Through endurance, and through the encouragement of the Scriptures, we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, that together we may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:4b-6







Tuesday, August 2, 2011

For Anna T....

Long ago ago in a far away land, I had some comrades at PSHMC Cancer Institute who asked, listened & lifted me up in prayer as we began this journey more than a year ago. Anna T sent me a most special note by mail! Having lived in Namibia for 2 years she knows much & wants to know more about what life is like for us. I hope to answer a few of her questions!

To Angie, Margaret, Jen C., Amylea & Anna T. from PSCI & Margeau, Bethany, Lucinda & Jamie from the floor ( & many, many more!) , I think of you often walking those (or others by now) halls, doing that work & sigh to join you. This role fits in a different way, in some ways a better way. The nurse & the mom now have a single focus as we settle into our new home. We all know the "nurse' inside is never really without work. Malaria, & more have proven that! I prayin' those hospital skills are only dormant, not dead & will resurface later. :)
God has graciously protected us from disease. In more rural areas, things like typhoid, cerebral meningitis & even rumors of cholera are prominent. Here in the suburbs of the big city we feel safer from that due to clean (er) water, better sanitation & the many clinics handing out immunizations.
I've had an infection that gave pus filled blisters on my palms & fingers, a mango fly that kindly layed a tiny egg on my skin. No need to describe that one more!! I was new here & quite impressed at the specimen that ended up on my finger. :)
The children have had some odd itchy rashes that respond to hydrocortisone, more than their share of vomiting & respiratory viruses with fevers. They have not had malaria although Jon & I have. Let's just say all they say about malaria is true. And more.
I'm still learning about malaria. There are many types, the best treatment covers more than one type. Best defense is mosquito nets for beds, bug spray & fans. Even the Ghanaians get malaria. They can afford the treatment. What we've taken is European made & is about GHc 4 ($2.50).

I promise to fill you all in on the hospital/clinic scene around here as soon as I can. But at the moment I've only gotten glimpses inside as a visitor. I'm very, very thankful for that! Patients here are admitted not until well, but until the bill is paid. Some of the larger, private hospitals have ambulance service, but we see them stuck along with everyone else in traffic. Or, even worse, driving straight down the opposite lane of traffic! The smaller local hospitals & clinics are plentiful & mostly affordable. Poorly paid doctors & nurses leave doubts over the quality of those choosing to stay. Many people have bought the National Health Insurance card which allows them all routine care & tests & even some surgeries. We have met up with roving teams of healthcare workers giving routine vaccines.

A few months ago I met up with a medical student who was about to spend 6 weeks in the far northern town of Saboba. She would be working with Dr. Jean, the 60 yo American who is the hospital's surgeon, specialist & gen practitioner all in one. Her blog is full of heart rending adventure in this rural hospital that has no electricity during the day, no oxygen for patients, & very limited testing capacity. Patient care is done by family, food is provided by family & often those folks make the decisions for the person in the bed. That sounds familiar!

Please read her back entries!
http://kristi-lifeisajourney.blogspot.com/




A few of Anna's questions.....
On confirmation that we are where God wants us to be:

I believe that my life has been redeemed with a price.
Don't you realize that your body is a sacred place, the place of the Holy Spirit? Don't you see that you can't live however you please, squandering what God paid such a high price for? God owns the whole works. So let people see God in and through your body. (1Cor 6:19,20)

Jon & have purposed to live with that before our eyes. Those words are easy coming out my mouth, but when it means selling, packing & leaving ... We both felt deep in our spirits peace in God's prompting in the last year & a half. No shouts from heaven, folks, just a gut feeling & thoughts sharply focused on this, primarily by spending time in God's Word & prayer. While our surface emotions were turbulent daily, we accepted that this difficult task, the very nature of its difficulty, confirmed it was from God. If we were going to defer to our emotions above obedience to God, we knew it would blunt our spiritual passion & even shame the testimony we want so much to live out.
On arrival we experienced in a very real way, our presence lightening the load of the families working here with the Bible school. God had timed our arrival.The absolute best confirmation has been when those we love share how our obedience has prodded them to evaluate their own. Yes, that means right at home, wherever He has placed you. God may have changed the location of our ministry, but, people, God has ministry for you next door! Don't neglect it.

On to earthly matters....
The coastal capital city of Accra is surrounded by small towns. We live about 20 k north of the city in Pokuase/Amasaman. Past the Fise bus stop, at the Israel junction, opposite the Pokuase Magistrate Court House to be exact. Road names or numbers are very few. Directions are done landmarks. It was a challenge to learn to drive here! Take look at the google satellite!
















Here is our street! We are standing outside the court house. The black van at the back of the picture is on the Nsawam/Accra highway. On the right, behind the stacks of block is our wall & our house. A small street & a small courtyard make our pictures either up close or far away! (please click on the picture & make it larger!) Almost all the unfinished houses you see are inhabited. They are worked until money runs out, lived in without power, running water or wells or furnishings. A coalpot, a cook pot, a wash tub & a mattress are all they need to move in! My friend Abigail lives just behind where Max is standing in the house with red doors. She works full time at a large juice company peeling papaya for 8 hr shifts, has her son in pre school & lives just as I described above. She is a wonderful, vibrant woman, who, although she loves to snoop in my fridge, is not unhappy about life.
Our house is a very normal 4 bedroom 2 & 1/2 bathroom concrete & tile house surrounded by a wall with a gate for vehicles & a small one for people. We occasionally have visitors climbing the wall as we do not have barbed wire on top. . Bars on the windows & metal gates inside the doors took getting used to. All doors/gates have padlocks. Every inside door & closet door has a key lock. All those keys took some getting used to.


Currency is called cedis, coins pesawa. The exchange rate is about 1.5. Or 66.6 cents equals 1 cedi. The cost of living is, in many ways similar. Our diesel for the vehicle costs GHc1.52/liter. 3.78 liters equals 1 gallon. In the realm of groceries, the biggest difference is dairy. While meat like ground beef & chicken can be bought at the large grocery stores for about the same price as in Pennsylvania, cheese, butter & cream cheese are about 4 times the price. Milk is all powdered. Max & Rory say they love it & want to tell everyone in Pennsylvania that you can buy milk in powder, isn't that cool? ! :)


Deli type meat & cheese are even worse. I saw a case full cold cuts for 50-80 GHc per kilo! Even with 2.2lbs per kilo that is a bad deal! I am always happy to buy apples at Shoprite for GHc5.80 for 1.5 kilo. They taste, to us, so American! Staples like sugar, flour, oatmeal & oil are also similar in price, but not cheaper. We spend plenty on these staples as we make our snack food. Snacks are very costly. I made some crackers this week that Jon declard were just like Wheat Thins. :)


That is a most incomplete summary. Short story is we try to combine stores like Shoprite & things like apples with buying all the rest as local veggies & fruits. I realize I haven't even mentioned Ghanaian food. It is a typical poverty diet, high in carbs, low in perishable food like dairy, fresh fruits & veggies & meat. I hope to do many posts on this in the future as a friend is cooking local food for us once a week.
Language:
Officially it is English. The longer a child has been in school, the more they will know. Most parents speak their tribal language in the house. Most of our neighbors speak Twi. There are many other dialects. As English is not always their heart language, an important part of what Jon does is make sure the pastor's have Bibles in other dialects to give their congregations. As in all English speaking nations, the Ghanaians have added their own flair to it. Once we learned ( & are still learning) the way they say things, it got easier to understand & be understood.
Small-- instead of little, bit or short
finished-- instead of empty, all out, gone
spoiled -- instead of broken, damaged or just not working!
fine-- good, well This one is tricky. Our fine is similar to okay. This fine covers it all from almost bad, to excellent.
sweet-- not meaning sugary-sweet, usually means they like it
nice-- means very good, they like it
toilet-- covers all bathroom needs
in the house--means at home
Tourists:
Ghana University & other well known universities here draw many international students. Ghanaians are very proud of the long standing peace in their country. We meet students here on holiday or studying. Ghana's one mall seems to be the hub of all this. The cross section of people scene there is amazing. Middle eastern, Asian, white &, of course, Ghana's own citizens. We see visitors in our little towns too. Sneakers, backpacks & cameras give them away. Oh, & their shining white skin. Ours is not quite as white thanks to sunshine. :) And we don't feel like visitors anymore. If someone asks, we say we live in Amasaman/Pokuase. No, they say where are you from. :)

Baby wrapping:
From tiny infant to wiggly toddler, a Ghanaian woman or girl uses a large approximately 2 yard piece of fabric to tie that child on her back. Without help. And the kids love it. They prefer it over walking or being hip carried. On our flight here in February, a young mother beside us stood much of the flight with her fussy 2 yr old son on her back. Tied on tight, he was asleep. If she sat down, the wailing began.
And it's not just for transport. It's the designated quiet & nap spot. One of the worship leaders this Sunday had a sturdy little boy on her back. With a microphone in one hand, her other hand lifted in praise & her feet dancing, that little guy was coming loose! Like we see over & over, a sister ran up to lend a hand & tighten the fabric. :)
Tiny ones get their arms tucked in. The fabric is pulled evenly around to the front, one side pulled under the other tight to the armpit. The top piece is pulled tight tucked in over the top edge of the wrap. The bottom corners are pulled tight under the babies bottom, twisted together & tucked under or tied together in a knot in the front. A missionary friend who ventured out with her son tied on said on one street 3 women stopped her to "fix" the way it was done!

Here is my baby. How far down the street do you think I'd get?



Children adjusting:
While children are, in many ways, more flexible than adults, they have their delights & their downfalls about living here. Elle is my routine lover. She is at her worst when that routine altered. Most days we are home & she gets to have hat routine & is loving it.

All of them have had no problem with spending days barefoot, & being able to play outside every day. The cold rain of rainy season chases them in these days, but they are always happy with the puddles left behind. When dry season returns (any day now) they will happily play in the rain to cool off. We've been known to join them. :)



They have learned to be good nappers in the car, good waiters in the car & good packed lunch eaters in the car. Without car seats keeping ones hands to oneself is quite a challenge. One they are still learning! They enjoy our neighborhood walks & the friends they have made here, Ghanaian & otherwise.


Max, at 5 years, remembers most everything about living in Pennsylvania. Houses, family friends, good breakfast cereal & strawberries. Many times we sit down together, get teary over feeling far from home. Though his age makes this tough, it also means he is starting to grasp our real purpose for being here. And,like a 5 year old, he accepts it. Childlike faith!


Church is the most difficult for them. 2 or 3 Sundays of the month we attend the village churches of the pastors Jon works with. Benches or plastic chairs, dirt floors under a metal canopy, farm animals wandering through all make for a challenge. A minimum of small toys is all we can take or we completely distract everyone! Even the adults love to see American storybooks or stickers. Although everything is translated for us, to their little ears, nothing is making sense. They are starting to do better, even enjoying the boisterous worship times & getting their turn to dance to the offering bucket up front. Actually, they are shy about it & go up as quickly as they can!


I begin each Sunday praying we would be an encouragement, not a distraction. May it be so!


I have left gaping holes in so many of these areas. But, as no one needs a book to add to their reading list, I will feel no shame at my overview. All these things are just what I've learned so far.




Thanks, Anna, for giving direction to this blog writers wandering mind. I welcome more questions, anytime!