Hope

Kids in Ghana are so much fun to be around. Little kids particularly, are quite intrigued by white people. I was wandering around the markets in the North and in between the scary carcasses for sale, intense spices, fabric, fish and kitchen sinks, little kids would come up to me and say hello. When I would wave and say hi, they would giggle and say hello and many would want to give me five. I was walking down one street and said hey to a few kids and they came up and gave me high fives and before you know it, there was a stream of children coming up to me to give me high fives and I just had to laugh.

My last project was working with students to measure how reliable our surveys are. We visited several schools two days in a row to have students take the same survey on consecutive days. If there was much variance in their answers, that would mean we need to change the survey. One of the Catholic schools we visited asked us to lead chapel for them the next day. The person who coordinated everything for us is a youth pastor and he prepared to give the students a message. The next day we went by to drop him off and go to another school while he lead chapel. In the car that morning I was talking to God about feeling distant from Him and asking for revelation and nearness. I suppose His response was quite ironic because as we are getting ready to leave my friend Richard, the principal approaches us and says, "The students are expecting the white man to speak." I should have known better and had something ready. I could have said no, but I had a few minutes and decided that it would be cool. I watched Yes Man on a flight and I was inspired by it to be more adventuresome and that barring something against my spiritual guidelines, I should say yes to my opportunities.

I had five minutes and the Book of Hope to pull together a 30 minute talk for about 200 Ghanaian high schoolers. It was kinda exciting and freakishly terrifying all at once. I flipped through the Book of Hope and thankfully it's full of scripture and I settled on the story of the woman at the well. I went in and sat at a desk after jotting down a few notes on the back of a survey and sending up a few prayers. Two things connect me to African youth, and global youth for that matter; Barack Obama and soccer. Thankfully I can talk about the Black Stars, Michael Essien and Drogba and they were getting excited about the soccer questions I was asking and impressed with my knowledge. I spoke to them about Obama visiting Cape Coast, Ghana and running on a campaign of hope. They were so excited that I had a chance to shake his hand. I shared how people look for hope, they want hope, but it is meaningless unless it is built on something. I spoke for most of the time on the woman at the well and her encounter with Jesus. I smiled to myself as I shared with them that Jesus and this woman had no business talking apart from the kingdom of God and that apart from God I would not have the privilege to share in worship and praise with them, my brothers and sisters. I love kids, in a lot of ways, I feel the church has failed youth and I take all my opportunities to exhort them and let them know that we need them and they are important. When I finished talking I sat down and listened to them finish up their worship time. Several boys beat on their drums loudly and a cluster of girls led the dancing and singing from up front. It was loud and blew me away, but I loved it.

I facilitated several focus groups, a few of them were during the morning worship session with the drums banging away in the next room over. Nothing like trying to get seven shy middleschoolers to speak in their third language while loud percussive noises ruminate from the next room over. The final school we visited was very impressive. Most schools have bold signs painted on the cinder block walls "SPEAK ENGLISH" plastered all around the school buildings or signs scrawled in pencil in dimly lit classrooms announcing to the children that, "English is the language of expression in this classroom." The final school we visited had the most talkative and helpful students. They didn't want to stop talking and were so honored that their voices would affect millions of youth around the world. Usually when I visit a I really enjoyed their conversation and they were so pleasant. They all asked for my business card afterwards and a few of them requested to touch my hair. I had a blast with them.