PROFILE OF DETI

Deti is a farming village situated about 500 meters from the main Akatsi – Aflao road. The village is a small farming village in the Akatsi District of the Volta Region and has a population of about 1500 people. They grow mainly cereal and tuber crops like maize, beans, groundnut and yam.

The village is also known for the cultivation of a popular Ghanaian dessert which has a hard outer black shell and a sweet powdery soft fruit inside.

Because of the dry nature of the landscape in Deti, the inhabitants do not have any river or stream flowing through their village. Due to this, they have to dig small holes in the ground until they find water.

 These wells do not have consistent yields and they have to sometimes wait for the water to surface before fetching. It normally takes one to two hours to fetch a bucket of water accompanied with its many health risks and diseases.

The District provided them with one standing pipe that was connected from an overhead tank in the Akatsi District Hospital, but this tap is opened once a week because of the needs of the hospital. This therefore does not adequately satisfy the water needs of the inhabitants of Deti. DANIDA (The Danish International Development Agency), a local Non-Profit made promises to come and provide them with a borehole, but that project was since not heard of again.

YEAR 2011 UNDER REVIEW

MLI by the grace of God executed the following activities, projects and events in the year under review (2011)

MLI 5TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

One of the major events that made headlines in Meaningful Life International this year, which crowned the impact of our ministry in the light of our vision and mission since the inception of Meaningful Life International, was our 5th Anniversary Celebration, which was from the 10th of September to the 18th of September 2011.

Some of the activities that made this week long celebration a memorable one were a clean-up exercise at the Tema General Hospital, a donation of some items like toiletries, fruit drinks and surgical equipments to the children’s ward of the Tema General Hospital, the dedication of the MLI 5th Anniversary Borehole, a medical outreach, a Leadership Seminar for church leaders and pastors, a musical concert and a thanksgiving service.

For us, the impact of our ministry in this part of our world has not been attained on a silver platter; but we give thanks to the Almighty God that we have been able to count all our blessings these five (5) years with smiles and laughter, to the Glory of God.

DORON MEDICAL CENTER

The ever awaiting Doron Medical Center (MLI’s Missions Hospital) which is going to serve over 17,000 inhabitants from surrounding communities and also equip our mobile clinics to deprived communities, commenced in July 2010 and saw the successful completion of its first phase to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in December 2010.

Thankfully by the middle of 2011, July to be specific, the second phase started and is already 75% complete with the casting of the Columns for the ground floor and building of the site office. What is left now is the casting of the beams on top of the pillars, flowing of the first floor and the brick work for the ground floor. We are anticipating the total completion of the ground floor by 2014 to the Glory of God.

 BOREHOLES

This year (2011), two (2) boreholes were drilled in Wusuta-Sakakyere and Deheta, located in the Kpando District and Akatsi District of the Volta Region respectively. The two boreholes were drilled in August and November 2011 respectively.

The Wusuta-Sakakyere Borehole, which was the first to be drilled, has already been dedicated. A 14 member team made up of a delegation from Cornerstone Fellowship in California and the Just-Dig-It team (who raised funds for the borehole) came to dedicate the borehole on the 8th of August, 2011. The Deheta borehole is yet to be dedicated. A commissioning ceremony has being planned for January 2012.

   MEDICAL OUTREACHES

Six (6) Medical outreaches were organized in the year 2011. The inhabitants of the following communities; Sirigu-Gunwoko, Navrongo, Afariwa, Ziave-Dzogbe, Amlakpo and Ashaiman Lebanon were blessed to be the benefactors of the six medical outreaches organized in the year 2011.

 The communities of Sirigu-Gunwoko and Navrongo, which are located in the Kassena-Nankana West district of the upper east region were the first to receive medical teams from MLI in 2011. The two outreaches which were organized in April 2011 saw 95 and 220 patients respectively receiving treatment and medication from our team of doctors and nurses. The second outreach was held in the community of Afariwa at the Freedom Life Chapel. The outreach saw a total number of 284 patients, mostly children and women, also receiving treatment from the joint medical team from Creighton University in USA and Meaningful Life International.

In Ziave-Dzogbe, a community in the Ho district of the Volta Region, the team of doctors from MLI attended to about 216 patients in all with help from Grant Perryman’s team of missionaries from the USA.

 
The medical team from MLI teamed up with Cornerstone Fellowship in USA in August 2011, and had a mega medical outreach in the community of Amlakpo, which is located in the Krobo Odumase district of the Eastern Region. The outreach saw about 284 people coming to receive free medication, treatment and counseling in the word of God. On the 16th of September 2011, Meaningful Life International also organized a 5th Anniversary medical outreach in collaboration with the Central Assemblies of God Church in the community of Ashaiman. In all, about 300 patients were attended to that day to the Glory of God.

LEADERSHIP TRAINING

 In 2011, Meaningful Life International organized a total of two Leadership Training Seminars. One was a presentation in Leadership Empowerment and the second one was a Capacity Building Seminar for Church Leaders and Pastors.

The first of the two seminars held in 2011 was in the month of August. It was facilitated by Meaningful Life International’s Executive Director, Rev. Godwin Ahlijah at the Cedar Mountain Chapel in East Legon, Accra. The topic for this Seminar was centered on the “Habits and Qualities of a Great Leader”. The event saw a total of about 150 participants.

The second, which was organized during our 5th Anniversary celebration in September, was targeted at empowering Church Leaders, Elders and pastors with tools that will equip them for effective ministerial work. The Seminar, which was facilitated by Pastor Chris Sonksen, centered on the topic “What the Great do that others don’t”, a book written by Pastor Sonksen. More than 200 participants were in attendance and their lives were really impacted.

JESUS FILM CRUSADES AND CHURCH PLANTING

 
There was no Church planting activity in 2011, but it has been amazing and totally awesome, what the Lord did through us, in the lives of the hundreds of people that were ministered to by our Jesus Film Crusades. There were five (5) Jesus film crusades in four communities in the year 2011. Our Jesus Crusade team was in Navrongo, Afariwa, Amlakpo and Mensahkrom to do massive and life changing Jesus Film Crusades with our newly acquired Jesus Film equipments and we can’t thank God enough for the testimonies and the souls that have been won to Jesus in 2011.

In Navrongo, it was really an experience, seeing children and adults standing and sitting on every available space to catch a glimpse of the movie “JESUS”. In all, about 400 people including Muslims, came to watch the movie and at the end, an alter call was made by the Pastor from the Light House Chapel. About 150 people prayed the believer’s prayer that night and accepted Jesus as their Lord and personal savior.

The story was no different in Amlakpo and Mensahkrom. More than 130 inhabitants came to watch the Jesus Film in Amlakpo and it was so amazing when all of them raised their hands to pray the believer’s prayer that night. In Mensahkrom where we had our 2011 Special Annual Christmas Outreach, the entire village including the Chief and elders were there to watch the movie. During the alter call, the whole village came forward to pray a prayer of repentance unto Jesus. There was so much joy in the village after the Crusade!!!

SUMMER TEAMS

  

Three (3) Teams visited us from the United States of America in the year 2011. We hosted a team of eight Medical Students from Creighton University in Nebraska and a joint team of fourteen (14) members from Cornerstone Fellowship and “Just-Dig-It” in California. We also hosted a four Member team from California led by Grant Perryman, the Executive Director of Meaningful Life USA.

We embarked on so many outreaches together and the teams also had the opportunity to visit interesting places in Ghana like the Kakum National Park, the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, Pacific Farms and the Come C’ Beach Resort.

 SPECIAL OUTREACHES

 
There were also visitations and donation of clothing and shoes to the Save Them Young Orphanage, Kinder Paradise Orphanage at Adenta and Prampram, the State School for the Death at Ashaiman, New Life Orphanage at Nungua and the Mother of Mercies Babies’ home at Sirigu-Gunwoko during the year under review.

In May 2011, MLI undertook a massive distribution of clothing and shoes to three villages in the Kpando district of the Volta Region. The three villages that benefited from this distribution were Adzakro-Aveti, Denui and Ando. More than 750 people were given clothes that day.

 We have also donated thousands of clothes and shoes to inhabitants of all the communities where we did our medical outreaches this year.

As part of our 5th Anniversary in 2011, MLI donated some items like toiletries, fruit drinks and surgical equipments in valued at about GH¢ 50,000 (USD$ 31,847.13) to the children’s ward of the Tema General Hospital.

IMPACT ASSESSMENT

A two days survey trip was made to Deheta, Deti, Wusuta-Sakakyere and Botoku in the Akatsi and North Dayi Districts of the Volta Region from the 12th to 13th February 2011.

During the trip, it was discovered that the communities of Wusuta-Sakakyere and Deheta needed an urgent intervention with regards to their source of drinking water. After the trip, funds were quickly mobilized, and a borehole has been drilled for the inhabitants of Wusuta-Sakakyere and Deheta. The chiefs and inhabitants of the respective villages are very happy for the boreholes that have been provided for them.

Unfortunately, not long after the borehole in Wusuta Sakakyere was commissioned in August, it has developed a fault, making it difficult for the inhabitants to use it. We alerted the engineers and the borehole is been attended to at the moment. The borehole will be in use again by the end of January.

The borehole in Attakrom has also developed a fault which the local mechanics could not rectify. The Assemblyman has confirmed that the community is ready to fund the repairs, so we have contacted Mr. Agbesi, the contractor for the borehole, and he has agreed to go and resolve the fault. The borehole will be in working condition by the end of the first week in January.

All the other 20 boreholes are in good shape and they are serving their respective communities very well.

SPECIAL ANNUAL CHRSISTMAS OUTREACH (SACO)

As part of our activities every year, MLI’s 2011 Special Christmas Outreach was targeted at Mensahkrom, a farming community in the West Akyem District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. This Special Christmas Outreach (SACO) brought great smiles to the inhabitants of Mensahkrom for the three days that our team was with them, fellowshipping and encouraging the inhabitants of the community. The MLI team was in the village from the 23rd of December to Sunday, 25th December 2011 (the Christmas day).

We used the opportunity to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with them and encourage them. We also had a Jesus Film Show & Crusade with them and donated various items (used clothing & shoes, toys, educational materials) to the school children. We had time to play soccer and volley ball matches with the inhabitants of the community, after which the entire outreach was crowned with a Christmas Party on Christmas day.

Volunteers from Cedar Mountain Chapel, Community 4 Assemblies of God Junior Youth Ministry and the Royal Rangers, Jesus-To-The-World Outreach and United Way Ghana Ltd. came to support the whole event.

 

PROJECTIONS FOR 2012

MLI WEBSITE PROJECT - Our main target in 2012 will be to get the MLI Website running by the end of the first quarter. 


HIGH SCHOOL OUTREACHES - Starting from January 2012, we will have high school outreaches in Tema Senior High, Datus Senior High, Ashaiman Senior High, Accra Academy, Nungua Senior High, Wesley Grammar Senior High, Presbyterian Boys Senior High and Accra Girls Senior High. There will be a Jesus Film Show in one of these high schools at least once every month from January to December 2012.


Completion of the DMC basement (ground floor) by December 2012.

FURNISHING OF SITE SUPERVISOR’S OFFICE - By the end of January 2012 with a Desk, Chair and a notice board to enable the site supervisor work comfortably.


BOREHOLES AND CHURCH PLANTING - From January to November 2012, MLI Project department will supervise the drilling of 5 boreholes in 5 unreached communities across the country (Deti, Anowah, Apegusu, Diare, Bonkua No 1 & 2 and Akofokrom). We will plant at least 4 churches in some of these communities.


MEDICAL OUTREACHES - We will embark on a total of four (4) medical outreaches, one of which will be in a community either in the Northern Region or Northern Volta; preferably Yadodo, Ebitiyie or Alege-Akura.


LEADERSHIP TRAINING - There will be 2 Leadership seminars (possibly between June and September 2012) during summer teams which will consist of one Health awareness talk and the other a Capacity Building Seminar for leaders.


QUARTERLY PRAYER AND FASTING - There will be 3 days prayer and fasting for MLI staff in the last month of every quarter, during which a day will be set aside for staff members to go to the DMC site to pray.

PLAQUING OF BOREHOLES - The communities of Makyere, Roll Call, Sakakyere and Deheta where MLI has its newest boreholes will also be visited during an impact assessment and Plaques will also be made for all recently dug boreholes (Makyere, Deheta and Wusuta-Sakakyere).


SUMMER TEAMS - We will facilitate at least (3) summer teams from June to September. 


MLI NEWSLETTER & QUARTERLY REPORTS - There will be a quarterly production of newsletters, starting from January 2012. We hope that the 2012 newsletters will be informative enough, covering up for all activities undertaken in 2011 as well. 

PRAYER TOPICS

We Thank God for a successful year; his goodness, mercies, faithfulness, protection, guidance and provisions as MLI hit its 5th anniversary.


We pray and Declare success in all programmes and projects of MLI in 2012.


We pray especially and thank God for the successful completion of the first part of our Second Phase of the Doron Medical Centre. We ask Him to supply all the resources, support and direction needed for the completion of the next part in record time.


Pray with us that God will ordain divine success for all Partners, Board Members, Staff and Donors of MLI. We also pray for Unity among Staff Members, between Staff and Board of directors and between Staff and Partners for the progress of the organization.


We also pray for partnership and direction of the Holy Spirit, so that Meaningful Life International will   be focused on the vision and mission 2012.


We pray for all souls out there who are yet to be touched by Meaningful Life International and pray that God will use MLI to touch their lives and win them for Jesus.


We pray for Greater blessings upon our partners and donors and for more partners to come on board.

APPRECIATION

If we can SMILE for how far we have come then it is because we are standing on your shoulders. Our five years story is only complete when you are mentioned and appreciated. We sincerely and humbly appreciate your partnership and involvement with Meaningful Life International. All of these will not have been possible without you, our wonderful partners, donors, friends and volunteers. By availing yourselves, many who were disadvantaged in society have been reached in various ways by MLI.

God richly bless and multiply your barn. We say God richly bless you in thousand folds. Hallelujah!

NYAME NHIRA MO NYINAA !!!

GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU ALL!!!

JUNE MISSIONS (2ND – 8TH JUNE, 2011)

CREIGHTON MEDICAL STUDENTS (USA) AND MLI

After months of steady preparations and great communication between staff of Meaningful Life International (MLI) and the contact persons of Creighton University Medical Students in Nebraska – USA, the long anticipated collaboration between the two parties dubbed Missions 2011, has finally become a success story by the grace of God.

On Thursday 2^nd June 2011, the team of eight Medical Students from Creighton University arrived in Ghana at the Kotoka International Airport. A delegation from Meaningful Life International arrived at airport (KIA) to welcome the team at exactly 8:35pm. The MLI delegation was made up of Enoch, Stephen and Mr. Osei. The students arrived individually on different flights and by 9:45pm they had all arrived. From the airport, the team was taken to their place of accommodation which is the EMEF HILL VIEW ESTATES at Mataheko to rest.

On Friday 3^rd June 2011, the team from Creighton University quickly had breakfast, after which they were given a brief orientation which included the introduction of the MLI staff present and a brief talk on what to expect in Ghana. The team was also briefed on some of the operations MLI over the years after which they had the opportunity to watch a documentary on Meaningful Life International.

From the house, the team went to the Ashiaman State School for the Deaf. The team got to the school at about 11:30am and without delay, was taken to the proprietor’s office to greet him and also to be told a little about the school. The team was really surprised to hear the extent to which some parents and family members could go and things they do to their wards just because they were born deaf and dumb. The team really counted the gift of sight and hearing as a blessing. The team had time to interact and take pictures with inmates at the school. A donation of clothes and shoes was made to the school. The team was also taken to the Pacific Ostrich Farm to see the animals after which they were driven to the Tema Central Mall to have lunch.

SATURDAY

A delay in the arrival of three nurses from the NARH BITA HOSPITAL in Tema and two medical assistants led to a general delay in the departure of the team to the Freedom Life Chapel at Afariwa, where the medical outreach was taking place. This was because there was only on mini bus transporting both teams to the place. The community in which the Church was located had a population of about 1500 people with most of the people there mainly cattle rearers. So finally at 9:26am the team arrived. There were two doctors, one medical student from Korle-bu in addition to the team from Creighton and Narh Bita in attendance and a counselor from Freedom Life Chapel. The nurses together with the members of the team attended to a total number of about 284 patients, mostly children and women. The whole outreach came to a close at about 4:45pm.

 

 

SUNDAY

Today was very packed because we had two major activities. The team was first taken to Cedar Mountain Church Int. to have Sunday service and indeed, the team had a wonderful fellowshipping with them. The team got to the church at 7:19am when praise and worship was in session.  A very powerful sermon was given by Rev. Stephen Wengam, the senior pastor of the church. By 10:20am church service was over.
  

The afternoon saw a Seminar on Hepatitis B at a Senior High School very close to Kakasunanka called Witsands Senior High School. The team had a quick stop over at the Accra Mall to grab some snacks after which they were driven by the house to pick up the projector and seminar equipments. At exactly 12:30 we were in the school and by 12:45pm the seminar had begun.

Dr. Lenusia Ahlijah gave a powerful presentation on the topic and some of the team members also gave some inputs. She talked on the major causes of Hepatitis B in our part of the world and ways in which this virus in spread. The students were given the opportunity at the end of the talk to ask questions after which the students also had the chance to interact with the medical students from Creighton University. We left the school at 2:30pm to the Tema Central Mall where the team bought themselves some snacks, after which we left for the house.

MONDAY

If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5:46-47 (N.I.V)

A good religion cares for orphans, needy and widows. This is what landed the team of medical students on the compound of the Weija Leprosarium on Monday 6^th June 2011. The team left the house at 10:15am hoping to make it to the leprosarium at around 12:00 noon with less traffic. Traffic was very intense as usual on the Tesano - Mallam Junction stretch and by the time we arrived on the compounds of the Weija Leprosarium, it was 1:30pm in the afternoon. We were welcomed by Mr. Kwansah, the caretaker of the Leprosarium during the absence of Rev. Father Campbell who is the current Chairman of the Lepers council. He gave a brief history about the place and some of the predicaments of the inmates and the stigma they faced in society. The medical students had the chance to ask him a lot of questions about the disease and what the inmates were going through.

The medical students had a wonderful time interacting and socializing with the inmates. We presented clothing and foot wares to the inmates of the Weija Leprosarium and taken round the compound to have a look around, after which we took a group picture with the inmates. The team left the leprosarium at 2:45pm.

TUESDAY

Today, 7^th June 2011 begun with a Bible studies at the team’s place of residence. All the staff of MLI was at the house to have a wonderful Bible discussion. Pastor Godwin and Dr. Lenusia joined us later on in the discussion. We dwelt on Proverbs 4:7 and the main theme for the discussion was Wisdom. The Creighton team members shared their views with us after which pastor Godwin gave a short exhortation to close us. Today being the teams last day with MLI, a short parting ceremony was done for the team. Each member of the team was decorated with a Kente sash with their names neatly interwoven into the fabric. Dr. Lenusia Ahlijah, the deputy Executive Director did the decoration after which both MLI staff and the Creighton students gathered for a group picture.

The team was taken to the Doron Medical Clinic construction site to look at the progress of work. Pastor Godwin gave the team and explanation of why the clinic was being put up, the vision and the purpose it was going to serve with regards to MLI’s mobile clinics to rural villages. The team really had a nice time in the open air and change of environment. A short prayer was said over the clinic and the team was taken back to the house.

WEDNESDAY

Then came the moment that neither the staff of MLI nor the Creighton Medical Students wanted to come, it was time for the team to depart. The teams had to continue to Kumasi for a quick stop over before leaving to Saboba where they were to have a three weeks internship program in a clinic. At about 10:00am the team was to the V.I.P transport yard to get on a bus that will take them to Kumasi. By 12:20 in the afternoon, we were at the transport yard. The team bought their tickets and for the last time, we took a group picture on the bus with them and said goodbye.