I've been doing some information gathering for a display about Ghana that I'm going to put up at Christ's Church and for presentations should I have any to do (and I think I will). Some of the info I'm getting makes me really sad.....The most shocking tidbit I found so far was about the number of AIDS related deaths. In Ghana there are an estimated 21,000 AIDS related deaths a year in a population of 23,832,495 well, the shocking thing is that in the US there are 22,000 AIDS related deaths a year in a population of 307,212,123. So I'm sitting here thinking about it and it's crazy to me that a country as small as Ghana only has 1,000 less AIDS related deaths a year than the US even though like 283 million more people live in the US than in Ghana. I know it's not just Ghana too. Most of the African continent has an AIDS epidemic basically. That's on top of the other problems people have with poverty and poor sanitation....when will people that live in wealthy countries, that could really make an impact on less fortunate countries, start to care? I'm so glad that so many of the people I'm close to really DO care about Africa and Ghana. Maybe it's because the know people that have been there and they've heard from those people about how amazing the people are there. Maybe it's because most of them are Christians and they genuinely care about the souls of the Africans. I don't know, but I feel really fortunate to have a circle of friends that cares about the world.
I'm really starting to miss Ghana and I'm getting excited about the opportunities I have to tell people about what's going on there. One of my friends, that I haven't heard from in a very long time, sent me a message on Facebook this weekend asking me if I'd be interested in speaking at the church he & his wife go to. He's on the missions team and he brought me up at a meeting and they want me to come speak about Ghana and possibly offer me support to go back. Two of my other friends both told me that they need someone to support monthly because the person they were supporting is no longer in need of monthly support. And I know that I have more friends that want to help me, whether through monthly support or moral support. God is so awesome in the way he provides everything we need, exactly when we need it.
Since I've been back, I occasionally think to myself "wait, you're really only going to be here until September....seriously?!!" I almost can't belive it. I know that people here care about me, but I think God is using these few months to really show me that my friends here really honestly do care about me and what I'm doing, even when I'm thousands of miles away and even when they all have their own lives to worry about. I've really been convicted to do a much better job with sending out updates and emails when I go back to Ghana. If people are willing to support me and pray for me and care about what's going on in Ghana, then I have a responsibility to share with them as often as possible about the work being done there. If I can't sacrifice a few hours and a few Cedis a month to go to the internet cafe and send out an update, then I don't deserve their support.
I have finished my new support letter, I need to get it printed so I can start sending them out as soon as possible. They probably won't start going out until I get back from Camp next Tuesday. I'm excited about that too! I haven't worked a session of camp since I was in college and I've never worked a session with younger kids. It should be very fun. I might even get to share about Ghana some. I think they have wireless internet at the camp, so I might take my laptop and upload some pictures and blog while I'm there, we'll have to see how busy I am. I think I'll end this blog with even more pictures (are you tired of pictures of Ghana yet?....I'm not)
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