Getting back - reflections from Hannah

After two awesome, busy months in the States, the family and I are back home in Accra. It feels good to be back, good to put away the suitcase and use a closet and drawers again, good to be settled at home again. But I had a great time in the States and I miss it there, miss my friends, miss riding bikes, miss the changes in weather and the late sunsets. This summer was a blast. It was also too short, but then it always seems so. However despite the great time I had in the States, there is another big reason for my relief at being back. This relief is due to a condition called "America-itis", and being back helps me be rid of it. This condition is very serious and ridiculously easy to contract. My friend, Niecia and I, spend a lot of time together.

This is how I continually contract it. After a little time in the States, the excitement wears off past the initial happiness and thrill of being Stateside, and the fact that I am actually in America begins to sink in. I begin to notice all the things about America that I hate - the extreme convenience - not that convenience is bad, but we're talking about Extreme Convenience, everything at your fingertips - the materialism, the "America Bubble" and detachment from so many world problem (Disclaimer: this is not true of all America and all Americans, however these seem to be the general rules). This is Stage II. Stage I is the initial response, the rediscovery of all good things in America. Stage III of this disease is very dangerous, and it's the easiest to slip into: when I stop noticing these things. When I begin forgetting all that I learned in Liberia and Ghana. When I stop noticing how good we have it in the States. When the "me" problem begins. Out to eat with Jon and Niecia. Look at the size of those burgers!

The "me" problem is when I begin panicking when one little bit of a plan doesn't work out, forgetting that it is one day. Forgetting how much I have. And yes, there definitely is a time and place for focusing on yourself, a time and place for focusing on the small details, but when this becomes a daily habit, that is when Stage III has set in. [As a teenager, this case is much more acute. And yes, that can be an excuse, and a pretty good one. Teenagers as a rule are like this. But then I remember the verse in Jeremiah, my favorite Bible passage, "But the Lord said to me, "Do not say 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you to. Do not be afraid for I am with you and will rescue you.' declares the Lord." (Jeremiah 1:7-8). But the teen thing is a whole other problem...]My friends (from left to right), Dan, Curtis, Jon, and Niecia.

Stage IV is the most frustrating, but when I enter into it, then the end is in sight for this disease - either that or the cycle of this disease will begin again. Stage IV is when I discover how much I am into Stage III. It's when I realize how much my focus has been drawn off what I've learned, off the bigger perspective, off of God even, and back onto myself. The frustrating part is breaking out of the habits of Stage III. It is so easy to take your sights off the Bigger picture and begin to be consumed about the daily struggles, frustrations, and anxieties of life as a relatively privileged American - so easy to be so focused on the day and on yourself. It's a habit that's easy to slip into and hard to get out of ...and a key element to the sinful nature. As such, we as Americans have to realize this. As so many people say, "admitting you have a problem is half the battle." After that...it only gets harder. I don't think I, or anyone else, will ever be cured of "America-itis" or the "ME syndrome", but it is a disease that is treatable. It just takes a lot effort, faith and prayer.Jon and Dan acting goofy at mini-golf.

On a separate and sadder note, today is my dad's 56th birthday. As a family, we don't do much to celebrate the birthdays of the parents...I'd make dad a card, maybe bake a cake after I got older, make his favorite birthday meal, sang Happy Birthday, and occasionally got a present for him if I knew there was something he really wanted. And that was it. As many of you can imagine, he wasn't big on parties or making a big deal out of an annual day celebrating getting older. But still, it is a hard day. He would've been 56 years old. I like to picture him, up in heaven, getting a huge, way overdone birthday cake as a prank from some of the angels he befriended, some trickster humans who went before him, some well-meaning people. All standing around a cake, laughing and joking. And God in the midst of it all, overjoyed at the joy of His children. I like to picture this, because I believe Dad would love it. He hated any type of sentimental, store-bought card, which is part of the reason I always made him a card. But he didn't mind the cards with the joke in them. Getting a huge joke-cake from those who knew he didn't love to celebrate his birthday, who understood that birthdays didn't really matter anymore, but who also love my dad and knew they could get a good laugh out of this. I miss him a lot, love him a lot, think of him a lot. Can't wait to be with him again. I look forward to the hug he'll give me and hearing his voice.

Until then...Happy Birthday, Daddy. I love you.

Mid-week Reed Update

Hi folks,

We missed the last two Mondays and thought we'd do a mid-week post to catch up a bit. The three of us arrived back in Ghana yesterday (Tuesday, August 3). All of us expressed happiness at being back home and in our own space. Hannah commented on how it is strange that she is more comfortable in Africa than in America, although I think that has something to do with staying in our own house. All of us were glad to unpack our bags and put away suitcases for the first time in five-seven weeks.

Hannah and Noah will begin school on August 16, so they have a week and a half of some down time to resettle and catch up on sleep.

Below are some pictures that capture some of the fun, family, and friends that we feel so blessed to have experienced in the last few weeks.

No summer would be complete without an ice cream that is so big it makes you sick. Here is Hannah with her friend, Hannah.

Noah leaving on his service project in Holland, MI with his friends, Matt (left) and Sam (right).

Noah loved being able to drive a boat around Indian Lake.

Hannah and her friend, Dan, relaxing in a hammock.
Noah and a captured turtle, caught while fishing at the end of the dock at Big Star Lake.

My nephew, Peter, teases the open mouth bass he just caught. Or maybe the fish is teasing Peter?

My brother, Henry and his wife, Marnie were able to join us for a few days, which was a real treat!

My mom was able to join us for the full two weeks at the cottage, which was a great joy for both of us. She was able to get some rest as well from being full-time caretaker of my father who is suffering from Alzheimers.
Noah reflects thoughtfully at Michigan's Adventure with some sort of creature on his head.
My sister, Janette, who played host to many of us along with her husband, Dale, enjoys a cuddle with her dog, Brody.
Just arrived back in Ghana, Noah assumes the cool look, hiding behind his shades and long locks.
Every time we go on vacation, we come back to skinny dogs, despite the more than sufficient amount of food we leave behind. Note how skinny Jack looks. However, the other two dogs don't look skinny as they both are pregnant. Yikes.

Road Trip

As many of you are preparing for various road trips to enjoy some rest and relaxation, I thought I would take you on a different road trip from when I went to Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. Many of you have told me that you would love to come to visit but haven't found the open doors, so I thought this time I would open a window, stick my camera out, and at least give you a couple of minutes of feeling like you are in West Africa.

Admittedly a kind of boring and brief video, it might give you a taste of the road, with all it's bumps and holes. I also taped a little of a funeral we attended in Cote d'Ivoire. If you look closely, you will see rebel soldiers helping to keep that funeral orderly. At the end, we pass by a group of women who are clearing some land for planting rice, using a "slash and burn" method that breaks Dea's heart each time he sees it, as it is not good for the land and ultimately for the farmers. We stopped and found out that none of the women in this group are Christian; Dea was able to get them to sign up for their next training.

road trip

And finally, a word from Noah

Noah is off for a service project this week in Holland, Michigan but before he left he sent me his blog entry, which is below. I think, if you read it closely, you may well hear Bob's sense of humor coming through....
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Hey all, I guess it's time I write this blog and get it off my back. I have struggled with what to write about for a while and I have decided to talk about this camping trip I went on last weekend. It was an awesome camping trip, although it was very tiring. The Steenwyks (the family with whom I am staying), their strange dog/who-knows-what, and I went up to Mackinaw. We camped in a site in the Upper Peninsula. On day one (Saturday), we traveled to Mackinaw City and walked around all day looking in shops and going through different historical places, like old lighthouses and forts. The next day (Sunday if you're not entirely sure) we went up to Tahquamenon Falls (thank goodness for google so I can check my spelling) and wandered around there the entire day. The waterfalls were stunning. It was an awesome place to be. By this time all of us, including the dog, were wiped out but there was one last place we wanted to go to on our last day. Mackinac Island. We got on a ferry at 8:30 am and drove? (dunno the word for being boated to different places...) to Mackinac Island. That place was awesome except there was tons of walking and dodging horse poop and climbing hills. But seeing the awesome old forts and rocks and what not definitely made up for it although the dog thing had a tough time with all the walking. But enough talk, here are some pictures I took. I would have more but the camera I have doesn't have much memory space left on it.

We finally arrived in Mackinaw after a four hour car trip.

Fort Michilimackinac, where we would spend the next few hours wandering around.

Matt Steenwyk, the oldest child, messing around in some uniforms we found in the fort.

A picture of Mackinac Bridge from the top of an outpost in the fort.

Out of the fort, we went to an old lighthouse and climbed up to the top of it.

The view from the top was spectacular.

On the ferry, traveling to Mackinac Island.

There it is! Land ho!

Mackinac Island, only horses and bikes.

Entrance to an old cemetery. Oooh spooky.

Arch Rock, a really cool rock in the shape of an...uh...arch.

Another awesome view of the fort, overlooking Mackinac Island this time.

In the fort, a view overlooking a beautiful area of Mackinac Island.
Tired from all the walking, it seems Ben, the youngest male child, has gone insane and is wearing...an octopus hat?

Back on the ferry, tired out from walking, we head back to our camp site.

The dog, named Daisy (huge misnomer here), extremely tired and did NOT want to be bothered. Well, that's just too bad, Daisy! Muahaha...

Bothering the dog, it seemed to have just died...

"Noahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, lemme alone..."

FUDGE!!! Mine...all mine!!! No...I wish.

Almost back...one last picture of the Bridge.

And so that was our camping trip. Lots of fun! Sorry, I did forget my camera when we went to Tahquamenon Falls so I have no pictures of that sadly...oops.

Stress and Grace

As you know, I have been spending my time in Liberia for the last week or so. While this blog is being posted, I'm actually in Cote d'Ivoire without Internet access, so I trust this is being posted on time.

I have realized while being here that I have begun to forget some of the stresses that comes with living in a post-conflict environment with extremely high poverty and unemployment. The stress of living in Ghana is higher than in Michigan but lower than Liberia. A couple of days into my visit, I began to make some notes of things that Allen Gweh, the National Director for LEAD, was sharing with me as a matter of course or that I happened to observe just by being here. These things would have been significant stressors for me (and I think for many people) but Allen worked through them with ease and grace. I don't believe I would have heard of these issues had I not been here to observe them or be in casual conversation. I asked Allen if I could share a little about them and he said that would be okay. I hope by sharing this that you will get to know Allen better and can pray for him, for all the staff at LEAD, and the work here in a new way. Here is a picture of Allen, wearing his winter coat because it is a very cool 75 degrees Fahrenheit and has been raining for several days. The following picture is a more typical picture of Allen as he holds a staff meeting with about twelve staff persons and seeks to make things very clear to them.

The first thing happened on Friday morning, as we prepared for our trip to Grand Cape Mount County. I overheard Allen on a phone call, talking about notifying the police and asking the caller to get back to him soon. After asking him what was going on, he shared that the LEAD motorcycle of the Program Manager in Nimba County had been stolen that morning. Pressing him for a few more details, he shared that rogues had entered the home of Mr. Daniel Nya-Konah during the night; they locked him in his room and emptied his house of items, including the motorbike. When he was finally able to free himself and locate a phone he could borrow (as his was stolen), he notified Allen as well as the police to be on the look-out for this bike. I immediately assumed that this bike would never be seen again (at which point Allen would have informed me of the incident). About three hours later, Allen received another call in which Daniel informed him that the bike had been located en route to Guinea and due to the police trying to stop him (police have no arms or vehicles to pursue, so that is not easy to do), the rogue ended up deciding it wasn't worth it and ditched the motorcycle in a hole. A passerby noticed the bike in the hole and decided to turn it in to the police. Very surprising ending.

The second stressor occurred some time ago, as LEAD was establishing its new office in Grand Cape Mount County. There was a microfinance institution (MFI) located in the same town who had been there for some time. [There are a number of differences between LEAD and MFIs - MFIs mostly give very small loans at high interest rates without other supports like training, mentoring, or advocacy, to name a couple.] This MFI (I won't mention the name even though I would really like to) decided to post the picture of LEAD's new program manager for this county, Harrison Dorbor, in their office, claiming that he owed money to them for a loan he took and hadn't repaid. He had never taken a loan from them nor had any interaction with this MFI before. This was done to "spoil his name" (as they say here) so that people wouldn't trust him or LEAD. It didn't take long for Harrison to hear about this, at which time he went to this MFI's office, removed the paper with his picture, and promptly filed a lawsuit against them. Since this involved Harrison and not LEAD, Allen did not need to get involved. However, this MFI receives a good amount of funding from large places, and before long, Allen was contacted by Central Bank and asked to settle this matter between these two organizations.

The third stressor occurred shortly after my last visit in February, when it was decided that it was time to let a certain staff person go who had not been performing well. This staff person did not take this decision very well, which is understandable as jobs are not easy to come by in Liberia. He ended up bringing a case of wrongful dismissal to the Ministry of Labor and Allen had to defend his case. Thankfully, Allen keeps great records on all staff and observes protocol in terms of warnings and evaluations, so this blew over shortly. Additionally, Allen is in his last semester of law school and he actually likes to argue cases!

The last one I'll share relates to politicians seeking out LEAD's constituency. As you may know, next year is an election year in Liberia, and those running are seeking votes wherever they can. Some politicians have realized LEAD's numbers are growing in their county and are beginning to pressure Allen to have LEAD endorse them. LEAD is not in the business of politics but this is a stress that could come with money attached in order to buy votes, so there is temptation wrapped up with it as well.

And so it goes. I was very pleased to give Allen his evaluation while I was here. He has been the National Director for 1.5 years and I think he is doing a great job. He is a natural leader, fair in his decisions, clear minded, a quick thinker, and has the gift of being able to juggle many things at once. As he mentioned in our evaluation meeting, this past year was very challenging for him but very encouraging as well.

On Monday we did a Training of Trainers for the LEAD staff. To break up the day, we worked on achieving another goal of bringing new business ideas to Liberia. I gave a demonstration on how to make recycled paper with very simple materials and low overhead. I learned this in Ghana from the Art teacher at Hannah and Noah's school.
Here the new Education Coordinator for Margibi County tries his hand at making the recycled paper.

I spent some time in Thinkers Village. Here is a picture of small Renita and her friends, having a good time, laughing and playing.

Small Renita and Patience with big Renita. She will be three this fall. Hard to believe she has gotten so big! But she looks great and was not too shy with me this time.

Why not me?

One of the books that was recommended to me over and over again after Bob's death is called a Grace Disguised by Jerry Sittser, written by a man who lost his wife, mother, and daughter in a car accident, in which he and his other three children survived. While I found this book difficult to read in the first few weeks, since then I have read it several times and have found it very helpful. One of the chapters is entitled, Why not me?

Too often, when something bad happens, we wonder, "why me?" I have certainly spent some time there, wondering why Bob was taken. However, as I have alluded to in several blog entries, living in Africa doesn't allow me to stay in that place very long. "Why not me?" seems to be a more much appropriate question. With all the suffering in the world, with all the wars and killings, natural disasters, accidents, not to mention sickness, divorce, unemployment, and so many other tragedies and difficulties, who am I to think that I can go through life without loss?

The fact that I lost Bob unexpectedly at a young age (although he certainly met or exceeded the life expectancy of people in most West African countries) hardly qualifies me for coming to know a side of life that the most people around the world know far better. I still have a life of relative comfort. My children are healthy, will finish high school and go to college. I am still American, white, employed, well loved, and part of a community that has lavished me with support.

What I like about this chapter is that the author goes on to state that he wasn't so sure that he deserved having those loved ones in the first place. He says, "Perhaps I didn't deserve their death; but I did not deserve their presence in my life either. On the face of it, living in a perfectly fair world appeals to me. But deeper reflection makes me wonder. In such a world I might never experience tragedy; but neither would I experience grace, especially as the grace God gave me in the form of the three wonderful people whom I lost...The problem of expecting to live in a perfectly fair world is that there is no grace in that world, for grace is grace only when it is undeserved" (pg. 126-127). A fair world is a scary thought. Who would dare to want to live there, knowing their sinful selves?

Thank God for mercy (not getting what we deserve). Thank God for grace (getting what we don't deserve).

I know that at the age of 21, when we got married, I didn't know who I was, who God was, and certainly not who Bob was. The fact that we had a good marriage, were able to have two healthy children, were united in following multiple calls from God to do radical things like moving with two small children to the inner-city, losing a solid job to send our children to a closing school, moving to Liberia, then to Ghana...cannot be attributed to my good sense. What a cause for celebration!!

Now, don't get me wrong. I still feel sorry for myself and get angry and wonder how I'll go on. But deep inside I know there is this truth.

I am now in Liberia and will be traveling to Cote d'Ivoire on Wednesday. The day I left Ghana we celebrated the first SME graduation with Hopeline Institute. The picture of the group is below. I was also able to watch the game between Ghana and the US on Saturday and celebrated with West Africa (and actually all of Africa) the success of the Black Stars into the Quarter Finals of the Fifa World Cup. Go Ghana!

On Thursday, we traveled to a new county office in Grand Cape Mount County - we are now in six counties! This is a picture of the building as well as the new jeep that LEAD was given by USADF. We thank God for His provision and the partners that allow for this progress to take place.

The purpose of the trip was to get some uninterrupted meeting time with Allen (in white), the National Director for LEAD and Moses, the Finance Officer (in yellow), as well as to deliver a new safe to this county office. In this picture, the Education Coordinator is being given the passcode, while the Program Manager has the key. Many safety nets are put in place when working with money.

After the training on how to use the safe, the Grand Cape Mount staff present Allen with a gift of a chicken. Yum!

One Teaspoon of Feces per Day

(Warning: you may not want to read this over breakfast:-).

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I am working with Hopeline Institute which serves the greater Accra area. In addition to business development, Hopeline also does community development and focuses specifically on heath issues in a large number of villages and communities. I was invited to attend their Health and Sanitation training on Thursday where 24 community leaders had gathered from different villages to learn about how to teach about heath within their village; I had been asked to share information about the Sawyer Water Filter, a filter that can last a lifetime and is very simple to use.

While there, I had the opportunity to hear the Community Health speaker from the government talk about hygiene and sanitation. She stated (correctly, in my opinion) that so many people want to improve the health of people in developing countries but often that ends up only looking like water, water, and more water. While she acknowledged that clean water is very important, she pointed out that when it does not go along with hygiene and sanitation education, there may be no point. If a family has a filter, or water tablets, or a bore hole, but doesn't know how to keep the containers from getting contaminated (i.e. dipping a drinking cup into the bucket), the clean water doesn't really matter. Additionally, if a family doesn't have proper bathroom facilities, the same diseases being avoided through clean water will still present problems.

The speaker then went on to give two statements that go everyone's attention: "The average Ghanaian eats on average one teaspoon of feces every day." The second statement was, "The reason why some people don't use latrines is because they believe it is taboo to poo-poo - no, we are adults here - to shit on another person's shit. They would rather go anywhere than use a latrine." Well she certainly got my attention. Maybe that is why I've seen so many abandoned latrines.

She then went on to explain how it is that feces are consumed with what she called her "F" diagram, which looks roughly like the diagram above.

The problem of course with sanitation and hygiene is that it's difficult to get excited about it or to show results. Counting wells that are drilled or filters that are given out is tangible; teaching hygiene is more nebulous. Here are some pictures of open sewage in the area.








Children playing alongside dirty running water, surrounded by trash is something that happens all to often. The speaker mentioned that often rural villages are much cleaner than the urban sprawl areas where fewer people take responsibility for living conditions.












Open sewers running through heavily populated residential areas. These sewers often overflow during the rainy season.











An open sewer in Accra.

Father's Day 2010

Today is Father's Day as well as the three month anniversary of Bob's death. Hannah and Noah have been blessed to have had a father who loved them deeply. Who Bob was to them continues in them every day. I found an audio tape that we made for Father's Day in 1999 and decided to combine that with some video in our celebration of Robert Allen Reed as a great father.

We love and miss you!