Archive for July, 2011

My last installation of cultural comparison between Ghana and the United States will be over the healthcare systems. However, after interviewing Corrinne, the Village of Hope’s nurse, it was apparent that the healthcare systems have very little in common. Thus, for this last project, I will give a brief overview of the Ghanaian system, discuss some issues within the system, and propose a solution for improvement.

Ghanaian healthcare is a national public system. Citizens are not required to have health insurance, but it is strongly encouraged. Overall the system is not incredibly efficient: the system for healthcare is backed up, and sometimes it takes over a year to receive an insurance card, at which point the card becomes ineffective. Many villagers are reluctant to pay for an unreliable insurance card, especially when other basic needs, like food, are not being met. Thus, most Ghanaians receive medical care through a local clinic which they pay for out of pocket or they consult the village doctor. Hospitals are located in major cities, especially in the greater Accra region, though access to medical assistance is fairly limited and unreliable for the majority of the agrarian sectors of Ghana.

The Village of Hope’s nurse is a woman named Corrinne, who formerly lived in Michigan. A year ago the Lord told her to go to Ghana, so she sold all she had and moved to work in the Village of Hope’s clinic. The transition for her has been difficult, but she loves every minute of it. Having listened to her stories and inside information, it is clear that the first major issue for Ghanaian healthcare is its lack of resources. When she arrived, basic medical supplies were lacking, which is not uncommon for clinics across the country. On her first visit to the clinic, the nurses were using old IV tubing as a tourniquet because of lack of supplies. With such a lack of basic resources, it is incredibly difficult to meet even the most basic of medical needs. Secondly, the distribution of the resources that are actually available is very poor. Insurance cards are received unreliably and in an untimely fashion. Patients often cannot even afford transportation to go to the clinic, and so medication is simply not available for them because they cannot physically get there. Also, the availability of clinics is not evenly distributed, being concentrated in larger cities and lacking in small villages and agrarian societies.

Though the first two main issues are concerned with resources, the last main issue with the healthcare system is a lack of education on health issues. Concerning medical personnel, many nurses and doctors lack proper training and management skills to efficiently run a clinic. Concerning the general population, there is still a persistent belief in superstitions and herbal medicines. Many witch doctors tell the local people that they will die if they go receive medical help from a clinic. Moreover, certain diseases and health issues, like STD’s and tuberculosis, are considered taboo, and so the afflicted persons will refuse to receive medical help. Overall, the attitude towards health is not focused on prevention, but rather on reactive solutions. Because of this, clinics are forced to play a game of “catch up” by having to focus on simple issues that could have been prevented with proper knowledge.

Considering the overarching challenges for the Ghanaian healthcare system, the solution that would lead to the greatest amount of national medical improvement would be to focus on increasing the caliber of education available to the country. By focusing on and improving the quality of the educational system, many preventive health issues would be eliminated, and superstitions would not hold back persons who truly needed medical assistance. Additionally, a better educational system would produce medical personnel equipped to properly handle health clinics. Thus, higher educational standards would lead to higher health standards. However, it is also still important to consider where the country is at in its history. With Ghana as a country being little more than half a century old and having an even newer constitution, Ghana is considerably better off than many of its neighboring countries. One of the issues in comparing Ghana and the United States is that America has a considerable advantage simply because it has had more time to shape and perfect its society and government. Keeping in mind the timeline for Ghana as a country, I have high hopes for its future. Though its healthcare and education systems are not as polished as those in a country like the United States, I believe they are on their way to considerable improvement. The government is pressing for education among the people, and health campaigns and advertisements to the population are abundant. If Ghana continues to grow and mature with its new constitution, it is my hope that, step by step, as a country, the people will see improved standards with education, leading to an improved healthcare system.

During our time here in Cebu we’ve had a lot of opportunity to work with various groups of kids. One of the groups that we have invested quite a bit of time in is the high school group at our local congregation in Consolacion. Most of these kids have been with us for at least 3 years now and considering the sweet and loving kids that they are, it’s hard not to get attached to such a great group of kids.

Saturdays are typically when we get together with the kids and we usually start off by teaching them a few songs, followed by a short lesson (I say short because these kids have a very short attention span. Let’s keep in mind that high school kids here are typically 12-16 years old), then it’s game time!! Like any other group of kids, they always enjoy the games the most, although you’d be surprised at how much these kids love to sing and learn new songs.  :) Oh, and let’s not forget about the snacks…believe it or not, snacks work as a really good incentive for these kids. I can’t tell you how many times my mom got the kids to behave by threatening to not give them their share if they didn’t pay attention. Works like a charm! ;)

Occasionally we would take the group out on “special outings” as a reward for their perfect attendance for that month. So far we’ve taken them to the mall to see Kung Fu Panda 2, topped off with ice cream from Jollibee (local fast food chain). We also took them to the park for some fun games and hotdogs. We taught them how to “assemble” their own hotdog buns, which was a first for most if not all of them (pretty hard to fathom for the typical american wouldn’t you say?). But let me just say, they sure enjoyed it! Next week we’re looking forward to having them over here at the house for more food, fun, and fellowship! :)

with the Consolacion High School group at the park for their monthly outing

All of these kids have not been brought up in Christian homes. They come from very poor families and some of them don’t exactly have the best role models that they can look up to. Giving them something to look forward to once a week and being a positive influence to them lessens their chances of them getting involved with the wrong crowd and the wrong things. But most importantly, it means a lot to them just to know that someone cares about them. These kids just want to be loved, and what better way to share the love of God with them than to just be there to spend time with them. The kids of today will be the church of tomorrow…we plant the seeds, and we nurture them, but it is God who will make them grow.

As you can imagine, I’ve deduced that living in Africa highly varies from living in America. Last Wednesday, one of the boys here, Mark, was bit by a snake. Other than shaken up, he’s fine, but I’ve noticed that I watch where I walk a lot more these days. In addition to snakes, Bonnie and I have also been subjected to sharing our room with two mice, whom we’ve dubbed Scampy and Junior (Junior is literally junior…he’s not much bigger than a jelly bean!) We’ve noticed as of late that they are becoming much more daring, moving from the closet and the corners to under our beds and in the walkways. Another African experience I’ve had the opportunity of undergoing last week was milking a cow! Two of the older children at Sam’s Place, Violet and Kilion, came with us and taught us the basics. I was a natural and was only briefly startled when the cow decided to urinate while I was milking. Afterward, we even got to try the milk we had extracted! Although I’ve had triumphs (obviously milking the cow), we’ve also had trials, as we’re currently experiencing a lack of water. In Kenya, with July comes a void of rain, thus the depletion of our water supplies. Every day we must trek down to the nearest river and bring bucket by bucket back to Sam’s Place to use for cooking, bathing, and the sort.

Thursday was a bit out of the ordinary. Savannah, Bonnie, and I decided that before we left Sam’s Place, we wanted to give the children something that would be useful now, as well as in the future. After weeks and weeks of contemplation, we agreed that shoes would be the perfect departing gift, for many of their current shoes have holes in the heels and some are literally holding on by a thread. So last Thursday we grabbed a mutatu to Kisii for market day and set out in the search for shoes. After hours upon hours of sifting through shoes for appropriate sizes, we finally had 30 closed-toe shoes in our possession. However, as we stood there in the scorching, African sun, we decided that, although closed-toe shoes will be great for school and sports, sandals are a necessity for everyday wear. So we set out again, this time with sandals on our mind, and by the end of the day, we had 60 shoes ready to bring back and distribute to our kids. And I’ve NEVER seen more excitement in my whole life! They lined up by height as we brought each child in, letting them try on their shoes to make sure they fit, and then sent them on their way while they thanked us over and over again. By the end of that day, I was exhausted, yet exhilarated.

Another simple pleasure that we often take for granted in America is watching television (in addition to running water and shoes). Although I have to say I don’t miss it one bit, the children go absolutely crazy when we bring it out for them to watch old movies. The funny thing is that with being deaf they don’t understand half of it, but they still love it all the same.

Savannah, Bonnie, and I have become accustomed to delicious meals by Naomi and wanted to return the favor by making her family an American meal. The problem is that the ingredients available here are quite different than ones offered in America, so after ruling out basically all Mexican (which ironically I find very America) and many other typical meals, we decided that breakfast food was our best bet. So this past Saturday, after helping the children wash their clothes, we traveled to Rongo to pick up our supplies (even finding vanilla extract which we were sure we would have to do without) and then hastily hurried back to start our cooking extravaganza. It proved to be a little more difficult than initially planned, due to the lack of nonstick pans, but we worked through it and came out with a nice meal of breakfast potatoes, scrambled eggs, and pancakes (an original recipe from Bonnie’s grandmother). Everyone seemed to love it and asked for all the recipes!

On Sunday, Simeone took us to his childhood congregation for church. He introduced us, like every Sunday, but aware of my special trilling talent, asked me to trill for the ENTIRE congregation…which I did most obligingly to their shock and amazement. On our way home, we stopped and bought the children sugar cane. When we pulled it out of the trunk, they all started jumping up and down, smiling broadly, signing “thank you” over and over. They are so precious! Savannah and I have been eager to try it the entire summer and so joined in with the children. Bonnie, however, had a traumatic experience with sugar cane at a young age and thus refused to even look at it. It wasn’t as sweet as I was expecting, or as grainy, and reminded me a lot of watermelon. On the topic of food, I have become very fond of two vegetables; roasted corn, which they sell on every street corner, and cabbage, Naomi’s specialty. When I first arrived in Africa, I undoubtedly craved certain foods not available in Kenya, such as ice cream and enchiladas, however, I have now come to crave African food, i.e. roasted corn, cabbage, groundnuts, and peas.

In the same way last week was completely ordinary, this week has been the opposite, a week full of testing in preparation for exam day (today). We only diverged from this testing schedule yesterday (Wednesday), when we accompanied Simeone and Naomi to a funeral. Normally an entire day’s event, we only stayed for 4 hours, having to get back to Sam’s Place. For those 4 hours, men and women, friends and relatives, stood and spoke, prayed, and sang for the deceased man. It was very unlike any funeral I’ve ever attended, with speakers telling jokes and attenders offering money. The family was so honored to have wazungus present that they asked us to speak and sing for the audience.

Even when I spend all my time with children, teaching, eating, and resting, nothing compares to the feeling of actually playing with them. I feel 8 years old again, pretending to be cats and running around frantically tickling and attempting to escape ticklees. Other than the children themselves, it’s these time I’ll miss the most when we leave next week. I have never known time to fly by so fast, with hours turning into days and days into weeks. It feels as if I only arrived last week and yet, my final week’s approaching. The children have recently developed the habit of continuously asking how much longer until we have to leave and when we will be back. It breaks my heart not being able to tell them next month, but I know that this summer has been just as much an encouragement to them as it has been for me.

its crazy to think that we have less than one week left in africa, but that is indeed the case. im ready to be home but there will be some sadness too.
the kids are going to take it pretty hard, cuz lets face it- im pretty cool. seriously though, saying goodbye to the kids is going to be tough but im ready for american life again. cleanliness, fast food, and people that speak good english, not so early mornings, late nights, cars, satellite television, and bacon, hot showers, cold drinks and reliable internet being among them. these are the things i am looking forward to.

the next couple days offer some excitement though. the president of ghana comes tomorrow so thats pretty cool. also we might get the chance to visit a liberian refugee camp before we leave. im pretty pumped about that.
its difficult to process this trip while i am still on it so i will not attempt to do so at this time.

The kids are taking exams right now, so I have quite a bit of time to simply think.  The last couple of days I’ve just wanted to sit and weep.  I’m looking at the faces of all these children.  I’m going through all these pictures.  I’m processing all these memories.  I’m preparing to go home.  And I’m struck by how messed up the world is.  I love these kids so much.  They are all so beautiful and so full of joy and so valuable… so special.  They are smart and funny and each has their own precious personality.    They are children of God.  They are God’s little boys and girls, and they have become my babies too.  They have stolen my heart.  And my heart breaks because I can’t save them.  I don’t know what’s going to happen to them.  Some will be adopted and will find great homes and be loved.  But what about the rest of them?  What about Michael who is one of the smartest, most talented children I’ve met, but only has two more years before he can no longer be adopted?  What about Guo Guo and Hannah and Sam and Christina?  What will happen to them?  What opportunities will they have?  Yes, they are in a great place here.  They have people who care for them.  They are learning and growing.  Bethel is not a perfect place – it is run by humans – but it is better than so many here in China or around the world.  What happens when Bethel can no longer care for these kids?  What happens when they grow up?  And what of the thousands of orphans around the rest of China?  What will happen to them?  How broken and messed up is our world that these precious little ones who deserve everything have so few opportunities?  Everything in me wants to sweep all of them up and take them home with me and love them, but that’s impossible.  There’s only so much I can do, and that makes me feel so helpless.  I feel so small.  I wonder what difference my coming and my going really makes.  I want to be able to rescue them, and I can’t.  And so I pray, and I try to place these precious children in God’s hands, remembering that He loves them more perfectly and deeply than I ever could.  I trust that, even though this world seems a mess, though so much feels broken and hopeless and unfair, that does not mean that God is not still sovereign and in control.  I will live to be available for however He might use me, and I will pray that He will cause others to rise up as His instruments to bring these children a hope and a future.  I can’t save them all, but my God is sovereign over all.  And so, as my time here nears its end, I learn a different facet of faith.  I came here in the faith that God would use me and take care of me, that He would give me strength and keep me safe and help me to serve well and to find contentment and joy and peace in Him.  I came exercising faith that He is my Supreme Provider, and I would stand in awe and live for Him.  I will leave exercising faith that He is the Supreme Provider for all, and I will stand in awe and live for Him and trust Him to provide for all those I so deeply love.  Yes, I am coming face to face with the Supremacy of God and my need to place everything in His hands.

I have no doubts that I was supposed to be here.  I believe that God used me to accomplish something.  I believe that God accomplished things in my heart I can’t even put words to yet.  I believe He has sealed in my heart (as if He hadn’t done so before) a passion to serve Him, to live for Him, to give everything over,  to one day adopt and to do my part to make a difference in this situation, even if for only one child.  And I know that these children will be okay.  I know that God is good and capable of all things.  I know He has brought and will continue to bring the right people to make a difference here.  I think of the new Beijing Project and the fact that the kids will be moving on and attending the Blind School in Beijing.  I rejoice in the continuing work of Bethel, imperfect as it is.  I rejoice for the chance to have been even a small part of this mission.  More than anything, I rejoice in the glory and majesty of God, our Savior.  It is so easy to get discouraged over the fact that all of this is just one drop in the bucket.  It is easy to feel defeated, to feel like the enemy has won, but these are lies!  They are lies from the pit of Hell.  Jesus conquered the grave.  He conquered sin, and He conquered death.  Our God reigns victorious.  We are not defeated.  The brokenness will not be forever.  And so we continue to move forward in faith, allowing ourselves to be used of God, because He can make a difference and bring cleansing and healing to this broken and messed up world one drop at a time.

Greetings from NY!!

Where to start . . . Well, I am doing well! I must admit – the “glamor” of the city has begun to wear off. While it’s still very beautiful and interesting to me, I have begun to notice just how tough the city is — very!! It’s a tough, individualistic community.

Lawson and I continue to do prayer stations, which is where we set up a table with a paper and let people come write down their prayers; it’s very unconditional. If they want to learn more about what we do, we tell them we are interested in studying the Bible with them and their friends and family. The hope is that the study will take off with their community where they are and eventually develop into a house church, where they lead themselves. We do about four prayer stations a week for 2, 3, or 4 hours at a time. Two are bilingual (our signs and flyers), and two are completely in Spanish. We’re really hoping to move in to the Latino/a community and establish connections for Christ Fellowship Network. If they seem interested, we encourage them to fill out a contact card. Then we call them a day (or more) later to see if they are still interested. Many people are very polite and don’t want to turn us down, so they give us excuses and tell us to call back. Others accept our invitation and make plans to meet with Lawson and I but cancel last minute. We have yet to meet up with someone.

Despite the numerous unsuccessful attempts, prayer station is definitely my favorite thing to do. When people actually come up, I like to wonder why they did. Are they really counting on us to pray for them? Do they not pray but want us to pray? Or do they perhaps not have any one else to turn to? There are some who approach the table and pour their hearts unto the piece of paper, and I don’t mean just simply with words. I see it in their faces. They take long pauses and think deeply about their words, as if their words determined the answer to their prayer. Some, after deep thought, end up writing merely three words, but their face – it says much more than those three words. Others, just want to debate with us, condemn us, or are Christians themselves and want to come over and encourage us.

On Wednesday evenings, we attend one of the house churches that is part of the Christ Fellowship Network. It’s a very nice group of people! We have dinner together and fellowship. Then someone leads praise and then we delve into the word. This summer we’re in Romans. Then, we have communion together and fellowship some more.

Lawson and I have also joined a gym at a local college. We have called our time there “Workoutreach at Gym.” We even got a discount for being roommates! We’re hoping to go there at least four times a week and see if we can somehow reach out within the college-age community. Continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers please! We will continue to update. Thanks! Oh, and here’s a picture of the BX Interns! :)

So this is my first blog of the trip. I’m 5 weeks in and a little over 3 weeks to go. I thought coming here I would have a lot more time on my hands than I really do. Going to language school 3 hours a day and having church at least 3 times a week keeps you pretty busy. I have met some amazing people at the language school. Most of them are missionaries and are spending one year learning spanish before diving right in to their mission work. I honestly had no clue why I was coming down here and living here for 9 weeks, other than that I had that desire to discover new places and see new sides of God and serve in whatever way I could. I haven’t been able to just dive right in to a ministry and serve away because there aren’t very many kids at the church I attend and my language is still pretty bad even though I am a lot better now than I was when I arrived. All I pretty much knew was basic vocabulary words like colors, clothing, and foods. Needless to say, this journey has been mostly about deeper self-discovery and trusting God. There have been those moments where I have completely no control whatsoever and have no choice but to rely on the Protector and Provider. And guess what, He pulled through of course. There was a time when I first arrived here and still didn’t know my way around and lost my partner walking home in the pouring rain. 45 minutes later, I found the house and thankfully my host mom heard me and came to open the door because I didn’t have a key.

Suffering.. well I can relate to that a little more. I became sick for 3 of the most painful days of my life. I had an infection and my stomach was really upset. One night I couldn’t sleep and (ok maybe I’m a little dramatic) but I literally thought I was dying. The next morning my host mom took me to a doctor and He gave me some injections and medicines but none of them worked. I realized that all of this sickness and stomach pains started when I realized I had some tension with a few people but didn’t want to confront them about it because I didn’t think it was that big of a deal so I just kept it inside. On the 3rd night of my sickness I decided to confront the person and release the tension I had. So we talked and she was so understanding and I know it brought us closer. Later that night, my symptoms stopped and the next day I was fine other than being so hungry from not eating. I believe God was showing me his urgency of wanting to make me whole, not in a punishing kind of way but in a way that shows His power and He is willing to push me when my eyes turn from his face and my heart loses the burning desire. He loves me that much that he is willing to do whatever it takes to turn my eyes back on Him and make me more like Him.

Anyways, that is just a taste of what is going on down here and I’m sure there is more to come.

I cannot believe how quickly time is moving! We only have a week left and I am going to miss this country and my family and friends here so much. This past week has definitely been eventful, last Sunday was by far the roughest day I’ve had here. The morning started out with a not so good skype conversation that made me miss home more than ever and then progressed to include me making a very bad decision. It took a good part of the day before everything was resolved between me and my host family, but even then the day was just gloomy. We did have 3 baptisms that day at the community park though! And then to make matters worse the champs camp team decided to come home a few hours early without informing us so we had to rush home and pack all of our bags for Slovenia in like half an hour. The drive was the first break from chaos all day and included some great conversations and sharing of testimonies. When we arrived in Setnica we were greeted by a very smiley old man who made us a wonderful dinner at the bed and breakfast where all the parents were staying. The Camp went really well all week long and I was really surprised by the difference in culture between Croatia and Slovenia especially in how reserved and cautious the children were. The worst part of the week was the shower situation, we had to take showers at 3:30pm in our bathing suits in non-heated (aka: freezing) water in front of every other person visiting the public pool in Setnica. The best part was meeting all the Slovene missionaries and hearing their stories. We met a guy named Eno who takes the cake for coolest person I’ve ever met, and he told us about how he came to know Jesus in prison and the effect it had on his life. The views and the discipleship time this week were also to die for. On Thursday we had to say goodbye to both our Slovene friends and the champs camp team and head back to our humble abode. That night we had dinner at our preachers house and played him in a 3 on 1 game of soccer, I now know why they call him the Croatian nightmare! Yesterday was mainly spent working on our lessons for the art camp this coming week and a break in the late afternoon to go watch HARRY POTTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was amazing once you got past the Croatian subtitles. I also got myself into a sticky situation when I popped the lenses out of the 3-d glasses to turn them into nerd spectacles and then was informed that I would have to pay for them… nice going Madison! Today has mostly been spent moving out of our apartment into the prayer room and cleaning every square inch of house in preparation for the arrival of our guests. Now I think I will spend a few hours napping and reading before our welcoming party tonight. I love Croatia but I am definitely looking forward to a few days of doing absolutely nothing before we go back to school.

One of the more curious subjects for observation when traveling cross-culturally is the family unit. Families are integral to our lives and development; they are such a constant that we hardly ever stop to think what makes them “normal.” However, the ever present family unit looks and operates in vastly different ways in different cultures. When comparing the United States and Ghana, factors which contribute to these differences include the view of self, the level of industrialization, and the distribution of authority.

In the spectrum of the view of self, there reigns individualism on one end and collectivism on the other. Individualism is a type of the view of self which is highly independent and does not rely on surrounding persons. Collectivism, on the other hand, is a more communal approach to the view of self in which a person is more defined by who they are surrounded with. On the whole, the United States is a country in which individualism is valued. As a people, Americans value individuality, being unique, and entrepreuneurism. The idea of the American Dream is that everybody has the ability to “go out and make it on your own” and to follow their own idea of happiness. In regards to the family unit, individualism plays a major role. In America, it is custom for the parents to raise children who will one day go to college, get their own job, move out, and live on their own. The American conception of family is nuclear, rather than extended. However, in a community-centered country like Ghana, family as a cohesive whole is more important than the individuals within it. Together the individuals work and support each other, which creates a safety net for them all. Rather than the family catering to the needs of the individual, the individuals cater to the needs of the family. Thus, family units remain together, and there is less branching off and separation than there is in a country like the United States.

The level of industrialization also plays a large part in how family units operate. Ghana is a more agrarian state than America, which is incredibly advanced in technology and industrialization. Because of this, Ghanaian families tend to stay more local. Work is more physically strenuous and the value of manual labor is more appreciated. This agrarian state plays into collectivism because families must work together to support themselves. Children do chores not merely because they have been assigned them, but because they are necessary to the livelihood of the family. In contrast, the amount of technology available to families in the United States pushes them farther along the path of individualism. With the level of efficiency offered in the majority of America, there is less of a need for communal effort. There is more opportunity to be individualized in the United States.

Finally, the distribution of authority also affects how family units are shaped. In an American family unit, authority is fairly evenly distributed between the parents. Both have authority to make decisions, and much value is placed on gender equality in the United States. Additionally, families are often catered to the children, who may not have direct authority, but still have many resources given to them. Ghanaian families tend to be more paternalistic. Most of the authority lies with the father figure to make decisions. The mother is often in charge of the household, but in terms of how the public and culture views the family unit, the man will always have the final say. Also, families are not catered to their kids. Children are expected to contribute to the livelihood of the family, and, though admittedly my population pool may be biased, I have yet to meet a spoiled Ghanaian child.

When comparing the types of family units in the United States and Ghana, it is difficult to say whether one is superior to or better than the other. In truth, both have their strengths and weaknesses: the individualism which is rampant in American families can isolate individuals and weaken community development, while the collectivism of Ghanaian families can hold back individuals who have the opportunity for further education or advancement. To conclude, one system of family is not necessarily better than the other; rather, the two capitalize on different sets values. The value of connectedness, group unity, and working as a part of a whole which are learned in Ghanaian families are values which are just as important as individuality, independnence, and uniqueness that are learned in American families.

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So check that out to hear about my experiences so far in Australia!

God bless,

-Maggie Pfeiffer