I guess we are "official."  We received these shirts made of fabric with the ACI logo that all of the staff wear.  The purpose is to create a sense of community among the staff and also not to differentiate among staff by what they wear.  ACI works very hard at building a sense of teamwork and valuing the different gifts and contributions of everyone, whether they teach a course or mow the grass. 

These are four of the five full-time academic staff. From left to right:  Dr. Mary Bediako teaches Primal Religions.  Dr. Philip Laryea teaches African Theology.  Dr. Ben Quarshie is the Rector of the Institute and teaches New Testament.  Dr. Ernestina Afriyie teaches Gospel and Culture.  The fifth staff member, Dr. Allison Howell, is from Australia and is currently home for a visit.  Pray for these wonderful professors.  They are teaching the future leaders of the world church!

Global Mamas is a women's fair trade cooperative which gives Ghanaian women a means of earning a living through selling exquisite handmade crafts.  They make and sell jewelry, batik fabric and apparel, household items, and cosmetics. This is their store in Accra (which we visit frequently!)  Global Mamas began in 2003 with six women.  Today 627 women are employed throughout Ghana.  If you would like to learn more, see their website, www.globalmamas.org.

This is a Chapel on the campus of the Teachers' College next door to the Institute.  Like the Institute, the College is located on the property of the first Christian mission in Ghana, the Basel Mission.  Outside the door of the Chapel is a placque mounted on the wall.  It was given a few years ago by one of the College graduating classes with the names of some of the first missionaries along with the dates of their births and deaths.  Only two people on this list lived beyond the age of 40.  Most of the first missionaries died in their 30's within a few months of reaching Ghana.

Some of these missionaries are buried in this cemetery outside the Chapel.  Most of them died of malaria, or rather from the mistaken treatment of malaria.  European doctors did not know how to treat the disease.  They thought the fever was due to something in the blood and the treatment they used was "bleeding" their patients.  Only when they finally consulted the local herbalists were they successful in helping the missionaries to survive.  As short-term Western visitors, we take malaria medicine on a preventative basis.  Long-term mission workers generally do not.  Most of them contract malaria at some point, but with healthy immune systems and medication, they are able to recover without complications. 

Ghana is attempting to develop a tourism industry.  This is one of the new beach resorts near Accra.  Patti DeNichols, one of the members of the Chicago Presbytery mission team from Naperville Knox Presbyterian Church, ran 12 1/2 miles along this beach as part of her training for the Chicago marathon. The beach is much nicer from a distance than up close! There are many industries and slum areas discharging waste into the water.

We want to introduce you to some of our neighbors!  These young goats live at the Presbyterian Teachers' College next door to the Institute.  They often run along the street outside our house.

This is a typical group of Ghanaian women you would see on the street in Akropong.  As usual, someone is carrying something on her head.  Another is carrying her baby tied to her back.  Women carry their babies this way all day as they go about their work until children are able to walk and often longer.  The mix of traditional and Western dress is also common.  In part, younger women who see more media want to wear Western clothes.  But also, boatloads of Western clothes arrive from US donations that are far less expensive than the local traditional fabrics.   

Thanks so much to all of you for you emails.  It is wonderful to hear from home and we appreciate you staying in touch.  One of the things we will miss most this fall is the birth of our new granddaughter, due in November.  This is our daughter Alison and "Baby Sardana."  Along with us, please keep them in your prayers!

Ghana is environmentally conscious.  Trees are valued and protected.  Many of Ghana's trees were being cut down by rural villagers for firewood.  A few years ago a law was passed against this and requiring reforestation, but it has been difficult to enforce, especially with poor people who have no other source of fuel.  This is the large coconut tree right outside our guest house.  We take a wide path around it since you never can tell when one will fall!

                                               
This is a cocoa tree from a nearby cocoa plantation.  This tree is more than 150 years old.  Cocoa trees are very hard to start and are carefully nurtured as seedlings.  They are also carefully tended and protected when they begin to bear fruit.  Cocoa is a large and very profitable industry in Ghana.

This a grapefruit tree in the courtyard at the Institute where we are working. African traditional religion understands there to be spirits associated with everything in nature.  Trees are seen to have spirits, along with rivers, rocks, animals, and other parts of the natural world.  So who knows, there may be a "grapefruit spirit!"  While that may not be an idea we would embrace, the Ghanaian reverence for the holiness of nature is something from which we can learn.

Hallelujah!  The camera cable arrived and it works!  Jerry and I are standing in front of our guest house.  There is a large coconut tree to Jerry's left.  The building is at least 150 years old.  It housed Johannes Christaller after whom the Akrofi-Christaller Institute (ACI) where we are volunteering was named.  He translated the Bible into the local Twi language and put together a Twi dictionary which is still in use today.  Fortunately electricity and indoor plumbing has been added since his time!

This is Christ Church Akropong where Jerry and I worship on Sunday mornings.  It is the oldest Christian church in Ghana.  It was established by the Basel Mission, the first Christian mission in Ghana in the 1840's and is located down the street from the site of the original Basel mission which is now the home of ACI.  While it is quite historic, it is keeping up with the times.  Today it contains a synthesizer, drums, and a sound system for a youth band along with a video projector and screens to provide words for songs, images, and announcements during the services.

Prayer is serious business in Ghana.  Religion is an integral part of everyone's life here.  Ghanaians are said to be "innately and incurably religious, they wear religion like their skin." A realm of spirits, both good and evil, is basic to their worldview.  They see every part of life as spiritual and the events of their lives to have spiritual causes.  Those who practice African traditional religion perform many rituals every day to their deities in order to gain the favor and protection of the good spirits and to ward off the perils of the evil ones.  Those who have become Christian bring that same integration of spirituaity and life to their faith.  They pray earnestly and fervently many times a day about every aspect of their lives with the conviction that God hears and answers their prayers and that their lives depend on it.

Here at ACI the entire community gathers to begin and end the day with prayer.  Every class begins and ends with prayer.  These prayers are not just a formality.  They are specific, focused, and deeply felt.  Other activities are bathed in prayer - appointments, meals, travel, study.  Our own prayer lives seem pale by comparison.  We have been challenged to reflect on our personal views about prayer and the place of prayer in our lives.  So we write this with the prayer that when you read it you will take a moment to think about your own prayer life and to pray for the Christians in Ghana.

The preferred mode of transporting items in Ghana is on your head.  It amazes me what people can carry - huge buckets and pans of water each morning, but also enormous baskets of produce, laundry, inventory of various kinds for their roadside stands, firewood, furniture, construction materials like lumber and bags of cement, you name it.  It is quite an art.  They wear a small ring on their head under the load, but they don't use their hands.  They walk swinging their arms with their cargo in perfect balance.  This practice isn't unique to Ghana, of course.  It is used in many countries around the world.  I'm sure it is "ergonomically" (a modern word but an ancient need) very efficient.  It certainly promotes good posture, and I haven't seen many Ghanaians stooped over from osteoporisis!  I may ask someone to teach me, but I imagine it takes some practice, so in the meantime I don't think I will give up my backpack!