Steve and Vicky Ager, an architectural technician and optometrist respectively from Derby, are spending eight months in Cape Coast, Ghana. Steve writes:

‘We have now been in Ghana for over a month and are starting to settle into our placements. Vicky is working in the Christian Eye Centre (eye-testing) and I am based at the Cape Coast Technical Institute, where I have started teaching ‘Design and Making’ and ‘Bench Fitting’.

This is a bit of a challenge as the school has very few resources, so most of the teaching is on the blackboard rather than practical. Many of the students have only a notebook and a pen, not even a pencil. This makes drawing diagrams tricky because two or three students end up taking it in turns to use a pencil.

‘Each day brings many new experiences and encounters, and we have been made to feel very welcome. We have visited four different churches so far and found a huge range of types and styles of worship, and had some great experiences.

‘An estimated 70 per cent of people here are Christians, and it’s so refreshing that people talk about God so openly. Many taxis have bible quotes on the back windscreen, and many shops and businesses include Christian references in their names, for example God’s Grace Hair Salon, Pray Hard Provisions Store, and God is Good Welding.’

As partners together in Christ’s way
grant us the humility to receive new insights from fellow travellers,
especially from brothers and sisters
whose journeys have been different from ours.

Latest Events

Sunday 13

14th Sunday after Trinity This week we remember volunteers on placement around the world with the Experience Exchange Programme. We pray that both volunteers and host churches will learn from the experience and grow in faith.

Monday 14

Holy Cross Day Pray for Stephen and Vicky Ager in Ghana (see article). Also in Africa, pray for Margaret Burkett, a horticulturalist, who is supporting an agricultural project in Gambella, western Ethiopia.

Tuesday 15

Pray for Lindsey Stevenson, a paramedic from Manchester, working with young adults and HIV awareness in Cape Town, South Africa.

Wednesday 16

Pray for Patricia Hamilton, a retired buyer for the John Lewis Partnership, who is helping with women’s ministry for the Arulagam Association, in Madurai, India.

Thursday 17

Remember Dr Arthur Jackson a retired General Practitioner who is serving at Mau Hospital in Kenya. In Tonga, pray for Simon Redstone, from Alsager, who is teaching woodwork, coppice work and farming at a forestry high school.

Friday 18

Pray for graphic designer Sian Harris, from Leeds, who is on placement with the Diocese of Botswana where she is helping with website development and publicity.

Saturday 19

Pray for Rob Whiteman, the assistant secretary of the Church of Scotland, who is providing training in church administration and youth work in the Diocese of Harare, in Zimbabwe.