Water in the Desert

Many many children and long long queues!!! As a way of rewarding their customers in the Northern Region, a company that deals with beverages and milk products in Ghana organised a Fun Fair for children in Tamale. They had to transport all their games and equipment from the capital city Accra to the North, a 12 hour’s drive. There is only one playground in Tamale, which is not very well maintained. So having the games in Tamale and not having to pay an entrance fee was like discovering water in the desert for the children. The children far outnumbered the facilities and had to queue for hours to take turns in playing. Samuel and Micah also joined the fun.

Samuel and Micah climbing!

Samuel and Micah at the top!!

Most children in this part of Ghana do not have any toys to play with, not to speak of playgrounds. They make their own toys out of waste, sticks and stones. If they lack a football to play with, they fill a plastic bag with soil and tie it into a ball. Older children who do not go to school take care of the younger ones and many often roam the streets in Tamale. Others follow their mothers to the market and spend whole days in the shade of the stalls where their mothers sell their goods. So having such a Fun Fair in Tamale, the organisers needed little publicity as children from all corners of Tamale trooped into the Jubilee Park to seize the moment.

Within our literacy work and church activities we likewise have to seize the opportunity of reaching out to these children as they often get little direction in their lives because their parents are so busy generating what little income they can to simply survive and take care of their families. Showing love and care, giving them some attention, having fun and teaching them are little things we can do to help them to discover their talents and to let them know they are loved.

Impressions of the past weeks

During the past few weeks we have enjoyed a holiday and retreat in Germany. We were invited by the German partner organisation with whom Abukari works. We had a wonderful holiday and were inspired through studying God’s Word together and hearing about the work the organisation is doing throughout the world to reach people with the Gospel. We met prayer partners and had a short reunion with our family members. On the 8th of September the boys and I (Joke) returned to Ghana. Abukari stayed in Germany visiting partners for another two weeks to share about the work we do in Ghana. Abukari then returned to Ghana on the 22nd. Altogether we can look back on a wonderful time that has refreshed us as we continue the work God has called us to do.

Here are some photo highlights of our time in Germany:

The Hindensee lighthouse

The Baltic Sea is much colder than Atlantic Ocean but just as much fun!!

Making new friends

‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’

The mandate to preach the Good News comes in different forms and shapes. Our Lord through his death and resurrection gives us His Good News to preach to the poor, to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and to release the oppressed.

In this post, Abukari writes about how the reality of Romans 10:15 suddenly dawned on an aggrieved woman when she was reading her Bible during a church service:

One of the people groups that we work with are the Konkomba of Northern Ghana. For many generations, the Konkomba practised an exchange and betrothal marriage system. This is where a brother from one family gives his sister in exchange for the wife he has taken from another family. The sister is betrothed to the whole family from which a wife has been taken, pending any male from that family being interested in wanting her as his wife, whether he is young or old. Whether the girl given in exchange is in love or not she must be obedient to the decision of the family. Sometimes the sister is still very young and will only learn of the family she has been given to when she grows older. Love here is a demand and not a requirement. In fact a man negotiating for a wife on behalf of his children does not have to say at the outset which son the girl is meant for.

According to Ghanaian law women have the freedom to marry whom they wish and as such this old practice has been an infringement on the rights of these young girls. However, some traditional Konkomba feel that their culture stands above this law. Implementing the law, therefore, sometimes causes tensions in communities and between families to rise so high that the police have to be called in to rescue girls from being forced into marriage. Some parents are even reluctant to send their daughters to school fearing that their education will cause them to reject an arranged marriage. On the other hand, more voices are being heard that speak against the practice.

In the early days of sharing the Good News with the Konkomba villages it somehow complicated the matter. Girls and boys who became Christians felt that the traditional marriage practice could no longer be imposed on them; they did not want to be forced into a marriage with somebody of another faith. Even if the man the girl had been given to was a Christian, the girl believed she had the right to make her own choice. The girls (and boys) wanted to be free from the bondage of certain cultural practices that would have a negative impact on their lives. As with education, Christianity too was seen as a threat to these traditional practices.

As a church we therefore engaged ourselves in discussions with chiefs and opinion leaders to talk about this practice. The church also mediated in many cases where tensions had risen so high that girls were being kidnapped by the families they were promised to. Gradually we are seeing the number of forced marriages decreasing and the practice dying out, thereby bringing smiles on faces of many young people, especially the young girls.

'A Christian wedding'

In a recent church service, a lady who was reading the Bible came across Romans 10:15 and, with excitement, she began to read it aloud for everybody to hear.  Then she exclaimed, ‘I thank God for the life of the church. I was a victim of the traditional marriage system but thank God, my children who are now Christians will not have to go through this dishonourable marriage system any longer. Indeed, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News!” If the Gospel had not been brought to our village, this cultural practice would not have been redeemed or liberated.’

Pray that the Good News will permeate every aspect of our culture and release people from such practices it contains, paving the way for holistic transformation.

He went as a lone-ranger but leaves a number of pathfinders

What do a lone-ranger and pathfinders have to do with the gospel? In 1998, Abukari heard and heeded to the call of God and moved to the Yendi area to help nurture the existing first generation churches and their leadership. Abukari was a lone-ranger in the sense that he was involved in a wide range of activities from preaching to teaching, counselling to officiating marriages, leadership training to discipleship, ambulance driving (using a motorbike or car) to dispenser of medication, pastor to relief worker..... and any other activities that needed to be done as far as the functioning and growth of the body of Christ was concerned. In fact in those early years no programme or occasion would start without his presence. It was heavy, hectic and demanding work as all the churches and leaders looked to him for leadership and guidance.

As you may be aware, in August this year we as a family moved to Tamale to give our boys’ a better education. It also became necessary for Joke to be in Tamale to help in the administration and revamping of the literacy programme ‘Literacy and Development through Partnership’. Naturally there was a bit of fear as to how the work would continue and who would take over the responsibilities that Abukari was shouldering. Was there a future for the work and ministry that had started? The good news is that over the years the Lord has taught Abukari to pass on his knowledge and share the responsibilities in all aspects of the work with others. God gave him seven brothers who have qualified and demonstrated their willingness to pass on the good news to others, to be the torchbearers. Abukari calls these gallant brothers the “pathfinders of the faith”, praying that as the Lord helped him to pass on what he learnt, they too will be able to teach others (2 Tim 2:2).

At the National Annual Pastors and Leaders conference of the BCA church held last month, three of the church leaders of the Yendi District were officially recognised and licensed as pastors in addition to the four pastors who have already been licensed and commissioned into the ministry. What a joy it was to see that in God’s vineyard there is no place for lone-rangers, rather we are called to equip one another so as to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up (Eph 4:11-14).

The certified Pastor’s of the Yendi District

We hope and pray that these pathfinders in their turn will equip others so that the Kingdom of God will grow and bear much fruit. Even though, as a family, we have now relocated, we still continue to pass on the same vision, albeit in different areas, among different people and in different ways but always with the same passion. Please join us in praying for the Yendi team as they lead the multitudes of believers to know and to grow in the Lord.

One of the Pastor’s, Paul with his wife. Paul is leading a
church very much involved in children’s ministry

Pastor Azindow (left), the Church leader of DC Kura (centre) and Abukari (right)
Pastor Azindow is Abukari’s right hand man and he will take over
the position of District Pastor from Abukari.

Unless someone explains it to me!

“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me! So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: … “As they travelled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. Why shouldn’t I be baptized? …then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.”

Acts 8:31, 32, 36, 39

A group of people from various villages in and around Sakpe were prepared for baptism but had to wait a number of months just because we could not find an appropriate water source to fulfill this commandment of our Lord. Where we live and work we have one rainy season, thus making water a precious commodity. Most of our water bodies like the rivers and dams are heavily protected for human consumption because of lack of sources of clean drinking water. To prevent the contamination of water and the spread of water-borne diseases, human beings are not allowed to use the water for washing or bathing. Therefore we are also not able to use these water bodies for baptism. For many weeks we had been looking for water for this ceremony. Just when we were about to give up and postpone it until the next rainy season, we found water in a gravel pit that was just right for the ceremony. However, we had some competitors – cows!

Church service before the Baptism

Walking from the Church to the gravel pit

Competing with the cows

Like the Eunuch in Acts 8, the people of Naasoni, Sakpe and Fuseini Kura villages had heard a little about the Gospel but were not sure what or who it was talking about. They have been asking, “Tell us, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Over the past year or so, just like Philip, we took the people from the unknown to the known, telling them the Good News about Jesus. As a result of these teachings many Muslims and idol worshippers gave their lives to Jesus Christ.

It was all joy last month to witness thirty people both men and women publicly proclaiming Jesus as their Lord and Saviour through baptism. What an in depth joy to be a channel in ushering these people into the Kingdom of God.



The Baptism (1)

The Baptism (2)

The Baptism (3)

Sharing the grace

Sharing some food after the Baptism before the people walk back to their villages

We know it is not going to be easy for these new converts in their new found faith. We can foresee family and community rejection and discrimination awaiting them. Please, pray for God’s grace and strength for all of them. Also, pray that God will give us the grace and the joy to share in their burdens.

Do not throw away your confidence

We have recently been in Tamale for a week and on Sunday we visited a BCA church in a village close to Tamale. Abukari preached from Hebrews 10:32-36, ‘Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathised with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.’
 

Church gathering

It is always so touching how people in the smaller village churches react during the sermon to what is being said. Sometimes there is a short dialogue between the preacher and church members. Sometimes, after the sermon, people spontaneously get up to give their testimony and this is what happened on our visit this particular Sunday morning.

After the sermon a woman stands up and says, ‘Pastor, this sermon was really meant for me. When I became a believer my brother with whom I lived at that the time told me, “If you do not give up your Christian faith, I will never allow you to enter my house again.” It was very difficult but I knew that what Jesus offered me was lasting. Since that time I have never returned to his house. Other brothers tried to do the same and told me, “If you continue to follow Jesus we will never visit you again.” I could not say otherwise than I have something better which I could not give up for them. Until today, my brothers have never come to visit me. At times it is difficult and painful, but I do not give up!’

Two old women who come to church together and sit together on a small bench, also added their voices. One of them is blind, the other cannot walk very well. The blind woman says, ‘When we walked to church together this morning people laughed at us. “Ooh, you poor women, what is it that you want in that church of yours? See how difficult it is for you to reach the church (the church service is held in a school building on the outskirts of the village). Has Jesus healed you? You are still blind!” Then I tell them, “Jesus gives me sight, He lends me His eyes.”'  The other woman says, ‘It is not easy to climb the entrance to the church (you have to take a big step) but Jesus is my ladder!’

Another church member, Alhassan, told us of his experience. A few weeks ago he went to a funeral where he met many of his family members. They were accusing him of now ‘spoiling their brothers’. For him to become a Christian is one thing but now other brothers have also decided to follow the path of Jesus. How can they allow Alhassan to let their brothers become so bad. Alhassan explained to them that his brothers will rather become better and more beautiful people because God will change them inwardly. They start to argue. Whilst they are talking some girls pass by. They look so different from the other girls who are attending the funeral. Alhassan and his family members see the difference. They call the girls and ask them, ‘You look so different from the other girls here, why?’ The girls answer, ‘We no longer worship our traditional gods but have become Christians.’ Alhassan has for now won the argument but the family pressure remains.

Adisa also shared what recently happened to her. She too attended a funeral. Together with many other women she slept in a house built next to a Mosque. Early in the morning the family head woke all the people in the house up to come to the mosque to pray. Adisa did not get up, even though all the other women went. After the women came back, they asked her, ‘you did not pray, are you not going to pray?’ Adisa replied, ‘I already did.’ The women did not understand but left it there. Later in the morning they went to fetch water. They passed one of our beautifully built church buildings. The women commented, ‘What a beautiful building.’ Adisa, said, ‘That is where I pray.’ The women looked in amazement at her and said, ‘So you are a Christian!’ Suddenly they understood. From that moment on, none of the women spoke to Adisa again.

a girl on the way to the Mosque

Mosque

The last person who spoke was Mba Mohammed. He became a Christian a long time ago through one person who was always zealous for the Lord and very active in the Church. Because of his enthusiasm he drew many to Christ. But after some time this man said to Mba Mohammed, ‘I will quit “your thing”.’ Mba Mohammed responded, ‘what do you mean “your thing”, is it not “our thing", are you not part of us too?’  The man replied, ‘I thought Christianity would make me rich but since that has not happened I have given up.’ The man who drew so many to Christ himself had not understood what the ‘lasting possessions’ meant. Mba Mohammed has remained faithful and is now a leader in the church.

These are such encouraging testimonies! Testimonies from people who despite opposition continue to boldly hold on to God’s promise and are confident that what they have in Christ is better and lasting. What about you? Sometimes we take for granted who we are (our identity in Christ) and what we have (our possessions in Christ). As children of God, our ultimate confidence is in the undying love of Christ. So complete is our protection that nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:39).

Pepper in the Offering Bowl!

The Dagomba are a hospitable people who care for one another. Many of them don’t have much money to spend but if, for example, they are celebrating a funeral, many of them will contribute towards feeding the many visitors one can expect during such a festivity which can last for many days. Also when someone is sick, the Dagomba are prepared to contribute towards the cost of hospitalisation or medication. It would not be fair to pretend that you have nothing when somebody else is in need.

Some time ago, I overheard a conversation between one of our church members and an American visitor. The visitor asked how many bags of maize the family uses on a yearly basis. The church member answered, ‘Oh, we don’t know, we do not count the bags we need during the year. If at the end of the season some maize is left, we sell it.’

Sales of Yam to generate some cash

In Dagbon it is not only the nuclear family which is important but also the extended family and it can be very big. It is not possible that you as a family still have food to eat when other family members go hungry. You cannot put a claim on food and say, ‘this is only for us.’ It is therefore also hard to calculate the amount of food you will need in a year because that depends greatly on the extended family and the events which you are expected to contribute towards. In many cases this is a form of social security for those who have less food to eat. But it also puts a lot of pressure on families. In some cases, the responsibility of providing food for all the extended family falls on just two or three members. And it is not always because the others cannot work. On occasions, some members of the family are just lazy and try to profit from those who feel responsible for the family. This causes a lot of complications. Within the church we see a number of people suffering because the rest of the family puts a lot of pressure on them. We often advise those families to build their own houses, away from the family house so that they do not have to daily feed the whole family. This also encourages others within the family to take on the some of the responsibilities. Here one can see the wisdom in God saying that, “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.” Gen. 2:24.

A lot of  people own a few cows as capital investment. The Fulani people take care of the cows of many different owners for a small contribution

However, unlike the automatic contributions that are made to the family or community, people find it difficult to contribute towards the church – whether it is an offering or giving of tithes. One of the reasons for this might be that people think they have to contribute in cash. Most people do not have cash but do have a stock of food or goats and chickens. These items are usually sold for cash as and when the need arises. Some weeks ago, during a church service in a small remote community two women offered part of their harvest as their contribution towards the Church. What a wonderful and even Biblical way of giving. They brought a big bowl full of dried pepper and okra for the church to sell and to use its returns to serve the church.

The contribution - dried okra and pepper - from the women to the church

Dried okra and pepper

Education on ‘giving’ is also important. Why do we give to God? During last Sunday we had a discussion about this with a small church community. During the church service we realised that they did not have an offering. Abukari touched on the issue. The leader of the church supported him. If we do not give, God cannot bless us in ‘giving’. One of the women made a comment, she said, ‘After the harvest our houses are full of grains and we seem to be so rich. But after a little time, everything is finished and I do not understand how that happens, we had so much. And if everything is finished and I hardly have enough to feed my family not to speak of paying school fees for the children, then it is so difficult to give to God. Would He really want to bless me in this?’ God promises in Malachi 3:10, ‘ “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it…”’ We cannot give more than God, who for our salvation and wellbeing gave us his only son. Pray with us as Abukari devotes his time to teaching over twenty local churches on Biblical giving.

Chasing after a Soul

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?… there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” (Luke 15:1-7)

On a normal Sunday morning Abukari is usually preaching or engaged in church service activities. But this Sunday was different as Abukari found himself chasing after Amina in the local huts of the village of Sambu village while Joke and the boys attended the church service.

Amina is in her late thirties and is married to Sulemana and together they have seven children. Both Sulemana and Amina come from a very strong Muslim family in Sambu, but in 1997, through our ministry, the Lord led Sulemana to the knowledge and kingdom of Jesus Christ. Ever since then we have prayed and shared the gospel with Amina many times but she was always unyielding to the gift of salvation. Last week we had some friends from the USA who visited and shared the gospel with Amina in her village. Like a driver finding his missing car keys, the heart of Amina was immediately unlocked and became receptive to the gospel. She was led to pray the sinners prayer and accepted Jesus as her Lord and Saviour.

Sulemana and Amina

Sulemana and Amina's house

It was all joy and celebration for Sulemana (Amina’s husband) who had prayed and waited for this moment for 14 years! But little did Sulemana and the minority Christians in Sambu know what was awaiting them and Amina. Instead of the neighbours joining Amina to celebrate her new found faith they rather plotted against her. Like Job, all her friends upon hearing of her decision to follow Jesus came and one by one they took their turn to heap insults and intimidation on her. So great was the intimidation that before Amina had the opportunity to experience her first Sunday of public worship of Jesus with other believers, the friends and neighbours succeeded in discouraging and polluting her mind to recant her faith. On the first Sunday, as the church gathered everyone was eagerly waiting to welcome Amina into the family/body of Christ. But to the surprise of everyone, a friend of Amina who lives in the Imam’s (the Muslim leader of the village) house had smuggled her across several houses to the house of the Imam where they were hiding her. This was to prevent her from attending church that morning. Having waited in vain for while, Abukari took Sulemana in search of Amina in the neighbourhood. Finally they found out that she was in the Imam’s house. When the people heard Abukari and Sulemana were planning to visit the house, they locked the door of the room where Amina was but her husband recognised her sandals that were laying just outside the front entrance. To avoid any confrontation with the neighbours, Abukari decided that she should not be pursued further in the Imam’s house.

The next day Abukari was back in Sambu to meet with Amina and the local Pastor. Together the Pastor and Abukari spent time sharing God’s word with Amina and counselling her. Amina explained to them that “the fear of my unknown future and the heavy pressure from my friends and neighbours was too much to bear. But for your perseverance in pursuing me I want to stay with Jesus”. Since then Amina has started attending church. What a joy that the Lord’s grace of second chance can be extended to Amina through us! Please pray for Amina. Pray that she will continue to be faithful and strengthened with the power of God and that she will have great endurance, patience and above all joy in her new found faith.

Perhaps you are living or working in a setting where God is not acknowledged, where faith is mocked, where results do not come in massive numbers but in small trickles and where godless living is applauded. You may be overwhelmed with darkness. Do not be discouraged, for our witness for Christ is a light in a dark world.

As we are writing this blog, we just received a message that the 9 year old daughter of the local Pastor of Sambu died very suddenly. Please pray for comfort and strength for this Pastor and his family at this difficult time.

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!

Common Needs - How best can we help?

Regularly people ask us if we can help them in a variety of ways and each week brings new and different needs to our door. It is not always easy to take the right decision; should we help or not? or should we postpone our help? Although some of the people who come to us we hardly know or have barely met before, we just give them the little help we can, knowing that our assistance will not be very constructive but that it will soften their current situation. Sometimes the requests are for food and sometimes for money to help pay for a hospital bill, school fees or a contribution towards a fund. There are also situations like the one described below which need a little extra attention, where it is no use continuing to give without searching for the real cause of the problem:

"It is still early in the morning and somebody is knocking on the door. A boy (about 14 years old) enters our house. He comes from a village about 12 kms away from Yendi where he visits one of our churches. He is wearing a school uniform. I welcome him, give him some water to drink and ask him the purpose of his visit. He tells me that he is attending Junior High School in Yendi and that he needs 10 Ghana Cedis (about 5 euro) that his parents are supposed to pay as parent's contribution for his schooling. Because the parents have not been able to pay this amount, the boy regularly gets into trouble with his teachers. The boy, Abdul, says that his parents told him to come to our house and that we would help him. I give him the money but am not too happy about the way the parents have referred him to us.

A few days later Abdul visits us again. This time he is not wearing a uniform. He greets me and then tells me that he needs a new uniform but that his parents have no money to buy him one. I ask him about the uniform he was wearing a few days ago. He tells me his teachers have told him the uniform is too old and he needs to replace it. At this time many people are harvesting their crops, so I tell Abdul he should tell his teachers that his parents have no money at the moment, but that after they have finished harvesting and have sold some of their maize he will get a new uniform. But Abdul does not look very happy. He tells me that he walks from his village to Yendi every day (that is 24 kms a day!) and that his parents do not give him any money to buy lunch. I contemplate, is Abdul really telling the truth or are there other problems? But because I do not want anybody to go hungry whilst we have enough to eat, I give him some money to buy lunch for the coming two weeks.

Students ready to go to school - each school has its own uniform

A week or so later, Abdul is back at our house again. It is still early in the morning and he wears his school uniform. He tells me that the school has asked them for a contribution of 2 Ghana Cedis to print the exam papers for the end of this year. I know that this is a common demand from the schools and give him the money otherwise he would not be able to participate in the exams.

This past week, Abdul came to visit us again. He tells me that he has moved to the house of a family member who lives in Yendi so that he does not have such a long walk to school every day. But again he asks for money to buy food. He has to go to school for another four days before they break for Christmas. I give him the money but tell him that I do not think this is the best way to assist him. Abukari and I have talked about Abdul’s situation during this past week. We agree that it is time to visit Abdul’s parents to find out more. Are they taking their responsibility? Are they so hard pressed financially that they cannot even get Abdul food to eat? Abdul has just entered the first year of his secondary school education and still has a long way to go. What are the prospects for his education? And what about the other children they are taking care of? We hope to be able to visit Adbul's parents soon."

Poverty and Riches

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 

But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.”  

(Luke 6:20, 24)

Even an old deflated football is better than none

Daily, we are confronted with people who are poor. This is a confrontation which is not always comfortable as it seems to point to us as being people who are rich and it also challenges us as to what our obligation/response should be to the needs of the poor. How much do/should we share? Is what we share enough? Can we ignore those who are in need because they are just too many to deal with?

Sharing maize with our poor neighbours

Abukari wrote a thesis for his MA in Theology on the topic, ‘In what ways can the Lukan Jesus’ response to the poor address the poor in Dagbon, Ghana?’ As part of his research he interviewed a number of poor people in the area. We would like to share with you some of the statements those interviewed made about poverty. We hope that these statements will help you to understand a little about what it means to be poor, even though most of us will never fully understand what it means to be poor. As one man described it: ‘Poverty is like heat; you cannot see it; you can only feel it; so to know poverty you have to go through it.’ 

Others explained:  

• ‘A person who is poor is dependent on others, always suffering, all that he does, does not prosper, he is always sick and lamenting. Households with a bad quality of life are always in crisis, and there is no happiness. The response of such a household to the crisis is that they have to consult spirits or gods to see why they are in such a state and to chase the evil spirits away.’ 

• 'A poor person has a lot of “ifs” in his life because to the poor person nothing is certain unless it is in his hands. A poor person cannot plan because the person lives at the mercy of circumstances and is very vulnerable.’ 

• ‘Poverty means exclusion – poverty is very powerful. Even if the rich man tells lies, it is sometimes taken as truth. Money commands respect, dignity and honour because of what money can do. Money negates character, it covers up bad things.’

On the way to the farm

• ‘A person who is poor has to go to his farm every day because everything he needs has to come from the produce of the farm. If he wants to buy something tomorrow, he has to go to the farm today to get some yams and sell them, so that he will get some cash to buy what he needs. But a person who has a good life can stay at home and solve his problems there. The poor person has to labour in the hot sun for all his needs. The person with more wealth does not have to leave his house. I am poor but I am still better off than some others because I have an old bicycle and some few clothes to wear but there are people who even cannot afford those. If I am able to one day change my old bicycle for a new bicycle people will know that I now have a better life. But a person who is poor does not even think of changing his bicycle or buying new clothes because he knows his abilities and capacities, he will not dare to dream that dream.’

Happy with some second hand clothing

• ‘A poor person has no friends, or as a Dagbani proverb says, “The poor man has no lover.” Whatever the poor person wants, he cannot get it. There is no food, no choice when it comes to what to eat or drink and the children are malnourished.’ 

• ‘There are certain roles I would have liked to play but lack of money killed those ideas – it puts the light off. I cannot do what I want to do. Sometimes I feel like being chained because I see opportunities or the way I want to go, but when I take one or two steps I am brought back to my knees.’ 

The goats' project helps to relieve poverty

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus responds to the plight of the poor in different ways. He challenged values inherent to possessions and status. He did not endorse the existing order between the rich and the poor in his time but rather saw the suffering of the poor as a result of injustice in the social order and in need of transformation. What about our social order today? Jesus called people to participate in the new order of the Kingdom of God and so transform injustices in society. We want to challenge you to read this Gospel of Luke and see how Jesus addresses both the rich and the poor. Discover how Jesus reinstates the self-worth and dignity of the poor and gives them new insight into the values of the Kingdom of God. Read how the rich are called to identify with values of God’s Kingdom and to start the process of reversing the material and social situation of the poor in the ‘here and now’. God’s Kingdom in both the lives of the poor and rich should transform the present. Something to think about?!

A few clothes to wear but a lot of fun

People dry their harvest to secure food during the lean season