Today we spent the morning working on the base. Miguel (the YWAM base director) wanted us to cut down this huge tree - it was pretty ridiculous. The longer I'm here the more frustrated I become. What seems rational to this culture is sometimes totally irrational to me. Fortunately his chainsaw wasn't working right so we got out of that job.
After that we went to pray for some people near the base. Apparently this man gave YWAM all its buildings and its land, so we prayed for him and his workers and his family that God would bless them.
In the afternoon we went back to Eden - the first orphanage we had gone to. It was neat because it didn't take any time this time for the kids to warm up to us. They saw us coming and ran to meet us. It was neat to firm up some friendships that had started the first time. Julius and I sat and talked a while. He was asking about what a "good wife" is - so I described Kimi to him. Someone told him to pray for a good wife so he was wondering what that means. We also talked a bit about his culture of Ghana. The other night we were talking to Nicodemus (our roommate) and he was telling us about Zambia. He told us he went through a circumcision ceremony when he was five years old. We couldn't believe it! He remembers it clearly. He told us that afterwards they cook up the foreskin and eat it. Yuck! Anyway, he told us how in his culture you would be shunned if you weren't circumcised. Every man and woman must be circumcised. Women can't be married unless they go through this. This is where our conversation got strange. Nico doesn't seem to think that female circumcision is anything but normal. However, I've been reading lately about this practice and how devastating it is to women. Many can no longer conceive, some are so damaged they are no longer desired. Others get bad infections and even die. The process removes the clitoris, and therefore any sense of pleasure. I want to help Nico to understand why this is bad, but I'm not sure how to do that. For him, it's just a normal part of his culture. Anyway, Julius said the don't do that in Ghana, and he was equally bothered by the whole thing. The problem is that Nicodemus doesn't really understand what happens. He told us that in his country there are commercials that urge everyone to be circumcised, and it says that it can help prevent HIV. Wow! This is a government sponsored commercial promoting bogus ideas. It's amazing that things can be so primitive.
After that we went to pray for some people near the base. Apparently this man gave YWAM all its buildings and its land, so we prayed for him and his workers and his family that God would bless them.
In the afternoon we went back to Eden - the first orphanage we had gone to. It was neat because it didn't take any time this time for the kids to warm up to us. They saw us coming and ran to meet us. It was neat to firm up some friendships that had started the first time. Julius and I sat and talked a while. He was asking about what a "good wife" is - so I described Kimi to him. Someone told him to pray for a good wife so he was wondering what that means. We also talked a bit about his culture of Ghana. The other night we were talking to Nicodemus (our roommate) and he was telling us about Zambia. He told us he went through a circumcision ceremony when he was five years old. We couldn't believe it! He remembers it clearly. He told us that afterwards they cook up the foreskin and eat it. Yuck! Anyway, he told us how in his culture you would be shunned if you weren't circumcised. Every man and woman must be circumcised. Women can't be married unless they go through this. This is where our conversation got strange. Nico doesn't seem to think that female circumcision is anything but normal. However, I've been reading lately about this practice and how devastating it is to women. Many can no longer conceive, some are so damaged they are no longer desired. Others get bad infections and even die. The process removes the clitoris, and therefore any sense of pleasure. I want to help Nico to understand why this is bad, but I'm not sure how to do that. For him, it's just a normal part of his culture. Anyway, Julius said the don't do that in Ghana, and he was equally bothered by the whole thing. The problem is that Nicodemus doesn't really understand what happens. He told us that in his country there are commercials that urge everyone to be circumcised, and it says that it can help prevent HIV. Wow! This is a government sponsored commercial promoting bogus ideas. It's amazing that things can be so primitive.
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