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Eleven members of First United Methodist Church (FUMC) are traveling to Ghana on November 1 and will return to Burlington on November 16.
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They will be joined by Rev. Joseph Ewoodzie, a Ghanaian, who is the Mission Coordinator for the New York Annual Conference. |
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In Ghana they will visit with Sam Asiedu-Addo and his family. Sam worshipped at FUMC for about three years while he was earning a doctorate degree in mathematics at the University of Vermont. He returned to Ghana in early February to teach at the University of Education in Winneba. Each person is taking an extra suitcase loaded with school supplies, T-shirts and tools. The group will start work on a three-room school in a nearby village and will interact with school children and United Methodists of that community. In addition, there will be visits to a park, two slave castles and the two largest cities in Ghana - Kumasi and Accra, the capital. Members of the team are Sara Barber, David Blanshine, Rev. Dick Hibbert, Faye Lawes, Thodd VanAllen, Bruce and Lil Venner, Jan Watt, Margaret Welch and Ann and Larry Barber. Gye Nyame is a unique and beautiful Adinkra symbol. Translated it means except for God and denotes the omnipotence of God. The symbol is ubiquitous in Ghana and shows the deeply religious nature of the Ghanaian people. It is the symbol chosen by the Volunteer in Mission team of eleven from First United Methodist Church (FUMC) in Burlington to wear on their team shirts. For thirteen days these people helped with the beginning construction of a three classroom building in the small village of Awombrew in southern Ghana. When completed these classrooms will double the size of the school. Currently there are 178 students in classes one through five who are taught in three classrooms, with three children occupying one small desk and, in some cases, four sit together at one desk. Some children in this community do not attend school due to lack of classroom space. At the same time women and men of the village volunteered their time to dig trenches, crush stones, carry water from a nearby stream, haul sand, mix cement and lay cement blocks for the footings for the new building. The members of the Burlington group helped where they could, entertained the children and encouraged the Ghanaian workers. Basic school supplies brought from Burlington were given to each student in the Awombrew school and also left for children in two other nearby schools. The Awombrew connection was made through Reverend Joseph Ewoodzie, a Ghanaian who is the Conference Coordinator of Mission and Outreach Ministries for the New York Annual Conference. Joseph became the twelfth member of the Vermont team of volunteers. During this time the team stayed in Winneba and had several opportunities to visit with Sam Asiedu-Addo who had worshipped at FUMC for three years while earning a doctorate degree at the University of Vermont. Sam is currently a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Education in Winneba. He was able to accompany the group when they visited a slave castle in Elmina, traversed the rainforest on a suspended canopy walk, descended into a gold mine and learned about the history of the Asante kings at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi. The part the Americans played in the construction of the new classrooms at Awombrew was valuable for all but even more important were the relationships that were made with these people of Ghana in West Africa. |
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