" You must really love us. You keep coming back to us." This is what the chief told Johnbull and our team when they visited him on Friday.
When I heard these words I felt it in my heart. I knew then that God was using our obedience to display His pursuit of this community. Our perseverance was seen as an expression of love and that's when I knew we were in the exact place we were supposed to be.
In 2010-2011 Johnbull and I, along with our team, traveled around Lake Volta to educate the communities about the dangers of child trafficking and the importance of education. It has been our heart's cry to see children freed from slavery and living out their childhoods.
There was one community, Hausa Kope, that grab our hearts because of the people's vision for their children's futures. Hausa Kope had a new school building for their children, and it appeared that the children were attending school instead of fishing on the lake. We wanted to rally behind this community and celebrate their achievements.
Over the years, City of Refuge Ministries have continued to return to Hausa Kope. We have held medical clinics, feeding programs, and crusades with the community churches. And over the years, we have seen the school building become more and more run down with few students in attendance. This community is no longer the community we came to know a decade ago.
WOMEN'S CYCLE OF LIFE: Hausa Kope Women and the CORM Team
Today the people need clean water. This last weekend while we were at Hausa Kope teaching Women's Cycle of Life to the women, one of the ladies asked about her children urinating blood. This is called Bilharzia, a disease caused by a parasite in the lake water that they drink. Bilharzia can lead to early death and we know that most of the people who drink the lake water have been affected by the parasite. We have been working to bring a drilling rig to Hausa Kope for the past year, and every attempt has failed. Costing us thousands of cedis. Our prayer now is that we will drill a borehole in June when we return to the village for a medical clinic and continued education with the women.
Our team traveling to Hausa Kope.
Another significant need that the people of Hausa Kope have is the renovation of their school building and teacher housing. It is difficult for teachers to stay in the village because their accommodations aren't livable. We are planning to train Ghanaian missionary teachers to live at Hausa Kope and invest in lives of the children. We were excited to learn that each family in the community has committed to providing a bag of cement towards the school building! We hope the renovation of the school building and teacher's housing will be completed in 2021 ,and the community will take ownership of the project.
Hausa Kope School Building
We are asking that you join us in prayer for the village of Hausa Kope. We know that God is doing something special there, and we are so blessed to be a part of this vital Kingdom work.
If you would like to financially partner with us in this project, please click the button below.
"When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."
John 8:12