Jake's Trip Reflections

Post-trip thoughts from Jake....

Every time I travel to Ghana I come back more amazed at how God works. Nothing in the world brings me greater joy than being able to serve our God by being His hands and feet in a land 6,000 miles away from where I call home.

There was no way I could have ever imagined how God would use me on the most recent trip to Ghana. In the course of six days God’s glory was seen, my eyes were opened, and He gave me a boldness like I had never experienced before.

Here is the quick summary of what God did through us in just six days, and as I begin to compile His mighty works my mind wonders what he would do with 365 days and what he wants to do with my life.

-Found a girl who sits in the dirt all day because she is handicapped and God provided a way for us to get her a wheel chair that will forever change her life.

-Carried around all kinds of medicines from the clinic God led us to build in 2011. Rubbed prescribed lotions on the worst ring worm situations I have ever seen, gave antibiotics for various infections, bandaged and wrapped up sores, and prayed like crazy for healing.

-God provided shelter for two of His orphans, Yaa and Adjoa, and their caregivers.

-Had the opportunity to share the gospel with nearly 500 youth

-Shared the gospel with a guy that tried to sell me weed

-Saved a girl from a slow, painful battle with malaria

-Helped a little boy travel to Accra to get medical care for his heart

-Saw false idols and met a high priest (this stuff is actually real not just something in the Bible)

-Was able to play a part in helping a mother of 7 with breast cancer

-Sponsored 50 children in Asikuma to get health insurance

-Saw three women’s lives forever changed due to small business donations

-God brought me to a main site of child trafficking

-God brought two new incredible pastors into my life

-Fed hundreds of children

-Sponsored school fees and provided hope

-Led Bible studies

-Saw 18 American teachers get the experience of teaching in rural African schools

-God brought me to a place where drugs are rampant, sexual immorality is out of control, and people live for the night

God worked in such powerful ways during the entire trip. I could have never done these things on my own accord. I would have never dreamed of doing such things. Just nine years ago I did not know God. Just five years ago I did not know what it meant to pick up my cross.

Am I special? No. Did God choose me to be His hands and feet? Yes and No because in reality He has chosen all of us, but He gives us the choice. What is my role in this all? Simple obedience to His Word. All I am supposed to do is obey and God orchestrates the rest. He is the one who orchestrated the needs of the children. He is the one who brought Pastor Light to the hotel. He is the one who provided shelter for the orphans. He is the one who provided the wheel chair. He is the one that allowed me to sit in the middle of drugs, sexual immorality, and hopelessness, but not succumb to any of it. He is the one who sent Jesus and He is the one who goes before me. All I am supposed to do is to accept God’s invitation, take up my cross, and hate my life.

Now if it was only easy to say “yes”. My flesh wars against my entire being, doing everything possible to get me to say “no”. Because of Satan’s evil ways my mind can always rationalize me turning from the cross and saying “no”. Satan has allowed my mind to master rationalization of why I can’t I go and why I can’t follow.

As this most recent trip began there was nothing in my flesh that wanted to go. It was two months ago that we brought our daughters home. Both of my sons had basketball games during the ten days God was calling me to go. I really dislike going to Africa without my wife. I was in charge of leading a group of students from Drake of which I did not know. I had never led a trip like this and what if it failed and everything did not go as my mind had planned. I completely and totally hate flying. This trip fell in the middle of a very busy time at work with the opening of our new Kingdom Hoops facility and two of the biggest tournaments back-to-back weekends in January.

Any of these reasons would have been very sufficient reasons to say “no” to God. All of the reasons would have allowed me to stay in the comfort of my house. Any of the reasons would have prevented me from having to pick up my cross. I could have showered with warm water, not have had to worry about malaria, not sat on a run way for three hours, and could of stayed home and eaten as much ice cream as I would have liked along with the rest of my favorite foods. I would not have had to miss ten days of work and 10 days of loss income with no individual training lessons. My flesh was saying stay and God was saying go. Who would I choose?

God gave us a free will to choose Him or to not choose Him. As I was praying and working through the emotions of all of this I kept God’s Word close to my heart and near the tip of my tongue. In my mind I wonder what the disciples must have thought the day Jesus approached them at their homes and at their jobs to come and follow Him. I wonder, would I have said “yes”? In my head, with the knowledge of scripture, I believe I would have said yes to Jesus, but then I wonder again…would’ve I? It's in these moments when I wage war with my flesh and choose to say “yes” to God that I am making a choice to be a disciple of Jesus. I love how Francis Chan puts this in his new book ‘Multiply’...

What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus Christ? As you will discover, the answer is fairly simple, but it changes your life completely.

The word disciple refers to a student or apprentice. Disciples in Jesus’s day would follow their rabbi (which means teacher) wherever he went, learning from the rabbi’s teaching and being trained to do as the rabbi did. Basically, a disciple is a follower, but only if we take the term follower literally. Becoming a disciple of Jesus is as simple as obeying His call to follow.

When Jesus called his first disciples, they may not have understood where Jesus would take them or the impact it would have on their lives, but they knew what it meant to follow. They took Jesus’s call literally and began going everywhere He went and doing everything He did.

It’s impossible to be a disciple or a follower of someone and not end up like that person. Jesus said, “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher (Luke 6:40). That’s the whole point of being a disciple of Jesus: we imitate Him, carry on His ministry, and become like Him in the process.

Yet somehow many have come to believe that a person can be a “Christian” without being like Christ. A “follower” who doesn’t follow. How does that make any sense? Many people in the church have decided to take on the name of Christ and nothing else. This would be like Jesus walking up to those first disciples and saying, “Hey, would you guys mind identifying yourselves with Me in some way? Don’t worry, I don’t actually care if you do anything I do or change your lifestyle at all. I’m just looking for people who are willing to say they believe in Me and call themselves Christians. “Seriously?”

How do we prevent ourselves from giving into our flesh and only identifying with Jesus but not actually following? As a basketball coach I always tell my players that in order to get better we have to pinpoint and understand our weaknesses. In the case of following Christ we have to understand the things that eat at our flesh and keep us from becoming a true disciple. I believe God already knew this would be a struggle for man and He helped to point out many of these things throughout scripture.

Luke 14: 25-27
Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

1. Our children: There is nothing harder for me than when I have to leave my children for a period of time because God is calling me to follow Him. I love my children so much and have a unique relationship with each of them that it brings me great pain when it is time to leave. I am pretty sure God knew this was going to be a battle for all of us that want to be His disciple, so, He gave us very strong words to keep on the tip of our tongues and in the fronts of our hearts. Luke 14: 25-27 tells us that we cannot be His disciple if we don’t hate all of those people so close to us including our children.
   
   I know Jesus was not referring to “hate” like we so often think of it today when we completely dislike and despise another individual or thing. He was simply trying to get across to the crowd that was following Him in those days, and the crowd that follows Him today, that we cannot love anything more than we love Jesus. He is telling us that Satan will use the love we feel for our children and family to prevent us from obediently following Him wherever he calls us for whatever amount of time. There is never a day that I don’t have to take a step back and check myself with God in this area. Those times when I have to leave it is an all-out war against my flesh.
   
   
2. Our spouses: To leave my wife is another part of the battle I face as she is the most supportive and God fearing wife that any man could desire. When I am gone I feel bad about leaving all the responsibilities of five children for her to bear. I miss our late night conversations. I miss her companionship and positive feedback she gives me in the small things.
   
   Again, Jesus is quite clear in that same part of scripture from Luke that our wife (and you could substitute husband in there) cannot be more important than following God wherever He calls. However, the passage that always boggled my mind prior to God calling me to Africa in 2009 was the following words from Paul in 1 Corinthians 4:8.
   
   Now to the unmarried and widows I say; it is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do.
   
   Paul never gives much extra detail on why it would be good for them to stay unmarried, however, I believe Paul feared the marriage relationship would hurt the spread of the gospel more than it would help it. That a husband and wife would learn to only rely on each other rather than relying daily on the strength of Christ. Paul goes on to say what a wonderful thing marriage is and that a marriage centered on Christ is a beautiful image of the gospel; but, I think we all need to ask ourselves if our spouse directly or indirectly causes us to only identify with Christ and not really follow Him.
   
   
3. Our life: In this same passage in Luke, Jesus tells the crowd that if we are going to follow Him we must even hate our own life. I believe in Christian circles we see that part of the passage and we think it means to be willing to physically die for Christ. Of course that is true, but as people in the United States we can say we would be willing to physically die for Christ, all the while knowing that we will probably never be in a situation where we have to choose life or death for Christ.
   
   The question then becomes - what did Jesus mean when He said we have to even hate our own life? I believe the answer for us in the United States - where we don’t face life threatening persecution - can be found in in the story of the rich man in Matthew 19:16-22.
   
   Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments. “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.” “All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
   
   I believe this biblical example is what Jesus was talking about when he told us we would even have to hate our own life. What does this look like today in the United States? It could mean that God wants us to sell everything and give to the poor. It could also mean that he wants us to be willing to give up the good things in our life for even just a short period of time. This could mean no hot showers at night, no air conditioning in your room, a toilet that won’t flush, water you can’t brush your teeth with. It might mean touching sick people and rubbing lotion on them with your bare hands. It could mean sitting with drug dealers. It could mean bus trips for five hours, airline flights for 20 hours. It could mean food we don’t like, starving kids hovering over our shoulders, and dirt covering our whole bodies.
   
   The question becomes: Are we willing to give up the comforts of our lives - even just for short periods of time - to follow Christ? I believe this is one example of what Jesus meant by us having to even hate our own lives. Yesterday a good friend stopped in my office and was looking at some of the pictures of the basketball camp we were able to host in Cape Coast. This individual looked at me and said, “When I see these pictures it just makes me want to go with you to Africa, but I would only go if we were doing basketball camps. I wouldn’t want to be cleaning toilets or anything.” I looked at him with a fake smile and left my office with a sad heart that day because that mindset is exactly what Jesus does not want of His followers. The Jesus I know came down from a place of comfort to be born in a dirty manager, lived a life on earth with no home, and then died a disgusting and brutal death for all of us; yet we don’t want to hate our own lives to follow Him.

We are all left with the choice to identify with Christ, or to actually become His disciples. What choice will you make in your life? Satan will do his best to convince your flesh to just identify and not really follow. Your mind will rationalize the choice to not become a disciple and your flesh will second that decision. However, if we can cling to God’s words and His promises, then great will our reward be in heaven, and the greatness of God’s glory will be seen throughout the world.
 

Friday's Updates From Jake in Ghana

Today the team said goodbye to Asikuma and made the 5 ½ hour journey to Cape Coast. Cape Coast is the home of Hoops Care International (http://hoopscare.org/), the basketball organization Jake got hooked up with early on in our adventures in Ghana (read about our first ever visit to Cape Coast HERE). He and the organization’s director, Claudius, have remained connected over the past 3 years and Claud always asks Jake to host basketball camps for his players whenever Jake is in town.
 

 

Today Jake held a 1 hour mass camp for around 75 kids (the student-teachers on our team had the day off and visited Canopy Nature Park). Then he took the 25 most talented players and put them through another 1.5 hour camp of higher intensity/skilled drills. Collage from the day's events via Claudius...

 

And some of the pictures Jake sent me on his phone...
 

 

 

Some girls came to camp today which was exciting – typically girls don’t get the opportunity to play sports in Ghana due to cultural mindsets.

 

 

 

In between the two camps Jake held a bible study with those involved at Hoops Care and shared the gospel with them. Cape Coast is another area in which many false gods are worshipped. As Claud was showing Jake around town today a man called out a greeting to Jake so Jake stopped to introduce himself. As he was shaking hands with the man Claud told Jake that this was one of the high priests in town. He said, “He watches over the idols.” The high priest then proceeded to ask Jake if he could take Jake to his god. Jake said, “No, I will stick to Jesus and I think you should do the same.” Let’s just say the high priest wasn’t too happy to hear that and he said a few choice words to Jake in his own language that we won’t repeat here. :) Later on in their walk around town Claud and Jake came upon one of these idols – here is what they look like:

 

It makes me sad and angry that the devil has deceived these people into exchanging the One and Only, Living, Breathing, Almighty God for a piece of concrete with a fish painted on it.

Isaiah 44:6,9-11 ~ This is what the LORD says—Israel’s King and Redeemer, the LORD Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God. All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.

At another point during their walk around town Claud and Jake stopped and sat down to talk with some children who were all alone.
 

 

At first glance Jake had noticed the cute little baby and so he sat down to play with the baby. Then he realized the little girl laying down was not resting, but in fact very sick. Claudius told Jake that Cape Coast has a huge problem with malaria and it is getting worse. The town swarms with mosquitos because of its proximity to the ocean. Claudius felt the girl’s head and looked at her eyes and knew that she had a very severe case of malaria. From there Jake felt led to get the girl to a hospital for treatment. However, the girl’s mother was out selling for the day so they could not transport her without first talking with the mother. As it turned out, Claudius’ office was right around the corner from these children, and a pastor that Claudius has on staff would be at the offices the rest of the evening. Claudius said he would have the pastor return to the girl after dark when the mother would be home from selling and then the pastor could take her to the hospital. Jake left money with Claudius to be used for the girl’s treatment. I should mention here, that the reason parents don’t take their children to hospitals and clinics themselves is because they cannot afford the treatment. If you show up at a clinic without health insurance the cost is almost 10 times what it is if you have insurance. To get health insurance in Ghana it is only 4 cedis (about 2 U.S. dollars) and that covers you for an entire year. But when you are living off of less than a dollar a day, it is just not feasible and hardly any of the villagers have health insurance.

Interesting sight in Cape Coast… pigs on the beach...

 

 

That is a pretty skinny pig if those words even go together.

Jake had a great time with Claudius today, and mentioned that Claudius has a huge heart for special needs children and those with handicaps. This is extremely rare in Ghana, because a lot of times those with physical and mental challenges are written off as cursed and are usually ignored and mistreated. Claudius held a practice this afternoon for children with down syndrome and cerebral palsy. Then this evening he hosted a game for those that are wheelchair bound. The game was under the lights and they had music blaring. Jake said it was a really fun atmosphere…

 

Tomorrow the team will tour the Cape Coast Castle - the castle and dungeon where slaves were imprisoned and tortured before they were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to North and South America as part of the slave trade.  Pictures from my tour through the castle are in the post linked to at the beginning of this post.  They will also visit the Cultural Center in Accra to do some shopping for souvenirs and then they will board their flight to come home!

Thursday's Updates from Jake in Ghana

Jake got to share the gospel in a town called Dzemeni today. This is an area that is high in child labor/trafficking because it is along the Lake Volta.
 

 

Dzemeni market scene

 

 

 

The parents of the children are lied to by being promised that their children’s school fees will be paid for if they send them to come and work here along the shore. They are basically tricked into child labor, and even worse, some children are literally sold (for as low as 50 Ghana cedis) and are sent to the Northern region to work in mines and factories. Jake said that the canoes come in and out of the lake transporting people and children like taxi cabs. He’d never seen anything like it. Many of the children here also die by drowning because they are forced to fish and repair nets. The police have started to make arrests, but there are so many in this trafficking ring that they can’t all be caught.

The pastors here have set up a ministry to help rescue the child slaves and get them into school. The main pastor came and found Jake in Asikuma earlier this week and asked him to come see the ministry.

 

The pastors asked Jake to preach to the children and teachers today. They said that drug abuse, alcohol abuse, sexual immorality (lots of young teen pregnancies), and worship of false gods including a lake goddess are the biggest issues in the area. Jake was able to share his personal testimony and he also preached on Deuteronomy 28 – highlighting the two choice paths of obedience or disobedience to God – and the outcomes of each.

 

 

Back in Asikuma, Jill - one of our team members - came across this little girl who had infections all over her head...
 

 

Once Jake got back he brought her to the clinic and the nurses knew right away that she needed to be tested for HIV. The test came back ‘inconclusive’ so she was sent to a neighboring town, Juapong, for more testing. Our Foundation paid for the transportation and further testing.

The floors and plastering were completed at Yaa and Adjoa’s new home yesterday.
 

 

The carpenter (who assists Sampson) started his work today, and now the new ceilings are up!

 

Why use a ladder to put up the ceiling when you're talented enough to do this?
 

 

Watch yer toes!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I love Ghanaians! They are so ready to WORK, and get the job done with a lil African ingenuity every time!

Jake said Yaa and Adjoa are SO EXCITED about the new home! And he said Grandma (not pictured below) might be the most excited of all….she has a little extra hop in her step and smiles and dances around every time she sees Jake coming. :)  I can totally picture it - I just love her free spirit!

Jake with Yaa, Adjoa, and their auntie outside of their new home – not quite move-in ready yet but soon!

 

♥

 

Wednesday's Updates From Jake in Ghana

As it turns out, Little Miss Prosper is indeed perfectly capable of going to school now! What Jake perceived as a mental handicap upon meeting her at first, was a combination of her being quite afraid of her first glimpse of a ‘white man’ and taken aback about what was going on. She would not communicate or speak hardly at all. BUT, after Jake got to spend some more extended time with her yesterday, he noted that she may have some mild mental delays, but nothing severe aside from her physical handicaps. He reasoned that there is no reason she should be excluded from school, so off he went to find the school master and pay for her school fees. And today, she got to start school. :)

 

 

♥

Our medical clinic in Asikuma is getting such a work out! Every day Jake is taking kids there for treatment. This morning when Jake was visiting the school that our sponsored kids go to, some little kids came running up to him saying, “You have to help Yaa! Something is wrong with her head!” Once Jake found her he saw that she had developed a huge infectious lump on her head that was not there (or at least not noticeable) yesterday. He took her out of school and took her to the clinic. It just so happened that the head district doctor was making his rounds and was at our clinic this morning…Jake said he took one look at the lump and said, “Oh my God – get me some gloves!” Here she is getting ready to get a shot to numb the site.

 

Jake said from there they had to slice the lump open with a blade to get all the infection out, and then closed it back up. Jake saw the whole thing and said he almost passed out because there was blood and infection everywhere. Once finished they gave Yaa the strongest antibiotic they had, and gave her instructions to come to the clinic every morning before school for the next 10 days to get the wound redressed. In addition to the lump of infection, Yaa also had ringworm of her scalp which is so common in Ghana. Fungal infections are everywhere and constantly spread throughout the community.

Our in-country staff member, Wisdom, and Jake had the opportunity to ‘lay hands’ on Graham today and pray for him to be healed.

 

A doctor appointment has been scheduled for Graham in Accra (the capital of Ghana) for next Thursday. I know that there are times when God chooses to heal through doctors. But I also know that there are times when God chooses to heal through the faith of his disciples alone. I’m shooting for the latter.

Lastly, Jake got to meet the pregnant mother with breast cancer today...

 

Her letter was translated to English, and I wanted to share it in her words so that you can feel the weight of her plea…

Dear Sir,

It is with great pain that I write to you this note. I am a mother of six children and I am now seven months pregnant. I have been informed of the good work the Lord is using you and your groups to do in Asikuma. May He continue to supply your needs according to His riches.

Please, my problem is I have been diagnosed of breast cancer and the doctor said after delivery I will be very weak and won’t be able to breastfeed my baby. I do not have anybody anywhere to help me in feeding the baby after delivery. I am pleading with you if you can help my baby survive for two years after delivery than I can handle him myself with solid food. I believe God is going to help me through you.

Yours sincerely….

So, you’ll notice that she said she is 7 months pregnant, not 3 months….had that detail wrong when I shared yesterday. This puts her due date in March, and Jake’s next trip to Ghana is planned for March. We’ve talked with our in-country staff, and we have all agreed that the answer to this one is: FORMULA! So, between now and Jake’s next trip, we are asking for donations of baby formula and bottle liners (specific details below). They do sell formula in Ghana, however, it is sparse and can usually only be found near the capital city. Any Ghana store would not have enough of a supply for what we need anyways because we will need to get this mother through March until August when Jake will be back.

I have been thinking through the concept of what form of formula to bring. They now have the pre-mixed kind that actually comes in disposable bottles. This would be SO perfect because of the unsanitary conditions in the middle of the village – but, much too heavy to bring in the suitcases. We just wouldn’t be able to bring as much as we could if we did the powder form. Jake asked Nurse Betty at the medical clinic her opinion, and her main concern with the powder form was that she wanted to ensure the mother mixes it with bottled water. They also have little plastic bags of water in Ghana that are much cheaper than the bottles and this is what most of the villagers drink. However, the bagged water is drinkable but not ‘clean’ like bottled water is. After talking with Nurse Betty, Jake concluded that our Foundation will buy the mother a supply of bottled water (which can be easily purchased in Ghana) for mixing with the formula, and it will be stored at the clinic (along with the formula). Each day the mother (who lives about 3 blocks from the clinic) can come to the clinic to collect a day’s worth of water and formula.

Which brings me to the next thing. Since this mother is not going to be able to just run to the kitchen sink and wash bottles, I would like to supply her with bottle liners. In case you are new to the whole bottle scene, there are some bottles that are made in which you slip in a plastic liner. Then you dispose of the liner after use. I think this would really help to keep things on the sanitary side for each feeding. I also would like to stick to the same brand of formula, so that the baby isn’t switched around to different kinds. So, specifically, here is what we will be collecting:

Similac brand infant formula – BLUE label (the one for ‘baby’s 1st year’)...

 

Boxes of Playtex Drop-Ins 8-10 oz

 

We will also take a few other ‘regular’ bottles just in case, so those can be donated too, but I would rather people donate liners as the majority. Nurse Betty at the clinic mentioned that there are other cases like this that happen where mothers cannot breastfeed, and that our medical clinic would also be appreciative of a donation of formula. So, the more we can get and pack, the better!

In the event that this mother gives birth before Jake's arrival in March, he is leaving some money behind in the event that they would need to purchase formula to get her through until the team arrives.

Lastly, Jake found out today that pregnant mothers in Ghana are issued a free temporary health insurance card, in which they can go into any clinic and receive care throughout their pregnancy and through the first 6 weeks after birth. Because of this mother’s case of cancer, she was strongly urged to give birth at our clinic (rather than in her hut) because they have the appropriate medicine to care for her after birth.

It’s probably not the most cost effective for donaters to ship formula to our house, so if you feel led to donate but do not live near us, please rather consider a monetary donation to our Foundation. You can do so via the link on my side bar, or mail donations to:

Jake Sullivan
315 Ridgewood Drive
Huxley, IA 50124

Payable to Kindgom Cares International.

Thanks for your support!

Tuesday's Updates From Jake in Ghana

God is good.

 

 First ride!

 

 

Yep, Prosper got her wheelchair today. :) When Nurse Betty at our medical clinic in Asikuma found out about Prosper’s need yesterday she took action and immediately hooked us up with one! Jake got the joy of delivering the chair this morning. He said that when they started pushing Prosper she began smiling and was telling everyone that she can now go to school! Now that is the Ghanaian spirit! Rejoicing today that the Lord allows us to be part of His amazing work in the lives of these people - they change our lives more than we change theirs.

I waited patiently for the Lord; He turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. ~ Psalm 40:1-3, 5~

Jake took little George to our medical clinic right away this morning and got the medicine he needed. As it turned out, George did have very severe ringworm of his scalp.
 

Ringworm meds.

 

He received a lotion that needs to be put on his head twice per day, as well as an oral pill that he takes each day for two weeks. Tomorrow Jake is taking Nurse Betty from the clinic to George’s house so she knows where it is. Our Foundation will be paying the clinic to make daily checks on George and his siblings since they’ve really got it rough. The clinic staff will also assume responsibility for ensuring that George receives his doses of medicine each day once Jake leaves. In addition, Nurse Betty is going to take George to a main nutritional center in a neighboring town in order to receive some nutrition packs.  She noted that George is very malnourished and underweight.  The nutrition packs will enable him to get some of the calories that he is lacking.  Jake might even be able to accompany them on that trip before the team leaves Asikuma. We are so thankful to have such great staff that are willing to go out of their way to help these precious ones.

For the past couple of trips Jake and I have had it on our hearts to help Yaa and Adjoa (cared for by their aunt and elderly grandmother) to get a new home. Here is where the 4 of them live currently…

 

About a year and a half has gone by since we met them (and since that picture was taken) and now the walls of the home are caving in…

 

A few trips ago, Jake had told Yaa and Adjoa’s aunt that our Foundation would like to help them get a new home. Since then, we’ve waited on the Lord to provide some direction. Today, the aunt told Jake that she had been scoping out some places to rent over the past few months and she found one. She said that she herself could afford the rent on the place because her business of selling bo-froot (a deep-fried doughnut-like ball) on the street-side was going so well! This was encouraging to hear because on one of the last trips we had given the aunt a monetary gift to put into her business!  She put it to use! YAY!

Me and Auntie streetside with her bo-froot on our March 2012 trip

 

She did ask for our Foundation’s assistance on helping to get the place fixed because it is not finished or ready to move in. She took Jake to view the home today. For lack of better words, the home would be kind of like a ‘townhome’ here in the U.S. It has 3 units shared by different families…Yaa and Adjoa’s family will occupy the unit on the very left.
 

 

Among other things the place needs a new ceiling put in, walls plastered, windows put on, and some of the flooring needs pulled up in order to make it liveable for the long term. Sounds like a job for……SAMPSON! Sampson went along with Jake today and estimated that the construction job will cost a total of 350 Ghana cedis, which with the current exchange rates puts it equivalent to $135. Sampson, consider yourself hired! Some more pictures of the place, with an excited Sampson posing on his new job-site!

Outside entry

 

One of the rooms indoors

 

Front entry right when you walk in

 

It’s going to be so exciting to keep track of Sampson’s progress on the place! I can’t wait until they get to move in!  Jake pre-paid Sampson for the work today, and he also felt led to cover the first two years of rent on the place with the landlord (360 Ghana cedis total for the rent). Jake did not want auntie to have to worry about paying the rent from month to month (rent is 15 cedis per month). Yaa and Adjoa, their aunt and grandmother literally feel like family to us, and it is such a joy that our Foundation is in a position to help them get on their feet and stay there. 

PLEASE CONTINUE PRAYING that Jake and the team would be led to the children and families in most need. God continues to answer this prayer, and is literally bringing situations right to Jake’s feet. I got this text from Jake earlier today (Ghana is 6 hours ahead of Iowa time):

Been a crazy day. A Grandfather is bringing four kids to me to meet tonight at the hotel that have been orphaned.

In addition, when Jake met with one of the chiefs of Asikuma today, the chief gave him a letter from a mother in the community. She had written this letter specifically to Jake…written in the local language (and blurred here to maintain privacy)...

 

This mother and her husband have 6 young children. After her last pregnancy the mother developed severe breast cancer. The couple's religion does not believe in family planning, and she recently became pregnant again. She knows she will not be able to breastfeed the child in her womb (due in approx. 6 months) because of the breast cancer, which in reality may also end up taking her life. She had heard how our Foundation had helped Emmanuel’s family, and she was hoping we could help her care for her baby once he/she is born. She knows she will be extremely weak after the birth, and won’t be able to feed the baby. Jake is meeting with our in-country staff over this situation tomorrow. As a mother of my two little formula-fed babes myself, I think I have a solution to this one....

To be continued…..

Updates from Jake in Ghana

Thanks for praying that God would lead the team to those in most need. Jake was brought to this little girl early this morning in Asikuma. Her name is Prosper.
 

 

She has deformed legs and is mentally handicapped/delayed - due most likely to neglect from the stigma attached of having lame extremities. Her mother has been praying for someone to get her a wheelchair so that she does not have to sit in the dirt all day. Our Foundation will be able to purchase a wheel chair for her before Jake leaves, thanks to the donations that Kingdom Cares International receives from many of you! On these trips, when we walk outside of our hotel gate in Asikuma, we are immediately confronted with needs. People are hurting and suffering and in such need everywhere you turn – it is almost suffocating. We’ve learned that we can’t help them all, rather God has taught us to help the ones that He places in our path - to see the individual, like He does. 

The Drake students started teaching in Asikuma today! They are spread out, helping at 4 different schools in the community which are a mix of governmental and private schools. One of these 4 is the school that our Foundation helped to upgrade by constructing the library and additional classroom starting back in August 2011 – Asikuma Presbyterian Primary School. The students are also teaching at Godwin International, which is the school that the children in our sponsorship program attend. Below are some pictures Jake took of the Drake students teaching at one of the private schools (not funded by the government) earlier today. To give you an idea, to attend this school it costs 12 cedis per term and there are three terms in the year. 1 Ghana cedi is equivalent to less than 1 U.S. dollar (depending on the fluctuating exchange rates of course). Here the students are being taken through grammatical exercises…

 

and here they are learning their capital and lowercase letters in the dirt.

 

Desks in this particular school are sparse so the older kids/grades get the desks and the younger ones go without. School in Ghana is taught in English so there is not much of a language barrier – other than getting adjusted to accents. :)

Jake also took a trip to Godwin International school this morning to begin checking up on the children in our sponsorship program. You may remember Emmanuel from one of our last trips (read his story HERE) - our Foundation was able to purchase antibiotics for him to treat a massive infection that had taken him over due to a botched circumcision. Emmanuel was one of the children God used to start up our sponsorship program.  Since identifying him on that August trip he is now being sponsored to go to school. Jake got to see him at school today…

 

When I talked to Jake on the phone today he said Emmanuel is doing really well. The school master noted that he is attentive and engaged at school, and Jake was encouraged because Emmanuel could communicate to him a bit in English! He could not speak English before, but has learned this in school. Jake said in person Emmanuel looks very healthy and looks also to be eating well. Emmanuel’s siblings (who are also sponsored) were not in school today and Jake later found out why. ‘D’ who checks up on the family (and was the one who led Jake to help them in the first place) came and found Jake at the hotel tonight. She said that the family ran out of water today. They only had one bucket of water for bathing, so they chose to bathe the oldest, Emmanuel, and keep the rest home from school. Apparently the water bore hole they use is a very long walk. Each person in the community is only allowed 1 bucket of water per trip - (you can make 10 trips and get 10 buckets) and the mother was not able to gather enough buckets before school today. It is culturally unacceptable for a parent to send their child off for the day without a bath. I've always thought it funny that they take a bath and then head right back out into the dirt, however in Ghana bathing twice a day (sometimes 3 times per day) helps protect against disease.

George was another one that God used to start our sponsorship program. You can read his story HERE. George and his sisters were put into our sponsorship program last summer and are also now attending school thanks to their sponsors. As mentioned in his story, George’s father travels for days at a time to farm, so he and his younger sister are often cared for by their oldest sister (Ruth – pictured below in the middle). Neighbors also assist, but George and his siblings definitely go through waves where they are looking quite ‘rough’, as they are currently….these are the times when their father is away.  Their sad little faces just tug at my Mommy heart.

 

Ruth wasn't in her school uniform today because it was dirty (as part of the culture she will receive punishment for this at school).  I imagine she did her best to get her siblings together and ready first, and put herself last. 

George has some sort of infection on his head right now. I believe this is ring worm of the scalp.

 

Jake is planning on taking him to the medical clinic tomorrow to get it checked out and to get him medicine.

I also got this sweet picture of ‘our girls’ Yaa and Adjoa at school today. :) 

 

Jake and I started adopting these two orphaned girls in September of 2011. Months later an aunt stepped up to care for them, so adoption turned out to not be the answer for their situation. From there God led us to adopt Jennifer and Jasara, so we now consider Yaa and Adjoa our ‘adoption messengers’. Yaa and Adjoa are in our sponsorship program, and every trip we are so eager to check in on them. Each of our teams seems to fall in love with these girls, and we are thankful that their aunt is taking good care of them.

Lastly, you might remember poor, little Graham. I last blogged about him HERE. Since then, it was a struggle to get an exact answer on what Graham needed. We thought it had been communicated to us that Graham needed medication for his heart to get stronger in order to have surgery. However, as it turns out, the doctors aren’t exactly sure what is going on with his heart – other than they know there is a hole in it. They are now saying that Graham needs an analysis that lasts for 6 months in which he constantly goes into the doctor, dye is put in his blood, and then they chart how it is flowing. Then they decide about surgery from the results. Call me crazy, but to me this doesn’t seem like the best use of time, however, there are also no other present options. Graham’s family had gotten through 2 months of this 6 month analysis when Graham’s father lost work again, and they had no money to go to the doctor. Our Foundation is pledging to provide for this 6 month treatment analysis, but we are hopeful that God will intervene and show us if there is something else that can be done in a more timely matter. I cannot imagine how Graham’s mother feels as she continues to wake up and hold her suffering boy in her arms day after day. Would you all be willing to pray a prayer of faith along with me? That God will miraculously heal the hole in Graham’s heart without the need for surgery? I’ll be praying to this end.

Mark 16:15-18
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.”

Graham pictured with Jake and Wisdom - one of our new in-country staff members - earlier today.