Land use in Ghana

Land ownership is a little different from what we are used to in Canada. In Ghana, just because you own land doesn't mean that someone else won't live on it or farm it and call your land their land. One plot of land can be sold multiple times and to multiple owners and there are often long court proceedings over who owns what land. The only real way to secure land is to build on it and even then, you are not secure. Your must also be using the buildings you have built. Today we went to have a look at where Bishop Matthias plans on building the Bishop's residence (currently he lives in what is supposed to be the Dean's house and the Dean rents an apartment). The plot of land where the house is to be built is quite large, but already there are people encroaching. They have placed a couple of walls up to show that the land is in use, but right next to one of the walls a garden has been planted. Bishop Matthias plans on purchasing 300 bags of concrete to begin building next year. It is hoped that the new residence would be a place that could comfortably host guests.
We had some time this afternoon to catch up on some sleep and to try to process all that we have seen, heard and tasted. It looks like the service tomorrow is going to be quite something, so we are glad to have some time to recharge. We are also going to the airport tomorrow afternoon. Our flight leaves Accra at 11:25pm and we hope that we won't have any car trouble during the 3 hour drive. Thank you for all your prayers,
Jasmine Chandra

Bishop Matthias' first parish church (and in his hometown)

Enfants class at Hohoe

Little Academy of Santa Maria

And where is God in all of this?

A couple of times during the trip we have looked at each other in wonder and asked "where is God in this?". It seems that once we dropped Heather off at the airport, things started to unravel. Last night we had trouble finding a hotel, it was after midnight when we finally got settled. So this morning we slept in and had a nice breakfast. We visited the Cathedral in Accra and then started back for Ho. We have had a number of late nights, so we decided we wanted to get back by 5pm. 30 kilometres from Ho the car broke down. There are so many pot holes here that the cars are just rattled to pieces. So there we sat on the side of the road waiting for the mechanic to come. Two questions were on our minds; "where is God in this?" and "Which one of us is Jonah?". A few minutes later a truck pulled up with a couple of young men. They loaded up our luggage and started driving us to Ho. 8 kms from Ho the gear shift in the truck stopped working and we were once more on the side of the road wondering "Where is God in this?". One of the young men then went off into the village and found a mechanic who quickly fixed the truck. We made it into Ho by 6pm. We checked all the hotels, but there is a conference here this week and everything was booked (there is no such thing as reservations in Ghana). So we are at Bishop Matthias' place for the night and have enjoyed a lovely meal complete with Star beer from Ghana and fresh pineapple. Where is God? Everywhere...

By Jasmine Chandra

Wednesday..on the road again!!

We had an early start as we went back to St. Anthony’s to visit the schools before eight am. There are about 700 students and Father Simon was giving a session in the church for the older students. We saw all the great children and had breakfast with Simons family. We travelled on to the next parish, St. Paul’s,Bishop Matthias first parish as a priest and also where he grew up. They were another wonderful group of people and more smiling school children. This school is very large with two teachers for each level in one room with 60 plus students. Some of the younger ones sang for us. After we toured the church to see the progress we had a meeting with the wardens and leaders of the parish and lunch with Father Prosper’s family. Hilary the six month old boy slept on the floor as we ate and chatted. We also met the Bishops mother in this parish.
On we went again down the border between Togo and Ghana. We went in another road to visit an an anglican school and had a wild adventure there that cannot possibly go on this blog. After many treacherous roads we reached the Atlantic Ocean... 0nly then would Matthias ag.ree to take us back to Ho for the night The beaches on this coast are fabulous but the people very poor and there is no tourist development. It took us three hours or more to get back to Ho with several stops along the way. Our accomodations were not available so we searched for another hotel and got settled around nine. It was a l0ng day but each one holds special moments we will always treasure. I leave for home tomorrow so there is a sadness setting in that has more to do with the wonderful people here than any tourist site or long bumpy road.

Preparing to get water at Lake Volta

Procession to St. Patrick's church on Sunday, Nov 15

Worawora and swimming with an alligator at Wli Falls

Yesterday morning we met some of the parishioners from St. Luke's parish in Hohoe. We were introduced to Christina who runs her own private school with 260 students. We also met James who works at Christina's school and is an active church member and Samuella who works for Ghana's national bank. We then went to visit Christina's school which doubles as the church on Sundays as the congregation of St. Luke's meets in 2 of her classrooms. We spent some time with the students who waved, screamed and laughed when they saw us. The children were so open and happy to see us that it was difficult to leave. I think that Heather would still be there if we hadn't forced her into the car.
Our next stop was at the Wli waterfalls which is on the mid eastern side of Ghana, close to the border with Togo. It took 45 minutes to walk into the falls. We were surrounded by hundreds of different species of butterflies. The falls were about 90 meters high and had bats hanging on the cliff on each side of the water. We were not prepared for this side trip so when our guide asked us if we wanted to swim, we had no bathing suits. That didn't stop Heather and I. We walked into the falls fully clothed. With the assistance of Samuel our guide, we went right up to the falls. Just as we were getting close we saw something slithering across the water right in front of us. Our guide thought that it might be a snake so he went off to kill it, only to discover that it was an alligator. While we were later told that those alligators didn't bite people, it didn't take Heather and I long to leave the water!
After the falls we went north to Jasikan and visited St. Paul's church, which as you can imagine, is nothing like St. Paul's Rothesay :)
St. Paul's Jasikan has a school in which the congregation of about 20 people meet and a rectory. Unfortunately they have no rector and a Muslim school with a mosque moved in next door. Since the Muslim school feeds the children, no one goes to St. Paul's school anymore and they risk loosing the buildings and the land if they continue to be unused.
We then visited St. Mathew's and All Angels church in Worawora which was the fist church established in Ghana. On september 29th 2010 they will be celebrating their 75th anniversary. We met with Charles who is the priest and regional dean, his wardens and a few other parishioners under a large mango tree in front of the church complex. It was a wonderful evening. They fed us fish and rice and fresh pineapple. We shocked them when we told them how much it would cost us to buy mangoes and cashews and pineapple in Canada. They told us to come back in March when the mangoes will be ripe.
We managed to get back to Ho yesterday evening so I am writing this from St. Stephen's hotel after a long rest and a leisurely breakfast. We are thinking about everyone at home and appreciate all your prayers for us. So far this trip has been an amazing experience. The perseverance under immense struggle of the churches here is a powerful witness to us. Already we are changed.
Greetings and big smiles from your brothers and sisters of the churches in the Diocese of Ho in Ghana,
Jasmine Chandra (undercover Rev)

Monday, nov. 16

Wow, we are still here and surviving the roads of Ghana. I will never complain about an NB pothole again.We experienced our first church service yesterday in Kpandu in St. Patrick's church. The service was supposed to start at nine but we arrived at 9:40 so it started at ten to ten. What a wonderful feeling seeing the long line of servers, deacons, priests, bishops and two choirs parade in. There were drums and chanting of anthems, candles and incense. No power because of heavy rains earlier so it did get somewhat!!! warm. We were so warmly welcomed and to share the peace with so many wonderful people [no H1N1 here!]The service lasted till about 1:15 and then we mingled and did photos. We inspected the beginnings of a new mission house [rectory]. There is no church in this site so we were using the school.

We went up to the old mission house for refreshments and got to sample some palm wine...not quite what I expected but in a pinch it might do.We were treated to more choir singing and dancing which we all joined in on...Bishop Claude gives new meaning to swinging one's hips.
Bishop Matthias took us for a short drive to see the Volta Lake and the community of displaced people that live on the edge. The poverty and living conditions break our hearts but the smiles and welcomes of the children never stop.What a contrast to our own lives.
Bishop Matthias stopped at a partially constructed church, St. Mark's on our way back to the mission house for supper. A large building with cement brick walls and a new roof, totally empty except for a few benches, ten years in the making and still waiting to be completed.
After our meal we said our goodbys to Father Joseph and his family and other members of the church and went on to find lodgings in Hohoe. That's an experience in itself! The chicken and rice for supper I will remember forever.

We're here

Well we managed to arrive in Accra safely to a very warm welcome. Bishop Matthias, Father Lawrence and Angela were at the airport and wisked us into a very crowded, hot, busy city. The traffic was very thick and confusing and it took us an hour or more to reach our lodgings in the city....but oh the sights. We were absolutely overwelmed with the people we saw and the city itself.We had our frist meal of rice and chicken. Yummy!

On Friday we headed out to see some of the Cape Coast. We visited Kakum National Park and we all risked life and limb on a canopy walk. There were seven long shakey,high rope walks...you would all be so proud of Sharon. There was no turning back. She sang "Cruising down the River" all the way across.
We had a lunch at a crocodile farm called Hans cottage and saw three ugly creatures lurking around the grounds. In the afternoon we visited Cape Coast castle where the British held the slaves before shipping them out on the ships. It was a very emotional and touching place and we were all impressed with the forrgiveness in the hearts of the people of Ghana. We dropped in for a quick visit with Bishop Daniel on the Cape Coast.We found another place to spend the night and had a lovely meal of chicken and rice.

Saturday was spent on the road..from eight in the morning till seven at night. We

Monday, Nov 9. This is the day we start our malaria pills, hope everyone loves them.I am going to post our "proposed" agenda so everyone has an idea of where we will be each day.

Nov.12th arrive and spend night in Accra
13th courtesy call to Archbishop Akrofi, visit to Cape Coast
14th journey to Ho
15th worship at Kpando
16th journey to north of diocese
17th back to Ho
18th day of rest in Ho
19th journey to south of diocese
20th journey to Kumasi via Ho and Koforidua, visit Bishop Francis Quashie
21st back to HO
22nd worship at St. George's Cathedral, Ho, leave for home
23rd arrive home to Fredericton

There is no mention of wild animals or mode of travel but we are excited to see the countryside and experience a little of Africa.

October 28th
This site will be used to record the trip to the Diocese of Ho in Ghana by Archbishop Claude Miller, his wife Sharon, Rev'd Jasmine Chandra and Heather Miller.

We will leave on November 11th and return 10 days later. I hope this works for anyone wanting to know how the trip unfolds.

Pray God's blessings on us.