Report from
Richard & Linda Benskin
with Joanna & Daniel
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Report from |
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August 23, 2000 |
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Address: P. O. Box 137Email: benskin@writeme.com URL: http://westover.org/worldover/yendi |
Sponsoring Congregation: Westover Hills Church of Christ |
Dear Friends,
The time since our last newsletter has been eventful. We have been quite busy with a variety of activities, but have also received many blessings. We hope God has richly blessed these recent months for you as well and you are having a smooth transition out of "summer mode". We have seen lots of coming and going at Yendi, in terms of summer campaigners, visitors, and the regular missionaries. In fact, we have been on the road much more than usual, including one trip to neighboring Togo for the West African Missionary Retreat. As I write this, Linda has about two weeks remaining of her six week observation time at Korle-Bu (the biggest government Hospital in the capital city). We hope this report will be interesting and informative about these and other recent events here.
As I mentioned earlier, Linda will soon finish her six weeks of "observation" time at Korle-Bu Hospital in Accra. This is the final stage of validating her nursing credentials for local authorities. The first stage was in May, when she attended a very informative two week "foreign-trained nurses course" at the Nurses' and Midwives' Council for Ghana headquarters. There, she met several of the country's "best and brightest" experts, who could get jobs as lecturers in any university in the USA, along with a few lecturers she would rather forget. Korle-Bu Hospital, the premier government hospital in the country, was originally built in the 1920s by the British. It actually has some very up-to-date equipment, most of it from foreign donations, but there is little or no planning or budgeting for maintenance, so much of the equipment sits idle awaiting repair (unlikely) or replacement by a new donation (more likely). This has been one more of many reminders that our compassion should be exercised in a way that does not create excessive dependence. The practices at Korle-Bu are often rather different than you would usually see in a hospital in Austin, Texas. We have been in Ghana over nine months now, so Linda has not been too surprised by what she has seen there, but it is still a sobering and stressful experience.
Amongst all the other recent travel, a new couple is joining the work at Yendi. Jerry and Fran Thornton are just completing construction of a house adjacent to ours. They are planning to serve in Yendi 8 months each year, returning to Kerrville, Texas (and their grandchildren) during the hottest season. They helped start the Kumasi Clinic years ago and still have many close friends there. They visited with us in Austin about a year ago, and we are very pleased they decided to return to the mission field here. Fran is a Registered Nurse and is particularly enthusiastic about village work. Jerry is a retired jet mechanic and general contractor, so his practical skills are a big asset. He and Richard often work together on various projects. Jerry and Fran also make frequent trips to the Upper East Region, near the Burkina Faso border, planting and encouraging churches and meeting basic health needs (Jerry enjoys preaching).
The Church of Christ Mission Clinic in Kumasi expects to have an entirely Ghanaian staff soon. Wanda Spiers, the Canadian Matron, left in July and Rosita Hunt, the Australian nutritionist, is slated to leave in December. The local elders in charge of the clinic plan to advertise among the many strong churches in Southern Ghana for a new Matron and other well-qualified medical personnel to join the Kumasi Clinic staff.
Meanwhile, Cindy Reynolds, the Matron of the Yendi Clinic, returned from furlough in May. Her husband, Royce, left for the USA in July. Royce is a cancer survivor and must have periodic reassessments. His tests all came out very well and he should be returning in mid-September. The McVeys left for their furlough last March and expected to return in September. Unfortunately, Dan McVey's health reports indicated the need for minor surgery and TB treatment, so their return will be delayed until late October or November. We really miss Dan, Brenda, and their kids.
It may seem a bit lame to talk about the weather, but we are often asked about it, so I will give an overview. It is the rainy season in Yendi now, which has transformed the landscape dramatically. Our arid surroundings have given way to a low, but dense, profusion of foliage. The rocky river-beds we carefully navigate during the dry season are now filled with swiftly flowing water. Many long stretches of deeply rutted dirt paths are now impassable swamps. Some villages are completely cut off from medical care and markets during this season, and these "remote" villages will remain isolated until October, when the water recedes and the dry air off the Sahara again begins to dominate the weather. Every day we see new patches of freshly hoed ground. Crops grown in this area include yams (like huge white potatoes), beans, cassava, corn, okra, millet, peanuts, and rice. The poor soil has been depleted by previous generations, so the farmers are always moving to new fields. While the rains make farming possible for a few months, many people are bitten by venomous snakes as they clear and cultivate their land. We have been unable to obtain snake anti-venin for many weeks. The deaths are frequent and heart-breaking. We have several leads on a new supply of the anti-venin, both in Ghana and from foreign sources. Please pray that we soon have more in hand.
Our house in Yendi was filled with Texans the first week of July, as ten campaigners joined us to spread the Gospel using World Bible School (WBS), public speaking, and personal evangelism. Led by John and Beth Reese, experienced missionaries who now work with World Bible School in Austin, Texas, two other adults and six teenagers brought enthusiasm and nurturing to our youth at the Yendi congregation in addition to spreading the word along the streets and in the schools.
English is the "official language" of Ghana, but little English is spoken in the villages of the North. Since working with interpreters has many drawbacks, and they are in short supply anyway, we planned to target the English- speaking population of the town of Yendi. Since it is a district capital, the population includes many government workers from the South, who usually work well in English. Additionally, all schoolwork in Middle and High Schools is in English, so visiting these schools was a priority. Our campaigners had appointments at the prison (both inmates and officers), police station, fire station, and several schools. "Religion," including Christianity, is on the important Middle School Final Exam, so our group was welcomed to speak about Christ in those schools. One campaigner is from an Islamic background, so she capably told about her experiences, comparing the two religions. The group also sang where ever they went, and, to the delight of their listeners, they included a song in the local language (Dagbani).
Linda took a group of teens to see "Yendi Market Day." A Muslim man confronted them, "Where is the preacher? We are all waiting!" Ten or twenty other men, dressed in traditional Islamic robes, were with him. They understood that the Americans were to preach in the market, though we had not heard about it. We hurried to get John Reese. The men left for afternoon prayers, but they returned in even greater numbers to hear John's Gospel message. We were amazed at their eagerness to hear about Christ, despite the strong taboos against Christianity. YaNa, the paramount chief of the Dagombas, also eagerly accepted a set of World Bible School lessons.
One aspect of the campaign that did not go as smoothly as we expected was the distribution of invitations to study WBS courses on the main streets of Yendi. Our forays into the streets had to be brief, because invariably we attracted such a large crowd of eager takers that we were in danger of being physically injured! Despite this complication, we handed out over 1000 invitations and hundreds of WBS lessons.
The campaigners helped with practical tasks, as well. Jacki-Belle Webb spent many hours entering the words for the local Dagbani and Twi songs into our computer, along with all of the many new songs JoAnn Wallers taught the kids in Linda's Bible Class. It was so nice being able to give Fran Thornton a copy of the words to the songs as she took over the class while Linda was in Accra! Another one of the campaigners, Gary Paden, is gifted with technical skills. He and Richard installed an "intercom" system using telephones donated by the Austin WBS office. So far, our house is connected with the clinic and the Reynolds,' which has already saved the clinic staff many steps. We hope to add the other nearby houses soon. The teens also helped with the laundry, cooking and washing up, and in "all their spare time" they cut gauze into bandages, made cotton balls, packaged medicines, and repaired doors! What a great group!
June was so busy we sometimes felt our heads were spinning like this Dagomba dancer at the annual Damba festival in Yendi. It was also a refreshing time of fellowship and encouragement for us. Some good friends from Austin came, along with their two young daughters, to visit and bring special supplies. We took a mini-vacation and explored some of the "attractions" of Ghana with them — something we had not taken the time to do before. They were very encouraging and cheerful, despite our lack of ability to consistently provide them with certain "creature comforts" (like warm showers and three good meals a day!). The Primary Health Care Workers' Course had to be rescheduled from June to September, freeing up our schedule some to unpack Yendi's part of the long-awaited container from Michigan, which arrived during our friends' visit. A week after our friends left, we were on the road again — this time to the Annual West African Missionaries' Conference in Kara, Togo. We were joined by Rosita Hunt, the Australian nutritionist working at the Kumasi Clinic, and Fran and Jerry Thornton. The "Ghanaian Group" was notable for its "maturity." Even our kids were twice the age of the oldest other missionary kids. But, several other teams had college-aged Interns who included Joanna and Daniel in many of their activities. We enjoyed meeting the other missionaries and singing familiar songs, but the highlight of the conference was the lesson series by Monte and Beth Cox of Harding University on the need for our mission work to be full of both truth and grace (John 1:14). Upon returning from Togo, our current visas were again validated for additional time, as our permanent resident visas are still being delayed.
Soon after the campaigners left, Joanna and Daniel started another semester of school. We no longer have elementary-school aged children! Joanna is now in 8th grade and Daniel is starting 6th grade. During the rainy season the electricity is often out in Yendi, but the kids have to get their schoolwork done, even on the gloomiest days. They know their reward will be well-developed minds (and, of course, a three-month vacation from school during our furlough time starting next May). The kids' hobbies reflect their personalities, as well as their ages. Joanna recently began painting with acrylics and right now she is busy writing. Daniel usually enjoys reading books by Louis L'Amour (Westerns), climbing trees and playing with his dog, Barkley. Since he doesn't know any boys his age in Accra, and Barkley had to stay in Yendi, he has been reading Tom Clancy's The Hunt For Red October in his spare time while in Accra. Since both kids enjoy reading non-fiction as well as fiction, they learn a lot outside of "home-school" time.
In the Service of the King,
The Benskin Family
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