Bedhampton curate the Rev Chris Maclay spent eight weeks at a theological seminary in Ghana as part of diocese's links with the country. His visit to St Nicholas's Seminary in Cape Coast was the second such exchange to take place, after the Rev Barry Dugmore, who was seconded there for three months in 2004. This is where you will find his regular diary updates (more recent entries first).

The Rev Chris Maclay

JANUARY 2005

A month on what are my abiding thoughts about Ghana, and in particular St Nicholas’ Seminary?

I suppose all my thoughts and feelings are informed by the four and a half years my family and I spent in the 1990s in Nigeria. So, it is almost impossible to avoid comparisons. Why on earth would I expect the people to be the same? We would be quite affronted to have Africans suggest that we were the same as Italians or Germans.

So, the people are not the same. But I have friends in both countries, so it is hard to be too blatant! Essentially, Ghanaians are a more gentle and humble bunch, perhaps reflected in the fact that they are one of the few countries along that stretch of African coastline who are not engaged in any civil conflict. Whereas Nigerians are rather more ‘in your face’, tell you bluntly what they think, and get on with doing things their way. Interestingly this shows in the character of the church in each country. The Anglican church in Nigeria is heavily into mission and evangelism, and is growing fast amidst considerable and aggressive Muslim opposition. In Ghana, however, there seems to be a rather more easygoing attitude, mission is not at the top of the agenda, and there seems relatively little conflict with other religions.

Many people asked me after I came back if I had had ‘a good time’ or whether I had ‘enjoyed it’. I suppose I found the questions slightly hard to answer because I had not gone with the aim of ‘enjoying myself’. I do, however, feel that I was doing the right thing, and was in the right place. Since Louise and I love Africa I would have quite happily stayed on out there, had the family been with me. But I’m not convinced that we do prolonged separation very well (nor do we particularly want to!).

The Anglican church in Ghana is at a pivotal moment. It is the slowest growing church in the country (with a rate of growth less than one per cent) and the ordinands I was with were clearly concerned. There was much questioning of what needed to be done. At the same time, there is a new Archbishop of the Province of West Africa, so the Bishops are taking the opportunity to assess their present position and the road ahead. Kairos may have something to offer to the process, but I am not sure that the church is yet that far along the road of change.

What did I do? Essentially I was there to participate in the life of the church. This meant that I moved around various parishes at the week-ends, and was a full-time member of the seminary during the week. I led some sessions on HIV/AIDS one afternoon a week, and some on Community Development on another day. The rest of the time I participated in lectures and discussions as much as possible.

It is tempting to try and exaggerate what I got up to because we in the church in the UK seem to judge so much of our ‘spirituality’ from what we ‘do’. However, I had to constantly remind myself that actually God is far more interested in ‘who I am’ than in ‘what I do’. So, for seven weeks I joined a group of Ghanaian pilgrims on their journey and was enriched by them. I trust that they too received something from their engagement with me. Without their generosity and openness of spirit it would never have worked. Without the support of those at home, and the heroic running of the family by Louise I would be considerably the poorer.

MONDAY 13 DECEMBER

Some of you may have noticed that there was a missing week in the email diary.

I have been plotting for about 4 weeks to surprise the family with an early return. I realised some time ago that all the students would be travelling to their home towns for the election (something rather christmassy about that). So, it worked out that I would be sitting at the college for something like 6 days with all the students away. By the time they got back I would only have about 4 days before leaving. So, I decided to leave a week early.

It was hard work not telling the family until the last minute, but I did give them 36 hours notice. They were there to greet me and my wooden giraffes at Heathrow (having got up at 4.30 am).

So, here I am back in the cold UK, already feeling very churlish about having complained of heat in Ghana. Not quite ready yet to stand back from the experience and make total sense of it, but very grateful to the generosity of all I met who made the stay so rich and beneficial.

Whoops!! That reminds me to go and take one of those 'orrible anti-malarials....

Thanks very much for all the prayers and support for both myself and the family. We felt very 'carried' by God.

MONDAY 6 DECEMBER

A refugee camp is not a great place to have a dodgy tummy ……

I went to the Liberian refugee camp (Budumburum) on Saturday, stayed overnight, presided and preached at their morning service, and came home on Sunday afternoon. My stomach had things to say earlier in the week, so I was a little unsure how it would behave. Pit latrines and a lack of running water did nothing to allay my fears! ………… I will spare you the details, but a combination of prayer and immodium seems to have carried me through. It is useful to be able to text urgent prayer requests to the family!

The camp was not as perhaps we would have imagined. Apart from tell-tale signs (like a lot of UNHCR flags and signs), it looked like a typical ramshackle shanty town, with streams of grotty waste water meandering between the tiny houses. Some people have been there for as many as 14 years, others only 3. People came with whatever money they had and built themselves places to live. Forget ideas of the UNHCR providing housing, and of beautifully straight-lined organisation. This place is a complete labyrinth of higgledy-piggledy houses, mud tracks and heat. I am normally pretty good at direction, but I was lost within minutes!

So, people built and maintain their own places, but they are not allowed to get work in Ghana because of their refugee status. They trade amongst themselves, but otherwise there is not much to do, and money is totally dependent on what friends you have outside the camp who can send you resources. So, if you have a friend or relative in the US, then maybe you will be one of the more affluent in the camp. If not, you may struggle big-time.

Another problem is boredom. How will you pass the time? There seem to be more video and DVD stores there than I have seen anywhere else. And TV is very important. How do you keep your young people on the straight and narrow when there is nothing to do except sport? How do you maintain biblical values when husbands and wives have been separated for up to ten years, and do not even know if the other is alive? How do people cope with dodgy tummies when they live there day-in, day-out? Cholera is a constant threat. And these are people who led productive lives back in Liberia, now reduced to simply struggling for survival. Some will die in the camp, miles from their families and from their land. How would you minister to such a people? What would be your message as you preached to them?

We also saw a ‘pile’ of people with their jute bags waiting in a kind of pen for the coaches that would take them on the first leg of their voluntary repatriation. Can you imagine the emotional turmoil for them? For some it will mean going back to a country which they fled fearing for their lives. They go back, not knowing who will be on their land (if they had any), whether they will have anywhere to live, and the promise of a couple of hundred dollars from UNHCR. For some of the children, they are going to a country they have never seen before.

All Souls' Church was built by ministers amongst the refugees, worshipping in a traditional American Episcopal way. I wonder whether a church in Portsmouth Diocese would be interested in a link with a Liberian church for refugees, within the Diocese of Cape Coast?

We came home in the afternoon, on the dreadful Cape Coast–Accra road which is being rebuilt. The dirt track we now use is a corridor of swirling dust. At one stage we could see no further than 20 yards. Today I feel as if I have a bad cold, I have ingested so much of the road surface into my lungs!

It seems most of the students will travel home to vote, since they are registered at home. So, the college will be on hold for a few days. Knowing some, they will not hurry back! And there will be various stories of how they needed to stay to deal with one sort of crisis or another. That is life here. A couple of weeks ago one of the students lost his father, and then another lost his mother. In such a situation, there is a lot of preparation to do for the funeral a month or so later.

I conclude my teaching on HIV/AIDS this week, distributing the Mothers Union education packs to those who will use them in their congregations. We had interesting discussion with the students last week as we talked about how to help people with HIV prepare for the future. This involves encouraging them to leave memories, photos, letters etc for their children. But also we discussed the importance of writing a will. Only one of the 40 had written a will. In the UK it is so vital to write a will, so I encouraged them strongly to do so. But then someone spoke up and said ‘But what if you have nothing to pass on?’

Pause

Literally, some of these guys will not have a house of their own, and will probably be able to carry most of their belongings in the back of a pick-up, or a couple of suitcases. So, a will may be important to some, but not all. One important thing is that people who are dying leave clear instructions that they do not want their children to waste all the saved money on the funeral. If they do not write this and have it witnessed, then the pressure on the children will be intense to ‘properly honour’ their departed parents.

Prayers? That the elections on December 7th would go well and peaceably. And that God would overrule in the whole process. For St Nicholas' Seminary at a pivotal moment, that the faculty and board would hear God’s guiding voice.

For the Liberian refugees.

Advent begins: Let us be very careful then, how we live….. as children of the light….

MONDAY 29 NOVEMBER

Chloe has just texted me and told me that snow was falling the other day, and now it is ‘freezing’. Well, as I write, it is 8.00 in the evening and it’s a gentle 28.9 degrees C (84.0 F). It saps the energy, but it is still lovely to never have had to wear a jumper since I’ve been here! I’m over half way through my time, and am mad-keen to see the family again. But a funny thing happens! As I begin to see the end ahead, there is a sadness also, because Africa and its people are so precious. Family is far stronger, but a tinge of regret will also remain.

This weekend I was asked to preach in the seminary chapel in the 6am service. It’s great visiting new places as no-one knows your tired old sermon illustrations! It seemed to go fine, but there was just time for a quick slurp of coffee before a journey out to the other side of town (about an hour’s journey) to lead another service in a girls secondary school (boarding). They seem to have some sort of ‘act of worship’ all-together, and then they split into denominational groups to which various representatives come. So, we had a communion service, and then I had a discussion with them about AIDS. They had requested it, so it was good to be able to do that, and perhaps having a visitor meant that they could ask a few questions that they might not otherwise have done.

Otherwise life continues pretty much as usual: the flesh-coloured mini-ghekkos (lizards) on the bathroom wall (and also sensibly catching insects beside the fluorescent tubes in chapel); the loud conversations of fishermen wading neck-deep for hours in the lagoon as they harvest sardine-like fish; the smell of thousands of the same fish drying in the sun; the loud buzz of life that only lets up when the electricity goes off; the endless greetings from small children as I wander the area, all needing acknowledgment if I am not to be arrogant and unfriendly.

Talking of noise: the noisiest people ‘in town’ are undoubtedly the churches! So, it was interesting to see a recent news story that a police chief in Accra was planning to get serious about noise pollution. It may have serious effects on some of the all-night prayer meetings which tend to be very noisy (naturally, all the windows are open). In UK terms they are very anti-social, but other people’s noise is a way of life here, and one of the first things that happens in most homes is that the TV and/or radio get switched on.

I promised to say something about the election, and I want to tell you something of Lincoln’s story.

As we tried to get a van to the secondary school this morning we were engulfed in a loud and boisterous crowd of NDC supporters (one of the political parties). They are all campaigning towards the election on December 7th. So, again, there’s a lot of noise about! Lots of colour, lots of dancing, music, and flags. Bizarrely, the women seemed to view it as a chance to dress rather less discretely than normal, and others seemed to be under the influence of various substances. How much the rowdy crowds add to the democratic process I cannot tell. But they are very serious about democracy and there are endless (and I mean endless) talk programmes on TV where people are quizzed about their policies, and endless reports about what the major players are saying on their countless public appearances. Bearing in mind the chequered history of democracy in Ghana, things seem to be making great progress. My only quibble would be that the ruling party obviously have far more money than their opponents, so are able to blanket all advertising on TV, and so on. My prediction is therefore that the President (Kuffuor) will get another 4 years in charge.

Lincoln Klee is the only non-Ghanaian at the seminary; he is a Liberian refugee. For those of you not all that hot on West African geography, Liberia is a couple of countries to the left of Ghana! In 1989 (15 years ago) Lincoln was at a theological seminary, training for the priesthood. He is now in his second year at St Nicholas, training for the priesthood. How come he has lost 15 years along the way?

In 1989 a civil war erupted in Liberia, and students had to flee the college. By the time Lincoln reached home, his mother and children had already fled (he had no wife at that time). For the next three months they had no idea where each other was, and basically struggled to feed themselves whilst constantly fleeing aggressive troops. After three months they were reunited through a radio programme and soon moved towards Monrovia, the capital, where things were supposed to be more stable.

In 1996 a second civil war broke out. The family was taken in and interrogated by troops searching for rebels, but God protected them and they were released. Fearing for their lives, they decided to flee to Ghana, and fought their way onto a boat that was going there. Lincoln’s mother decided she was not strong enough for that, and stayed behind. They have not had any contact with each other since then.

Since that time, Lincoln and his son and daughter have lived in a refugee camp about 2 hours from here, called Buduburum. Refugees have received a very little assistance from the UN, but otherwise have had to fight for themselves. They are technically not allowed to work, due to their refugee status, and yet are given no money. Everything they need, they have to pay for (including water). Since they are not allowed to work, boredom takes a vicious toll.

There are about 7,000 Liberians at Buduburum, although some are now beginning to take up the offer of free repatriation from the UN. But what will they find when they get there? Where will they find money to buy even the most basic things? What can they take with them when they have the same baggage allowance as me?

Lincoln has been sponsored to the seminary by Cape Coast diocese, and wants to go back to Liberia when he graduates.

What is the toughest thing for him as a refugee? He says, it is the constant financial pressure and worry. How can he make plans for the future? How will he feed his children (aged 18 and 20).

Can we ever even imagine what it must be like?

I shall travel with Lincoln to Buduburum next week-end, sleep overnight Saturday in his place, and then preside at their communion service on the Sunday. Oh yes, there are over 50 churches in the camp! And yes, those who know me will be amused to know that I will be flinging incense all over the place!

I know this may have been quite heavy, but I hope you can see why.

MONDAY 15 NOVEMBER

“Cape Coast to Accra? Oh that’s about two hours by car,” said IDWAL chairman Barry Dugmore when telling me about my forthcoming trip. Sadly, things have degenerated a little since Barry was here, and the trip now takes four hours. Part of the reason is that a Japanese company has been given the contract to rebuild the road, so there is predictable chaos while they literally dig up the old road and start virtually from scratch. (The problem is not that the company is Japanese! But that work is underway!)

I know all about it because Raymond Otchewemah and I travelled to Accra to try and get a visa for his part of the exchange, which we trust will happen early in the New Year. Predictably we left at 5.00 am and managed in the first day to at least procure the necessary bank draft. After a bit of tourism, we went to his family compound and spent the night. Since the Ghanaian system is a matriarchal one (a much bigger fuss over the death of your Mum than your Dad) the compound is ranged around Mum. Raymond is the youngest of 8, all the others are married with children, and almost all of them live within the compound. They each have their own front-door, but essentially live among one another. They gave me a lovely warm welcome, and were totally relaxed. Though they have electricity, ceiling fans and a freezer, other things we would take for granted are not evident (eg running water), and yet there is a peace and contentment many of us would envy.

Next morning we were up at 4.30am (no surprises there then!) to get a place in a van going to the British High Commission, where we arrived at about 5.20. Yes it was still pitch black, but there was security all around the street, and already a desk with a Ghanaian officer helping people to check all their papers and then giving them a number, to check there was no queue-barging. Then we all sat on neatly painted benches and waited for the dawn. We had to be there early because so many people are looking for visas. We arrived 5.20am and were 22nd in the queue. By 7am, when they opened the doors, there were about 50 applicants. As we sat there, companionably swatting mosquitoes, I began to get a sense of the desperation some of these people have to get a place on a course in Britain. Many see it as a real opportunity, and there was a high level of tension along the benches.

Just after dawn he appeared………… well, if you have any experience of Africa you may not be surprised that the evangelist turned up to conduct his own service! With his captive audience (no-one dared lose their place in the queue) he prayed for us, preached about not putting our trust in worldly things, (and then, confusingly, promised us prosperity if we put our trust in Jesus!), invited us to respond with frequent ‘Amen’s’, and so it went on.

Neither Raymond nor I had put our dog-collars on by this stage, so we just sat there. I read my book (curiously called The Unnecessary Pastor!). Then to cap it all, having forced people to sing a couple of songs, he took a ‘freewill offering’ in a plastic bag and prayed for us all again. Well, of course people are going to give aren’t they! Who wants to run the risk of offending God on the day you are applying for a visa!!

We eventually made it into the building (got a few surprised smiles when we donned our collars!), submitted the application, and came home. We had done everything before 8am in the morning. (Nice Air Conditioning!) Do pray, as Raymond has to go back next week to receive the verdict.

I have been pondering whether I have been hasty in my thoughts about the church here in previous emails (remembering that it is a diary rather than a balanced final report). I have now seen a few more examples of parish life. It seems that services are still lively affairs, with joyful singing and dancing in the setting of a communion service. Those who are committed Christians are very serious about their faith, and the self-disciplined nature of the students spirituality leaves me gasping. However, it remains true that the Anglican church here is not growing, and is not engaging seriously in outreach. Today we had a lecture by someone from the Ghana Evangelism Committee who confronted students with the naked facts of less than 1% growth across the country. According to their figures only around 10% of the population are committed Christians, whereas more than 50% would call themselves ‘Christian’. (Echoes again of UK?) Talk of maintenance as opposed to mission was common. And yet students are concerned and want to see change, so do pray that they are enabled to turn that concern into action. Apparently this is the first year they are doing a course on mission (have I said that before?).

HIV/AIDS teaching continues to be good. I have to be constantly on my toes, but I am working hard to produce sessions where students need not take notes, but will remember stuff because of the way we do the learning. The idea is that the teaching method itself will be something that they can use themselves, even in a context other than HIV/AIDS.

The rain is over, and so the heat is on! At some stage the Harmattan (a season of Saharan wind, often carrying loads of sand) will come and make things a little cooler, but I suspect that will be much nearer Christmas.

I think there is enough in the letter to encourage your prayers, but there is also the presidential election coming up on December 7th…. Maybe I can say something about that next time.

MONDAY 8 NOVEMBER

Sunday night I would have quite happily come home!

It was the end of a pretty exhausting day and it had all rather got to me. With nowhere else to hide, I just lay on my bed and felt sorry for myself!

It had started that morning at 3.00 am (yes, the guy who normally sets his alarm for 4.00 obviously gets up earlier on Sundays. Sadly he is very slow to react to the alarm!). By 6.00 we had our normal Sunday ‘High Mass’ in chapel. A quick swig of coffee and away to Elmina for the service.

Now, I knew it was going to be hard work, because it was a Harvest service, and in Africa Harvest services are major fundraising extravaganzas that go on for ever. The 9.00 service got under way somewhere before 10.00 and basically only lasted 2 hours before we got into the Harvest jamboree part of it. I can’t really describe it in detail, but you have a load of invited Chairpersons and special guests (who really only come if they are going to make significant financial gifts), and then everyone does some serious giving, dancing and singing. All very public, so tough on any Brits who might be there! We, the clergy slipped out into the vestry around 1.30 for a swig of something refreshing, and then, finally around 2.30 we all stood for a recessional hymn.

Ha ha I thought, we’ll be off home soon, I can have my shower-in-a-bucket and cool down. But, oh no, we’re invited back to the Churchwarden’s place for rice and fish etc etc. Totally hospitable, but I’ve been in my cassock since 5.45 and it’s drippingly hot! Final home-coming: 4.30.

I suppose one of the tough things is that a lot of the service, including sermon is not in English, so hard to get much from it. And all the fun, ‘dance to me’ choruses are also not in English, so are quite difficult to get excited about.

Anyway, enough of my moans (did I mention that the bucket shower has rather lost its attraction?!). The first session on HIV/AIDS went really well, and I have just prepared the second one. People had loads of questions, but also seemed genuinely ready to engage with the subject. Inevitably some fell asleep…(!)… but I have to say that is par for the course here as people work very long hours and it is very warm. I hope to generate a nucleus of ‘keenies’ to whom I will give copies of the resources the MU gave me (and that caused me to have so much excess weight on the plane).

I have also done a session on Community Development which was fine, but slightly more intangible. ie quite hard for people to get a decent hold on it in the first session. I have also become a good excuse for students to ask questions about the Ghanaian way of leading the Eucharist, as I now have a regular slot in chapel on Saturday mornings. I try not to make it too different, but at the same time they seemed to really appreciate the simplicity of the way we in Bedhampton conduct the service. I used Common Worship.

Tomorrow and the next I will be in Accra with Raymond Otchewemah, trying to get him a visa for the ‘exchange’ part of the exchange programme! If all goes well, he should be in the UK from January for 3 months.

At the week-end a couple of guys should arrive, who are installing computers as a gift through IDWAL. They will by then have been to almost all the dioceses. Certainly computers will be a major advance in terms of theological education here. With internet access the students and lecturers should be able to have access to so many more publications, and to link far more effectively with the university.

Prayers? Pray that Raymond gets a visa, and that parishes in Portsmouth sign up to give him a brilliant 3 months.

Pray for the bishops and other diocesan representatives as they meet next week (15th onwards) and look at important subjects, especially the way forward for the Anglican Church in Ghana.

I’m OK, but time is going extremely slowly in terms of time away from the family, so pray that I would be sustained.

MONDAY 1 NOVEMBER

Aaah! Thankfully it rained at lunchtime.

This had two benefits: firstly that there was a little respite from the heat that was reading 84 in my room at 8.00 am; secondly that it damped down the fire in the neighbouring compound where they had decided to burn off all the scrub, and it got a little out of hand.

Well, I have been here for 5 days, and it seems far longer than that (in a good way) because I seem to have done a lot already.

Day 1 flying from Heathrow, not being charged for the luggage of 37 kg (allowance 23). To be welcomed by everyone I met, and ushered through Accra airport (Welcome Father!). Then we set off for the night-time drive to Cape Coast (which you never would have dreamed of doing in Nigeria). This was to take 2 hours…. But perhaps I should have paid a bit more attention to the fact that the driver actually put on his seat-belt! I soon decided it was better to watch the scenery out of the side window! Suffice to say that a few miles out of the destination we hit another vehicle from behind. No-one was hurt, so we give thanks to God, and the car was able to limp on, after a fair bit of amiable negotiation. We arrived around 1.00 am and I was sent to bed and told I was exempt from chapel at 6.00.

Since then I have been fully immersed in college life, living in the Dean’s (Victor) spare bedroom, and being endlessly overfed by his wife (Dorcas), and laughed at by his giggling daughters (Kuukua and Mamma Esi). Chapel, with the whole community in cassocks is at 6.00 with Morning Prayer followed by the ‘Mass’. A quick breakfast and then lectures from 8.00 to 2.00. Space in the afternoon, until Evening Prayer at 6.00 and Compline at 9.00. For those of you who know me, that is quite a strain on the system, but I am getting to bed early in order to cope with the 5.00 start. The only real time for personal time with God is before morning chapel. I heard someone around at 4.00 am this morning.

I have been going to lectures as much as possible, so that I can learn, be involved, and know more of where people are coming from by the time I try to offer some sessions. The tutors / lecturers are good people, very gentle and encouraging to all.

I feel very welcomed and cared for here. The place looks very like Nigeria, but is unlike it in so many ways. One similarity is the length of the Cathedral service yesterday …. A mere 4 hours before we escaped!. Mind you we were installing the first ever Woman Honorary Canon at Cape Coast Cathedral, so there was cause for some extra dancing.

I shall be beginning some sessions on community development this week, and hope to do further sessions on HIV/AIDS in the coming weeks. A Doctor here has recently been ordained, and is very keen to set up an Anglican AIDS unit to treat patients and act as a centre for teaching. Hopefully we can do some useful work together. Please pray for those sessions. Also for the students who do not have an easy time of it: residential theological study was not something I revelled in, add to that the joy of living in tiny dormitories in heat, and being far away from family….. ‘It’s not easy’.

I also desperately miss my family…. but feel a bit pathetic when lodging with staff members who have each been away from family for whole years as they studied.

Until the next instalment, ….think of me…… sitting on the terrace looking out over the palm-kissed beaches….. hot, but with a nice sea breeze.