Ghana: City of Refuge

    Our main ministry while in Ghana was with an orphanage called City of Refuge (or C.O.R. for short). Three days a week we would make the hour-long, bumpy journey to C.O.R.. What exactly we did there looked different as we were there longer and as we adjusted to how we could be most helpful. At first, we were there while the kids were still on Christmas break (their Christmas break lasted until the middle of January); so, we spent pretty much the entire time of our day there (10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) just hanging out with the kids. We would play football (soccer) with them, play basketball with them, organize activities for them, eat lunch with them, and really just try to be there for them. This went on until the time school started, at which we were planning to start helping out at the school that was on the C.O.R property. However, once we started helping out at the school, we realized that our time was not being best used there, because we were actually less help at the school than we thought we’d be. So we again adjusted to how we could help the most. Thus, we started coming an hour before school ended to help with a little bit of the practical work that needed to be done around the school (organizing books, etc.); then, once the non-C.O.R. kids left, we would help with homework and then play games with kids.

     This was probably the favorite ministry we did in Ghana. Even in the relatively short time we were there, we were able to build some awesome relationships with the kids. I personally got close to a boy named D.K. He and I spent several hours a day playing basketball together and I would occasionally break out my mad math skills to help him with his 6^th-grade math homework. One thing that surprised all of us was what a passion for Christ all the kids had at such a young age. The couple that ran the orphanage and the couple that acted as the “mom and dad” for the orphanage were amazing, and their love for the kids was so evident.  As it often is in ministry, you go expecting to just bless others, but end up getting blessed yourself.

     Just to tell you a bit about what  C.O.R. does exactly, I’ll elaborate a bit on what I had said before we left for Ghana. Essentially, C.O.R. works rescuing kids out of the Volta region in Ghana. Child trafficking is fairly common in that area, as parents will end up selling their children to the fishermen who work Lake Volta. C.O.R works raising awareness for child trafficking, and also takes it upon themselves to get as many kids out of the hands of the fishermen as possible. Working the lake is extremely dangerous for anyone, but these kids are forced to work as young as the age of 6 years old. The conditions are horrible and the children are treated as no more than property. To rescue a child, C.O.R. would start by tracking down the parents of a child and getting their permission to take the kids away from the fishermen and put them in school; then, the rest would be dealing with the fishermen trying to get permission to rescue  the kids, paying them if necessary. Once at C.O.R, depending on the age of the child, they would either try to find a family to adopt the child, or just plan on raising them themselves at the orphanage/school. That is just a rough summery of what C.O.R.’s mission was; to see more about what they do I would REALLY encourage you to check at their website at http://www.cityofrefugeoutreach.com/

    One other story from C.O.R I wanted share was just once really unexpected ministry opportunity. In our second week of working at C.O.R another team of college students came from Cornell University in New York, who were there as a required part of their degree. In just saying hi to some fellow Americans we were able to say who we were, why were there, and some about what YWAM was. One of the Cornell students, Michelle, was really interested in what we were saying. As the week went on, we were being a bit more intentional about ministering to their team, and by the end of the week Michelle was getting all of our contact info so she could continue to ask us questions about some of the discussions we had had. Apparently her dad was Catholic, but it was more of just a thing to do with family religion and tradition rather than relationship with God. It was just another way you have to always be ready to minister to others, because you never know who God is going to bring your way.

    Tuesday, February 7 was our last day, and it was a hard day indeed, but also quite awesome. Again, we were blessed by the kids when they prayed for us after we had prayed for them. Hugs and little gifts were exchanged. D.K. gave me a necklace that is currently tied to my guitar neck, reminding me of how much I loved working at City of Refuge. I spent my last 20 minutes at C.O.R. doing the same thing I had spent most of my time there doing, shooting some hoops with D.K.,then I got on the bus to say goodbye to the one, the only, City of Refuge.