For our last day in Ghana we visited Father’s Home Care Ministries. It was founded 10 years ago by a Ghanaian man named Frances who felt God was calling him to become a father. At first he wasn’t sure what that call to fatherhood really meant, but after a couple years of prayerful consideration he came to the conclusion that instead of becoming a biological father he should instead become a father to the destitute and homeless children living in the streets all over the country. Ghanaian culture is extremely family- and community-oriented, and that usually provides a means of support, life, happiness and self-confidence even in the midst of extreme poverty. Life circumstances, however, occasionally create situations where children have nothing and no one…that’s where the Father’s Home comes in. There are currently 29 kids living in the home, and 12 more for whom the staff has been able to track down and find relatives or community members willing to take them in and provide a home and family. The organization is still funding and supporting the education of those 12 who don’t live onsite. They have purchased a parcel of land and are building new housing and school facilities that will be even more family-focused (apartment-style buildings so that families of 5-6 kids will live with mother and father couples as a unit). They give the kids homes until they graduate from high school, help them find technical training and/or further tertiary education, and send them out into the community with a passion and vision to better the nation and the world. The work they are already doing is changing lives, and their vision for the future of the program is inspired. If you want to support an NGO in Africa where you know that money will be spent wisely and invested in the education and support for a self-sustained way of life, consider this one.
We spent the whole day just talking with the staff — their job titles are “mothers and fathers” — and playing and interacting with the kids. None of us left without feeling hope for the future of Ghana, the future of Africa, and the future of the world. The children and students at Father’s Home are awesome. The older ones gave dance and drum lessons and talked to us about what it feels like to go from being a kid alone on the streets and alone in the world to the pride and fun of having 29 siblings and 8 parents. We got thumped in a pickup game of football. (That’s a much more sensible name than soccer, don’t you think?) Samuel, a kindred spirit in Biblical namehood, must have faked Sam out and kicked it right past him a hundred times. We seriously didn’t know feet could move that fast!
Drumming Lessons – Father’s Home Care Ministries from Sam and Shannon Bloomquist on Vimeo.
Cellular technology is pretty advanced in Takoradi, and Tigo and Vodaphone advertisements are everywhere. Many Ghanaians use cell phones, but we never saw anyone in Takoradi or the Cape Coast area using an iPhone. The children we met were really excited to experiment with ours. Apparently, the iPhone really is a pretty intuitive device. After a few initial crazy/blurry pics with fingers covering the camera, the kids at the children’s home got the hang of it all on their own. They recorded the following video of a spontaneous dance session…pretty nice camera work (not to mention the dancing)!
Dancing – Father’s Home Care Ministries from Sam and Shannon Bloomquist on Vimeo.
