Just another day at work...

At the beginning of this year, I would never have dreamt that I would have a business Visa for Ghana by the end of it. God is ironic and dramatic in the way he orchestrates our stories. It’s been a long journey with many bumps, but I am humbled at the length He has gone to pursue me. Despite many hardships, heart breaks and health problems, God has overwhelmed me in what He has allowed me to experience. That appropriately backdrops my trip to Ghana. On Monday and Tuesday I trained Lucy from Ghana and Sunday from Nigeria on the Book of Hope Outcomes surveys. After training, we had practicals and went to several schools on Wednesday to practice conducting research. We got up very early and headed to the first school. We test students before they receive the Book of Hope and then afterwards to see the nature of the cognitive changes that occur. Ghana is preparing for elections next month and so I started by talking to the students about the two main candidates and asking them about the U.S. elections and they shouted Barack Obama’s name when I asked who was elected U.S. president. They wanted to shake my hand when they heard that I shook his hand. They also said they want to be president of Ghana some day. After we finished in our two classrooms, we went over to Reni & Lucy’s classroom. They had a larger group of students, who were also coincidentally, younger. Our students were perfect and theirs were quite loud and so Lucy and Reni had to work a bit harder to collect their information. As I was leaving, one of the students asked me for my card, and I stared blankly at him, until he clarified and informed me that he wanted the one with your contact information. I was quite surprised and gladly gave him one.

We went to the next school, which was named Andy Memorial School to survey the kids before they watched the Godman film. I didn’t get to stay with those students b/c Sunday and I were going to conduct market research focus groups for Book of Hope with the older students. I ended up running a focus group on a class of 16, which is twice as big as it should be. I also should have had someone to take notes, but I had to both moderate and transcribe. The kids were a bit shy at first, especially since their teacher was in the room and the room was set up for a classroom and not a focus group. Book of Hope is considering switching from a magazine size to a digest size and we wanted to talk to the kids and see which version they preferred. After we had an icebreaker conversation about cartoons, the kids warmed up to talking and we had quite a lively time. It was really interesting b/c the kids spoke overwhelmingly about which book they preferred. Most of the questions were asked with their heads down so they couldn’t collude with their classmates, but they still acted voted very consistent across classes and sections. They were excited to learn that their information will directly influence the books that BoH produces and they wanted to answer more questions and do it again. I took my picture with the class after we were finished. We distributed books to the children after the focus groups and after the Godman showing. I got to give out books for that and it was quite hectic as kids were quite eager for the books.

Several of the BoH staff from Ghana participated in the set-up and we took them out to eat at the fast food restaurant in Ghana. Sunday and I split a Hawaiian pizza before we left for Accra to go to the craft markets. I always find markets interesting, and I love buying things from different countries, but being a white person makes me look like a walking dollar sign, and I’m pretty good at bargaining, but it was nice that Emmanuel helped me out and shielded me from people bothering me. We got back to the hotel after the markets and got ready to go with the staff to a public showing of the Godman in an open area in a small town outside of Tema. When we got there, there were only like 30 people or so sitting in the chairs. I had to make some phone calls about my other project in Ghana and I stepped to the back where there was a group about the same size huddled around a radio listening to the Black Stars football match against Tunisia. They had a praise and worship video on the projector while they were waiting for the movie to start and it was an 80’s concert by Don Moen. I was embarrassed by how awful it was and was wondering why in the world they were showing it to people of whom English is a second or third language. I actually thought about buying them Israel Houghton’s Live from South Africa DVD so they could at least show that one, but I later found out from the regional coordinator that Francis was trying to impress us with American music. At the time I found myself preferring to be with the men gathered around the football match, but definitely thought they were an interesting juxtaposition.

The movie started and by midway through the movie, there were like 300 people there. It was crazy. Everyone clapped in unison whenever Jesus performed a miracle. The Godman is neat b/c there is an animated portion on Jesus, and yes, he’s fairly Caucasian looking with a touch of Arabian features, but each version has a culturally specific narrative that’s interwoven into the gospel story that mirrors God’s love presented through the film. They stop the movie right at the crucifixion so that a pastor can deliver a 5-10 minute message with an alter call and then finish the movie. Only this pastor spoke for half an hour. Francis translated into a different language from Acan through the loudspeaker on their pick-up truck and the mic that the pastor used was so distorted I couldn’t understand any of the words he spoke in English and I was in the third row. Everyone was amen-ing and hallelujahing at the appropriate times, so they clearly understood it.

I sat next to the childrens rows and just watched their faces as they saw the gospel before them, saw children in the movie that looked like them and spoke an African language that was dubbed into Acan. It was rather overwhelming to see the gospel story and the response of the community. I have been given an incredible privilege and I am humbled that God has pursued me so much so that I know the extent of His love for me.