Last day clips

Here's our monkey friend and my last video entry from the tarmac:

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17484486

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17485658

Home sweet home

Man it is good to be home!! We feel so blessed, so fortunate to have had the experience we had in Ghana, but it is so great to be on U.S. soil! The final shots you see are of our last day in Accra, and boy did God show up. The pic of the 5 of us is our final meal at Novatel, which is one of the premier hotels in Accra. Gloria is in charge of stuff there and was responsible for making us feel at home the entire 12 days of our stay. She is amazing! You know Andy and Karen and I, the other fella is Pastor Earnest who is in charge of all the branch churches that Living Streams is a part of.

The monkey is the "wildlife" that we saw. He is actually someone's pet, tied to a tree, cute little thing, but I didn't get close enough for him to rip my lips off. Th last picture is Rev. Markwei and George from Pacodep, this was the last 11 minutes before we got on our plane, and it was also the best 11 minutes of our entire trip. I'll let you know more about it on Sunday...

worship at Life Cathedral video clips

These are some little snippets from worship this morning.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17239618

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17256911

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17259348

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17261357

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17262497

Final thoughts?

The photo above is a baby that was dedicated at the end of worhsip on Sunday, she was so sweet and cute. There dedication ceremony is almost identical to ours. The photo on the right are some of the people that we got to spend time with while we were here. You know the Genesis humans seated, standing from left to right are Pastor Earnest, who is in charge of all of the branch campuses of Living Streams International, his wife Gladys is Director for HIV/AIDS programming for World Vision. Pastor Markwei is the Head Pastor at Living Streams, our host for the time we were here. I don't know if I've mentioned it, but Pastor Markwei has instituted what they call "executive protocol" during our stay here. That means that he arranges a driver for us whenever we need to go somewhere, he feeds us food that is most often brought in from a local hotel, two meals a day (amazing food!), and he simply makes a phone call whenever we need anything. He has been so generous and gracious, it has just been amazing!

So we are leaving tomorrow night, and I probably won't have email access until we land on Phoenix on Tuesday afternoon. It's weird we begin our flight from Accra on Monday night and land in PHoenix on Tuesday afternoon. We have had a good trip...no, a great trip. There are some things that have happened even in the last 24 hours that I will share with you all when we return. God has watched over us, protected us, and showed us things that we never could have planned for. We all really, really appreciate all of your prayers, comments, and support, without the body of Genesis, it would not have been possible to experience what we have. We still have some things to process, but we are confident that God has a place for Genesis here in Ghana. I really think we can make a difference in some lives in the name of Jesus. In fact, I think that God is already doing some things here because of our presence here. I miss all of you greatly. I miss my kids a lot. We spoke with them tonight, and I showed their pictures in church, and got a little Misty. I can't wait to worship with you all, and I can't wait to have some time to share with you our pictures, video, and experiences.

Love to you all,

Pat, Karen, Andy

worship at Life Cathedral

wow! Worship with Life Cathedral this morning was amazing! The music started at 10:30 and we rocked until 11:30. The worship leader reminded me of Kirk Franklin (are you listening Dan Hopper?), and it was sung in both the Ga dialect as well as english. Pastor Markwei then introduced Karen, Andy and I, and it was my turn to do the message. I've never preached in a tent before, and never as minority. It was really, really good for me to have this experience. No, I didn't preach for 2 hours, I only went an hour and 15 minutes...but I used every minute of

it. I will try to get some video up tonight before we hit the hay on the myspace account.

video stuff

I'm not sure this is going to work, but I've got some links for you to click on that will take you to my myspace account:

From our Cape Coast Day:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17183507

From me for you on Sunday:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=17180202

From our journey to Kete Krachi:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=16990669

From our visit with the trafficked kids:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=16976335

From our visit to Peace and Love Orphanage:
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=16625609

If these links don't work and I've messed it up click on my videos tab at www.myspace.com/genesisman

castles, mansions, and huts

The differences in the structures here is amazing. Upper left is one of the castles (forts) that were originally used to protect the coast from invaders. To the right is a mansion on the hill overlooking the cost and below is a typical village hut...all of these are right next to each other. Amazing!

more images from the Castles/Slave prisons

These were taken from the tunnels that led to the dungeons where slaves were kept. In the dungeon on the right is where up to 600 male slaves were kept. It was eery and sad to be in this place and the dank musty smell added to the whole experience.

journal entry

because I was offline so long, I journaled a more elaborate entry from yesterday. Here it is:

August 31st Journal entry

Yesterday we hired Kennedy and his car to take us to Cape Coast, which is north along the coastline from Accra. Both Pastor Markwei and Andy felt it would be good for us to see some of the Ghanaian history up close. First we visited Kakum Rain forest, which was amazing! As soon as we turned the corner into this place, it was instantly misty and very humid. We went on a long uphill hike to the “canopy” of tall jungle like trees. We totally felt like we were in a Tarzan movie with vines hanging down and birds chirping. We saw no wildlife (bummer) but were told that elephants, monkeys and other wildlife roam the rain forest at night. Once we got to the top of the canopy, they had built 7 interconnecting rope bridges going from one tree to the next. We were 200-300 feet up in the air on these things and it was freaky! It was the first time we had seen so many Anglos in one place, because it was such a tourist destination. We chatted with a few, mostly Europeans, and then met an American who happened to be from Port Townsend, Washington which is just down the road from my hometown. Freaky. She and I had a mutual teacher who transferred to her school. What a strange world we live in.

From there we visited two “castles” called Elmina Castle and Cape Coast Castle. These were built as forts on the coast by the Dutch and the Portugese in the 1500’s, and became slave trade avenues for many years. It was sad and eerie as we walked through the dungeons were 1000’s and 1000’s of human beings were “stored” before being shipped off to other worlds for sale. The castles were kept up very nicely so it really felt as if not much had changed in 500 years.

Driving in Ghana. Wow. Speed limits really mean nothing when it comes to getting places. Our driver would toot his horn and cars would slide to the shoulder, then he would pass them going 120 KPH (which I believe is about 70 MPH). We were so scared, and on more than one occasion asked him to slow down and stop passing cars so quickly. At night this is particularly scary.

Today was good for us to chill a bit. We have been busting it out, and Andy and I dozed off and on during the 4-5 hour round trip. Karen and I slept about 9 hours, which tells us we were very tired.

The original rain forest and coconuts

So this is the original Rain Forest complete with real misty rain, real animal noises, real birds and visual images like you would see on a postcard. So there was this guy who had coconuts for sale for about 50 cents, he chopped off the top with his machete, then gave you a straw to drink it. You drank it fast, then before you hit the trail again, he would chop it in half, then cut you a spoon from the husk so you could eat the inside. The white meat was very soft and squishy, not hard like we are used to. yummy.

Cape Coast Day 8

These are images from the one day we designated for site seeing and learning more about Ghana's history. This is Karen on one of 7 hanging suspension bridges in the Rain Forest. The other shot is from one of the 'CASTLES" which were built as forts and later used in the slave trade. more later, when I have better cyber time.

***\i'm having trouble uploading photos today. but I'll try again later today.

All is not lost

So here's the good stuff: Traffic made us so late that I was sure I missed a micro finance meeting that we had been invited to. Rev. Thomas (see day 1 photo), actually held over his meeting for 45 minutes of 85 people, in order for us to visit with them and dialogue with the folks who are the recipients of the micro loans. It was so cool. I greeted them and thanked them in Ghanaian (Andy has been schooling me) and they went nuts! It was so funny to experience that reaction. Most of them did not speak english, so Rev. Thomas translated for me, and then translated back their responses. What precious people these are! I asked what they liked best about the program and several of them said, "we like the teaching that comes, and especially learning about the blessing of tithing our profits back to God!" I'm not making this up, that was what they liked BEST. Wow!

The second picture is George Sr. from Kete Krachi. He has been in Accra this whole time doing some schooling, and came over to meet with us and share more about Pacodep and the needs that the ministry has. This guy is so passionate about this ministry it just warms our hearts!

Thanks for your comments!! Keep them coming!

in the car all day

Today was so weird and frustrating and exhilirating all at the same time. We chilled in the morning and decompressed the whole Kete Krachi experience, and then walked to Pastor Markwei's home to meet Andy and the plan was to go into town to purchase some computer hardware for Pacodep. Well, our ride didn't show til after lunch (no big deal), and then we went into town....sheesh! Traffic was unbelievable!! We literally sat in a car and travelled about 4-6 miles, and it took us 4 hours total travel time! I'm not kidding. And cars do whatever they want...we were on a 3 lane arterial, with four lanes of cars, driving on the dashed lines, even on the other side of the road. But here's the difference between American drivers and Ghanian: Ghanaian drivers are still nice. Even their horns are nice, no one hits each other, people let others merge....you have to see it to believe it.

A coke and a smile

After 9 hours on the road, Karen and Andy take a break and have a coke. The boat that is behind Karen and I, is the boat that the Pacodep ministry uses for child rescues. sweet.

road hazards

one of the things you learn pretty quick is that animals roam freely and are all over the roads. Yes, that is a shepherd boy wacking his cows with a stick to get them out of our way. the pic above is a monkey (look right) that was running around chasing local dogs. The pic to the left is one of goats, who are so numerous you wouldn't believe it. And they will defy you to run over them. Incredible.

More of the kiddos

This is me and the fellas being goofy. Everywhere we have been around children, they cling to you, and typically begin petting my arm hair and my leg hair. They have very little hair on their bodies, so I guess hairy anglos are a novelty. Wait til they see my back!! The other pic is Andy and Karen helping the kids with their toys. The slinky didn't go over real well, no even steps to play it on.

Everything on your head

Okay these people are amazing, we have seen little kids and old women, carrying unbelieveable poundage on their craniums. It is as natural as throwing a backpack strap on one shoulder! I have taken a million pics of this because I'm constantly amazed, but I'll show you only two.

Trafficked kids and rescued kids

So this is the problem and part of the solution in these photos. On the left is "uncle" Albert from Pacodep talking to two trafficked kids. He took Karen and I down there to see the lake and where the 3 kids escaped kids landed. While he was talking a very nicely dressed 20 something walked to the boat, with cell phone, nice leather sandals...he was their slave master. More on that later. On the right all of the rescued kids are eating a scrumptous meal of Bankoo, which is tomato based broth, a lump of soft cornmeal, and chunks of redfish. It is eaten by hand, which Andy showed us how to do.

Kids future home and brain trust

Pacodep is the name of the ministry that rescues the trafficked kids (they use the term trafficked, but it means kids in forced slavery). This is the future home that will be completed soon. But is the anglo, who sits on the Touch of Life ministry board, who oversees Pacodep. Mark is sitting across from him, he is a Christian leader and bible translator, and Albert is sitting across from Karen. We are hearing all about how the culture of trafficked kids works and how we might be able to partner with them. Very exciting conversation! They are so excited that we have come all the way there to learn.

typical village

this is a shot of one of the many villages on the way to Krachi, and these are the kids that would coming out to our vehicle, smile and wave like crazy. Apparently they are not use to seeing cowboy hats....

random shots

This is Karen putting our misquito net up by candlelight on our first night in Krachi. And this is a tro tro, standard transport for people, luggage and goats.

thanks for you prayers

Thanks Genesis for your prayers, we have really, really felt them here. There is so much that is unknown, and to feel the confident strength in God's people interceding for us is really cool. This is the ferry we crossed to get to Kete Krachi. About 8 cars and trucks would fit on it, and perhaps 150 people.

Kids and us

We brought over some toys, clothes, and fun things to give the kids. We did not give it to them all ourselves so we don't look like the American Father/Mother Christmas. BUT, we did give them a couple of toys each and Regina (the lone female) loved having Karen paint her toe nails and fingernails. It brought me great joy to see how excited they were over a simple hot wheels car, or a bottle of bubbles!

Rescued Kids

These are the 10 kids who currently reside in Kete Krachi, 7 who were rescued and 3 who escaped their slave master. Kobe (who was in the video we showed in worship) is in the orange. All of them were so happy and cheerful.

The only form of payment accepted

Karen and brought US travelers checks with us, which mean nothing here. One have found only one bank that will change them into Cedi, and then only $200 per day. bummer. We have had to borrow Cedi from the pastor who is hosting us. And no visa, not for anything!

Back online

Wow, we were pretty sure we would be out of cell coverage and internet coverage for our time in Kete Krachi, and we were right on. It feels so great to be back. I'm still having trouble uploading pics and video, but I'll keep trying! We didn't have power the first night in Krachi, so I journaled in the dark by laptop battery power, here's the entry:

August 27, 2007

Today we drove to Kete Krachi with Bud, Andy, George Jr., and our driver Kennedy. I wasn’t scared, but it did have a few harrowing moments:

-Karen convinced me to rent a driver and 4 wheel drive vehicle because it sounded like George Jr.’s car would be to small, and in case we had care problems. Guess what? So thankful Karen convinced me, because George Jr.’s car broke down 11 times on the way there!! ELEVEN! The first time, our driver dropped off the Americans at a rest stop (think kids lemonade stand with bricks), and then went back to get the car repaired with some mechanics. Karen and I interacted and took some pics of kids who continually flock to us, and then once the car came back the real fireworks started.

-Bud claims that he paid for our gas, but the gas salesman said no, he didn’t. Then the shouting started: Kennedy and George Jr. yelling back and forth at the gas salesman, a crowd was forming, and I felt like I was in the middle of a movie. I wish I would have filmed it, because Kennedy got us out of there with some heavy words, and Bud ended up giving the guy some more Cedi (Ghanaian dollars).

-The ferry ride wasn’t scary, but mostly because it was a short 20 minutes. Man the mass of humanity there was amazing! Everyone was all stares at us and I just couldn’t take it all in fast enough. We bought some cokes for the ride and bought our drivers the Guiness malt beverage that tastes like grape nuts.

-We got off and the rains came down. Up til now the road was just a mess, lots of potholes, lots of weaving in and out, and then we came up on a broken down car that had an anglo woman who was crying inside. I think she was scared, because it was getting dark, so we took her and her companion in the first car then continued on our drove to Krachi.

-The villages got progressively more and more rustic, and the children would often come running up at our car to get a glimpse of us. Some naked, some fully clothed. Most without electricity, although some had it.


-We got to Krachi around 7PM, so an 11 hour trip!! We were immediately escorted to see the trafficked kids, all lined up ready to greet us. Bud knew all their names, I was so impressed. He said that he prayed for them every day. We then were seated to eat, and were given white rice, and meat stew. The meat was mostly goat, but I know that I had at least one liver in there, I supplemented with the two loaves of bread we bought earlier. We literally had no lunch, but feasted on water bread and peanut butter all the way there.

-As we arrived we noticed there was no power at all!! So we ate by candlelight, then were taken to our rooms. Pouring rain, no lights, candles only, 4 buckets of water for the toilet and bucket showers. We hooked up the mosquito nets, looked for snakes, and then chatted for awhile about the day. Wow, God, I am truly thankful for this experience to see how your other children live.

more from day 3

The second worship experience was at the main church where they meet in a large tent, which is where I will get ot preach next Sunday. It was also lively and full of joy, lots of great worship music, singing and dancing. They even sang a few songs in english (the first worship was all in the Tree dialect) that we knew. Pastor Markwei was amazing. I am more than a little intimidated following this guy. Afterwards we walked the property where they are building a 10,000 seat conference center that should be done in 3 years, total project $7M, completely debt free. amazing.

Day 3 Ghana

Wow! What a day! We enjoyed not one but two Ghanaian worship services. When Pastor Markwei learned that Genesis was a church plant, he set us up to visit what they call a "branch" church a few miles away, and it was amazing!! Very loud, very rockin', with people dancing throughout the worship. But not weird uncomfortable to watch dancing, but incredible, rhythmic dancing that looked like a conga line, only much cooler. The woman were all dressed in bright, bright native garb, and the men either in native garb or coats and ties. The preaching was totally without notes (don't even say it), and went about an hour, it was very lively and very interactive. The tradition in the Pentacostal church is that when you feel the pastor is talking right at you, you walk to the offering container and put some bills in there while he keeps on preaching. Wild! I was asked to bring a greeting from Genesis, and I'm not sure half the people could understand my heavy accent (their words). While the service was wrapping up, Karen, Andy and I were escorted into a "green room" and given bottled beverages while the crowds thinned. I was told this was to protect us from people bothering us. Very different culture, but man is God doing some stuff in me. Pictures are very difficult for me to upload from here, but I'll try to add more later. Pray for us as we head north to Kete Krachi tomorrow, it will be a harrowing 10 hour drive, but we are excited to meet the kids rescued from the lake.

Amazing Canadians

These four have just spetn 2 and a half months in Kete Krachi, documenting the many children who are enslaved in the upper Volta region. Under the guise of checking the children's health, they counted, documented names, ages and years of enslavement of the kids. They had several scary times when slave masters were not happy they were there, and had many heart breaking stories of children who bore the scars of severe mistreatment and abuse. The Canadians came during their summer break because they believed they needed to do something to help. We learned so much from them.

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