Becamela's Curse

West Africa Trip Report #1

It was well into the afternoon when Becamela finished up hoeing in her field and started down the dusty path back toward her village.  The hot sun of northern Ghana had been merciless during the past hours, so she looked forward to a refreshing drink and the relative coolness of her grass-roof hut.  But as she approached the outskirts of her small village, she noticed people acting strangely. Conversations stopped, eyes starred as she passed, children scurried away to hide in nearby bushes. What was wrong?

When she reached her own home, she was startled to find members of her extended family seated in a circle, faces drawn and sober. “What is it? What’s going on?” Becamela asked, worry filling her words.

“Of all people, you should know!” her brother-in-law declared with an accusing voice. “You tell us why such a thing has happened—why you would allow such a thing to happen!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she replied. “Somebody please tell me what this is all about?”

It was her sister who broke the silence. “He’s dead, Becamela,” she sobbed. “My precious twelve year-old son died of burning fever less than an hour ago.”

Becamela was stunned. “Oh, I’m so sorry, sister. So the malaria he had been fighting for so many days finally took his life. That sickness is such a curse to our people.”

Her brother-in-law jumped to his feet. “It certainly is a curse all right and I know where it came from. It came from YOU!  It had to be you and your powers of black magic that brought that sickness to our son. There is no other explanation.  I accuse you of being a witch!”

Fingers of fear gripped and squeezed Becamela’s throat and for a moment she was unable to speak, knowing full well the implications of such an accusation. Finally she blurted out, “NO! I had nothing to do with my nephew’s death.  It was the malaria that killed him. How can you possibly imagine that I would do anything to harm a member of my own family?” But her words fell on deaf ears and before she could protest further, a crowd gathered with sticks and ropes and began beating her wickedly. Hands grabbed her clothing ripping it off leaving her naked as the beating continued. Someone upgraded their whip to a broken bicycle chain that left open, bleeding wounds every time it landed on her back and chest. As if that was not enough, pepper was then sprinkled on her open sores and even her eyes. In excruciating pain, Becamela was then physically dragged to the outskirts of the village, dumped on the ground and harshly proclaimed banned from returning or living there ever again.

  

I put down my pen and notebook and looked across the table at the weathered face of the woman who was telling us her story.  For the past half hour, Anita and I had been listening to this first-hand account from one of the famous, but falsely-accused “witches” of Ghana. On the first leg of a trip to visit ministry partners in West Africa, our initial event was a national conference to promote the end of “witches camps” in this country. Co-hosted by Emmanuel Dabson, director of the Church Outreach Fellowship, we were taking a break from listening to key speakers to get a few more private minutes with Becamela herself. Accompanied by a local pastor who discovered the witch camp, this was Becamela’s first ever visit to a big city – with paved roads, multi-story buildings and electric street lights. Although dignitaries at the conference included the Deputy Minister of Women and Children’s Affairs and the assistant Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, it was Becamela, who was truly the guest of honor.

Anita and Becamela at the national conference
on "Witches Camps"

As our interview continued, we learned that after that fateful day of being expelled from her village, she went first to her father’s home, who quickly expelled her as well, not wanting any evil influences lurking around from someone accused of being a witch. So she was relegated to living in a small settlement called Nabali with some 100 other old women similarly accused of witchcraft. There, she had eked out a meager existence for more than 17 years. Then one day, Jacob, a young 30-year old COF church planter, discovered the old women living alone and began inviting them to his new church. As a result, Nabali is now well known, not only to Ghanaian government authorities, but to several short term mission teams from Spokane, WA and elsewhere that Partners International has invited to the area.

The deep creases across Becamela’s face belie a life of pain – both physical and emotional. But what was amazing to all of us listening to her story was to see that face break out into a huge smile as she told us about the difference it has made giving her heart to Christ. Now she and 99% of the “witch camp” women attend Jacob’s church every week. “I have not missed a single Sunday,” she told us proudly. “And because I sense the love of God and of others there, I no longer feel the shame of being around other people.”

We hope the increased exposure this national conference will bring about the plight of “witches camps” in Ghana will start positive change and restoration to the hundreds of women falsely accused and thus abused in this country. But, without doubt, it is only God who will bring about the inner healing that can truly bring about a smile on face of someone with a story like Becamela’s.

Under His wings,   Jon 

(Thanks to Caleb Nokes for some of his pictures of Becamela. Check out his own blog and especially the video he made on Becamela at www.calebnokes.com.)

Back to Blogger

Since stepping down as President/CEO of Partners International, I have dusted off this old Blogger site as the place to keep friends and family updated with my blog posts and trip reports. For all of you who have transitioned back here from my former blog site on the PI website - thanks for your patience and also for your faithfulness in staying in touch. I hope to be improving this site as I learn more how to manage it and add things that will be of interest to everyone.

Thanks,

Jon

Another Partnership Resource

Shared Strength is the name of a new book that is being offered by Compassion International and AERDO. Edited by Beth Birmingham from Eastern University and Scott Todd from Compassion, it is a compendium of ten papers that were given at an event held last summer in Colorado Springs. I had the privilege of being one of those invited to present a paper at that event, so my contribution shows up as Chapter 5: Servant Partnership—The Key to Success in Cross-Cultural Ministry Relationships.

Other chapters include one by my friend and former Partners staff member, Dan Rickett (Sisters in Service) on What’s In it for You and Stephan Bauman (World Relief) on Power Differentials in Partnerships: A Confession and a Call.

I’m excited to see more and more of this type of book emerge onto the marketplace which seems to be an indication that the mission world is truly grappling with some of the key, contemporary issues facing the dynamics of cross-cultural partnerships in our world today.

Shared Strength will be available from Amazon sometime towards the end of July.

No More Superheroes?

A few evenings ago, I had an interesting conversation with my 21 year old son, Nathaniel. He was sharing about a discussion he had with some friends about why many of his generation seems so disconnected and uninterested in church or other ministry endeavors.

“Every since we were little,” he said, “we’ve been surrounded by fantastic stories, cartoons, video games, and movies where young heroes take on the challenge of some amazing quest—a quest that ultimately defines their life purpose and inner character. And despite incredible odds, those superheroes are able to vanquish their threat and win the day, usually in 90 minutes or less!” By the time they hit college age, the dividing line in their minds between fact and fantasy has actually become somewhat blurred to the point where they too feel their own lives should be about striving for some great quest. But instead, he explains, when his peers measure real life experience (including church) against these imaginary heroes and situations, the excitement of reality pales in comparison. “It seems they end up with one of two different reactions,” he continued. They either become frustrated, un-enamored, and disengaged adopting a “what’s the use of trying?” attitude. Or else they adopt a radical spirit and charge into some cause or another in order to “fix” as many wrongs of the world as possible. In either case, Nathaniel noted, they are not finding many existing Christian institutions able to satisfy the seeds of “super-heroism” planted for years in their subconscious minds and be meaningfully involved in a quest where they can make a difference in the world—especially one that can be accomplished quickly.

So, what do we say to a generation that has been raised believing that Star Wars, Iron Man or Lord of the Rings are more real than real? Do we simply tell them to “grow up” and put away their childish fantasies? Or is it possible that there is a new type of “hero” we could introduce them to, one involved in equally meaningful quests in our world today?

Here at Partners International, we have the unique privilege of creating partnerships with national ministries led by incredibly visionary men and women. These folks are tackling some of the toughest challenges imaginable right within their own communities. From rescuing young women in Bangalore brothels to caring for the distressed of Darfur to creating sustainable business opportunities on the Tibet plateau, these ministries are demonstrating the Good News of Christ in realistic, practical and sustainable ways. True, their solutions are not always quick and easy, but they are certainly effective in changing their corners of the world.

I’m convinced the more we have a chance to connect my son’s generation to these real-live “superheroes” of today’s mission world, the more Nathaniel and his friends will find plenty of opportunity to find personal fulfillment and life purpose by participating in God’s ultimate quest: proclaiming Real Hope to a lost world.

New Thoughts on Real Hope

Our byline at Partners International is: Real Hope. Real Change. Real Partnership.

To me, these words grab the essence of what we want our organization to be known for. But words like hope, change, and partnership can be easily get overused, and lose their significance.

Yesterday at breakfast, my wife and I were reading in a devotional book by J.I Packer and came across this outstanding quote on the concept of hope:

While there’s life, there’s hope, we say, but the deeper truth is that only while there’s hope there is life. Take away hope, and life, with all its fascinating variety of opportunities and experiences, reduces to mere existence—uninteresting, ungratifying, bleak, drab and repellent, a burden and a pain. Hope generates energy, enthusiasm and excitement; lack of hope breeds only apathy and inertia.

I believe what Partners International has to offer brings hope at several different levels. First, it’s positioned as an organization that is ready to seek out and enable national, indigenous leaders, especially emerging leaders, and come along side them with resources and training that specifically gives them hope of fulfilling their God-given visions. Second, when those visions take on substance as mature, national ministry organizations they, in turn, bring hope to so many other people struggling both physically and spiritually in the hard places of the world. Finally, the bottom line of all this partnership and ministry effort is that many more people would come to see and know Jesus Christ as the ultimate Real Hope both today and for all Eternity.

As Packer says above, where there’s hope, there’s life. What a privilege it has been to see people, leaders and ministries alike take on new life as they experience renewed hope that has resulted from caring partner relationships.

Million Milestone

Yesterday, I ordered this cake made and brought it up to the Spokane Airport with the following letter.  Thought it would be fun to share it with all of you:

Dear United Staff, Spokane Base,

Last Friday, June 4, 2010, coming home to Spokane on UA 0583, I passed the one million milestone on United Airlines!

I’m sure you have a lot of customers who have flown much more than that on United, but for me this is a significant milestone because it represents God’s graciousness to me for an incredible number of hours in the air that have all happened safely and without a single significant mishap.

Actually, these one million miles on United are only a fraction of the total amount of flying I have been involved ever since 1977. When we moved to Spokane in 2003, I decided to start keeping track of and logging every single leg of a flight I have made here in the US and around the world. (Perhaps it’s part of a habit I developed years ago as a missionary bush pilot in Africa.) As of last Friday, I’ve flown 776,697 miles and spent 1,733 hours in the air on 614 individual flights just during these past seven years.

Because of my role in leading an international non-profit Christian mission organization, my role takes me to many unusual and remote places around the world. My guess is that for every mile on United, I spend another two miles on other airlines—particularly those in Third World countries. As a result, there are a lot of stories I could tell. And, although I am so thankful that I’ve never been on any flight that has had a major incident, there certainly have been plenty of “interesting” moments, such as:

• An Ethiopian Airlines 727 that ingested a large bird over the Nairobi, Kenya game park that totally demolished the center engine. The pilot had to dump fuel to make it back for a safe landing!
• An Air Mongolia landing at Beijing, that was so hot and fast the pilot had breaks screeching down the entire length of the runway and only got stopped at the VERY end!
• An Air France 747 with one of the very first auto-landing systems that made it on the ground at Charles DeGaul, Paris in zero-zero visibility only to have to shut down right in the middle of the runway and be guided by a “follow-me” truck because it was impossible to see even the edge of the taxiway.
• An Air Afrique Airbus out of Mauritania for Marseille with a furloughed Pan Am crew who finally invited me to sit up front with them so I could translate from French to English in order to understand what the cabin crew and the tower were trying to tell them!
• An Air Zaire 737 where the pilot also invited me up front only to discover he was using a portable GPS unit on the dashboard as his main navigation gear!
• A charter flight in Congo on a Shorts 360 with so many passengers, the pilot just decided to have me STAND right behind his seat for the entire flight!
• The coldest flight ever in a Tupolev 134 in Kazakhstan where I was literally scraping the ice off the INSIDE wall and window next to my seat.

As you can probably imagine, I could go on and on.

What I would like to say to all of you, however, is how much I have appreciated the service I have received over the years on United. I know that circumstances always arise to make air travel difficult, especially during the present time we live in. I’m sure you all deal with plenty of passenger complaints of one type or another. I’ve probably heard as many of them as you have. But, from my experience over all these years of flying commercial airlines is that United has provided me with a solid consistency that I have grown to appreciate.

So, although the food may be better on South African Airlines, the flight attendants younger and cuter on Air Asia and the entertainment system a lot more entertaining on Singapore Airlines, I, for one, am quite satisfied and grateful for the safe and dependable service I have received in traveling all of those one million miles on United Airlines!

Thanks for all you do in keeping up the “friendly skies!”

Jon Lewis

And now. . . some good news from Iraq

At Partners International, we strive to help our national partners not only be successful in accomplishing their own local ministry objectives, but to also find ways to benefit other national organizations around the world. In the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen two great examples of this.

The first one is from northern Iraq where three schools our national partner has built were celebrating their first graduating class of high school seniors. Having grown from just a dream in the mind of Yousif and Alia Matty ten years ago, the schools now boast 1800 students, 450 teachers and an annual budget of $3 million totally self supported from within that country! If that isn’t amazing enough, to further celebrate their success, the schools dedicated a $5000 gift towards the construction of a new school being built by our AIC partner in southern Sudan. How cool is that?! To think that these Iraqi friends are ready and willing to share their bounty of God’s blessing with another ministry in a “hard place” of the world is truly inspiring!

The second example comes from Brazil. Years ago, Partners International invested heavily in building up national ministries in Brazil. But as that country became more and more self-sufficient in supporting their own mission work, we backed away and put most of our focus on more unreached areas of the world. Recently, however, some of those original Brazil connections also have wanted to share their resources with others. A few months ago, we received over $20,000 from them designated for believers in Iran who are struggling under increased pressure and persecution. Now, another check is on its way from Brazil for $40,000 also to help with this same school in southern Sudan. Coupling the Iraq and Brazil gifst with a few others coming from US foundations, we should soon have enough for the Sudan school to begin construction. PTL!

These two examples are a great snapshot of the increasing global context of world missions. What an exciting day to be involved in connecting and networking together partnerships like these all around the world!