It's been another very long day but a very rewarding one. After a 7.30 breakfast we were taken back to the church at the Presbytery Headquarters at Bolgotanga for a meeting with all of the Presbytery officials and representatives of various programmes and projects run at grassroots level.
We were given a very comprehensive overview of the history and structure of this new Presbytery, formed only a few months ago. The original idea to separate the "Upper Presbytery" from the vast "Northern Presbytery" had been put forward in October 1989 but was orginally rejected.However four years ago the seed germinated and agreement was made to progress with a transition to two Presbyteries instead of one. We were encouraged by their visions and the commitment they have to making it work. They have a holistic approach to mission and in particular we noticed how HIV issues have been integrated into many of their programmes. The "Upper Presbytery" had prepared for us a detailed profile of their vision and we believe this is a Presbytery ripe for twinning and they have a real commitment to developing a friendship with a Scottish Presbytery. The possibility of professional volunteers being engaged in some of the programmes was received with great enthusiasm.
One programme which particularly touched us was the Go Home Project, here the church have initiated a caring service for people who are accused of being witches and are then ostracised by their own villages. They now provide homes for 85 "witches", 35 children and 1 "wizard". As well as the caring component the church seeks to reintegrate the "witches" back into their own villages by working with the local communities. This demonstrates a n imaginative and creative commitment to the poor and marginalised. Another interesting programme was their prison ministries initiative. This included chaplaincy and a commitment to provide a weekly service of worship in each of the 3 male prisons in the Presbytery area.
The spirituality and genuine grace and warmth of the people we met is something that would be a great gift to people in Scotland.
Not untypically the meeting went on much longer than planned and our hope to visit a local market has had to be shelved for the moment. So far Carol's haggling skills have only been exercised in the purchase of three watermelons at the side of the road at the knockdown price of 4 cedis.We had a late lunch of fu-fu and light soup with goat meat (eaten with the fingers of course) followed by a selection of fresh fruits - pineapple, avocado, bananas and orange.
Then it was back into the car for the 100 mile drive South to Tamale once more.
We met with the team who are responsible for the projects run with the support of Christian Aid in the Northern Presbytery and it is great to see the impact that working together in this way has made to the lives of many people and communities, particularly the empowerment of women. We hope to share more of this at a later date. The Development and Social Services Programme Office has also benefited from the input from Christian Aid in organisational development. Christian Aid are helping the NGOs in the area to take a proposal to government to change the laws in relation to agro-pesticides as some illegally imported or wrongly labelled pesticides have been responsible for several deaths and poisonings.
We went for a meal with some of the local church leaders in Tamale and Dr Solomon Sule Saa to a local Ghanaian restaurant. It was lovely to sit outside in the warm evening sunshine, sipping fresh melon juice before a meal of goat jollof rice.There was little time for after dinner conversations before we were taken back to the Presbytery Headquarters for a meeting of the management team where they shared the vision of "Northern Presbytery."
We recognised that some of the challenges they face are similar to those faced in Scotland, especially in rural situations, although in the case of Ghana long distances between churches are really long! and the shortage of ordained ministers is a very real shortage. The problem of nominal membership is also one that we share but the commitment to mission and outreach to unreached areas and to church planting is one we could do well to emulate.
Time now to squeeze in some sleep before a 6am start on our next journey of discovery.
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