Ministry Highlights

Real life inspiring stories from the girls, graduates & staff

“ENTRUST these things to faithful men who will also be qualified to teach others.” 2 Timothy 2:2

by Debbie French, Co-Founder of Today’s Choices

After twenty years of serving Christ through the ministry of Today’s Choices, here in the U.S. and Ghana, West Africa, the time has come to ENTRUST these things to the next generation, who have faithfully served with us. For almost twenty years, God has been transforming the lives of young girls at Sweetwater House in Ghana.

It has been our privilege and honor to share the Good News of Jesus Christ and his transforming power, and it is with great anticipation that we are watching his plans unfold to continue His message of setting the captives free! Christ came that we might have LIFE and have it to the fullest, and young girls are experiencing that LIFE every day at Sweetwater House.

So it is with great joy that we want to introduce you to the next generation of leaders at Sweetwater House — Elizabeth (Lizy) and Samuel Brew! God has raised up this faithful couple to continue the work of serving Him and our precious girls at Sweetwater. They are family to many of us here in the States and we are humbled to serve with them.

Samuel and Lizy truly are FAITHFUL followers of Christ who are able to teach others, and they are excited about taking Sweetwater House forward, by faith, watching God continue to transform one life at a time.

We want to say “THANK YOU” to each and every one of you who have prayed, supported and gone to Ghana with us over these many years. It is because of your continued faithfulness to this ministry that we have been able to see so many young girls delivered from the kingdom of darkness into His Kingdom of Light! We are eternally grateful!

So, this is not the end — but the BEGINNING! It is the beginning of God’s story of redemption for the next generation in Ghana, W. Africa. Churches and individuals will continue to take and serve with Samuel and Lizy at Sweetwater House, and we look forward to the next twenty teams years of watching God’s story unfold.

“All they asked was that we continue to remember the poor.” Galatians 2:10

As Today’s Choices closes its doors and transitions Sweetwater Ministries to our family in Ghana, all we ask is that you will continue to remember the poor with your gifts! This will be our last newsletter, and we are asking YOU to give the greatest gift you have ever given to Today’s Choices so that we can give an amazing blessing to our girls in Ghana. We are trusting and believing God to bring in a mighty harvest through this letter, so that our girls will continue to eat each day, have a secure home to stay in, and provide for the staff that so faithfully serves them each day. Will you please search your heart and ask the Lord what you can give? The operational costs are $4,000 a month, so please help us reach our goal of $48,000 to continue to provide for them in 2012.

May God bless each of you,

Pam Hawkins and Debbie French (Co-Founders of Today’s Choices-USA)

Photos (from Top to Bottom):
- Co-Founders: Debbie French and Pam Hawkins
- Samuel and Lizzy Brew
- The Brew Family (L to R): Stephen, Lizzy, Samuel, (front) Debbie, Emmanuel
- Emmanuel Brew, Dante Williamson, Stephen Brew

Posted in Get Involved, Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Nov 17, 2011

Giving with a Purpose… change a life

Many of you may be reading this and thinking I want to make a difference or get involved but I don’t know how or I don’t have much to give. I am here to tell you that there is no such thing as a small gift to these young women. It costs less than one dollar to feed one of the Sweetwater girls a good breakfast so that she can be focused and ready to learn how to sew that day. It costs $20 to buy one girl her very own bed sheets, something she has never owned in her entire life. It costs less than a dollar a day to provide a girl with all of the toiletries and personal care items she will need, including everything from soap to a toothbrush. You can change a life NOW… by making “sweetwater” available to one girl in Ghana, West Africa.

Please consider giving a tax-deductable donation to Today’s Choices. Look over the list of options below and find the one that is right for you or give another amount of your choosing.

Make Checks payable to “TODAY’S CHOICES” and mail to:

P.O.Box 1349, Brentwood, TN 37024

Posted in Get Involved, Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Oct 02, 2010

Administrating Success

We are excited to share some news with you which is near and dear to Today’s Choices heart. On September 1, 2010, Margaret Callahan started as the full-time Administrator of Today’s Choices at the request of the Board. As the ministry has grown, the work load has continued to increase significantly. Having a full-time Administrator will enable the ministry to cast an even wider vision and continue to work on what God is doing in Ghana.

Margaret has volunteered with Today’s Choices since 2004 when she went on her first short-term trip to Sweetwater Ministries. In 2007, she lived at the school for a year. While she lived there, she operated as the Interim House Mother at the school, taught English to the students, and communicated needs and updates between Sweetwater Ministries and the U.S. Board. She has a great desire to serve God by working for this ministry full-time. Some of her duties are:

Leading and preparing American teams to go on annual short-term mission trips to Ghana.
Maintaining strong and consistent communication with the Ghanaian Sweetwater staff.
Informing supporters in the U.S. regularly with updates through electronic and mail-out newsletters.
Maintaining the website and Facebook pages.
Fundraising for the ministry through various avenues (including sponsorship for the 24 students).
Various administrative projects.
Managing and planning all events and meetings.

We will need to raise approximately $3000 per month to pay her salary and expenses. Would you consider partnering with us financially so that she can help this ministry to perform with excellence and with greater efficiency? We would love to have your support as Today’s Choices and Margaret take this leap of faith.

*All gifts are tax-deductable and can be written and mailed to Today’s Choices, P.O.Box 1349, Brentwood, TN 37024. If you would like to designate it, you can do so in the memo line of the check.

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Oct 02, 2010

Baking at Sweetwater…

Let the baking go on…

Sweetwater’s Executive Directors, Agnes and Lizy, are leading a baking endeavor at Sweetwater House. They bake all the breads for Sweetwater as well as bread to sell in the community and at the market. This exciting new venture is working as a means to teach the girls another skill to supplement their education at the school, as well as bring in local revenue and awareness for Sweetwater Ministries. It is complete with an industrial oven. A big thank you to everyone who gave so that this would be possible!

Please be praying with the staff at Sweetwater Ministries as they disciple, train and encourage the 24 new students who started at Sweetwater in mid-September. And pray also for the staff as they take on the new endeavors of baking and cosmetology. The Lord is doing a new thing at Sweetwater and the He is in it! Let us stand alongside them in prayer as they labor in Ghana.

Please be praying also for the 24 new students. For most of these young women, this was the first time they ever had a real shower, a real bed and the consistency of three meals a day. However, there is always a brief but hard period of adjusting to new roommates and a new environment. We trust God that each one of these young women were chosen to be at Sweetwater for such a time as this!!

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Oct 02, 2010

Celebration 2010

I received some new pictures of the Sweetwater Graduation 2010 that I want to share with you. The first is a traditional Ghanaian dance that the girls performed in celebration of this eventful day. In attendance at graduation were not only the parents and family of the girls, but also the Pastors, Deacons and congregation members of Charismatic Baptist Church. Several government officials were in attendance. A Representative of the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare served as Guest of Honor. The Regional Coordinator for National Vocational Training Institute served as the Chairperson for the event.

The second picture is of the Teacher’s Assistants who have lived at the house for 4 years, the first 2 as students and the last 2 as sewing assistants. Please pray for them as they leave this sanctuary of Sweetwater House and go out into the community. The TA’s are left to right… Mercy, Linda, Regina, and Mary. Please pray for them and lift them up to the throne as often as you think of Sweetwater House and Ghana. Pray that God the Father will hold them in His tender embrace.

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Aug 03, 2010

Graduation — 2010

By God’s Grace every thing went on very well with the preparation and the graduation itself.

On Friday the 16th of July the Sweetwater House was full of parents and relations of the girls as well as pastors, deacons and congregation members from Charismatic Baptist Church to celebrate with the girls their graduation. We were priviledged to have a Representative of the Minister of Employment and Social Welfare as the Guest of Honor, as well as the Regional Co-ordinator for National Vocational Training Institute as the Chairperson for the occasion.

Saturday was a day for cleaning and rest for the girls. Sunday, we were all at church to thank the Lord for His Goodness towards us all these two years of our stay in the House. Monday was departure for the girls and the TA’s who have all gone back to their homes and communities where they came from to apply the skills they have learned to help better their lives. We have their contact numbers to help us reach them from time to time.

Please pray for the graduates and TA’s as they re-enter society “knowing how to fish”. Pray for their protection and success!

(Left… Top) The girls dance at Graduation.

(Left bottom) Susanna and Agnes receive their sewing machines!

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Jul 26, 2010

Trokosi Slave System

As Westerners, it is very difficult for us to understand the grip that superstition and fear have on West Africans who practice African traditional religions (known as ATR, animism, voodoo, etc…). It is this fear that drives such horrendous practices as Trokosi slavery.

What is Trokosi?

Trokosi is an old cultural and ATR practice found primarly among the Ewe people group of south eastern Ghana. When a family undergoes hard times (poor crop harvest, numerous deaths in the family, chronic illness) they believe the gods are angry with them and they seek a way to appease the gods and relieve the curse that has been placed on them.

The “cursed” family will visit a nearby shrine (small village of fetish priests) to meet with the shrine custodian (aka, fetish priest, witch, or voodoo priest). The priest will consult the gods and tell them why they are cursed and how the curse can be removed. For “big” sins such as adultery, murder and theft, the priest will demand that the family give the gods a virgin girl to atone for the sin. As long as the girl is serving the gods at the shrine then the curse will be lifted.

Since the gods require a virgin girl, the victims of this form of slavery are almost always very young teens. Also, if a girl runs away or dies, she must be replaced by another girl from the family.

What does the word Trokosi mean?

The word “tro” in the Ewe language means deity or fetish and the word “kosi” means female slave. In French-speaking countries Trokosi is sometimes called “voodoosi” or “voundounsi”. Some circles refer to it as “ritual servitude” or “hierodulic slavery.”

How can this be legal?

It isn’t. In the 1990s, several Christian organizations, including the Ghana Baptist Convention (GBC), began to lobby the Ghanaian government to stop the practice. Most of these shrines are deep in the forests of the Volta region and not very accessible. Many didn’t know about this evil practice or thought it was just rumored to be going on. As a result of their efforts, parliament banned the practice in June of 1998.

Unfortunately, laws are just words written on paper along with the signatures of some rich politicians. The government lacks the finances and manpower to root out all the shrines and stop the practice. As a result, numerous Christian organizations and NGOs have taken it upon themselves to negotiate with shrine custodians to liberate Trokosi slaves.

How do Trokosi slaves serve the gods?

As you probably guessed, serving “the gods” means serving the fetish priests. The slave girls (and women once they have grown up) do most of the manual labor in the shrine village. This means waking up early to go to the fields and farm. Coming back and preparing dinner for the priests. Probably most disturbing of all is that these young girls are also sex slaves. They provide “entertainment” for the priests, which involves dancing in the nude and they are regularly raped.

Living conditions are very poor for Trokosi slaves. Most shrines only allow them to wear a single white cloth – not even shoes. They are not always properly fed since the shrine custodians get priority and sometimes the gods they serve require them to abstain from certain foods. Slaves are beaten and whipped for disobeying the priests and there have even been reports of slaves being starved and forced to kneel on shards of broken glass for hours as punishment.

2nd and 3rd generation Trokosi

When a Trokosi girl gives birth at the shrine, her children also become the property of the priests. Due to the regular raping by priests, an adult Trokosi woman may have 4 or more children. Since the banning of ritual servitude in 1998, the number of new slaves has dropped significantly. Most of those enslaved were taken prior to the law being passed but continue to have children born in to slavery. These children, whose mother is a slave and father (or grandfather) is a shrine custodian, continue to serve at the shrine.

Various NGOs estimate that before the law was passed there were around 5,000 slaves and 15-20K slave children (2nd+ generation). Since 1998 over 2,000 slaves and their children have been liberated.

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Apr 12, 2010

Charlotte by Margaret Callahan

I had the privilege to meet Charlotte in January of 2010 and she shared this story with me in our small group one day … it’s her story. I want to recognize the great boldness it took for her to share this in front of her peers… She brought her story out of the depths of darkness and into the light!

(Photo 1… when Charlotte first arrived at Sweetwater House, Summer, 2008. Photo 2… shows the scars on her face from the fetish priest. Photo 3… We crowned each girl a princess of the KING on Wednesday when I was there. Photo 4… Charlotte and her roomates.)

Charlotte… betrayed, outcast, wounded, alone, child of the gods, evil, not human. These are words that have been spoken over and to Charlotte since she was a baby. She has literally spent her entire life hearing these names over her from everyone in her life, including her own family and close friends.

When Charlotte was just a baby, she was consistently sick. Her mother, following the tradition of those that went before her, went to the fetish shrine to ask the priest for guidance. She feared that Charlotte’s reoccurring illness was the effect of some family curse or sin. The priest, having the mother right where he wanted her (soaking in fear), told her what was required. He told her: “the next time your baby (Charlotte) is sick bring her to me, I will cut her face six times on each side, and then you must take her to the nearest trash pile and leave her there. She will either live or die. It is up to the gods.” And that is what was done… she was laid on the trash pile and she lived.

Years later, Charlotte is a young girl walking home from school with a friend. They skipped along with childlike abandon. As they approached the friend’s house, a woman’s figure was standing in the doorway. The friend’s mother did not ask the children how their day was, or if they were hungry for a snack, or even to stop playing because there were chores to be done. Any of those would have been a dream compared to the reality. The words oozed like venom, wrapped in misguided trust, at Charlotte… “Get away from my house and away from my daughter. You are never to see or speak to her again. You are evil and a child of the gods! Stay away from us!” All the while she was quickly catching her own child up into her arms and shooing away Charlotte.

Charlotte ran home, crying… all the while the shock turning into pain as the small tears turned into a flood. When she got home, her mother told her all that had happened when she was a baby. It was told with sadness and yet a hopelessness because there was nothing to be done about it.

Charlotte continued to live in her village but things were never the same. She very quickly became the outcast of the village, now aware how everyone saw her. She sat on the outskirts of festivities at parties because she knew no one wanted her to be there at all, much less participate. Other children soon heard her story, and teased with abandon. The other mothers also looked on her as a poison that they wouldn’t dare allow to enter their lives, or the lives of their children. And then, the final piece of the dark journey of this innocent child, were the voices in her head… encouraging the hopeless, dark names she had been called. Speaking them as truth over her life…it was as if with each word or thought or voice, the bars to her own personal prison were being put in place.

The final stone to this prison was the hope of an education. Charlotte’s story in this area is extremely common in Ghana. Charlotte’s father had died when she was young, and so Charlotte’s olde

r sister had raised her because the mother was working on a farm to provide for their meager needs. When Charlotte was in 5th grade, her mother was struggling to support them and Charlotte had to drop out of school so she could help to sell the crops.

Time wore on and Charlotte grew in size, but in all other areas she was stagnant, hopeless, and alone.
One day, she heard about Sweetwater through a young woman who had graduated from the program. Although her heart was full of doubt and fear, Charlotte went to the school and applied. The acceptance came as a surprise, and was quickly followed by strong thoughts telling her: “Don’t go to that school; the people at Sweetwater will treat you as a outcast just like everyone else; you are evil and not even a human being, you will never fit in there.” But when the time came to start at the school she went. It was extremely hard because the voices and thoughts in her head continued and within a few months the thoughts turned for the worse to plans for her own suicide.

She went to church one Wednesday night with the students and some staff for a teaching and prayer night the church had planned. What she was not expecting was for the pastor to stand up and call out the person in the room who was planning on killing themselves. She made her way forward and the pastor prayed with and for her. He encouraged her to open her heart to Jesus and to continue to pray on her own and with friends at the school. That night the voices stopped. And they were replaced by joy, freedom, tenderness and an eagerness to learn, a relationship with God and his son. Words of truth replaced the lies…She has been made holy (Heb.10:13)…He goes with her wherever she goes (Duet.31:8) …He has given her a new name and she is a royal diadem in His hand (Is. 62:2-3)… she is his Beloved (all of SOS)… He has given her beauty for ashes (Is. 61:3)… He rejoices over her with singing (Zeph. 3:17)!!!

Over a year after she prayed with the pastor, the negative thoughts and voices did return… full of evil lies that had been spoken over her. She told me that she had become accustomed to the joyous freedom she found through her prayer that night at the church and that she had continued to pray on her own… but as time passed, her prayers waned. And slowly, some of the negative thoughts returned. Her tears flowed freely as each word left her lips. Those listening cried with her also.

Our small group of students spoke truth to her and prayed with and for her. That freedom is hers… She has been bought with a price and He died on the cross so that she would have it. We have the ultimate victory…but the battle on this earth wages on. Please pray for her continued freedom from the lies that have been spoken over her and that the truth would grow roots in her life and bear MUCH fruit!! And also that she would be released from any shame!!
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

Pictures:

1- Charlotte her first week at Sweetwater House…. no smile, no joy (green bush behind her)

2- The scars on her face from the Fetish Priest

3- We crowned each girl a princess of the KING on Wednesday when I was there

4- Charlotte and her roomates.

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Mar 12, 2010

New Creations by Kim Gillespie

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

(The photo at the top of this post is from Sept., 2008. the girls had just arrived at Sweetwater House.)

This verse has taken on a totally different meaning for me as a result of my time with the young ladies of the Sweetwater House in Ghana, West Africa. Their stories are varied, yet similar. Tales of betrayal and denial, neglect and abuse, guilt, shame, pain, and just plain evil. There are those who had been shifted from family members to friends, from one village to another, some in hopes of financial reprieves, others for the sake of education. Some had been “hired” as house help, only to be cheated, beaten and deprived of the security they sought, many by member of their own family. And then, there are those who were victims of the evil Trokosi slave system. These girls were sacrificed as children to live a life of servitude to fetish priests (witch doctors). Their families betrayed them under the lies that their lives would be sufficient to pay debts, “secure” good fortune, or stop a series of deaths or illnesses. All before any of them reached the age of 20. On the surface, their lives represent nothing that is joyous.

But God…

God saw fit to redeem them from the pit. He orchestrated meetings, directed steps and brought them to a place He had reserved for them…a place of sweet water instead of bitterness. The house isn’t what made the difference. The difference is Who they met in the house. Christ.

These girls have moved from places of bitterness and despair to hope and joy - thru Christ. They have been rescued from slavery, sin, idol worship and evil – by Christ. They are renewed by Him, loved by Him, protected by Him, provided for by Him, redeemed by Him, reconciled to Him. They are His children “crowned with steadfast love and mercy” (Psalm 103:4). They are His daughters who have received “crowns of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” (Isaiah 61:3) They are indeed “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that <they> should walk them.” (Ephesians 2:10). God has blessed the work of their hands, poured His word into their hearts, and will soon send them out to share His gospel with their mouths and feet. “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Romans 10:15).

If ever I needed to see a picture of a new creation, I have seen it now. Twenty-four of them. To God be the Glory!!

There is the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I have included a “before” picture, when the young ladies first arrived at the Sweetwater House and “after” pictures, from our time with them in January.

This photo was taken in January or 2010… typical teenage girls!

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Mar 11, 2010

Beauty for Ashes by Kim Gillespie

On January 22, 2010 I joined five other women on a trip to the Sweetwater House in Ghana, West Africa. Sweetwater House is a ministry of Today’s Choices, and is a residential home for young ladies 16-21 years of age, designed to give them a safe place to prepare for life. During their 2-year residence, the young ladies are taught English (the official language of business in Ghana), reading, writing, sewing, tie-dye and batik (both are methods of dying cloth). Most importantly, they are exposed consistently to God’s truth through devotionals, songs, and Bible studies.

(Photo 1 - left: “Ashes”, taken when the girls first arrived - Summer, 2008). These amazing young women come from various walks of life. Yet, all have stories of instability and insecurity, being shifted from one family member to another (and even to strangers), from one village to another, from one region to the next. Ashes. Some have served as “house help”, cleaning homes, selling products by the roads, and doing whatever is required in order to receive what meager room, board and in some cases, pay, they could. There are stories of being beaten for “missing product” and short sales, being forced to eat leftover food that cats and dogs had eaten, and being abused by wives of fathers and uncles. Ashes. Several have experienced the death of parents, leaving the family in even more dire financial straits, sometimes thrusting them into the workforce as mere children.

In all of the stories of hardships, perhaps the more difficult ones to hear were those who had some connection to the Trokosi slave system. Run by fetish priests (similar to witch doctors), these girls were the “payments” required for some family member’s debt or crime or to superstitiously stop a series of unfortunate events (illnesses or deaths). So, they were sacrificed, one as young as 2 months old, to live a life of servitude to the priests. Ashes. One sweet young woman tells of her awkwardness in putting on shoes and clothes for the first time after being rescued from the shrine just a few years ago. Another tells the story of her escape and her mother’s deception in trying to convince her to return to the shrine “for the sake of the family.” Ashes.

And yet, I look at them now. God has done amazing things, not only in their lives, but in their hearts. They eat His Word, treating it as life-giving “honey” on their tongues, for some remember when they believed they would die by simply opening it. And it is beautiful. They sing praises and dance with freedom and reckless abandon, for they know what it is to be bound. And it is beautiful. They pray with fervor to a God who loves them, for they remember how it feels to be abandoned. And it is beautiful. They worship Him with gratefulness, for they know what it is to be sacrificed for something you have not done. And it is beautiful. (The photo below - Beauty - was taken in February of 2010. The girls have been living at Sweetwater House for 1 1/2 years. They look like normal teenagers … because they are!)

Yes, Isaiah’s words are true. God has bound up the brokenhearted. He has proclaimed freedom for the captives. He has released them from darkness. He has “bestowed on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair”. Those young ladies are “oaks of righteousness, firmly planted of the LORD, proudly displaying His splendor.” And IT IS BEAUTIFUL.

Posted in Ministry Highlights by Sweetwater Ministries | Mar 01, 2010

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