Introductions: Meeting the Nima Community

Since we were working with The Apostolic Church to reach the kids at their mission school, The Apostolic Hope School, we were invited to speak with the church’s congregation today to tell them about our work in Nima with their kids. We were well received and after Katie Nell, Reeves and I explained WAGiLabs to them, they celebrated and prayed for us. I would like to share a little bit more about Nima with you to give you some perspective.

Nima is remarkably diverse, both ethnically and religiously. There are over a hundred ethnic groups in Ghana. According to the mother of one of our students who works for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Collaborative in Nima, most of these ethnic groups are represented in Nima’s population. In addition, there are residents there who can trace their origin from Niger, Burkina Faso, and other Sub-Saharan African countries.

Though it is a predominantly Muslim community, we were working with one of the largest churches there to teach Christian and Muslim students of a Christian mission school in one of the Church’s offices. The mother I spoke with agreed that the living conditions in Nima could be significantly improved. Nima exemplifies an unplanned community. Some may call parts of it a slum. However, according to the mother I spoke with, people choose to remain in Nima even when their family members and friends offer them better accommodation options elsewhere for one reason–in Nima, people look out for each other. In times of difficulty, people look to their neighbors for help and they receive it in abundance.

Later that day, we picked up Evan from the airport…and then we were four–our team was complete!