Beautiful Kintampo Waterfalls
Hello Everyone! Offline due to Internet access issues. This is a “little” long.
Saturday, July 5th, Faith Bible Church of Africa, where I attend, had their first outing together to Kintampo Waterfalls. It is south of Tamale by about 2.5 hours up in the foothills. Planning is somewhat hit-and-miss in Africa, so only $30 had been collected the Wednesday before we were to leave and no bus arrangements. Oh about 40+ people were expected to go! After our Wednesday Night Bible Study (all age groups join together and ALL participate in the meeting!), the Elders was decided that a larger bus was needed at a cost of $600! + $115 for admission fees + food. Money is tight to say the least here. It was amazing to watch how God provided the funds for this trip. Yes, I did help, but not at a very high level for a white man (we are all assumed to be rich) as God definitely wanted me not to step in. God provided for some people outside the church to go, on Friday, and they made up the entire difference due!
Well 79 people showed up to go on the 62 seat-er bus! We were wonderfully packed in as it gave everyone no opportunity to be by their self, everyone had to get to know each other– isn’t God good. It was a really nice, powerful, as Mr. Wumbi (John Ramsey) would say, he joined us with some of his good friends. We were to leave at 7:00 AM, but in Ghanaian time that could mean 8-ish or? Amazingly, we left at 7:30 as more food had to be prepared immediately to serve the 20 folks who showed up extra.
We left the Radach Memorial Centre singing songs in Twi and English, with drumming and accordion playing. Yes, accordions are used quite frequently during worship and praise! Also, we need to know old American and European hymns of the 1700′s to late 1800′s too. They are staples along with indigenous songs. It sounds like a typical church outing, so far doesn’t it? Well an hour into the drive, I am in the front of the bus looking straight ahead, I see something in the road opposite the direction we are traveling.
About 150 feet or so, I see the body of a man. It was apparent, as we passed, that he was not alive. The singing subdued. I asked Pastor Moses shouldn’t we call someone or do something? Sadly, he said that a village was not far from the body, that they would see him and take care of him. No sirens; no fire trucks, no police, and no medical help racing to the accident, so many things we take for granted in the US just is not available here. After about ten minutes, the bus was full of singing again. I felt terrible and asked God, Why now?
Death is occurring all around us, no matter where we live. In Ghana with real survival an issue, people have become accustomed to death. Ghanaians are not callous or hard-hearted, death here is a reality that cannot pushed out of sight, sanitized, or forgotten. Death is a part of life in Ghana that is experienced as a passing into another world by all people: Christians, Muslims, and African Traditional Religions. It is not the end, however there is only One God and He said only one way to come to Him, through Jesus Christ. If the person was alive, we would have stopped.
God clearly showed us how fragile all our lives are and that we should find the joy in all situations; I thanked God for our lives and to never take life for granted by God’s grace. As we drove on-and-on the image still haunted my mind. God asked me, “Why am I so focused on how bad it made me feel?” He reminded me that nothing had befallen on me; rather the man’s family and friends would be mourning, and that He too knew the person intimately. God assured me, He was still in control as both calamity and prosperity come from His hand.
We arrived around 10:00 am and enjoyed a wonderful day of swimming, football, basketball toss, board games, and Tug-of-War (MY team won; oh, no team captains:). We enjoyed prayer time, talking and learning about each other and of course, eating some Jollof (spiced rice with a little fowl) and cook cabbage. We all drank plenty of water. The scenery was spectacular (I hope I can upload some pictures). There is actually two sets of falls, lower falls are about 100 feet high and the upper falls about 20 feet high. It was refreshing being in the jungle with the mist of the waterfall blowing in my face.
I also strolled through some “jungle” with Mr. Wumbi and Clement, who took us to a Palm tree that the area villagers were using to make Palm Wine. They down the tree, peel back some bark facing the sky, chop a 5″ X 5″ square hole on top, then drill a hole through the bottom of the chopped hole out the bottom of the tree. They connect a tube and a container to the drilled hole to catch the Palm Wine which comes out of the tree because it is cut. They cover it up with the peeled back bark to keep unwanted bugs from coming and drinking their wine! The harvester returns each morning to burn the inside of the hole and re-cut it, to start the flow of wine again. We did not taste the wine as no one was around to ask, dang-it.
We left around 3:30 PM, thanking God for a beautiful day. The bus was much quieter on the way home as the kids were worn out and the adults exhausted! We arrived back while it was still light. It was a fun day. But my thoughts still lingered back, how many more would die tonight or tomorrow, without knowing and experiencing God’s love for them?