The View From Here

With the month of February comes the beginning of the very hot dry season here in Damongo and also marks the end of my first year of service. The perception is usually that mission service is a sacrifice. While I understand that at a very simple surface level, I never really looked at it that way. Even before I arrived, I knew that my calling was one of spiritual enrichment. While I was coming here to share my talents and experiences with people I did not know on the other side of the world, I was more keenly aware that I would be gaining much more from them - learning about a new culture, challenging myself and thus growing. How could gaining those things be considered sacrifice? I have not been disappointed in my expectations. The people here are very gracious and thankful. I do my best to reciprocate. They say that time flies when you’re having fun. It has. And I am.

My duties here have mostly entailed trying to make the Diocese of Damongo’s sole source of income, The Unity Centre, a more viable and profitable venture and thus bolster the Diocesan pastoral mission to provide for its people. With my background as a restauranteur, I have been able to advise management and staff on universal practices such as organizing and expanding the menu, profit margins and labor management. My contracting experience has enabled me to construct a low fence around the property to keep vehicles and roaming animals away from dining and drinking areas, enclose areas of the restaurant and bar for more efficient operation, replace doors and locks to maximize security, install cameras and lighting to ensure safety and adding a modern stereo system at the bar.

Over the holidays my restaurant and contracting skills combined to create a new grilling station near the bar area by reusing material stored in the warehouse. Just as Americans consume chicken wings and other appetizers, the people here crave those quick and easy foods while they relax with their favorite beverage. Of course, the cuisine here is different, though western influence is expanding food desires as well as a plethora of other items through internet connectivity. There is a demand to have those things that we have in the West. Since the end of the year, our grilling menu has expanded to include skewered beef sausage, chicken gizzard and other popular meats as they are available, as well as guinea fowl (a popular local poultry) and tilapia. Future plans will include such western staples as hamburgers, french-fries and constructing an adjacent station devoted exclusively to pizza which is popular the world over and also a specialty of mine. I am also planning to renovate the bar itself with new tile flooring, a fresh coat of paint and design to give it distinction and a big screen projection TV, as sports and beer are also very popular in this soccer-crazed part of the world.  

The much-anticipated Jubilee House, a brand new 3 story, 34 room guesthouse, also opened at the end of the year. Damongo was named the capital of the new Savannah Region of Ghana five years ago and is adjacent to the internationally renowned Mole National Wildlife Reserve. The diocese is priming itself to be on the cutting edge of all the expanding demands of growing population and tourism. It is my job to help in that process.

I am also very thankful for the refurbished truck that was provided by generous donations last November. Not only does it help in general operations- procuring restaurant and bar supplies, as well as my own contracting material, but is also utilized for getting some employees to and from work, as well as church, and a variety of other uses. Travel is difficult here and costly. The average employee makes about $45 per month. Rides to town, where most of them live, costs about a dollar round trip. As I try unsuccessfully to do the math of individual monthly budgets of those I work with, I’m convinced that the community values which inspire the people here to share and look out for one another is the glue which holds this place together. It appears the truck has become part of that glue.

As I stated in my opening, my learning and spiritual growth here greatly outweighs any perceived sacrifice. Sure, I miss my adult children and occasionally see mouth-watering food items on social media that make me miss my home and its luxuries. However, watching the ways that people move forward here with far less of what we normally measure our society by- capital, industry, infrastructure, etc.- is truly inspiring and I am more than honored that they accept me and let me take part. The one asset that is not so measurable, but in great supply here, is human spirit. Through cooperation among each other and support from outside groups and donors like Lay-Mission Helpers, I find myself growing by observing and living with a people who do not accept defeat from a world that often measures ‘success’ in ways not so natural to them. While the mission plan here is invaluable, I often think that in many ways the people of Damongo could teach those of us in the West a certain spiritual mission work of their own. The view from here makes that point difficult to ignore.