PCC has completely lost its way…!!??
Jeannette and I have barely arrived in Ghana, and we are being confronted with a totally unexpected problem:
Those who have been here before, will remember that to enter our Community you had to drive across the grounds of St. Theresa’s Hospital for the last part of the road. You would go through the entrance into the hospital’s premises and then on the backside of the hospital you would go through an opening in the wall and drive into PCC.
However….., the board of the Hospital has fairly recently and rather abruptly decided to close the opening in the wall with a large gate. They think that too many people cross their premises “just like that” and they are not only people of PCC, but also many people living in the neighbourhood further down the road, who go into town via the hospital grounds.
Consultations with the Hospital board were of no avail and we were obliged to look for another way of leaving PCC to be able to go into town and further away.
There used to be a different route, which led you around the hospital grounds, but it is entirely overgrown and an old bridge, which was part of that same road, has broken down and eroded away: no car can drive there.
So: PCC has completely lost its way!
What can we do? We must find a new way very soon because we desperately need an access road!
Fortunately, our saviours are on their way, because the G8 from Groningen are coming to PCC’s rescue in October. They have assured us that they will be able to fix the old bridge (although this will certainly not be a piece of cake…). Hurray!!
Besides, the people in the neighbourhood further down the road have promised us that they will “voluntarily” remove all overgrowth on the entire road before half October.
It seems that a very unexpected problem will be solved in a joint effort, which would be very fortunate. We will see.
You might think we have lost our way, however, in PCC the most important way still is:
The Way Forward,
which means stepping forward on the way to a better future.
We definitely have already been walking this road for years!
The welcome we received on our return to PCC was heart-warming, certainly when almost all children came running into our direction. It was really good to see that nearly all children are doing fine.
In spite of a very high inflation and prices raising continually in Ghana, we are still able to feed all residents of PCC sufficiently and each day. For this we also must thank Baffo for his good procurement policies.
Of course, there always are some worries in such a large community. Stephen has slipped on a wet floor, unfortunately he has broken his leg and he is in hospital now. Some children are doing less fine, like Yaw Balloon and Cynthia Akoos. They get extra attention from our caregivers, and we sincerely hope that they will recuperate soon.
Predominantly, there are many children here with a bright smile on their faces, like Rachel and Luke, David and Sadat and also William of Orange and James.
The care and attention given to all residents by the large group of young Ghanaian caregivers deserves our admiration. Maybe it is not perfect, but there is much energy and commitment, which also contributes to this warm and happy Community, which it has been for so many years.
Losing the way and still going forward: that is PCC’s reality!
Hallelujah and Amen!