Coconuts and Guinea Fowls

In May Joke’s sister and brother-in-law visited Ghana. It was a good opportunity for us to behave as tourists and enjoy the good food in Ghana.

We spent a few days at the Atlantic Ocean in the South where we enjoyed fresh coconuts!
 

It takes skill and courage to climb a coconut tree!

Enjoying the fresh coconut milk!

 

From the shell of the coconut a little spoon is made to scoop

out the fresh soft coconut flesh – delicious!

Up North we introduced our visitors to the grilled guinea fowls sold in the market

 

Old tyre rims are turned into barbecues on which the fowls are grilled

As the cooked meat is sold, so new stock is delivered!

Christmas 2012

Whether you celebrate Christmas in Ghana or in the Netherlands there are certain central themes to the celebration: joy, love, giving and sharing. We shared the joy of the birth of the Messiah with many others this past Christmas.

On Christmas day about 50 people came to celebrate Christmas at our house. Most of them are missionaries like us and have the desire to proclaim the message of Christmas to the people in the Northern part of Ghana. It is so special how Christ binds us together despite our different languages and cultural backgrounds. We all are part of His family! Romanian, British, American, Dutch, Ghanaian, Czech, Swiss, Chinese or Korean it did not matter - and that in itself was the message of Christmas. It is like the song: ‘Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight!’

We all brought something to eat and the variety of cultures meant we had a variety of tasty dishes. We meditated on the birth of Christ, sang Christmas carols and played some games.

After a busy Christmas day, we enjoyed some peace and quiet on Boxing Day. Samuel and Micah had built a grill on which they roasted the leftover meat.

Christmas seems ages ago now! The boys have started school again after a four week holiday and we have resumed our work. This year we will continue to be involved in many different activities which in the end all have the purpose to reach the hearts of the people for Christ - to let them know that they are precious in his sight. There is so much to be done and it is therefore so important to set priorities. Will you pray for us, that we will make the right choices?

Life in the City of Tamale

Moving to Tamale – we’ve talked about it many times over the past few years and now it’s become a reality! In August we moved to the big city. It was not an easy decision. For more than 14 years we have lived, worked and focused our attention mostly on the villages around Yendi. We love the people, the quietness of village life and the landscape. But we could no longer postpone our move. Samuel (7) and Micah (5) have both started their primary education. The options of a choice of good schools in Yendi are very limited, even though we really appreciated the wonderful work the school Samuel and Micah attended in Yendi did with their limited resources. However, our choice of education was a little different and we finally decided that it was important to move because of the children’s education so that we could make a better choice for them. But there were also other reasons. The literacy work that Joke is involved in is mostly managed and directed from the office in Tamale. To be able to support and advise the management it is important for Joke to be physically present at the office and have direct contact with colleagues. Abukari has already spent a lot of his time between Tamale and Yendi. The supervision of the churches in the area is now mostly done by Pastor Azindow. Abukari still visits the area on a regular basis and advises Azindow and his team in their work. One of the advantages of Abukari being in Tamale is that he now has more time to work at the office of Call of Hope and intensify and expand the work the organization is doing to reach many Dagomba people with the Gospel through literature and a correspondence course. So the move means a number of changes for all of us and we are gradually getting used to it.

Samuel and Micah ready for school

Yendi is a relatively small town. Most people know each other and except for bicycles and motorbikes there is not much of traffic, so you never have problems parking your car and you can easily do some quick shopping in the centre of town. Many people are farmers, life is peaceful and there is always time for a little chat. You do not need to lock your house door if you leave for a little while and if you park your car somewhere the closest shop owner keeps an eye on it in case anyone tries to take something of value out of your car. Tamale, on the contrary, is a very busy city. You never have to wait in long traffic jams, but the traffic is chaotic with bicycles, motorbikes, taxis and cars all fighting for a piece of the road. The traffic rules are not all that clear, which makes driving through town challenging sometimes. Every morning we drive along one of the busiest roads to take the boys to school and get to our offices.

On the busy road to school

With a mortgage and gifts we have been able to build our own house in Tamale over a period of ten years. This might sound a very long, but in Ghana this is common practice; anytime you have a little money to spare, you continue your building project. The house is not yet fully completed but it is still a very comfortable place to live. In Tamale we’ve built a wall around our house. This does have some advantages. Over the past years we have planted many trees from which we can now pick the first fruits and it gives a little more privacy (in Yendi anybody could walk around our house). The wall also gives a little more protection. The area where we live is rather like living on a new housing estate, as in this part of Tamale most of the land has been sold for building purposes but many people have not yet started building their houses. At the moment we only have neighbours behind our house. On either side of us people have started building houses but if it also takes them at least ten years…...... As yet, no tarmac roads have been constructed towards our house yet. It was a little scary during the last rainy season as we wondered whether the road would be washed away, but fortunately it remained just wide enough for our car to pass. We hope that something will be done about the road before the next rainy season.

The main road to our house

Even though our direct environment has changed, our mission remains the same. We continue to find ways to share the love of God with the Dagomba people. Tamale is a mixture of different language groups but most of the people living there are Dagomba. Like the Dagomba people in the villages, the majority of the people in Tamale are Muslim. Together, with the leadership in Tamale, we decided to start a church in the Eastern part of Tamale. The church is located in Tahima Yili. Tahima Yili means, “Home of Hope”. This home is owned by our church (BCA) and serves as a home for students that come from rural areas to attend school in Tamale but do not have a place to stay. Most of the students who are now Christians come from Muslim backgrounds and idol worshipping homes. This makes it very difficult for them to be accepted by their Muslim relatives in Tamale, hence the need for the home. So for now the majority of the new church members are the students. Abukari has taken on the role of being the lead preacher and he also leads the Dagbani Sunday school and a weekly Bible study. Joke, on her part, leads the English Sunday school and organizes Sunday school for the children during the sermon. We both enjoy investing our time and gifts in this young generation of believers. Indeed we are very excited about the new church. It is our prayer that the church will see more Dagomba indigenous Muslims receiving Jesus as their personal Saviour.

Bible study before the Church service

Dancing during the Church service

Some facts about Tamale:
Tamale is the capital city of the Northern region (one of the poorest regions in the country) of Ghana and mostly inhabited by the Dagomba people. The city is home to about 350,000 citizens and has a growth rate of 3.5%. Tamale is the fourth largest city in Ghana. The size of Tamale is approximately 922km sq. It is reputed to be one of the fastest growing cities in West Africa. The city attracts people from all over the northern region and its economic activities revolve around farming and trade.

There are more than one hundred local and international NGOs located in Tamale. This has earned Tamale the accolade ‘Headquarters of NGOs in Ghana’. However, few of those NGO’s work within the city. Tamale is also considered the main centre of education in Northern Ghana. Currently there are over 742 public and private basic schools within the city. Besides that there are 68 Junior High and 11 Senior High Schools, Technical/Vocational Institutions, 2 Colleges of Education, a Polytechnic, a Nursing and Midwifery Training College, one Community Health Training School, School of Hygiene and two Universities – University for Development Studies (UDS) and Islamic Technical University College. The city has a high dropout rate at the Junior High School level. Besides that, illiteracy is still very high in the city.



The centre of Tamale



The central Mosque in Tamale

Christmas in Yendi

We are often asked the question “how do you celebrate Christmas in Yendi?” Because we live in an area where there are very few Christians there are very few Christmas celebrations. 95% of the people are not Christians and do not celebrate Christmas. However, within the churches Christmas is celebrated in a number of different ways. Some churches make it a large celebration with a big gathering of people (and churches joining together) to share food, whilst others celebrate a little less exuberantly. There tends not to be the long preparation towards Christmas, especially here in the north of Ghana and there is very little commercialism! However, to prepare our children a little for Christmas, as a family we do celebrate the four weeks of advent.

The church building at Jagando on Christmas Day

On Christmas Day we visited a church in quite a remote village. Whilst Abukari was preaching outside, Joke took the children inside the church building (here the building is also too small for the whole congregation) to talk with them about Christmas. Joke brought some advent candles and they talked about how Jesus brings hope, peace, joy, love and light to the world. We shared biscuits and toffees with the children to make our time a little festive. After we had shared the sweet gifts, there were still quite a few left over. Joke suggested sharing these gifts with the local children who do not attend church. However, the children’s leader had a different idea. He told us that if the children who normally do not attend church see that the children in the church have received some gifts, then next week they will join us in the hope that they will also get something. After three weeks or so they will share the rest of the gifts with them and so hope to attract new children to the Sunday school.

The Jagando church congregation

Some of the Sunday School children

After we came home, the activities in our kitchen began! In this area it is a tradition to share food with neighbours and friends when you celebrate a religious or traditional festival. We cooked a big pot of rice and made tomato stew with goat meat. We shared the food in small pans with our neighbours. Abukari also went to the prison where, together with pastors from the different church denominations in Yendi, they shared food and Bibles with the prisoners.

Presenting food and Bibles to the Yendi prison

Sharing food in small pans with our neighbours

Towards the evening we prepared our 'own' Christmas dinner and - as is our tradition each year - duck was on the menu. The next day, Monday, we had a number of visitors. Throughout the day people came to greet for Christmas. We offered them some soft drinks, biscuits and cake and talked for a little while. In the evening we put some meat (goat and chicken) on the barbecue and that brought an end to our Christmas celebrations for 2011.

Enjoying our family Christmas dinner

A BBQ on Boxing Day!

Transport in Ghana - lesson in patience

Last Sunday I travelled from Yendi to Tamale by bus – a journey that takes about 1 hour. I (Joke) do not often travel on public transport, so for me it is always interesting and an adventure to start such a journey as I’m never really sure what will happen! Most of the buses which leave from Yendi do not have a set departure time. The bus will only leave when there are enough passengers. Abukari and the boys went with me to the bus station to wave me good-bye.

Waiting for the bus

When we arrived at the station we realised that there were a lot of people waiting for the bus to Tamale. At least three buses would be needed to transport all the people. Fortunately, Abukari knows somebody working at the bus station and he arranged that we could buy a ticket through him which would ensure me a seat on the next bus. However, it was a long time before the ‘next’ bus arrived at the station. In the meantime more people arrived at the station to join the crowd ready to travel to Tamale. After two hours waiting, there was still no bus in sight. Finally, after about three hours we could see 'the' bus. Relieved people ran to the small office where tickets were being sold. Unfortunately, this bus was not travelling to Tamale. Two more buses arrived at the station but they also had different destinations.

Unfortunately these buses were not going to Tamale

When the bus for Tamale finally arrived, our friend who was supposed to buy my ticket was nowhere to be seen. The bus to Tamale was filling up and I was still sitting on the wooden bench, waiting. Abukari and I started to discuss the option of taking our car to Tamale – as I had to catch a plane to Accra early the next morning and could not afford to miss that flight. Just as we were getting ready to leave the bus station and Abukari was about to ask some people waiting for the bus if they wanted to join us in our car, another bus bound for Tamale arrived. Even though we still could not find our friend who was getting me a ticket, we waited a few more minutes to see what would happen. As this second bus started to fill up our friend suddenly appeared with my ticket and I was sure I could get on this bus.

We are really blessed with our car. We can take it any time of the day and even visit the most inaccessible places in Ghana. Not everybody has that opportunity. Most of the people here only have access to their legs as a means of transport. In the Northern part of Ghana (where the land is relatively flat) people also use their bicycles a lot. However, a bicycle is a possession many people cannot afford. Motorbikes are also popular and for longer distances most people use public transport (a bus). But even using a bus is not always an option. In some villages a truck arrives only once a week, to transport people and goods to the closest market. When we visit any of these villages our car automatically becomes a means of public transport as many people line up to join us when we return to town.

A truck is hardly ever full - even on top of the truck you can find a place to sit

A traffic jam caused by road contruction

An old tyre is a great toy!

Thank God for:

• the lesson of patience, even at the bus station 

Pray for: 

• safety on our roads
• improvement of the road network so that inaccessible villages can be reached with the Gospel

Water Day

We are back at Yendi - finally home. We are also back in our Ghanaian rhythm - like the flow of water to our house.

Today is 'water day'. On average, once a week, water is pumped through the pipes towards our house. Our water tanks are being filled but at the same time women living close to our house also come to fetch water from our tanks. Most women have big drums in which they store their water. So when we get water through our pipes, they also come to fill their drums. It is also the day when many women wash their family’s clothes because on a 'water day' they do not have to walk far to get water. Children do fetch the water, although usually it is the girls who help with this. However, boys do wash their own clothes and as you can see from the photos - Samuel and Micah help one of their friends washing his clothes.

We are also getting back into the flow of our life and work rhythm. The boys are still on their school holidays. However, as they missed out on the last week or so of school in the Netherlands and they have not had any English classes for quite some time, I am helping them to get back to the level that is required when they return to school in September. Samuel reads quite a bit of English already and Micah is trying to learn the alphabet. He should be able to read and write that before the new school term begins.

Abukari is in Accra at the moment. He is attending a meeting with Ethiopian, Nigerian and American colleagues, on stimulating discipleship making in the churches. It is a continuation of the meeting he attended in Ethiopia last year. During this meeting strategies are translated into activities and participants are being trained in coaching 'disciple makers'.

Learning the alphabet

Ooh and in between all this we celebrated Samuel's 6th and Micah's 4th birthday! 

Back in Ghana

Where as many of you are busy making plans for your holiday or have been on holiday already, we are now unpacking our suitcases here. Although....

On Saturday 9th July we returned to Ghana. It is always quite an undertaking. We try to pack our suitcases to the maximum allowed because we want to carry many things which are difficult to get or not available in Ghana, eg: cheese, coffee and particular shoes, clothes, bed sheets, books, DVDs, etc.  We spent a couple of days in the capital Accra.  Abukari was especially busy organising some papers, as we hope to travel to Togo at the beginning of September and for that we need visas and special car papers.  Accra is a big, busy city – which means hours spent in traffic, as well as time spent waiting for the right people, papers and stamps.  We all also took the opportunity to have a family visit the dentist!! 

On Wednesday we travelled north.  We were intending to travel straight to Yendi but during the last part of the journey we had some problems with our vehicle’s radiator and finally after a journey of 13 hours we decided to stop overnight in Tamale.  On Thursday we completed the last leg of our journey - another 100 kilometres - to Yendi.  Finally, we had reached home!  Then the unpacking and organising of our house began. Apart from a few cockroaches, mice and lizards that had found a home in some kitchen drawers, everything else seemed to be all right - even though the house needed a good cleaning after several months away.

However, there was not really that much time to settle in, as last Monday, we packed our suitcases again and returned to Tamale for a three week stay.  We came to make the final preparations for the visit of a youth group from the Netherlands who will arrive today and will be helping/working at “Home of Hope”, one of our church projects. 

It’s wonderful to be back in Ghana again and great to meet up with family/friends and to be 'home'.  We are enjoying the warm weather and all the good things Ghana has to offer. 

 'Saying goodbye to Opa and Oma'

'Just before leaving the Netherlands we visited the UK where we attended the graduation ceremony at the 'London School of Theology' where Abukari received his Masters in Biblical Interpretation.'

The beginning of our furlough....

...... enjoying the Dutch countryside!

Goodbye Ghana

Going on furlough is always quite an undertaking. Saying goodbye to the people around us, making sure that the people we are responsible for are taken care of, packing away some things in the house so that dust cannot get into them, thinking about the things we need to take to the Netherlands, travelling to the capital Accra (13 hours by car), applying for a visa for Abukari, buying of gifts, etc. It is with great relief that we finally enter the plane and know that we have reached the last stage of our journey. Tonight (8th March) the boys and I (Joke) hope to fly to the Netherlands.

This last week we spent a few days together as family in Accra.

Samuel and Micah bake a cake for their teachers to say goodbye ......

..... and add a beautiful drawing to it

Playing at the guesthouse

At the guesthouse in Accra, Samuel found a 'monitor lizard' in the bushes. He caught him together with the watchman who enjoyed the delicacy

In Accra we visited the swimmingpool as we don't have one in Yendi

A visit to the ocean hunting for small fish