Report, Ghana Trip, 2010 - by Margaret Callahan
We recently spent 10 days in Ghana at Sweetwater House. On Wednesday a girl named Elizabeth shared her story. She was given as a virgin sacrifice to the fetish priest when she was an infant. She lived on the shrine and was forced to work and live naked all her life. When visitors came to the shrine, they would weep because of the condition she was in and the way all of them were being treated. She asked a woman why the people cry when they come and see them. She had no idea how terrible her circumstances were because it’s all she knew her entire life.
When she was 19 years old, someone came and negotiated with the priest and rescued her out of slavery. They gave her a dress and shoes for the first time. She had never seen clothes before so she didn’t know how to put them on. She couldn’t walk because she had never worn sandals before! Can you imagine having to learn to walk in shoes for the very first time at age 19!?!?!
When she was under the control of the fetish priest, she practiced idol worship. All of the girls at the shrine were taught that if they open the Bible they will die!
After being rescued, she was brought to the Sweetwater House. Of course, the Bible is taught here. When she was given a Bible she concluded “Okay, I will open the Bible and I will die” so she opened it. By the grace of God, she began to read it and the teachers at the House taught her God’s Word. She became a believer in Jesus Christ and the pastor at the local church baptized her! By the end of her testimony I was practically weeping! I feel like my telling of the story doesn’t even capture the depth of what its like to hear her tell it. I can’t imagine what she had to endure.
This is just a small glimpse of what these girls have faced. Some girls were abandoned at birth, some were beaten for the smallest things, some were attacked and almost killed, some have been raped and some have even bore children to that evil fetish priest. They cried as they revealed their stories and our team could not hold back our tears as we sat to listen.
After a time of worship and the Word the Holy Spirit moved and the girls began praying, confessing and singing out to God. By the end, we were able to pray over each individual girl, anoint them with oil and give them a special glass cross necklace to remind them of what God has done for them.