Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 4, 1994 TAG: 9404040055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
In his home village of Binada in the west African nation of Ghana, the Rev. Joseph Anyindana - like most of the adults there - rarely eats more than one meal a day.
They try to preserve resources for the children, he said.
It is a sacrifice that takes a toll.
When he first met Anyindana six years ago, the Rev. Thomas O'Dell, now rector of St. John's Episcopal Church, was on a tour of Ghana and just happened to stop in the village of Binada.
O'Dell and Anyindana - both priests in the Anglican tradition - jointly led a worship service. At one point, Anyindana fainted. The service went on, and he came to later in the service, O'Dell said.
"After the service, someone came up to me and said Father Joe wouldn't tell me this, but the reason he fainted was that he hadn't eaten for five days so some children in the village could have food," O'Dell said.
It was an "honor to share" worship and the Christian faith with Anyindana, O'Dell said.
They struck up a friendship that has lasted, and led to Anyindana's visit to the United States. He has been here since Feb. 19 and will stay until Thursday, a guest of St. John's parish.
Father Joe - as he's affectionately called by just about everyone at St. John's - has been a missionary to the Roanoke parish, O'Dell said. His stories of the faith and works of the north Ghana Christians have been an inspiration, O'Dell said.
Though the southern part of the country is a lush, tropical country with plenty of food and water, people in north Ghana "are more worried about food than any other problem," Anyindana said.
There is little water, and most of it comes from hand-dug wells. Sleeping sickness and river blindness afflict thousands. Malaria is rampant. And the Sahara is relentlessly moving south, threatening the fragile subsistence farming that is possible now.
The Episcopal diocese in which O'Dell formerly served has just concluded an eight-year partnership with Anyindana's Ugandan diocese. A major partnership project involved planting trees to help stave off the desert's encroachment.
The trees provide secondary benefits, too, Anyindana said - fruit, shade and wind breaks.
But while that project has gotten some help from the United States, it is the scale of indigenous self-improvement programs that impresses O'Dell.
Sometimes alone, sometimes in concert with government, the economically poor but active church in Ghana provides a wide range of services to people.
Farmers are provided a sack of peanut seed expected to yield a crop of five sacks. Out of that, one sack is paid in return. The parish buys bullocks - which most of the farmers can't afford - and loans them out at planting season. Those stricken with blindness are taught how to farm despite that disability. There is an orphanage, a health clinic and a program to teach vocational skills to women.
There are government-run schools in the region, but most families can afford to pay for only one or two of their children to attend. In a region where followers of traditional animistic religions may have 10 or more children by their two or more wives, that means many are left out.
Anyindana's stories of the determination of his people to survive against the odds have taught his hosts at St. John's some important lessons about Christian stewardship, O'Dell said.
But Father Joe says he also will take some ideas for new projects back with him.
He was impressed with the work of shelters for the poor and homeless, such as RAM House. Seeing their work, "I thought of our Lord Jesus Christ who was concerned with the underprivileged."
Anyindana also said he had never seen any facilities like the nursing homes he was able to tour. "You could see that the people were being taken very good care of."
In Ghana, families are expected to take care of the elder members. "Some old people suffer very much," though, when they don't have close relatives, or their families cannot afford to take care of them.
Though no formal partnership is planned, St. John's will continue its relationship with Father Joe this summer when at least six of its members are planning to travel to Ghana.
Many churches - including the Episcopal Church - are being forced to cut back international missions programs, because parishes are sending fewer and fewer dollars to national headquarters.
For priests such as O'Dell, that means the responsibility for carrying out what is known as the Great Commission - recorded in the Bible as Christ's command to spread the Gospel - now lies with the local parish and individual Christians.
"Initially, the Gospel was preached by white people from Europe to Africans," he said. "Now, it works both ways."
by CNB