Sunday 9.45pm, Iain writes:
Bolgatanga is near to the border with Burkino Faso and the north-south road is the main transport link from Burkino Faso through Ghana to the sea. As a result the road is often busy with heavily-laden lorries with everything from bicycles to goats- and often more of them than ought to be on one truck! The road is fairly straight and has fewer potholes than many of the other roads in Ghana but sometimes the potholes are quite spectacular and it is no wonder that the suspension on many of the vehicles looks pretty suspect. Fortunately our driver, Fred, has kept us very safe through careful driving.
The Northern part of Ghana is poorer economically than the South and our travelling companion, Dr. Solomon Sule Saa who comes from the Northern region, gave us an explanation as to why this is. Apparently at the time of the British colonial rule the policy was not to allow Christian missionaries to work in the North as it was already predominantly Muslim. Presumably this was to minimise potential conflict. However, while the churches in the South promoted education and health-care and general economic development, this was not the case in the north which was therefore left behind.
In many areas of the North there is still no Christian church presence and the Northern and Upper Presbyteries have a strong missionary and evangelism focus within which they are working to address social and development issues including HIV, literacy and agricultural education. We heard the story of one young man who had never been able to read. He was taught to read the Bible in his own language and to understand its message, He has been serving as a local evangelist in his area while continuing to learn. The Church recognised his potential and enabled him to enter theological college, even though he has never been to school. He is very soon to be ordained as a Minister. What a good news story!
We arrived in Bolgatanga just in time for supper which included something called TeeZed (no idea of the right spelling) It was a mixture of maize flour and groundnuts boiled in water till it becomes a gooey paste. This was served with a spicy soup of guinea-fowl and cocoa-palm leaves. The whole thing has to be eaten with your fingers! Yum.
After this we arrived at the church and it sounded like the local hip-hop disco had taken over. To the sound of a very loud band the congregation were leaping about wildly in what may or may not have been traditional dancing but was certainly energetic. We only had four sermonettes tonight but that left plenty time in the two-hour service for more singing and dancing.
We were treated as highly honoured guests being the first official visitors to the quite newly-formed Upper Presbytery which has only been in existence for around three months. Previously Northern Presbytery was simply too big an area to be administered practically. Travelling distances were enormous. Now they are only huge. Perhaps the Church of Scotland may learn something from the Presbyterian Church of Ghana about Presbytery re-organisation as the transition here appears to have gone quite smoothly.
We've had a giant dose of blessings today: now we need to be blessed with some giant dozing as tomorrow promises to be just as busy.
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