Ghana Trip Pictures

Well, I don’t get to share any fun stories from this trip, but I did grab some pictures from my mom since Jake didn’t bring a camera along. My mom is going to be blogging about the full experience starting on Monday and I can’t wait to tune in! Here are a few ‘telling’ pictures that I enjoyed that went along with Jake’s journal entries which I posted previously…..I intended on picking only 10 out of the 630 my mom uploaded to her picasa album, but I think I wound up with 20 or so on here because they were all so good! I just couldn't narrow it down! There are many stories that go behind each of these pictures so you will have to check out my mom's blog next week to hear more of the trip details. Her blog is: http://odlemountain.blogspot.com/

The Isaiah 1:17 Launch. I will be blogging about our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation beginning next week. Check out Esi's beautiful handiwork with the decorations and fabric....I told you she was good at this!

Jake's speaks to the teams that participated in the first Kingdom Hoops Ghana basketball tournament. Kingdom Hoops lost in the championship game by 1 point to Galaxy Academy.

Basketball camp in Cape Coast. That is Grace Vanderweide there in the orange demonstrating footwork for the lay up drill. Can you imagine the experience she had? She is on Jake's 8th grade girls Kingdom Hoops team and is from West Des Moines.

Shoes not required.....

While Jake ran the basketball camp sessions, Doug and Dawn Vanderweide and my mom held a bible study and worship time with the kids and their parents who had finished their camp session.

Cape Coast

My mom pictured with 2 Cape Coast girls - one is selling water, the other is selling plantain chips.

Jake getting ready for one of his TV interviews....he looks like has done this before! :)

On the beach near Esi's house during New Year's.

The team got to take a day and travel to Nana's village (Esi's husband) in the eastern region of Ghana where he is a chief. Other than visiting Justice's village, I have not gotten to experience village life, so I was very jealous of this awesome experience that they had!

Jake got to speak to the elder's of Nana's village. Jake had A LOT of impromptu speaking opportunities on this trip, but luckily those types of situations are right up his alley!

My mom hands out gifts and candy to the village kids.

Dawn Vanderweide hands out some food.

You may recall that the Vanderweide family was going to be Prince's host family here in the U.S. upon getting his student visa. It was so great for them to finally meet this young boy who has a special place in their hearts. Here is Prince showing the Vanderweide's son, J.D., the bed where he sleeps in his house.

Prince's house is set in a type of cul de sac.

These pictures brought me to tears when I first saw them....that is J.D. there on the far right....Prince's team let him suit up for their soccer match. I cannot imagine the memories that J.D. will have in his heart of what he got to experience in Ghana.

On our last trip in September Jake gave Prince's soccer coach 250 Ghana cedis (equivalent to about $200 U.S. dollars) to purchase uniforms for their soccer team and this is the result.....looking sharp boys!!!!!!!!!!!

A lady making banku....

Doug Vanderweide tries it out!

They got to experience so many awesome things!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Home From Ghana!

Everyone is home from the Ghana trip! I’ve been listening to story after story as Jake excitedly shares all the details from their amazing experience. I CANNOT WAIT until my mom starts uploading her pictures…..all 614 of them! They are going to be so good! Jake keeps on saying that they made tremendous progress for the foundation on this trip….we have so much to talk about. He also mentioned that he and the rest of the Kingdom Cares team got to experience just about everything you could possibly encounter in Ghana. Their trip was so rich, and the newbies certainly came away with a greater understanding of the country which was one of the main purposes for this first ‘vision’ trip with a missions group. Jake is already planning out the next trip and who he wants to invite! Watch out, you might be on the list! :) The next few days are going to be so fun as the trip highlights unfold and Jake reminisces about his time in stories and pictures and videos.

Here is Jake with the newest host student that has arrived via Kingdom Cares International…..just take a wild guess what the host student’s name is……yep, SAMUEL! :) Jake and Samuel are pictured with Samuel’s new host family….the Diers family from Pella.

Samuel will start school this semester at Pella Christian as a junior. Because of the transfer rule he will have to sit out of sports for 90 days, but he will be able to participate next year for his senior year. You can check out the Diers’ blog here: http://stepupsister.blogspot.com/ It's going to be so fun keeping up with them!

And here are my beautiful Ghanaian gifts that Jake brought back for me:

A beautiful hand carved end table, a necklace, handwoven wall art, and a bag for my laptop! Jake is a great gift-picker-outer!!!!!! Glad my hubby is home!

Jake's journal - Day 6 in Ghana - Last day

Day six was yet another fabulous day as we spent the majority of the day with Prince in his village. They scheduled a soccer match for us to watch and we spent hours interacting with the children and people from his village and surrounding areas. Doug even got to practice his skill at making banku with one of the local women. Let’s just say it did not go great and soon he gave the reigns back to her to make sure he did not ruin the food for all the people she was about to feed. We could not have asked for a more incredible day spent with a young boy we have all come to love. It will be hard to leave Prince again tomorrow but we do know that God has plans for him and in that we find some comfort.

We closed the day with a great meal at Esi’s with all the volunteers from the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation and of course another half-dozen guests that know Esi and consider her a great friend. We cannot express our appreciation enough to all the volunteers especially Ameilia and Michael.

It is bittersweet to know we are leaving tomorrow. I am so ready to get back to my wonderful wife and beautiful kids, but at the same time there is a feeling inside of me that is in love with Africa and in love with the desire for opportunity that many of the young people have here in Ghana. I will miss the sense of community. I will miss the amount of joy expressed despite having so little. I will miss how alive Christ feels in many of the villages we have spent time in. I will miss a place where things of the world don’t matter.

What other place in the world can boys wear pink backpacks and pink sandals, where girls can shave their hair, and where people can come from different communities and laugh together? This was never more evident than today when we showed up to Prince’s soccer match and they threw JD a uniform and asked him to play on their team. They even started JD in the game and quickly passed him the ball whenever possible. There were no kids on the bench pouting, no parents mad that he got to start, but instead they were simply thrilled to welcome a new person into the team and into the community. It did not matter that he was not as fast as them or had never practiced with them. They didn’t care that he was white or that he came from America. Instead they welcomed him as if he was one of them. As if he was Ghanaian.

If you could ever see a perfect resemblance of Christ and what it looks like today was it. I pray that I will be able to take the things I have learned this week from the alone time I have spent with God and carry it home with me. It has been a unique experience having so much quiet time this week as Janel and the kids did not make this trip. Being away from them the past seven days it has certainly reminded me how much I love them and how much I desire the simple things....like seeing the expressions on their faces as they talk and holding my wife’s hand in the car. The little things we take for granted on a daily basis can quickly be brought back to the forefront of our minds when those things get taken away - even if it is just a few days.

I hope to have them along with me on all future trips but God has used this time to grow me in my faith. I thank God for that opportunity and if I can ask one thing from Him tonight it would be - what is next? God, what do you want from me? It is so weird because it feels like I have been designed for Africa. Here no one cares about how quickly you returned a phone call or how much notice you provided when something had to change. People genuinely care about people here! In all my trips here including the past 7 days I have never heard one person say a negative thing about another person. Today I was wondering if gossip and all the talking behind peoples’ backs actually exists here. It just feels as though this is how God created people to be and I pray that as an organization in the United States that we can exemplify Christ by not only what we say but how we love others. The ability to love one another in all circumstances is clearly written in scripture many times over. I am beginning to understand exactly what John meant when he wrote the following - A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another ( John 13:34-35). I’ve just got to keep praying for God to give me clarity about what is next and how to move forward in a place He has called us to…

Good Night from Africa,

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 5 in Ghana

Day five started with incredible worship and a wonderful message to kick off the new year at International Central Gospel Church (ICGC). I wish every Christian in the United States could take part in the worship at ICGC as the passion for Christ is so alive in every member of the church. The joy of living for Him radiates through each person attending the service.

The message was a simple one to start off the new year. The theme for this new year at ICGC is for all followers to take those next steps to live a righteous life for Christ. The pastor started today’s service with identifying priorities that will allow us to live according to Christ and the righteous life he describes in the Bible. The core of the teaching was over Matthew 6:31-33:

So do not worry, saying,‘What shall we eat?’ or ’What shall we drink?’ or ’What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

The pastor clearly explained in this new year of 2011 our first priority needs to be the kingdom of God. He went on to explain that many times we have priorities that we put before the kingdom of God. These things could be our work, our friends, our social activities, our personal development, even our family. However, it has clearly been written in scripture that our first priority needs to be seeking the kingdom of God.

He went on to explain in more depth as to how we can determine if the kingdom of God is really our first priority or whether we are like so many Christians who only claim it is their first priority. The pastor gave us three concrete ways to measure our priorities.

Measurement I: What do we spend our TIME doing? Where you spend the majority of your time is where your highest priority typically lies.

Measurement II: Where do we spend our MONEY? Typically the things we spend our money on give clear direction to what priorities we hold in highest regard.

Measurement III: Where do we provide the most EFFORT? Whatever we work the hardest at will typically determine what is most important to us.

It was a simple message but such an important one as we head into a new year with new opportunities from God!

Following church we headed to Nana’s village in the eastern region. I cannot remember the exact name of the village but Nana is the chief of the village which only enhanced our experience. As we arrived into the village in our 15 passenger van we were quickly surrounded by many elders greeting Nana as this was his first trip to the village in the new year.

They quickly escorted us through the village to an area where they had about 30 chairs set up in a circle. After we went through the line greeting all the elders we took our chairs. In African culture the elders and appointed officials have a tradition that goes back thousands of years of welcoming the chief to the village for the first time each year. They do this elaborate ceremony pouring shots of Schnapps onto the dirt floor as a sign of giving respect to the ancestors and calling on their wisdom for the new year. The entire ceremony lasted about one hour and I was even asked to address all the elders which was quite an experience since none of them besides Nana spoke English. It was quite the intimidating environment but it was a moment I will never forget.

Following the ceremony we handed out various gifts to the children within the village. I am not sure where all the children actually came from but by the time we finished we were surrounded by a few hundred children elated to receive our gifts and to touch the women’s hair. The joy we were able to bring a child with a small bag of chips or couple of pieces of candy really begins to put in perspective how much I have lost my joy over the small things of the world.

After we finished in the village we went to a little remote spot just on the outskirts of the village where Nana and Esi stay when they come to work in the village. The place is in the middle of the ‘bush’ as they say - kind of like a forestry area in the United States - with 4 small 2-bedroom homes. The homes were not big enough for all of us to sit inside of so we set up tables outside the homes on a small slab of concrete. Esi was with us which meant we had a car full of food with us and more snacks and drinks than you could have ever imagine could appear from a single car. As we all sat down to visit in the middle of an eastern region mountain village to our surprise Esi pulls out a popcorn popping machine!!!! Our only reaction was “HUH???!!!!!” We were in an area with no running water and what appeared to be no electricity but that was until we saw an extremely long extension cord being pulled from one of the houses to operate the popcorn machine.

So, there we sat on top of a mountain in the middle of the bush with sun hidden behind the hills and we had freshly popped popcorn. All week I have said expect the unexpected and let God do the rest, but I am not even sure God could have gotten a popcorn popping machine to operate in the place where we were located; so tonight I guess we can say expect the unexpected especially when you are with Esi. The great news was that not only did we have fresh popcorn, but the only light we had within at least 10 miles from where we sat was the popcorn machine itself which lit up our gathering with all the light one would need.

After a couple of hours taking in the scene and talking we headed back down to Accra which was about a two and half hour trip. Our night was not over there. As we returned to the hotel the entire Kingdom Hoops team was waiting for us. We had planned a dinner at the hotel for all the boys and it gave us a great chance to get to know the boys on a little deeper level. The highlight of the meal was the announcement that Grace had been brought into the Kingdom Hoops Ghana family as the boys announced that she is now considered their sister.
We got all the boys back in taxis and on their way home at about 10:30pm and we were finally able to call it another night. What an incredible day and an incredible experience. I am not sure what God taught me today but I think it was the simple fact that He is everywhere and He can especially be felt in the most remote parts of the world.

Good Night from Africa,

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 4 in Ghana

Day four was another great day in Africa. Nothing really went as planned but when the day was finished it was a day filled with fun and craziness! The day began at 10:00am as the driver picked us up and brought us to Sakumono for a family-fun event that Esi had planned for our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation.

It looked as though we were holding our own county fair with inflatable toys for the kids, face painting, cotton candy, and of course some grilled tilapia, banku, and fried rice!! We had around 100 people show up throughout the day which was lower than what Esi expected but none the less we had the opportunity to dive into some more lives at the event.

The best part of the day was when an announcement was made that we were all heading to the beach which was about 2 miles down the road. I was unaware that we were that close to the ocean and I was even more confused as to why we were going to the beach. But, like I said from the beginning expect the unexpected and God will do the rest.

As we began to pile into the vans we were told that we were heading to the beach to help Esi and staff to sell the leftover food from the family fun event. To say the least this concept dumb-founded me a bit but I thought to myself this might be quite the experience and oh it was!!!

As we pulled within a few blocks of the beach we were surrounded by three lanes of cars in only two lanes of traffic and parallel parked cars on both sides of the road all facing in a variety of directions. My next view was the ocean and then a rough estimate of 10,000 Ghanaians all on the beach celebrating the New Year accompanied with stereo systems lining the beach, rap music blaring, and a variety of vendors selling every type of food.

I thought I had seen everything that was possible to see in Ghana but tonight it became possible to see even more. It was one big party with dancing, food, and swimming. Swimming at the ocean in Ghana provides its own experience. Swim suits are not required and the more I think about it I am not sure swim suits are even allowed. We saw people swimming in jeans and a T-shirt, summer dresses, or many of the men decided that clothes are not even necessary you can simply strip down to your underwear and go for a swim and then dance like crazy on the shore.

Besides the crowd and variety of swim clothes the most entertaining part of the night had to be when it was time to go. JD had decided to go out for a swim in the ocean and had gotten kind of far out so he could not hear us yelling his name that we were leaving. Soon Grace became annoyed that JD could not hear us and decided to get up and head down to the shoreline to yell at JD to come as we were ready to go. Besides Grace getting hit on by a few Ghanaian boys, everyone was looking at her and trying to figure out who she was yelling at. The entertaining part was that out of the 10,000 plus people on the beach there were only seven white people: Me, Lori, Dawn, Doug, Angie, Grace and JD; and JD was the only white person in the ocean amongst a couple thousand Ghanaians. As Grace was yelling for JD a couple of the Ghanaians started to point at JD and then yelled back at Grace to see if he was the one she wanted. I am not sure words on a page can do the scene justice, but the Ghanaian people around JD really were not sure if she was yelling at JD to say ‘lets go’ or someone else. This whole scene gave us quite a laugh on the way home. :)

Every day I have tried to learn something new and valuable that God is trying to teach me. Today it was the virtues of joy and happiness over the simple things of the world. I stood on a beach with thousands of people who have very little in material possessions yet they celebrated the New Year with such incredible joy it was hard not to be pulled in. There were no presents or fancy foods it was simply a joy of being together as a community and celebrating all that God has provided them over the past year and what he will provide in the year to come. I pray that this type of joy will remain in my life in all situations just like the Ghanaian people. Many times I believe I am coming to Ghana to help change lives but like always, my life gets changed the most.

Good Night from Africa!

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 3 in Ghana

From yesterday, via Jake:

Day three in Ghana was another fabulous one. We woke up early this morning to make our three hour journey to Cape Coast. Cape Coast was the former capital city of Ghana when it earned its freedom in 1957. In later years the capital was moved to Accra leaving Cape Coast depleted of many of its resources and economic value. Cape Coast is now known as a fishing community as it sits right on the Atlantic Ocean and has actually become a tourist attraction because of the British Castle where over 10 million slaves were shipped out of during the height of slavery. Cape Coast is also known for its incredible amount of children that freely run around the community seeking guidance and assistance whenever possible.

Over the past two years Cape Coast has become my favorite area of Ghana partially because of the outreach opportunities available there, but even more so because of the incredible joy the people display despite very, very difficult situations.

Today’s trip to Cape Coast was centered around an outreach program that we created alongside Hoops Care International who currently is an NGO (non-governmental organization) that operates out of Cape Coast. We put on two 90 minute basketball camps accompanied with an hour Bible study and worship time for the kids. We had over 150 kids show up to the event and also had another couple hundred kids just hanging out around the courts fascinated with us Americans. The primary thing that I am beginning to discover here in Africa is the platform for Christ that we have because we are from the United States. Everywhere we go we have a crowd following us hanging on every word that is said.

My other thought of today is how the people of Africa have a never ending curiosity and desire for adventure. As Americans we have lost that desire in so many ways because we so fear the unknown. Here in Africa the unknown is what gives them a sense of hope and they are so confident that God will open the unknown for them that their curiosity never stops.

To give an example of something so simple but yet so powerful was when we went through the British Castle and out to the people of the primary fishing community where the poverty is unexplainable. Grace and I were standing out on a dock area eating nerds and lemon drops and soon we had a crowd around not because we were from the United States but because we were eating this unknown food. Soon Grace and I did not have our candy any longer and the kids with the greatest sense of joy on their face ate the candy with puckered faces and gave us two thumbs up with gigantic smiles.

I started asking myself today what if I started to find the simple joys again in life? What if we became as curious about the future God has entailed for us as the beautiful people of Africa have become? What could happen if we all put our fears on the shelf and just stepped out to the unknown world of adventure? I can only imagine what impact we all could make for Christ.

During this journey to Africa I wanted to learn from the people of Africa. I wanted to learn what God was going to try to teach me. I am still curious to see what happens tomorrow as day 4 of the adventure begins.

Good night from Africa,

Jake

P.S.
All my friends with me (Lori Odle, Vander Weide family, and Coach Angie) all got to fully experience driving in Ghana this evening. I wish I could have had a camera to catch the fear and wonderment all occurring at the same time as we bobbed and weaved through the traffic!! It was one of those priceless moments.

Jake's journal - Day 2 in Ghana

Here's what went down yesterday via Jake:

Day number two began with a bang! I was up at 5:00am preparing to go on the morning show for Ghana television. The only way to accurately describe the show would be to compare it to The Today Show in the United States. When we arrived at the TV station we were whisked away to the make-up room where Nana and I were doused in make-up. Please note my make-up was quite fashionable with my two day old clothes since my luggage is still nowhere to be found. Not many people have the opportunity to go on the Ghana Today Show in shorts and a dirty T-shirt but I got to and I will have to include this adventure in my book someday.

Following the appearance on Ghana TV we returned back to the hotel to pick up the rest of the crew for the big launching event of the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation and the Isaiah 1:17 basketball tournament. I was not fully prepared for what this event would entail. The best way to describe it would be a ceremony/banquet/celebration all wrapped up into one spectacular event.

The first two and half hours were dedicated to speakers such as the minister for social welfare, the minister for youth sports administration, various pastors, a couple of us from the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation and the event was centered around some cultural dancing and music. There had to be between 300-400 people at the launching including every possible news media source in Ghana.

The most incredible part of the event was after I had the chance to speak and share my vision for raising money in Africa with the crowd! I encouraged them to stop waiting on others to help because many are blind to what is going on in Africa! Instead I encouraged them to begin to rely on God’s strength and blessing that the African people would look at each other and believe through a heart of giving they could create change. Soon after I finished, an offering was taken for the Foundation and I don’t yet know the totals that were raised but I would guess it was over a few thousand dollars. We had young men in the crowd who were 15-16 years old waiting for the basketball tournament to begin that live on less than a dollar a day pull out whatever money they could find and gave it away. I felt like I was in the Bible with the lady that gave the least in monetary value, but gave the most according to God because she gave everything she had. I saw prominent chiefs, beautifully dressed women, ordinary men, and young children giving. I have had a lot of incredible moments in my life but this by far was the single greatest moment. I got to see all that God commands through a heart of love displayed so fruitfully.

After the launching of the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation concluded it was on to a fun-filled afternoon as the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation hosted its first ever basketball tournament in Ghana. We had four teams at the event (Kingdom Hoops, Galaxy Academy, Cape Coast Hoopers, and Dynasty Basketball). There was music, hundreds of people, contests, and great basketball. Kingdom Hoops fell short in the championship game and lost 39-38 to the Galaxy Academy, but like I told all the boys, at the end of the day this event was not about winning a championship. Instead it was a simple step to make Christ known through the country by using the game of basketball. The atmosphere at the event was special and you could feel the Lord’s hand in it all.

By the time we wrapped up for the night it was 8pm and we headed back to the hotel for a quick bite to eat and now off to bed. When I am here in Ghana I feel so much closer to God and I feel like every step I take here was purposely designed for me by the Lord. I guess my prayer for the day is how can I have this type of relationship with the Lord when I return to the United States where everything is dictated by the bottom line and the stresses of the world? Why do I get so distracted by the things that just don’t really matter? I know my life is so backwards from anything God had intended and when you are working with blind faith for him in a place that is not your home it is like everything is clear and God directed. God, how can I have that same purpose and feeling when I return home? I pray he will provide me answers for all these prayers as the week goes on!

Good Night from Africa!!

Jake

Jake's journal - Day 1 in Ghana

Last night Jake emailed me his first blog post which was his journal entry from their first day in Ghana yesterday! Not sure if he will be able to continue to email me his journals each day, but I will plan on posting them as they come in. Of course you will have to wait to see the pictures until they get back since my mom will have all of those on her camera. Here you go...this is what went down yesterday:

Well we have arrived in Ghana, Africa! I am short two suitcases which leaves me with stinky underwear and stinky socks. My advice for anyone coming to Africa is to expect the unexpected and let God do the rest. As we finished reporting my missing suitcases I walked out to a lobby full of reporters which I had no idea would be there waiting for our arrival. Tomorrow is the big kick-off for our Isaiah 1:17 Foundation at the Aviation Center and the media was all over the story! You could see God working in orchestrating all of this and it has created great momentum for our project here.

Once arriving to the Airside hotel we had a scheduled press conference with all the media resources from throughout the country. I was able to share our vision and our goals for the Isaiah 1:17 Foundation. I also announced that the core of our fundraising effort will be done in Africa which caused me a good 20 minutes of questions because that is basically unheard of in Africa. (Now if you don’t live in Africa we could still really use your help)!!

I explained to the media that the majority of the people in the United States are not interested in giving to Africa. Many people of the world, particularly Americans, remain blind of the desperate situation in Africa and other third world countries. For instance, I explained that the world is blind to the fact that there are 26,000 children dying every single day from very preventable causes. I explained to them that at some point the African community needs to look at each other and say we have to create the change from within and stop waiting on the Americans and Europeans to do something. I explained to the media that third world countries have been waiting on the help from Americans for hundreds of years and at some point people in Africa have to say fine, then we will change on our own.

This statement caught a lot of people off guard and the next reporter asked me why do I believe that Americans don’t care because guys like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have done a lot. I said I totally agree there are a handful of people who are making change in the world, but there are very few ordinary/non-celebrity people fighting for change and only a small amount of Christians fighting for change. To fight for the injustices of the world you truly have to lose your life in order to gain your life in the Lord. Bill Gates is in a different class of people than someone like me or you. If Africa is going to change or any third world country is going change, I believe it starts with ordinary people.

I went on to tell them that most people are afraid to step out on the edge for Jesus….to step out on the edge for what God has called us to do. It is hard, it is uncomfortable, and it is difficult to plan precisely and control every situation. It forces ordinary people who choose to help to look at themselves in the mirror and understand that fully living for Christ is not safe or comfortable. It showcases the need to begin to live a life that more resembles Jesus and walk in faith. I said that I believe as a whole, the American Christian has become dead and hidden from what is hard. If Jesus comes back today I would not be surprised if he would speak to us like he spoke to the Church of Ephesus in Revelations 2: 4-6.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love. Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

After a passion filled press conference we grabbed some dinner at Frankies and spent the evening with Prince, Kelvin, and Kofi. The best part of the evening was that you could feel God’s presence in it all. Please pray that God will give me the right words in all situations to fully share what he has done for all of us on the cross. Pray that my heart will break for what breaks God’s, and pray that God’s love will be portrayed from all that we do.
I love it here in Africa and can’t wait until tomorrow which will be another day to paint the vision; I am reminded today that nothing is impossible through Christ.

Jake

Jake's journal entry made me think of an 'ordinary' guy that is making an extreme difference in Ghana. The following video was aired on the Today Show back in October....if you didn't get to see this story, you have to click on the following link and watch the video! I couldn't get the embed code on the video to work, but this link will take you there....as the video starts you have to watch an advertisement first, then the story will come on. The story is called 'Well driller pours aid into Ghana' and it is part of Jane Pauley's series called 'Life Calling Today'. Here is the link: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/39739114#39739114