Working in Partnership - Flood Relief Update

"An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost and the other a corpse."

At the moment we are on furlough in the Netherlands, enjoying the friendship and fellowship of family, friends and supporters. As we spend time sharing about our work, it has highlighted to us the importance of our partnership with you all.

Recently Abukari spent time in Germany with “Call of Hope”, one of our partner organisations, where he gave a report about the Bible Church of Africa’s relief work following the devastation caused by floods in Northern Ghana last year (see our blog entry From Drought to Flood - 01.12.2007). On hearing about the floods last August, churches in Germany and Austria through our partner organisation Call of Hope Germany immediately sent donations to help with the relief work. This prompt and positive response to the situation faced by flood victims are indeed, deeds of loving service, which are confirmation to us of our faith and oneness in Christ. We also wanted to share with you how these gifts have made an impact that will leave a lasting legacy with all the local churches, communities and individuals who have benefited.

The donations were used to buy maize, beans and other cereals (all for food), building/repairing of churches and some houses, purchase of seeds (for planting) and some clothing. The relief items were distributed among five districts namely, Tamale rural area, Yendi and its surroundings, Gushiegu and Kariga, Navrongo and Saboba Chereponi. Beneficiaries (the hardest hit) from these communities where selected by the local relief committees.

Maize
An immediate priority was to address the need for food, as people did not know how they were going to feed themselves until the next harvest. 287 bags of maize and beans were bought and distributed to hundreds of households in most need. This was really an answer to prayer and the sharing of the maize revived the sense of community and "we" feelings among the brothers and sisters. In addition, many of the Christians faith were once again strengthened and people of other faiths who benefited were challenged.

'some of the 287 bags of maize that were puchased'

'distributing the maize'

Repaired Churches
With the funds we were able to repair two damaged churches. In this way we could restore corporate worship in those villages. This was really necessary as the rainy season was fast approaching. The congregations of these churches are so grateful that it was possible for their broken churches to be restored to the glory of God.

'the repaired church at Sambu'

Houses built and repaired
We were able to rebuild three houses for families whose homes were completely destroyed during the floods. You could vividly see the joy and satisfaction on the faces of the family members whose houses were reconstructed. One of the men said, " Indeed, in Christ we have a big family which even extends to Germany - the love of Christ is not distance bound.” We were also able to repair two houses which had been badly damaged.

'Nabila house under construction'

'the Issakhu family whose home has been repaired'

Seeds
We have been able to help a number of farmers buy some seeds in preparation for the next farming season.

On behalf of all the people and villages who have benefited from this relief, the Relief Committee in Ghana wishes to express profound gratitude to Call of Hope Germany and to all our prayer and financial supporters who have contributed in rescuing and showing much love to our people. It has made such a difference.

PRAYER POINTS:

• Pray that there will be a good harvest this year.

• Pray that we will still be able to raise funds to help those whose houses still need repairs.