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Sisters Together: Listening with Our Hearts

Participants share their stories


A new mother and her baby are well cared for
at the Volta Regional Hospital, Ho, Ghana

The theme of the 2002 PW Global Exchange to East and West Africa was "Sisters Together: Listening with Our Hearts." Last October, participants traveled to Ghana and Kenya to hear the stories of our African sisters, seeking God's spirit to heal the wounds of our history, to awaken our awareness, to teach and lead us into truth, to reconcile us to each other and to God. These women are now charged with sharing what they heard with women and men throughout their synods.

Visiting a Hospital

Malaria is the chief medical problem treated at Volta Regional Hospital in Ho, Ghana. Most of the cases, especially those of young children, would be easy to prevent, but are difficult to treat because parents wait until the baby is extremely dehydrated and weak before coming to the hospital. Bertha Afenya, the nursing manager, told us that simple steps like wearing long sleeves and trousers in the evening and covering the bed with a mosquito net at night would help. Malaria pills are available and cheap. But even these small costs are beyond what many families can afford.

A dynamic lady with a reputation for being tough on students and tender with patients, Bertha is dedicated to her profession. As an Evangelical Presbyterian Church elder, she sees this as her ministry.

Late one Friday afternoon, Bertha showed us around the attractive, modern 240-bed facility, built by the government in 1998. There are 12 doctors and 94 nurses and nursing students. Each health specialty is housed in a one-story bungalow, joined to the others by a covered walkway. As a nurse myself, I especially enjoyed the maternity ward, but saw only one baby there with her mother and father. I asked the baby's name, but learned that, so far, she had only her day-of-birth name, Adwoa, which means "female born on Monday." She would receive a Christian name at her eighth-day naming celebration.

--Sandra Browder

From Sorrows to Smiles

In Ghana, young women at the Social Services Center share their
stories and their crafts with the Global Exchange participants.

I learned that four years ago, a dynamic woman named Alice Ayebi began bringing homeless girls to this small building provided by the church headquarters. Most of the girls are teenage mothers between the ages of 12 and 20 with little formal schooling. At the Center, these young women learn survival skills that translate to paying jobs, when available.

After a brief presentation, the students stood and sang. Still, they did not smile. Many of these young women had been living on the streets and some had run away from unbearable home situations, while others had endured the slavery of trokosi, a social system in which young girls are forced to serve as slaves of a fetish priest to pay off family debts.

Following the formalities, the girls began to relax as we fussed over their babies and showed our appreciation for the artfully presented samples of rich stew they had prepared for lunch. A few smiles appeared. Suddenly, our inability to speak the same language no longer mattered. We crowded around to admire their handiwork and to buy the beaded jewelry, stuffed toys, baby clothes and colorful batik tablecloths they quickly spread out for us. The girls smiled even more when we special ordered lots of batik fabric to decorate the July 2003 Gathering in Louisville. I hope you come and see it and think of these courageous young women, struggling to improve their lives against tremendous odds.

--Martha Jean Hodges

Graze Well to Get Fat

Global Exchange participant Sherry Flyr with students at a Ho school.

Since her teenage years, Vida Aku Sika Dzobo had a dream to provide an education for all children, regardless of their financial status. While working as a teacher, she saved money to buy a piece of land on which to build a school and founded the Dora Memorial School Complex in 1987 after she retired.

Vida started the school on faith and very little money. Now, more than 900 students attend classes in the simple, tin-roofed buildings.

Students who live too far away to walk home each evening stay in a dormitory at the school. Vida and her husband, Noah, also have seven students living with them, whom they pay for doing household chores.

I was privileged to spend one night in the Dzobos' home and talked for hours with Noah about how Ghanaians use traditional proverbs to teach moral truths in village life. One I liked was "The animal that grazes well becomes fattened," meaning the person who works hard will succeed in life. There is no better description of the Dzobos, who will soon increase their workload when they open a senior secondary school (grades 10­12) at Dora Memorial School Complex.

--Sherry Flyr

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Elmina Castle

At Elmina Castle on Ghana's Cape coast, Solitary confinement room held
people prior to execution; standing room that held hundreds of women.

I was appalled at what I was reading. I had assumed the little guidebook I bought at the Elmina Castle gift shop would echo the harrowing history of the slave trade that our tour guide so eloquently recounted. But it said virtually nothing about the atrocities that took place in this infamous 15th-century Portuguese fort.

Our guide cited staggering statistics. At least 60 million men, women and children were captured by warring tribes and sold to Western traders for trinkets. Only 20 million of these survived incarceration and transportation to Europe and the Americas. At least half of those who languished for months in the squalid Elmina dungeons died of infection or disease long before they could be loaded onto trading ships.

Even though Ghana has experienced many upheavals in government, I was at a loss to understand why it allowed a guidebook written from a Eurocentric viewpoint to remain in print. I was even more baffled when our guide told us that Ghanaian schoolchildren are not taught this tragic chapter of their history. Later, some of us were told this was because of a sense of shame over tribal leaders' complicity in the genocide.

The events that took place in this colonial stronghold are well-documented and the tours that take place there recount in heartbreaking detail the anguish of those held captive. The fortress stands as monument, not to human ingenuity, but to the human capacity for evil. A plaque near the entryway reads, "In everlasting memory of our ancestors. May those who died rest in peace. May those who return find their roots. May humanity never again perpetuate such injustice against humanity. We, the living, vow to uphold this."

--Beth Appel

From Anger to Awe

In my early years, information about the African slave trade was nonexistent. Folks sometimes warned, "If you don't behave, I will send you back to Africa!" Of course, I didn't know what that meant, but I assumed it wasn't good.

In my adult years, I heard more about slave trading in Africa, but did not know the names of notorious East or West African slave-trading posts, until last October, when I visited Elmina Castle, the site of the world's largest slave trading center from the 15th to the 19th centuries.

Our guide led us through the gates into the courtyard. As we stood in the bright sunlight, he told us we were standing where captive women were brought out of the dungeon so that the Portuguese governor standing on the balcony above could look them over to see which one he wanted for the night. A little anger started rising in me.

Then, we went into the women's dungeons where there was space for about 150 women. The guide told us as many as 400 women were packed in this area for months at a time. They received bread and water once a day. There were no beds to sleep in, just the floor. They could not wash. There were no toilet facilities; the floor rose about three inches because of the waste left by these women. The men had the same situation in other dungeons. My anger grew.

We moved through a maze of low ceilings and steps to another chamber that led to the Door of No Return-anyone taken through it never came back. They were taken directly to the ships, anchored in the bay below.

Walking back, my feelings of anger gradually turned to awe for the fortitude and spirit these Africans, my foreparents, must have had to survive this ordeal. Although many died, many survived. At that moment, I was proud to be a descendant of such great people and moved by the words of our guide: "This must not happen again!" My prayer is that it never will.

--Joyce A. Smith

Chogoria Hospital

Lead staff at Chogoria Hospital James M. Mwendi, Jane M.
Njeru, Dr. John Potts, Rev. Elias Kabii, Joyce M. Mutua

Up the eastern slope of Kenya's mountains, past the verdant valleys of pineapple, coffee, tea, vegetables and rice, is the town of Chogoria, 140 miles northeast of Nairobi. Chogoria Hospital was established in 1923 by Rev. Clive Irvine and his son, missionaries from the Church of Scotland. The hospital is now owned by the Presbyterian Church of East Africa, with only one missionary serving there---Dr. John Potts from Canada, serving as their medical director.

The hospital responds to a variety of illnesses and issues; malaria is the number one cause of death, followed by tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Education of disease prevention is a primary responsibility for medical personnel. Another concern is female genital mutilation (FGM). Many families still believe that FGM is a rite of passage for their daughters. Most girls experience FGM at 13 or 14 years old, although some are as young as five. This practice is against the law and not performed at hospitals. Other challenges for girls include a high rate of teen pregnancies and illegal abortions.

Chogoria Hospital is a vital part of the Chogoria district of Kenya. The dedicated physicians and nurses need our prayers.

--Joy Haning

Spinners and Weavers

Spinners at work at Nanyuki, Kenya;
area PCEA leaders in background

The sound of joyful singing faded as we entered the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers Project. Then only the rhythmic swish of the spinning wheels continued. One woman carded virgin wool while another knitted a sweater from the spun yarn. Three or four more were busy washing wool to prepare it for processing. Another transformed the fiber into a rich orange, using natural dyes.

Started in 1977 by Anne Warutere and overseen by a management team from the Nanyuki Parish, Presbyterian Church of East Africa, the Nanyuki Spinners and Weavers Project began with six women. Today 137 women are learning the skills needed to become self-reliant. Using wool purchased from local farmers, some work from the center, others work at home while they care for their young children. It is estimated that as many as 1,000 lives are improved by these efforts, bringing income, encouragement and pride to those who had none before.

--Kitch Shatzer

Tumaini Home

Dressed in their best and on their best behavior, Tumaini residents
pose with Global Exchange participant Alberta Williams.

The Woman's Guild of East Africa began in 1922 and today includes 40,000 women committed to service, worship and fellowship. Among their service projects is the Tumaini Home, an orphanage outside Nairobi for children living with HIV. The home houses nine children and two "mamas" who provide round-the-clock care for the orphans.

Tumaini means "hope" in Kikuyu and the prayer of the Woman's Guild is that Tumaini Home will provide a bit of "heaven on earth for the children." Doctors visit three times a week to care for the children and there is an ambulance on call if needed. Women from the guild also take turns volunteering their services.

When Global Exchange participants visited Tumaini Home, the children were energetic and excited, singing "Jesus Loves Me" and "This Is the Day That the Lord Hath Made." It was difficult to accept that most of those children will not be alive by 12 years of age.

--Lynne Snyder

Dancing at the Durbar

In Ghana, a women's Durbar is an occasion for prayer, study,
singing and joyful dancing with African sisters.

What do you call an event where Presbyterian women come together to pray, listen to speeches and sing hymns? In the United States, we call it a Gathering; in Ghana, it's a Durbar. In the United States, we sit quietly and listen (or most of us do), but in Ghana, they murmur support and dance.

While visiting Ghana, Global Exchange participants were privileged to participate in a Durbar of Queen Mothers and Other Church Women, coordinated by women of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.

The Queen Mothers remained seated while everyone else danced and sang, waving their handkerchiefs---essential for wiping perspiring faces in the tropical heat. A Queen Mother is chosen to be the wise woman of her community. She has undergone a thorough examination by other royal women and must pass strict tests for health, wisdom, behavior and lineage.

As the meeting ended, we were presented with raffia and bead friendship bracelets and gourd rattles. Soon, we were singing and dancing along with our Ghanaian sisters. It was energizing and worshipful, something I hope we can experience at the Churchwide Gathering in Louisville, too!

--Kristen Gerling

Also see One Thing I Will Always Remember

To learn more about the PW Global Exchange, email pw_pcusa@ctr.pcusa.org or visit www.pcusa.org/pw.

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