LAST LESSONS #98 – GHANA

 “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Psalm 2:8 

Recently all Rafiki missionaries came to the Home Office in Florida for what is called ENRICHMENT. One of the missionaries asked me if I would write how each Rafiki Village came to be. She said that the children in Rafiki schools do not know the history of the beginning of Rafiki in their country and she does not want me to die before I tell their story! To tell the whole story of each Village would take too long, but I agreed to write at least one lesson I learned from each Village. It’s interesting that Ghana is the first place Rafiki put buildings on the ground and one of the speakers for ENRICHMENT was a Ghanaian, so it seemed reasonable to tell you how God established Rafiki in Ghana and what I learned there. 

Ghana was the first place Rafiki built a Children’s Center (1991), but the story began much earlier. In the 1980’s and 1990’s while I was both the General Director of BSF and the Director of Rafiki we sent a couple of missionaries to Ghana to consider starting BSF classes there. In 1989 World Vision International heard of Rafiki and thought that Rafiki and World Vision might cooperate in helping the Ghanaian people. Rev. David Konotey-Ahulu who was the Evangelism and Leadership Coordinator for World Vision, invited Rafiki to visit Ghana. I had never been to Ghana so my doctor husband Bob, my brother Don (both Rafiki Board Members) and his wife Bette, and I flew into Accra, Ghana. David Konote-Ahulu, met us and surprised us by not taking us to a hotel, but to the home of Dr. Francis Darkor who lived in Tema close to Accra. David thought that the two doctors would have much in common. Dr. Darkor and his wife Rosina had a nice house (by African standards) with two extra bedrooms where they welcomed us to stay free. Francis ran a small medical clinic in Tema. The Darkors became long-time friends of ours. Interestingly some years later after Rafiki had built a Village in Ghana, Dr. Darkor generously offered my grandson, teenager Jay Cook, an opportunity to live with him for two weeks and work in his clinic to learn something about medicine. Jay is now Dr. Jay Cook, an orthopedic surgeon, working for the University of Florida and doing short-term medical work in Africa.

But, back to the story of Rafiki coming to Ghana; the Darkors were extremely kind to us to feed and house us, refusing to take any money. Rev. David and Dr. Francis showed us around Accra and helped us make government contacts. We even heard David preach in a Presbyterian church! The Ghanaian people were more kind than I can say and in all the days we spent in Ghana, we never once saw a white face! The Ghanaians took care of us.

While in Ghana we decided to visit nearby Nigeria (which is another story!). We flew to Nigeria for a few days and then back to Ghana. Ghana sits close to the Equator, and it is hot! Nor do the people have air conditioning! I could hardly believe my eyes when we returned to the Darkors’ house to find that while we were in Nigeria, they had gone out and bought an electric fan for each of our rooms in their house! They said they wanted us to be comfortable!

In the meantime, while we were gone, David had registered Rafiki as an NGO in Ghana and he did it in two days! Nobody but God could do that in African countries where such registration is a long drawn-out process. I remember feeling that God was carrying us in his arms for that whole trip!

In 1991 Rafiki’s NGO status was finalized in Ghana which enabled Rafiki to send eight missionaries to work as medical professionals and teachers and to start BSF classes.

In the following years as I traveled back and forth from the US to Ghana I became acquainted with Theresa Kufour, the wife of President Kufour. She and I became good friends as we tried to find products that Ghanaian widows could produce. We especially worked on soap that could be made from palm oil. There was plenty of that in Ghana!

We also became friends with Dr. John Amuasi and his wife, Joyce. John was the General Secretary of the United Nations Atomic Energy Commission and a Methodist. John helped Rafiki with the partnership with the Methodists and introduced us to the Reverend Dr. Robert Aboagye-Mensah, who was the head of the Methodist Church in Ghana. He and John Stott wrote introductions to the AFRICA BIBLE COMMENTARY published in 2006. Robert also wrote some of the articles in this outstanding commentary. In the years following, we came to love Robert and visited in his home often. And he introduced us to moringa tea that seems to be good for whatever ails you!

In 1999 it seemed that God was leading Rafiki to help with the orphan crisis in Africa caused by AIDS. We needed four things to start an orphanage in any country: land, NGO status, missionaries, and good government and church relationships. Although I had promised Janet Museveni in Uganda that we would build an orphanage in Uganda, the first country that met the requirements for an orphanage was Ghana. In Ghana we had NGO status, missionaries, and good government and church relationships. All we needed was land—approximately 20 acres.

Again, our Ghanaian friends came forth. David Konoteh-Ahulu scouted the area for us. Francis Darkor wanted us to be close to his clinic in Tema, John Amuasi wanted us to come near his Atomic Energy Commission site. In the end a 25-acre site was selected in Kotoku, a town some 20 miles from Accra. We leased the land from a family who was willing give us a 40-year lease with the promise that we would start a school where their children could be educated. With the help of John Amuasi and another close friend, Dr. Prof. Paul Fynn, head of the Lutheran Church Wisconsin Synod, Ghana, the property became ours. Paul Fynn has helped us through the years and is still a close friend of Rafiki’s. Paul started a Lutheran University in Accra and to this day works with Rafiki in many ways. He has become a close personal friend of our whole family’s. John Amuasi’s and Paul Fynn’s stories are told in HUMBLE HEROES published by Rafiki.

Ghana is a very special place. The people are peace-loving. They have never had a war. They value education more than money. They have a seminary called Trinity Seminary where Methodists, Presbyterians, and Anglicans all use the same facilities. The present Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church in Ghana is Bishop Paul Boafo. He is the one who asked Rafiki for 4,000 packets of Sunday School Lessons on the Book of Romans where all the Methodist churches will be preaching and teaching Romans starting this September. We have sent them, and they have been received in Ghana along with the Crossway commentary on Romans by R. Kent Hughes. Amazing what God can do through his people!

This story is too long but I need to say that by far the most important lesson I learned from Ghana is that people are more important than place.