Last Days In Tema

Jeremy I decided to try and get on the SAS service trip to The City of Refuge. Service trips, especially to schools and orphanages, are very popular programs which fill up fast. So, I felt very fortunate to have learned the night before that 2 tickets were turned in because the professor who bought them had a schedule conflict.

The bus to the orphanage boarded at 8 am so Jeremy and I made our way out early to claim the last 2 spots. As luck would have it, the tour company sent a larger bus than originally planned. So a quick call was made and the orphanage agreed to take the 2 of us as well as another 13 students who woke up early hoping to get a seat. Unfortunately, there was no way to get word to Chris and Ben to join us.

It was a short ride just to the edge of Tema where the orphanage is situated. The City of Refuge was built on 20 acres of donated land. Just on the other side of 3 small mountains, which serve as a border to their property, is an army base. Fortunately for the orphanage, this makes for easy access to running water, electricity and Internet unlike much of rural Accra.

We rolled up and were greeted by Stacey (from the US) and her husband John (from Nigeria). They are the founders of this orphanage who moved to Ghana to live full-time just 3 years ago. They met on a mission trip here and realized they shared a vision of building an orphanage here. They married, had 3 children in the US and began their mission in Ghana in 2006. Shortly after it was established, they learned of the child slavery epidemic in the Volta region of Ghana. They found in that, their true calling.

They told us stories about these children and how they are obtained. The Volta region is the area in Ghana where Lake Volta is located. It is the 2nd largest man-made lake in the world and its main purpose is to provide electricity to Ghana. But it has also become a major source for the fishing industry. Lake Volta was not excavated when it was made. They simply flooded this low lying land. So there are many trees just beneath the water which make dragging fishing nets a tedious chore.

The single-mom households have become prey to the fishermen needing help on their boats. They offer the mother, who is often struggling to make ends meet, a price for a child or two in exchange for teaching them the trade. The offer is enticing enough that several thousand children have been sold into this business. But the intention is not ever to return them to the families. It is only to use them for their own gain.

Small children are the prize for these fisherman. As they drag their net through the watery forest, they often get tangled in the tree branches and need to be released. Little fingers are more adept at managing this task. The children are ordered into the water to undo the mess. But these children can't swim. The terror that goes through their minds is unbearable to imagine. If they refuse to get in the water, they are picked up and thrown in or beaten with the wooden oar until they succumb.

Stacey and John have made it their mission to rescue these children. They have had 145 success stories but there are thousand more to try. It's overwhelming.

We ate lunch with the children and enjoyed recess afterward. One of our students from the ship brought a football and he and Jeremy tried to teach the kids some fundamentals of American football like how to throw the perfect spiral. We left the ball behind because it will surely take some practice to perfect the pass but they quickly picked up the tackling aspect of the game ; )

Afterward, the children went back to classes and we were put to work...moving dirt, scrubbing walls, painting their lunchroom, organizing the library, assisting in the classrooms and painting the basketball court. There could not have been a better way to spend a day in Ghana. As heart-wrenching as the stories are that go along with these service trips, I gladly bring my boys so that they can witness, in person, both negative and positive realities in this world that illustrate the power of humanity.

On our last day in Ghana, we joined a group for a half a day and learned about Ghanian music, song and dance. On a patio just off the beach, it was a great way to end our emotional journey through this country. Music is an integral part of the culture. You can not separate one from the other. It is meant to lift your spirits and help you appreciate the joys in every aspect of life. Happiness comes from within. It is no one's obligation to bring you joy other than you.

I like it.