Hungry No More

These pictures speak for themselves.  And yes, this IS the same child.

Thank you to the anonymous donor who helped save the lives of these children. 

October 2009 Photograph - unable to walk due to malnutrition

December 2009 Photograph - beginning to crawl

There are others.  Click here if you want to help.

Widow Program Launched

Please click here to read about the IHH Widow Care Program that will benefit widows in the Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa.
 

Good News Clubs

Dear Beloved in Christ,


Indeed,this is Good News to all!

I am sending you a report and photographs of the club's activities in Sankpem,one of our preaching station and mission field.On Sunday 13th December 09,Shalom Baptist Children moved with Pastor Issah to Joined the children of Sankpem to begin Xmas celebrations. They held Church service with the believing and unbelieving children in the community. A guest pastor named Niendow preached about the incarnation of Christ,after which they eat a common meal together.  Later in the evening I joined them on the field to play games.The pictures you see are taken on the field during the games,you can see younger ladies line up for soccer and ampe games,pastor Issah also joined and lead the children to sing as you can see.

In my Mission Strategy Plan,this club is an advance team, they go with games which attract the attention of non-christian children,they also do Bible story telling,Scripture memorization and many more.I want you to pray for this club,because it exists to reach out to non-Christian children in ten (10) villages surrounding Tarikpaa.

As you pray think about these things:1. Soccer balls,currently the club has 10 soccer balls,but it will need more as we plan to extend to many communities. 2.jumping ropes. 3.Jessey (for kids) 4.Learning materials 5.Evangicubes.6.Funds.We all agree that the club cannot function well without money,especially it involved movement,Shalom Baptist Church children walks about six miles on foot to join their colleague children in other villages,if there is fund we can higher a bus for them so that they don't become too much tire of walking, even sometimes they reach home late in the night,you can imagine how dangerous to walk in bush area like our place, but the children are happy always to go out for this evangelistic programmes.I share this with you so can pray more for God to use these children in order to draw many more children to His kingdom and raise support to carry out the programmes successfully.

Our next Village is Kushibo,Kushibo is an Islamic stronghold,but the Christian children there are very active, Good News Club has planed to do programme there on the 26th of December 09,pray that there will be a turning point in this community after the programme.

Thank you,

Your co-laborer in the gospel,

Pastor Mohammed.

A New Life. A New Name

In Ghanaian culture, names are very important and carry great meaning.  The name is kept a secret until the Outdooring Ceremony, where friends and family gather to celebrate the birth of the child.

The birth of this child is especially meaningful because this family lost a 6 yr old daughter a year ago to malaria.

Posted by Pastor Ziblim Mohammed

Beloved Brethren,

It was a joyful celebration as believers gathered together on Monday morning to celebrate God's goodness and faithfulness to us as a family in Christ. As Dorcas and I was praying for a name that will be given to the newly born baby boy into our family, God gave us this name, Hanani.

Hanani is a Hebrew name and the meaning is Yahweh is Gracious. His Dagomba name is Chalpang,meaning forgive. Hanani was a brother of Nehemiah who reported the return exiles to Jerusalem reproach to Nehemiah. He was also one of the family leaders during the time of rebuilding the wall.

Pray that God's gracious hand will be upon Hanani and he will grow to Love and serve God with fear all his life on earth.

Thank you for your prayers in advance.

Pastor Mohammed

Update on Starving Children

As reported by Pastor Mohammed of the Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa:
My fear was that those children might have die before June 2010,but now by God's grace i have hope that they will not die because they are growing stronger each day,so there are situations which we can not wait.

As reported by Dr. Kuubiere of the Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa:

Both have improved remarkably

Please be aware that some of the pictures in this post are graphic and disturbing.  Guard your heart.

This has been a very difficult post to write due to the sensitive subject matter that it contains.  Sometimes there is a fine line between exploitation and information sharing and this is one of those times.  After much prayer and consideration, I felt like this story was one that needed to be told.  My prayer is that the harsh reality of what you see and read will break your heart and open your eyes to the plight of the widows and orphans in this world.  These are real mothers who are hurting for their children.  These are real children who are in physical pain due to lack of food. 

In recent weeks, my dear friend, Pastor Ziblim Mohammed, has been surverying widows in several surrounding villages in order to assess their needs.  He is serving on behalf of IHH to develop and implement a Widow Care Program that will be launched very soon.  In the village of Zugu he found a young widow with 2 very sick children, both of whom could no longer walk due to severe malnutrition. 

Without going into every detail, I will tell you that in a story that only God would write, those children were taken to a small private hospital in a nearby village to be taken care of.  They arrived in critical condition and were immediately given liquid nutrition and medication for malaria and chest infections.  After becoming stabilized, they were returned to their mud-hut village.  Pastor Mohammed then traveled another 2 hours to get them some nutritional food from the local market. He will continue to monitor their progress and make sure they are fed.

These children, by the grace of God, are going to survive.  Many others will not.

Please join me in praying for these children.  They are Muslim, but now they have heard about Jesus.  Thank you, Pastor Mohammed, for sharing God's love with them.

Adijah, age 1 1/2

Ishawu, age 4 yrs.

Widow Salamatu

This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress.  James 1:27a

Baptism in Tarikpaa

Dear Brethren,

"In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10. There is much joy in Shalom Baptist Church in Tarikpaa over the 18 young men and and ladies who have accepted the Lord as their savior and Lord and are added to the Church, i therefore called you to rejoice with us as we celebrate the victory of these people salvation,I spent three months teaching them in the enquerer class even when i was in seminary, and this is the result we are seeing today.When they heard that i was going to leave Accra and come to Tamale to work as home missionary,they were happy and said they will wait for me to come and guide them in their final decision ,making and arrange their Baptism.Upon my arrival in the North i organized them,thought them on two Sundays and then interviewed them to make sure they realy understand what they were doing, finally i called Rev.Isaac Issah Wuni, the principal of the Northern Ghana Baptist Theological Seminary and the senior Pastor of Koinonia Baptist Church in Tamale to come and Join pastor Stephen Napari of Shalom Baptist Church to officiate the initiation ceremony.

I am therefore sending you the pictures of Rev. Wuni and Pastor Stephen with some of the candidates and the candidates group picture.This is a confirmation that we are being obedient to the Lord's command in Matthew 28:19-20.I therefore call you to pray with these ones to grow in the Lord as i spend another time of teachings with them.

I want to assure you that if you can pray with Shalom Baptist Church and I as a missionary, i tell you the truth we will put the devil to shame, so even if you don't know what to do in order to support our ministry of evangelism and Church planting among the Dagomba people group in the North,but do as a favor to remember us in your prayer,that is very crucial to us.
I also want to use this opportunity to thank those of you who partner with us in prayer,encouragement and support this ministry financially,may the good Lord bless you,i encourages you to keep it up and continue the good work you are doing, because what you have seen is the reult of your prayer and support, I appeal to all our mission partners and those who think God has called them to rescue the perishing to join the Shalom family and pastor Mohammed to reach out to the unreach people groups in the North, especially the remote villages in the Savelugu West Corridor.

Thank you for now,


Pastor Mohammed, Missionary, Tamale Mission Field.

Love in Action

Widow Ayi and Family

July 2009

Yahaya, the boy on the far right, has now received medical treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

The entire family has received healthcare

The family has also received 2 female goats, which in turn, helps provide much needed food

October 2009

This is the first day of school for these children.  They had never been to school because they could not afford the uniforms or school fees.

So much for so many for so little

Thank you to the sponsors of the African orphans for helping provide these much needed supplies.

Did you notice the little face to the left of the supplies, looking through the screen?

Ignore the date on the photo.  It's Africa.....and those of you who have been there will understand.

If you want to help an orphan, please click on the link in the sidebar.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'  Matt 25:40

Pastor Issah's Children's Ministry

In Summer 2008, Pastor Issah (the tall one)  shared with the team his vision of a sport's evangelism program for the children of Kushibo, Sankpem and Tarikpaa villages.  He knew this would be an effective way to get the children interested in coming to church.

In Spring 2009, a friend of mine called  and said he had just purchased boxes and boxes of soccer uniforms at a store that was going out of business and wondered if I knew anyone in Ghana who might could use them.  Well, the answer lies in the photos above. Thank you, Ray, for your giving heart.

The Building of an African Church

Sankpem is a small remote mud-hut village in the Northern Region of Ghana, West Africa. It is a very poor village and many there are suffering because they do not have fresh water. The nearest fresh water source is 3 miles away. That means that instead of going to school, many of the young girls haul water.

Sankpem is also primarily a Muslim village. However, there is a small group of Christians who have been meeting together and worshipping under a big African tree for several years. They are small in number, but mighty in spirit.

Recently, a donation was made to help Sankpem begin building a church. In Africa, the walls and roof are built first. The "bricks" are handmade on site. Eventually, with more funding, a concrete floor will be hand-poured.

Here is the beginning of the beautiful Sankpem church:

Rebekah's Legacy

Posted by Ghana team member, Stephanie

About a month after our trip to Ghana last year, my Ghanian friend, Rebekah, came down with a horrible case of malaria. Jesus ended up calling her Home after only a few days in the hospital. Her family and friends took her body to a little village just outside Tamale called Tuuningli. As her grave digger was digging, he began to ask questions about Rebekah's Jesus and by the time Rebekah's funeral was over and her body was buried, this grave digger had become a new follower of Jesus Christ! One year later, God has used this little grave digger to plant the only Christian church in this little village called Tuuningli.

God does things we can't understand that ultimately flourish with His glory. Praise the El Roi, the God who sees us, Who sees deeper and further than we can even begin to imagine.

"She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: 'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One who sees me.'" Genesis 16:13 NIV

The Dagomba Tribe

The Dagomba are a large people group living in northern Ghana. Their kingdom, called Dagbon, was established centuries ago and dominated an area near the Dagomba capital of Yendi.

They speak Dagbani, which is a Gur language.

The Dagomba make their living primarily through farming. Much of the land of the Dagbon is infertile and requires that a farm be left fallow for up to five years; therefore, Dagomba villages are somewhat small, leaving room for farms to be widely separated. Farmers use much fertilizer from the manure of the village cattle, and eventually the soil does become quite fertile, enabling the farms to be used year-round. However, farms located in the bush are used only for two or three years and then are left fallow. Since yams are the specialty crop, the Dagomba plant over 32 varieties. Farmers also grow crops such as maize, millet, rice, peanuts, and beans.

The Dagomba are not only skillful farmers, but also are fishermen and hunters, and some even engage in administrative and managerial work. Dagomba craftsmen are skilled tailors, traders, and makers of ropes and mats. Some also specialize as blacksmiths, butchers, and barbers. Parents send their young sons to be trained by these craftsmen. Through observation and practice, a boy will gradually learn a trade and assume his role in the new occupation.

In Dagomba society, villagers arrange their houses in a particular order. The chief (eldest man in the village) locates his dome-shaped hut in the center. His hut stands out above the rest. The village is divided into wards or quarters, all facing the chief's home. A quarter is identified by its head or by its dominating specialist group. For example, there may be a soldiers' quarter or a butchers' quarter. The commoners are scattered throughout the village in round or rectangular huts (for female and male, respectively); there is no physical separation of the commoners from the ruling class.

Drummers play an important role in the village, for they not only are musicians, but also are court historians. They must learn and retain much information. In most cases, a drummer's son follows in his father's footsteps, becoming a drummer and learning from his father the origin of the people and their kingdom.

What are their beliefs? Although almost half of the Dagomba follow the Islamic faith, many also believe in and worship additional spirits and gods. Each village sacrifices to its individual ancestral gods and the entire society collectively worships the more powerful gods. The Dagomba also practice witchcraft and consult diviners to rid themselves of curses. The Dagomba honor their ancestors with a pagan festival called Bugun, which means "fire" or "hell." The celebration begins with a great feast and culminates when the people gather together with lighted torches near a tree outside the community. There they recite the names of their ancestors and throw their torches into the tree.

Information obtained from The Joshua Project.