Media Release
A Chance to Help Ghana
A West African Dream
Kwadwo Oduro was born in Ghana, West Africa. He came from a poor and extended family (15 children) with little Christian contact or example. He lived a colourful life and moved from Ghana to the Middle East in his late twenties. He was surviving by trading in the black market when he met the Lord on the road to Damascus.
Kwadwo spent three years in Australia training with Cornerstone. A legacy of his time here are several songs he passed onto us, including one written with Colin Buchanan, a fellow student at Cornerstone and now a popular Australian entertainer.
Kwadwo returned home to Ghana with a strong vision for his people. Initially it was a real struggle and he resorted, at one stage, to selling his soccer ball for food. As time went on, however, he developed the tag "Angel Pastor" because, unlike other pastors, he didn't accept any payment and was self supporting.
In 1999 Kwadwo took a step of faith and began building a Cornerstone Training Centre in Ghana. Kwadwo received some help from Australia to build the infrastructure. He also found land that was suitable for farming and has dabbled in a number of projects to help keep his dream alive. Starting with pineapple Kwadwo now has mandarin trees (supplied by the Bourke community) and a comminications centre that consists of a phone and fax that are used by businesses in the town.
The Training Centre has been in operation since 2000 and has graduated students for the past three years and sent them on a mission team experience throughout the countryside. All this has been achieved with little help, both financial and in personnel. Kwadwo's vision and sacrifice have been used by God to establish a ministry that it critical to Ghana's spirituality, drawing comments such as "this mission is sent from God to help Ghana when it needs it most" (Walter Pimpong, Director of International Need in Ghana).
Continued financial struggle have prompted Kwadwo to look for another business that can be used to support the training Ghanaian disciples for Ghana. Kwadwo has rcently taken loans to build a toilet and ablution block and car wash facility that he hopes will provide the income required for him to continue this unique ministry.
Your help in supporting this project through the provision of funds to help pay the loans that have been taken to build the ablution block and car wash will go a long way to having a significant impact on West Africa. The ministry produces up to twenty well trained and thoroughly discipled indigenous missionary workers for Ghana every year.
From Cornerstone’s Director of Business and Finance:
I must confess a vested interest in making this project a reality as it combines two things that are close to my heart. Firstly, having been born and raised in Zimbabwe I find it exciting to be able to help a project in Africa that is making a difference amongst the local people. Making it happen through viable businesses is also something that makes this project special.
To the average Australian the thought of a dunny and carwash being enough to train numerous missionaries each year must seem like a challenging concept. For me it evokes childhood memories of the haunting melodies of Africa, rising on the hot clear breeze as the workers return from the labours in the fields. If Ghana is like Zimbabwe, the average worker would have laboured in the fields from sun-up to sun-down and worked up quite a sweat.
Their homes are not very well-equipped either. They will probably go home to a sumptuous meal of ground maize rolled into a ball and dipped into a community broth. However, the meal will have been cooked over an open fire and the house will not have much more in the way of facilities than that.
What Kwadwo is building is a resting post on the way home. A place where the workers can stop, freshen themselves up in the showers and use the toilets. There will not be much of a charge, for few of the people have worldly riches, but what is charged will hopefully be enough to feed and accommodate the students at the Training Centre.
Then there’s the car wash. The cars of Africa are generally a sight to behold. I’ve seen them painted in every gaudy colour of the rainbow, with the engine held together by fishing twine and chicken wire. The radios blare as they belt past, often with four times the passengers recommended by the manufacturer. But a car in Africa is a valuable commodity, and the people that own them take great pride in their appearance and upkeep. Kwadwo’s car wash will be used by people from miles around to keep their cherished asset in good shape.
I could never convey in writing the colour, sound and passion of Africa. Hopefully I can convey a little snapshot of the vibrancy and life that exists over there. God has a plan for Africa and for the colourful and wonderful people that make it such a thrilling continent. What might seem small to us, a few dollars here or there, can go an awful long way in Africa. This whole project will cost around A$25,000 but will result in changed lives for many years to come.
Donations can be made by contacting Andrew Robinson at the Cornerstone National Office:
Tel: (02) 69884 0402
E-mail: csnat@national.cornerstone.edu.au