Update from Betty Jo
Hi everyone, I’m baaaccccckkk! Wow, wow, wow what an experience I had up in Tamale, Ghana. Saturday, the 20th Linda and I took the bus up north to go to Savenglu School for the Deaf. Amadu came along to make sure we got there ok. It was supposed to be a six hour trip, but we ended up traveling for 8 hours. The bus was real cold inside; we had to take out children T-shirts to use as blankets. (small ones) Sigh….One woman; a nice dressed Ghanaian lent us her cloth to use as a blanket. Oh thank goodness! I do not know how we could survive the bus ride for 8 hours being cold. The bus stopped twice before arriving to our destination. On the first stop, we were able to get off, walk around and go to the bathroom. Speaking of bathroom, we had no idea where to go. One Ghanaian man came up to us and pointed the way. It was obvious we two obrunis looked lost in the middle of the market! It was a new experience for me. It was outside, kind of in the open and just four walls and no roof. You kind of can see out. No Hole! ….just slant slab…. Maybe it was blocked…no idea…. Bus was leaving any time yikes…. Couldn’t go …oh shoot, Linda needed to go…me, ended up not going…sigh… We were the last people getting on the bus. I am sure Amadu made sure the bus driver did not leave without us!
I took the seat next to the window and was able to see action out there along the way. A lot of people sold their food or wares along the side of road in each town. They put their stuff in baskets or containers and put them on top of their heads. Linda told me she tried to put one on her head, but it was hard to keep it on top of her head. Also, I saw large termite mounds in the fields near the road. I really do not know how big the termites are and do not want to know. As the bus was getting closer to town, we saw people kneeling and bowing. They are the Muslims. There are more of them in Tamale than in the towns of Kumasi and Cape Coast. You could see their Mosques. When we got off, we gave the woman a mini mirror to thank her for lending us her “blanket” and told her that it was a beautiful thing she did and God sees her as beautiful. You should see her smile!
After dinner we went to the school. Our place was where the teachers live. We stayed in one room with a small porch and courtyard. There were 6 units and 5 families. Can you imagine a family of four or more living in an 8 x 10 room? The bath house (2) was off the side of the courtyard. There was a barrel of water in each unit porch to use for bathing. We took sponge baths (no showers) The potty house was closer to the field. We had to go, but couldn’t see, so had to go back for our flash lights. When we approach the place and pushed open the door, I was afraid… whimper….. and I think Linda was too, but she was brave enough to look down at the two holes and said “No animals!”
We had two people bringing food for us during our stay. Sabrina works for the Peace Corps and is an Art teacher at the school; she provided us breakfast and lunch and Gersvie, a Ghanaian teacher cooked us dinner every night. Both, good cooks! The food is more natural, no preservatives. Better than the food at Cape Coast, we did not have any fish eyes staring at us! One time we saw feathers scattered all over the ground and Linda joked and said, “That is our dinner tonight!” Well, I think it was….. Oh poor little thing! Our drinks were hot tea and then water the rest of the day. We had to filter our water for drinking; otherwise something would grow inside of us!
Our first day, we took a walk through the fields to the school and dorm areas. The air was real dry and gets real hot during the day. We met the children and they greeted us by saying Good Morning, Fine! They do not wait till we ask how they were. We decided to use the Salvation Bracelet to tell them about Jesus. Black = sin, Red = blood, Blue = Faith, White = Forgiven, Green = Grow and Yellow = Heaven. (Salvation Story) The kids just loved being with us and wanted to learn more about the Gospel. During lunch, Sabrina talked to us about an incident at the school a day before we arrived. It was a situation involving an older boy and a young girl. No wonder why the kids were giving the girl a hard time and signed the word over and over and pointing to her. I knew we had a job to do and Linda and I prayed for the Lord to guide us through our teachings of moral values.
We could only teach two different groups a day. We found it difficult to hold Bible study class with the little ones. All they do was hitting each other. An adult or two were at the class only twice all week long. Linda knew what it was like because she was there last year. I even saw one kid telling the new kid to hit the other kid. Sigh I even noticed that some kids were hearing and feeling that maybe the parents did not know what to do with them and dumped them at the school. They desired attention from us and at times they surrounded us, shoving each other. I wished I could stay and be with them and do more stories, but it was too much for Linda and I so we just went back to our place. One time we spent the entire lesson talking about no hitting and respecting teachers and others; played the Elephant game; blew bubbles and played Frisbee. The last few days, things started to improve in the class room. The older class was easier to do. We talked about the story of Moses from birth to the burning bush implying that God had plans for Moses and was with him, so God has plans for us and is always with us. Also God used special people to help God’s people like the midwives who feared God and did not do what the Pharaoh told them to do and also like the Pharaoh’s daughter who adopted Moses even though she knew he was a Hebrew. We told the children that each of them is special to God and that we are brothers and sisters even though our skin color is different. We are God’s children. We held up mirrors for them to see themselves and told them that they are beautiful. We also did the salvation bracelet. We told them about moral values, God’s rules (10 commandments), rules at school and rules at home. The children at the school just love to sign songs. It helps when we knew we need to take a little break and have them stand up and sign songs. There were several Muslims in the class. These poor kids just follow their people with no idea of what is going on. They came to hear us sharing the great news! They were one of the best listeners. The Head mistress came to class when we sign the Doxology. When we were done, she told us that the kids wanted us to repeat the song. We did it again and when we were walking back to our place, Linda could hear her humming the song!
I loved the walks back to our place at night after class. I would use my “Moses” staff and Linda with a flash light and we would look up at the sky and see many stars twinkling and the crescent moon glowing. It was an awesome sight. Oh yes, there were bats and they flew low and at times they were only 5 feet from me. Whimper…. Linda wanted to stay and watch, me no way! I do not mind the bats, but not those swooshing close by. One morning early, I got up, and there was a girl out in the courtyard with yellow shirt and brown dress. She belonged to one of the teachers. She put a can of water on top of the small coal stove and then pours the hot water into a bucket of cold water. They would use it for bathing. They also do their laundry in the courtyard. They are such beautiful people, always smiling and offer to take our things that we are holding. That is the way the Ghanaians are. During our stay here Amadu’s friend who lives close by and is a member of Lutheran church called to check on us. His name is Moiko and also met Richard who is Sabrina’s boy friend and he is study special education! Better hook him up with Pastor Reinke! We have met several people during our journey that could help the deaf community with education and evangelism. Who knows – it was God’s plan for us to meet. I pray that the Kumasi High School / Seminary program will be successful.
Boy, the last night was kind of hard for me. The kids were finally getting the picture of what we shared with them. The sigh for that is Pah! I remember whimpering when I had to go up to face all these kids. 100+, but He has been with me through everything and I just started to have more confidence in myself with teaching and praying along with the kids. The Lord was with me when I said the final prayer in class during closing time. I looked at the kids and I have to say they need us and I want to reach out to them more….. I am coming back!
We left the school on Thursday, January 25th. We visit a deaf Ghanaian teacher. He teaches weaving. (Note from Dacia: This teacher is John the Weaver. We met him when we lived in Ghana in 1997. Pastor Reinke taught him the catechism by correspondence during those months. John the Weaver was confirmed by the time we returned to the States in 1998.) I told him that my Mom used to weave a lot. He is one of the few teachers who stay in the classroom with the kids. The others just write lessons on the blackboard and join the other teachers at a table and talk. What a way to teach the kids! Karen, Sandy, Amadu and Enoch met us at the school. They are taking us to Mole State Park , a one night side trip before heading back to Kumasi . We have more things to do when we get to Kumasi …..Stay tuned for more information…..
With joyful heart,
Betty Jo
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