a part of it. This work could definitely use your support in
prayer, as it is a delicate situation to deal with and is difficult for me to
navigate the legal territory here in Ghana (which sometimes feels more like
pioneering than navigating).
Well this update is unreasonably long now so I’ll stop here.
Oh, except to mention that the lizard situation in my house is getting worse…
there was one in my room last week. I have armed myself with a heavy duty
broom, but they don’t seem intimidated so I’ll keep going with the scream
tactic and hope that it will eventually convince them to find someone else to
terrorize…
I hope you all are doing well! And I am looking forward to
seeing you all again in the relatively near future :)
Yours truly,
Genna
Keep up the good work
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