Jim in Ghana (Day 8)

Day 8

We explored one of the main roads yesterday and walked about a mile to another Starbucks location. We had an escort from a local “boxer” there who took it upon himself to walk us all the way there. He said he is a boxer and from a boxer perspective, I think I could take him.

Zack wanders the streets without much thought, where I am more suspicious and cautious. It was a little weird at first, but when people started honking at him and saying hi to this guy, then I felt at least there will be witnesses when he decides to beat us up. About three quarters of the way there I finally realized that he was working us for a “tip.”

Once we got to our destination he started to shake our hands, and then he did it a second time. I was already prepared so when I gave him a couple of bucks he acted surprised as if I was supposed to do that. In my country we say “whatever.”

On the way back we walked the same route but I noticed that a couple of taxis intentionally swerved at us while we were walking on the road. I mentioned to Zack who was walking in the street if he noticed that they were trying to hit him. He stated that he knew and said that if they were really trying to hit him they would have gotten closer. I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer by any means, but I knew that I was not going to become a white line in the road, so I stayed away from the road and looked around a little more.

On the sides of the roads are concrete ditches which are great for the removal of excess rain water during the rainy season. These same design features were strategically engineered to carry raw sewage as well. If you are not careful and move over too far on the road you will literally fall right into the ditch. You sometimes have to walk on the road because there are trees or other obstacles on the sides of the road where there is no path. The smell proved that. Not only can you drive in these, but you could be walking and fall in one of these too. That makes for a fun challenge.

So imagine dodging would be thieves, cars trying to run you down, and ditches that contain raw sewage. It almost sounds like a game show challenge called Extreme Sewer Jumping.

I had to go back to the Embassy briefly today. Along the way, in the downtown area, there was an awful sight. It looked like the local trash dump and it was directly across the street from a 5-star hotel. When I looked a little closer as we were driving by, I realized that it was not a trash dump, but was the place where the homeless and the travelers stay. Here it comes, another huge eye opener. Even though I used to live in the Washington D.C. area and have seen many homeless people in the nation’s capital, this wasn’t even close. I am not trying to hint at being funny, this literally looked like a trash dump. I couldn’t believe that people actually lived there. I was told that many of the people travel for literally hundreds of miles to sell their goods in the market place, and I assumed that they walked from their homes.

I saw several people begging, but these were not the pan handlers that you are used to seeing back home. Homeless here has a totally different meaning.

I saw someone with a sign a few days ago that read, “If you don’t work, you don’t eat.” This was very true, as the people lay on the sidewalks and grassy areas, there was not a homeless shelter around the corner that offers free handouts. I always thought that the homeless and prisoners in America were way better off than these people in countries like this, but now I KNOW.

One of the beggars that came up to the cars at the intersection was blind and had a small child escorting the woman, which I believed was the mother of the child. With my skeptical thinking, I wondered if she was actually blind. In America, we know that some people play games. When I handed the kid a dollar, the woman knew I gave them something, and as I was driving off, I saw that her eyeball was cloudy and moving back and forth as she smiled and told me “God bless you.” I feel like a worm.

I have seen people in wheel chairs and their limbs are deformed. I saw a man later today walking on all fours with some type of physical deformity. I am sorry, if you are in America, thank God for your care that is available to you because you certainly don’t want to have that problem here. I don’t want everyone to get bummed out and depressed, but when you hear that you are blessed, that is an understatement.

Please don’t blast our government about how lazy and beurocratic they are. That is stating the obvious, but they are so much better than anywhere in the world that I know. If you have never seen stuff like this, and like me, have only seen it on T.V., believe me it is more than real.

We don’t need to sell everything we have just to be “super-spiritual” but thank God for your health, even if it is not the greatest. Thank God for your home, even if it is not the best. Thank God for your car, even if it is not the newest. Thank God that you have health, a car, and a home, because at least you have one. I didn’t want to end on a sad note, but reality sometimes just leaves you wondering, “Why?” We are not lucky, we are blessed. And with that blessing comes the responsibility to help those in need.

The positive note is that today I had the privilege of leading a boy and a girl to Jesus. I was asked by one of the boys in the area to have a Bible study in the housing area two places down from the orphanage. I was able to lead him and his brother to Jesus two nights before. I handed out about 13 Bibles to the kids in the same area too, and several adults also asked for the Bibles. It then hit me all of the sudden; what if the adults don’t have Bibles either. I just figured the kids may not have them, but I couldn’t imagine that the adults did not own Bibles. I pray that I can go into town (that is an understatement) to buy some more Bibles so that the others will have God’s Word in their hands. One of the workers heard that I was giving out Bibles and asked if she could have one. I had no more at the time. If anyone feels that they want to go here for a mission trip, I can promise that the seeds are ripe unto harvest….