We need your prayers for John Nchola and his family. John is one of the evangelists. He lives in Bungbali and works with the churches in that area. John’s brother was accused of being a witch. Yes, I said a witch. Most of these people still believe in witches. When someone dies they pay the soothsayer to identify the person or “witch” that killed them. They believe that these killings take place in the astral world. They believe that the witches eat human flesh and that they are responsible for killing the person in the real world so they can eat meat in the astral world. It is all very strange; it reminds us of the Salem witch hunts. Several things can happen to the person accused of being a witch; they can be run out of the village, they can be severely beaten, they can be killed or they can be sent to one of the witch camps. There are 3 well known witch camps in the northern part of Ghana. The closest one is about 10 miles outside of Yendi. It is against the laws of Ghana to attack a person that has been accused of being a witch but then where are the police when all this is going on. Anyway when John’s brother was accused of being a witch John helped his brother to quickly leave the village. When the elders of the village found out that John had helped his brother they in turn accused John of being a witch. They demanded that John bring his brother back to the village. John contacted his brother and told him to come back but he has not come back and who would blame him. I sure would not want to come back if I knew I was going to be tortured and possible beaten to death! John has reported the case to the police and they said they cannot step in until someone lays their hands on John or his brother. Please! By then it might be too late. The problem is that most of the police and Social Welfare people believe in witches and they are afraid to interfere. We had Timothy call John this afternoon to see how things were going. He said he was still meeting with the elders trying to solve the problem. I think I would be leaving the village too. There is very little we can do except report the situation because these meetings are held in closed sessions; only certain family members are allowed in the meetings. So please pray for John and his family’s safety.
We had a bunch of mothers and children come to the Child Center this morning; 67 children in all. We ran out of bears, dresses, shorts and scarves this morning. We will run out of jewelry tomorrow but everyone is very happy when they leave the Center.
Steve got the new table top up on the work bench table this afternoon. We had to go to town and buy vinyl to cover it. We think a vinyl top will be easier to keep clean than the plywood. Steve reinforced the table frame before he attached the top.
Amama was not at work again today. Her daughter was sick yesterday and she was admitted to the hospital. They are treating her for Malaria. Hopefully she will be out of the hospital by tomorrow.
Take care and thank you for all your help.
In His Service,
Steve and Kandie
