Steve Phillips, S.M.A. Lay Missionary, served in Ghana for many years. He worked with a school for the deaf, with people with disabilities, with Liberian refugees and with Liberians in general. He shares the following story about reopening Bethany House of Hope For Life Project.

Hope For Life

I’ve been back in Ghana for 5 months – I think it’s almost exactly 5 months. If I remember, due to a canceled flight I ended up arriving here on October 3rd , and now it’s March 1st.

I’m at a project called Hope for Life (HFL). Some people who’ve known me for a while might remember I worked here from 1996 – 1998. It’s the same project – just a 12 year-older version of it. One part of the project called Bethany House is where I live. It’s also a part of the project that was a big pull for me to come back here. It’s not only where I live, but it’s also where members of Hope for Life, all people with disabilities, are welcome to come stay if they want a break from their daily lives, if they want to have time with other people with disabilities, and if they need/want somewhere to prepare for exams, also if they want a place that will have electricity and running water (assuming the city is supplying those things while they’re staying at the house), or for whatever reason at all.

Over 10 years ago, the house was in a different location. HFL rented that place, and for a variety of reasons chose to build its own house. Running the house can be difficult. It can be hard to get sponsors interested in donating money or resources to this part of the project since it’s just a place where people come eat, gather, rest and be happy. I’m not sure it will ever become self-sufficient. Just before I left in 1998, a lay missionary worked on a proposal for a bakery to help make the project more self-sufficient. The bakery is located right outside my bedroom window. It’s been barely breaking even. Frequently it operates at a loss. However, it recently received two sweet contracts – one is supplying the bread that goes on the airplanes flying out of Ghana, which means that some, if not all, people flying out of Ghana, when they’re eating that little sandwich thing they get on the flight just before landing, or they get the little dinner rolls with their meals – it’s Hope for Life bread that they’re eating.

A year ago the house was officially closed due to lack of funds. The “House Mother” was let go. HFL members weren’t officially allowed to stay here because there was no one to look after the place, provide the meals, etc. – no money, basically. When I came back in October one of our goals was to open the house again. (I like to think of this as a project goal – but it may have just been a Steve goal.) I had hoped it would be accomplished in a month or so – but realistically I should shoot for January. I came back with a donation and immediately we started getting the plumbing working. I wanted to put in a garden and focused on things people use all the time in sauces and stews. I saw that I’d never be able to actually get around to digging up the place myself.

In someone’s “wisdom” a few years ago it was decided that the driveway should be all gravel since it would be much cheaper than pavement. Uh . . . OK . . . now let’s try wheeling a wheelchair or walking with crutches or crawling on hands and knees across that gravel. One benefit at this time was that a section of the gravel is much easier to shovel aside for a garden than pavement would have been. We still need to figure out how to make the rest of it more accessible. A friend from the refugee camp who’s still here and has been accepted into a university, but still waiting for sponsorship, asked me to help find a sponsor In the meantime if I had any work to do, I thought, “hey – I’m not going to get around to doing this garden anytime soon – maybe he can do it.” And he did – and is still working on it. It’s amazing – already we’ve had to put to rest several beds of tomato plants that never flowered but were, all the same, beautiful to look at and smell; also a bed of watermelon that produced baby watermelon that soon rotted, and a cucumber bed that had similar difficulties as the watermelon. We’ve replanted some of these beds. We have prepared a couple of others for transplanting. Other crops have done better, and, happily and yummily, we’ve already enjoyed a few meals with okra from the garden, others with cabbage, and carrots have also contributed to a few meals. A personal favorite is also there – radishes. I love radishes – they grow quickly and easily. I think they’re delicious - and an added bonus, they always remind me of my grandmother who first introduced me to them before I was old enough to appreciate them properly, but she enjoyed them and I love that memory. They’ve been a part of breakfast for the past couple weeks. It’s like the only thing I’ve planted that’s solely because I wanted it (Ok, other than some herbs – mint, parsley and basil are doing the best and we’ve been enjoying them.) And the lemon grass I always end up planting is doing really well. The goal was, and still is, to reduce food costs. And to open the house in January (which we did). And to give me pleasure with the radishes and the herbs and just digging in the dirt. Another lay missionary, who was at Bethany House for a few months before I came, shook her head in disbelief a month after I arrived, saying that she never thought the garden could happen.

We pushed forward with the garden and with working towards opening the house. We interviewed people for the new House Manager. People who were unofficially staying here and be considered squatters were given their notice to move along. A House Manager was chosen (the former House Mother). The overflowing septic system (yes, nasty) was cleaned out. Major scrubbing and cleaning took place. Curtains were re-hung. Kitchen and other items that were no longer around were replaced. The house opened in January.

This has been my goal – with no idea of how it will be funded. Another lay missionary who was here last year (and is still here) recently told me that she didn’t do any fundraising for the project last year. I know she had a lot on her shoulders - and maybe that's basically the reason. It's a big project and can be daunting, leaving someone scratching their head and wondering where to begin. And now, the funds are finished. Sadly, I’m not the best fundraiser in the world – mostly operating on trust and faith - but that’s the work before us now. On Christmas Eve – I received an email from some friends who are like family. They were sending a HUGE donation for my work in Ghana. My eyes watered. I didn’t quite cry, but I seriously wanted to. I knew we’d be able to keep the house open for a while. Last week, the HFL Secretary spent a couple of days with me writing fundraising letters to local businesses – and this week we’ll start delivering them. We’ll see how it goes, because this is how it usually goes and you have to go ahead with things and not let the fear hold you back. Things don’t change – we go ahead on trust and faith. It sounds naïve – and I’m sure to any banker or money person would cringe going with decisions not knowing where or if the resources will be there. But if we don’t go ahead, then nothing gets done ever. (I'm sure those bankers are probably nodding their heads in approval that I got out of accounting in my junior year of university.)

Happily, for a few months now, and surrounded by great people who have been making so much of this possible. They have been the ones adding to a good spirit at the house, and a feeling of home is coming back to the place.