It has been a time of rest, recovery, and repair for my friend John in Ghana so there isn’t much dramatic to write about this week.
One of the young men John had been mentoring stole his phone last month, along with all of the passwords and personal records that were stored on it, so John had to spend much of last month recovering what he could and setting up new accounts where he was able to. Not to mention getting a new phone and the bother and expense of that.
Ironically the young man who stole John’s phone and tried to steal his identity is Nigerian. That poor country is constantly maligned because of the scammers back in the early days of the internet. Unfortunately this young man didn’t do anything to erase the stereotype.
But John has managed to get most of the negative consequences of the theft straightened out. So one challenge out of the way.
Unhappily, John had another bout of sickness. He was so busy telling me about other people and their problems that he didn’t tell me that he needed help himself until he was alarmingly ill. It was so bad that he went back to his home in the Buduburam area to recover. But just this morning he went back to Accra to continue his work there. He is still weak but recovering.
Anabel, our four year old orphan girl, went on an excursion with her class on Monday. Class trip! Class trip! She almost didn’t get to go because by then we were low on funds to pay the fee but money was kindly provided for her and she got to go along with the others. I was very concerned because I don’t want her to feel left out or feel like she is the poor kid of the school, the charity case, but thankfully she was able to go. I am extremely grateful.
The big news is that on this coming Sunday Favour’s baby will have his naming ceremony! This is very, very important and I am really excited.
Favour is the seventeen year old Nigerian girl who came to John when she was pregnant, homeless, and sleeping on the beach in Accra. He helped her with her expenses and arranged for her to be in the care of a hospital when the baby was born. Since then we have been helping as we can to provide for the needs of Favour and the baby, including some serious illnesses the baby has gone through.
The naming ceremony is very important. A baby is not considered a real person until they have been officially named. They are not supposed even to be taken out in public before the ceremony and it is believed that the spirits may take the baby back if they are not named.
This should have been done in the first few weeks after birth but we just couldn’t afford it. Naming is important but illness and homelessness come first. And keeping Anabel safe in her boarding school. So many have been in need. So we have just had to put it off.
But finally it is going to happen! John and Favour have arranged that the naming will be this coming Sunday. Finally he won’t be just Favour’s baby, he will be a person in his own right.
I don’t know if it is tradition to give the child gifts at a naming ceremony but I’m going to try to send a little for John to buy something. The kid surely deserves it after everything he has been through.
John is going to conduct the ceremony. He is a registered minister but I don’t think he has ever done this before.
So we are all excited and hopeful.
I will post an update with photos of the ceremony next week, hopefully.
Have a good week, and God bless.