Beyond Belief

Below is a post from our Faith Without Borders blog. Check back for regular posts on our journey.

-Peter

Our first day in Ghana was filled with formalities as we met The Royals. We had audiences with the Paramount Queen Mother, many more queen mothers and the King of the Krobo people We packed into small cinder block rooms or spread out under welcome shade wherever we could find it Standing wasn’t allowed. Krobo hospitality made chairs magically appear-a big task for 13 visitors. The royals have created loving communities that care deeply for the orphaned and vulnerable children of this area.

UUs partner with the Queen Mothers to provide education for more than 95 children – an important contribution when you consider the over 1000 children they are serving. These children attend three different schools. We were mobbed by what seemed to be a million smiling faces when we arrived at their schools the next day to see this project in action. We learned of their struggles: one computer for more than 400 students, buildings made of mud that could be washed away in a heavy rain, teachers who do not live locally due to conditions of extreme poverty, the need for meal programs, local libraries and more. We met students who play soccer, who giggle and tell secrets., who want to be teachers, bankers, nurses, lawyers. They are bright, engaging and are just like the kids at our neighborhood schools in the US They zoom outside for recess, they sing, they act in plays and they do homework…sometimes.

We are writing this on an iPad in the van on the way back to Accra tonight. We are wearing shirts and wrapped in skirts handmade from fabric deigned by the Queen Mothers. They dressed us after cooking a feast for us- all more examples of their strong belief that we are not so different, that we are one family. Indeed we were treated as family. Just before we climbed into our vans, Manya Esther, the Deputy Paramount Queen Mother and director of the ECOC program, put a bracelet on our wrists. The beads were hand painted with images of the flags from Ghana and the US -friendship bracelets-so we will not forget our family in northeast Ghana.

Below is a post from our Faith Without Borders blog. I leave for Ghana in a few days, and I look forward to firsthand experience with the UU-UNO Every Child is our Child program. I have heard so much about this. Check back for regular posts on our journey.

-Peter

Thirteen Unitarian Universalist leaders, including UUA President Rev. Peter Morales, will arrive in Accra, Ghana, on Sunday to begin a notable visit with an international human rights partner – the Manya Krobo Queen Mother’s Association (QMA). The Queen Mothers are traditional leaders in Eastern Ghana who organized an effective response to the traumatic effects that the HIV/AIDS pandemic was having on children in their community: they were losing their parents, they were suffering from the disease, they were being ostracized, and they were not attending school. The Queen Mothers responded by organizing an Association that took responsibility for the children in their community who were in need. And, through a partnership with the UU United Nations Office, to make sure that they could attend school.

By visiting with the children in the ECOC program – as well as their teachers, the Queen Mothers, and other local officials – the UUA delegation will learn how this community came together and responded to a serious crisis. They’ll learn about resiliency in the face of injustice. And, they’ll experience how an international partnership based on mutuality, right relationship, and accountability can be tremendously helpful and important.

Following these visits, the delegation will meet with organizational officials in Accra including the US Ambassador to Ghana, the Director of the US Peace Corps in Ghana, the Director of the Ghana AIDS Commission, and the local UNICEF office officials – among others. During these visits the delegation will reiterate the UUA’s attention and commitment to the work of the QMA, and gain a greater understanding of how to continue advocacy and witness work at home after the trip is over.

This visit to Ghana reflects many of the international priorities of Unitarian Universalism. We seek international partnerships that model friendship and right relationship; that promote human rights; that offer opportunities for direct engagement; and which help Unitarian Universalism to be a positive religious presence in the world.

Please follow stories coming out of the visit on the Faith Without Borders blog. And, consider getting involved in the Every Child is our Child program or the UU United Nations Office in other ways.