Ghana Bound!
May 7th, 2008: Welcome to Joe Guidotti’s site. Over the next few months, beginning June 4th, I hope to convey to you the sights, smells?, culture, and heart of the people of Ghana. You will also share in my feelings and understanding of what I experience, as I cannot write from a blank mind. Your comments will be most welcome, especially if you feel that a statement I make needs to be challenged or amplified. This will be a new experience for me trying to paint a picture with words, so you may see some straw men and land-fish!
You may be thinking, why would an almost 50 year old man venture to go to Northern Ghana, rather than continue a career that he enjoyed and was fairly successful? Well, the short answer is that I love God, who has become the central person in my life; it just really thrills me to please him now! He has grown a love in me for other people. The love for others has always been in me, but it has not always manifested in my life in healthy ways for others or me.
Why Ghana specifically and not the USA as their are poor people here too? Well, I got to work with a homeless women’s and children’s shelter in Orange County this past year through AmeriCorp*VISTA. While the year of volunteer service was worthwhile and rewarding, my desire to serve those without hope and those oppressed was not fulfilled. Why? Because in the US there is always help to those that truly want to be helped. There are those that don’t want help, that want to be on the street. But even they can find a hot meal or shelter if they so desire. I am not saying it is great living, but they can survive.
However in Northern Ghana the per capita income US$510 and LESS than US$365 in the poverty stricken Northern Ghana. Well isn’t it cheap to live in Ghana? Gas costs about US$5.50 a Gallon! The cost of food is rising at an alarming rate (refer to link below). In Northern Ghana many do not have access to any toilet facility, public water, public services, etc; there is no social security or medicare system. Literally, people are dying from unhealthy water, poor sanitation, and malnutrition on a scale that does not exist in the USA.
In the USA, we have every opportunity to renew our relationship with God. We can hear the Good News without fear of reprisal and without cost! Who in the USA has not heard that for God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life? This is not the case in Northern Ghana, where there is a true cost to turn your life over to God through Jesus; your job (if you have one), your spouse, your family, and maybe your life.
My mission in life is, “to walk in the Light and help others grow in the Light.” Ghana is one more step in the right direction.
God Bless,
Joe
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