Visit To The Volta Region

After spending our first few days in Accra, we had a unique opportunity to travel to a different region and join with a summer project of 20 Ghanaian students from various schools in Ghana. We worked together to bless the people there by helping them understand how they can be assured of their salvation. We visited a nursing school two of the days, and a polytechnic school two days, meeting students and talking with them about the gospel. Ghana is very Christianized, so it is really easy to just go up to someone and say, “I’m from America and I’m in Ghana to talk with people about the gospel.” We were welcomed into many dorm rooms and had some great conversations. At first it felt strange sharing the gospel with so many Christians-they already knew how to be rightly connected to God through faith in Jesus, and they seemed to be really well-versed in Scripture. Even so, each time I asked someone about the certainty that they would be in heaven after they die, no one could say 100%. It was fun to walk through 1 John 5:11-13 with them and help them understand that if they know Jesus, they don’t have to fear where they will end up when they die.

Here is a picture of Ben and David, who has been a missionary in Ghana this year, with Robert, Cephas, and their friend at the Polytechnic campus in Ho. Robert and Cephas trusted Christ as their Savior this day!

That same day, we went into a couple of villages to invite people to a showing of The Jesus Film. Ben was able to share the gospel with a local woman named Bridget who wanted to receive Christ with him. Here she is!

Our time in Volta was very fruitful. Over 800 people heard the gospel through personal conversations or from seeing The Jesus Film, and over 300 indicated that they want to or did start a relationship with Christ that week.

Here are a few pictures from the villages we visited...

Lunch at the Market

Buying food, or pretty much anything, at the market is the way to go in Ghana. Things are cheaper, you can bargain, and it’s what the locals do! There is a market we pass each day in between our hostel and campus, less than a ten minute walk down the road. At night it’s called the “night market”, and you can buy anything from toiletries, to food, accessories, and phone credit. When we first arrived we were advised to only get fruit with thick skins, like bananas or mangos, and to stay away from the meat. Here’s a picture of us with our first market purchases the night we arrived.

Today I am planning for tomorrow’s women’s time, so instead of going to campus with everyone else, I am staying at the hostel to work. However, I needed to eat lunch and the market is the closest place to go. So I set off on my adventure of market shopping by myself for the first time. Immediately I purchased a large slice of watermelon which the vendor placed in one of the small, black plastic bags that identify you as a market shopper. I heard there is a shop that sells meat pies (think hot pocket with flaky crust-yum!) so I asked around to find the vendor. When I found her, she informed me that there was one meat pie, and it was tuna. After debating if this was a wise decision or not, since fish can be a questionable option, I decided to go for it. We have been here over two weeks and I felt I could handle the challenge. I made sure it was fresh, though it wouldn’t be warm, and I ordered that with some plantains. (The plantains are amazing! Similar to bananas, they come fried and are soft with a slight crisp to them. I eat them almost every day, and sometimes they are my meal if I don’t like the main dish). The cost for my lunch was: watermelon= one cedi, 50 pesewas; meat pie and plantains=one cedi, totaling less than $2 US dollars. I thought to myself, “I’m coming to the market for lunch everyday!” You can easily get by on 5 cedi a day if you eat at the cafeteria and the market. I confidently walked back to the hostel, digging into my watermelon, and anticipated eating the tuna pie.

When I sat down to eat and opened the container, I was surprised to see it full of plantains, and no meat pie! I guess that’s why it was extra cheap. So today lunch consisted of watermelon, leftover Coke from last night, and really crispy, way too spicy plantains that I couldn’t finish because my mouth was on fire. I’m still planning to get more food at the market, but next time I’ll have to make sure the vendor and I are on the same page and that I get my entire meal! It is fun to be learning the ins and outs of a new culture, even when mistakes like this happen. Yesterday I bought my first bag of water, which was quite the load to carry back to our hostel. Until yesterday, one of our staff had been going out every day to buy enough water for our whole team, which took more of his time and taxi money than we wanted, so we decided that now everyone is responsible for their own. We can either drink bottled water or sachet water, which we just call “bag water”. One bottle is one cedi, and one bag of about 20 small bags is the same price, so we just buy these and either drink right from the bag or fill our water bottles with it. Here is Ben biting his bag to get it open:

Overall we have been able to try a pretty wide range of foods since being here. The first week we had chicken and rice for almost every meal, I think because the servers see our white skin and assume we will only like a limited portion of the menu, or not want to wait for certain foods to be prepared. Last week in the Volta Region I planned the meals at our hotel, so we were able to incorporate macaroni & cheese (which I helped prepare!), spaghetti, which is actually common here, and boiled vegetables. We also discovered the mall nearby which has VERY delicious American food! It’s funny to think of our rustic eating the first week, not knowing the mall had such options so close by. It’s actually very strange to walk through the mall, which feels just like an American one, and then get on campus and have such limited restroom and food options. It’s sort of like when we visited the villages last week that were very simple, very rustic and rural, but a lot of families had cell phones and electricity. I’ll have to write more on that next time.