Africa 2007
Before I leave this topic, I have to describe an experience we had on one of the last days of the trip, during our R and R on the last weekend we were there in the city. A couple of us drove out on a lonely winding dirt road cloaked in darkness and vegetation late at night. The bus rustled the woody plants making a soft scraping noise as we went. As the palm-lined and wild road opened up, we came out into a huge resort with finely trimmed green lawns, beautiful Gazebos, and white lights decorating everything. It was another world from the shanties and dirt village we had been around for most of the trip. The well-trimmed green lawns surrounded an impressive several-story hotel, ran out to a clump of large gazebos, and darkness beyond that. We walked into the first Gazebo. We were surrounded by a cacophony of voices from people dressed in suits and fine dresses. Some were lounging in their chairs, some smoking cigarettes or hookahs. There was a quiet rushing sound humming behind the voices. We walked to the other end of the bright structure and were greeted with sand as we stepped down the other side. Just then we realized we were standing five feet from the vast expanse of the Atlantic ocean. It began to rain. Anja, I and a Ghanaian man who was acting as our guide, stood on the beach in the rain at night, barefoot in the warm surf watching the lightening flash across the black African sky - the only thing to divide the heavens from the water in the dark night. Anja was wearing a deep green dress and necklace that looked straight out of the 1930’s. Behind us, the rest of the group, including Mike and Ruth (a married couple that came on the trip) danced barefoot to Frank Sinatra songs played by a live band. I told Anja that sometimes God reserves a special kiss for those whose hearts are soft enough to feel it and this was a kiss from God for us. Life is so sweet.
God spoke to me so loudly and so often on this trip. He
called me to step up to situations, to be a spiritual help to people on the
team. To connect with a widow, an abandoned child, a wheelchair-bound man named
Paul who had lived in the orphanage all his young life. He called me to connect with a teenager, a
child; called me to step up and lead when needed, to listen to Him and to
remember who I was: Kofi (my Ashanti name) is a leader, and innovator, a
creator. He showed me at every turn that
He was Gwe Naye (God is supreme) and that I was to “Return to my roots, to
rediscover what was lost.’ To this end he gave me the symbol of the Sankofa
Bird, a goose with its long neck over it’s tale. Anja
gave me a postcard with the Sankofa bird on it. I am beginning to believe in
myself again.
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