LOOKING BACK AT THE YEAR 2021

 

2021 YEAR IN REVIEW 

We began 2021 with seven days of fasting and prayer (from the 11th to the 17th of January) with the intention of moving forward to the next level of achievement and to prepare ourselves spiritually for the year ahead. Staff of MLI, and some of our volunteers, met each day for fellowship and to seek God’s guidance. We were confident and hopeful for a successful year.  However, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to disrupt our plans and had a negative impact financially on all of our missions.

As an organization that relies heavily on donor support to carry out our activities, we suffered a major setback in our ability to provide the support and services so desperately needed in our community. We could not implement many of the activities as planned, however, some modest gains were made through the grace and mercy of God! We remain grateful to God and our faithful partners who stood firmly with us in the mist of these difficult times.

 Water Project (Boreholes)

Access to clean water still remains a huge challenge in most of the rural communities in Ghana. Many of these communities still drink from an unclean stream which eventually dries up during the dry season. Others compete with cattle and other wild animals for water from the same source.

During the year under review, we constructed one borehole for the people of Asuboi-Maase. The progress of the project is about 85% complete.                           

Medical Outreach

In partnership with the Doron Medical Center, we were able to embark on several community medical outreach missions. In the mist of financial and logistical challenges, we were able to mobilize resources to distribute hand sanitizer and face masks to the people of Dedukorpe and Asikasu-Odumase. We are grateful for our partnership with the Church at Rancho Bernardo, in San Diego, U.S.A who helped us accomplish this. This outreach has equipped the members of these communities with some safety equipment and measures to help curb the spread of the virus, as well as encouraging them with the Word of God. There has also been a positive impact on their lives through the show of love and compassion and the feeling that someone out there is thinking about, not only their spiritual growth, but also their physical well-being.

Special Emergency Covid-19 Relief Project

We were blessed to receive support from the Church at Rancho Bernardo (CRB) to embark on our Emergency Covid-19 Relief Project in the Dedukorpe and Asikasu-Odumase communities. We provided food packages to about 200 families, which consisted of 5 kilo bags of rice, tin fish, tin tomatoes and 5-liter bottles of oil, for the two communities. Most of the beneficiaries of these food packages are widows, orphans, and the very poor and needy in the community. We also distributed hand sanitizer and face masks to over 1,000 people in these two communities.

  Jesus Film Show / Evangelism

Meaningful Life International continues to reach out to many Communities with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; preaching salvation and preparing souls for the second Coming of our Lord and Savior. Our Jesus Film Show outreaches have laid the foundation for Church planting in some of these communities.

During the year under review, we organized one film show in partnership with the Hill Top Church International at Newland Taxi rank, and also embarked on a door to door evangelism campaign with the Ochs team in the Ada community and surrounding areas. A number of gospel tracts were shared and the sick prayed for. Through the film show project, many lives have been impacted with the Gospel and many souls encountered the healing power of God as they experience Jesus healing the sick.    

Church Planting              

MLI, in partnership with the Harvest Missions Chapel Assemblies of God International, and the Ochs team, planted a new church at Agorkpo, a suburb of Big Ada. The Church is doing well, and the congregation is growing by God’s Grace! We recently donated a number of plastic chairs to this church, as well as donating chairs to the church in Angornya.

Community Education

MLI works hard to combine our humanitarian aid-driven projects (the borehole projects) with an equally important empowerment component. We seek to stifle dependency and promote personal development through a meaningful relationship with God. So, in addition to going into the communities to drill boreholes, our organization also ensures that the community members are well trained on how to properly care for and maintain the boreholes. This training stresses the importance of community ownership, basic hygiene, and accountability.

This year, we embarked on community education in Asuboi-Maase and Asikasu-Odumaase in the Eastern Region of Ghana.        
 Summer Teams

The impact of summer teams to the Missions field over the years has been life transforming. During the year under review, we received some incredible summer teams who came to serve in missions with us. We hosted the Oches family and friends from the U.S.A who came to serve with us in June 2021. Together, we ministered in orphanages and special needs schools, engaged in community outreach, provided free medical care, evangelized, and planted a new church in the village of Agorkpo. Over 900 lives were positively impacted as a result of this outreach.

We also successfully hosted Dr. Ken Lenz, the board chairman of MLI, U.S.A and his wife who were here to serve our ministry and spread the Good News with us.

Special Annual Christmas Outreach

This year’s special Annual Christmas outreach (SACO) will be held in Asikasu-Odumase, a deprived community in the Upper West Akim District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. On the 25th of December, a Christmas party will be organized for the entire community. We will serve food, drinks, snacks, candies, and water to about 800 people. We will also distribute used clothing and footwear to those who are in need. The widows and pastors are especially included at this event. About 30 widows and 10 pastors will receive gift packs from our ministry. The school children of the village are also provided with school supplies to help them in their education.

SACO – 2021

Dear Ministry Partner,

HELP US TO ORGANIZE OUR ANNUAL CHRISTMAS OUTREACH AT ASIKASU-ODUMASE

 Christmas is here again and as part of our annual activities, we intend to put smiles on the faces of the children and people of Asikasu-Odumase, a deprived community in the Eastern part of Ghana by sharing the love of Christ with them. We are aware of your passion to reach out to deprived people. We, therefore, invite you to partner with us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those living in the rural community of Asikasu-Odumase.

The outreach has been scheduled to take place on the 25th December, 2021. Our activities during this outreach would include donation of items (clothing & shoes, toys, educational materials etc.) and a Christmas Party on Christmas day. The estimated budget for this outreach is a total of GHC 67,360 (Sixty-seven Thousand, Three Hundred and Sixty  Ghana Cedis ) (USD 10,948.00) . This budget includes the cost of a plate of warm meal for about 1,100 people in this community, a piece of cloth for about 100 widows, transportation to the community, purchasing of gift items etc.

You may donate a Christmas gift to a child or give your widow’s mite to one of the 100 widows by buying a piece of cloth for a widow at the cost of $25. An amount of $3 will provide a warm Christmas day meal for a child, and make this year’s Christmas memorable for them.

We are counting on your partnership, and trusting that together we can bring joy of Christmas to the people of Asikasu-Odumase. We know that God is going to use your gifts to draw many souls to Himself this Christmas.

Please find attached the budget for the entire outreach.

Thank You for your support and God richly Bless you!

Yours in-His service

Godwin Kofi Ahlijah (Ph.D.)

(Executive Director)

REPORT ON THE EMERGENCY COVID-19 RELIEF PROJECT AT ASIKASU-ODUMASI

REPORT ON THE EMERGENCY COVID-19 RELIEF PROJECT AT ASIKASU-ODUMASI ON THE 21ST OF AUGUST,, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of front line health care for all people. When health systems are overwhelmed and people fail to access needed services, both direct mortality and indirect mortality from preventable and treatable conditions increase.

This research called for an urgent need to partner with The Church at Rancho Bernardo, San Diego again to reach out to the people of Asikasu-Odumasi in the Eastern region of Ghana.

On the 21st of August, 2021, our team together with some partners including the Board Chairman of Meaningful Life U.S.A, Dr. and Mrs Ken Lens embarked on this important outreach at the community of Asikasu-Odumasi. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed by the natives who were all excited for the day’s activities. The program commenced with an opening prayer, praises and worship by the local Assemblies of God church and the welcome address was done by the pastor, Rev. John Osei.  Rev. Godwin Ahlijah (Ph.D.), the C.E.O of Meaningful Life International in his address explained the purpose of the outreach and encouraged the people to keep their trust in the Lord in these difficult times. He was full of praise to the Church at Rancho Bernardo for heeding to the call to come on board to partner MLI to organize this outreach. He thanked the leadership and members of the Church for their generosity and love towards God and humanity.

Dr. Lenusia Ahlijah educated the community on the Covid-19 pandemic and its preventive measures. She encouraged them to observe the covid-19 protocols by observing social distancing, regular hand washing and personal hygiene among others.

We provided food packages to over 100 families which consist of 5 kilo bags of rice, a 5-liter bottle of oil, hand sanitizers, and face masks. We also distributed hand sanitizers and face masks to over 400 people who gathered for the program. It was heart-warming to see the joy on their faces as we distributed the items to them.

A total of over 400 individuals directly benefited from this outreach to the glory of God. Programs such as this are a great way to bring people together, to serve and share blessings and to give hope. Through these outreaches, we know that in our own way, we are providing hope and new opportunities for our less-fortunate brethren.

Proverbs 22:9 The generous will themselves be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.

Giving Back as a Way of Life – July Newsletter

Making Charity the Centerpiece of a Bold Life

 

April Asante had always felt strongly about giving back to others through charity. In fact, she felt it was her own personal mission to succeed so that she would help the less fortunate brethren. Thus, when she met Darrel Annan, it was a match that was perfect. Darrel also believed in acts of generosity as a means of enriching one’s life. With this in mind, when the couple married, both decided to give back a portion of their income to various charities, but their commitment to these acts of generosity was quite profound. Since 2008, April and Darrel have given more than 40 percent of their earnings to others in need.

With April being a civil servant and Darrel being a laboratory technician, their contributions are rather sizable. Over the course of the last decade, their efforts of giving back have touched the lives of many. Organisations such as Meaningful Life International and Doron Medical Center to which they have made donations seek to help individuals develop their minds through leadership training, access quality healthcare and access to potable drinking water. And while this degree of giving might be assumed to cause financial hardships, this is not the case. Darrel and April are doing just fine and they find fulfilment in what they do!

Again, we seek to embark on another outreach in this hard and difficult times amidst this Covid 19 pandemic. The Covid -19 pandemic has been very devastating to many of the communities that we work in. Because of high illiteracy rate in our communities, even the very concept of the viral infection, its spread and prevention are not well understood by many. It’s been predicted that repercussions of the pandemic are likely to cause increased hospitalization, deaths and food shortage. Desperate attempts to mitigate this inexplicable impact have driven many rural dwellers of Ghana to resort to drinking all sort of concoctions, and consulting of idols for protection.

 These are some of the reasons why Meaningful Life International sees the urgent need to intervene by educating, providing basic personal protective equipment (PPE) and donation of some food items to some of the most affected rural communities of Ghana. We have listed ten of these most deprived communities that needs our support in these critical times. These are; Adeheta, Deti, Alege-Akura, Ebitiyie, Yadodo, Kpakplamuni, Jynvuuri, Torgbekorpe and Boasi.

With the same noble act of giving like Darrel and April, we invite you to join us as we embark on this outreach to some of these communities. MLI acknowledges your passion for the welfare of the vulnerable in society and community development, and would therefore like to present a unique opportunity for partnership in reaching these rural communities in Ghana who have been severely hit by the covid-19 pandemic. Our purpose is to provide basic food items, health education, face masks and hand sanitizers to 800 individuals in each community. With your partnership, we can successfully implement this project we anticipate, that will bring great relief and transformation to these deprived communities.

DEFYING THE ODDS FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL

DEFYING THE ODDS FOR THE SAKE OF THE GOSPEL
(THE OCHS FAMILY AND FRIENDS)

Despite the World Health Organization’s declaration of the rapid spread of COVID-19 around the world as a global public health emergency and its associated travel bans and restrictions, the Ochs family and friends found it worthy to embark on missions.  Missionaries are willing to risk danger and opposition to engage unreached peoples with the gospel because they understand the consequences of losing a soul to the world. On 30th May 2021, a ten (10) member missionary team from Tennessee, USA led by pastor Timothy Ochs and Mrs. Beverly Ochs arrived in Ghana for two weeks intensive ministry. Members of the team included; Rebekah Ochs, Madelyn Ochs, Debrah Moriarty, Ashley Philips, James Philips, Sarah Godsey, Mary McClure and Cloudi Bland

“And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death” (Rev. 12:11). Christ has again assured us of victory in the mist of danger because of his shed blood. 1 John 5:4 instructs us: “This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith,” and that faith is expressed in the testimony we confess. But the ultimate victory comes in not holding on to one’s own life, even unto death!

The team had an incredible time and impact in Ghana. They ministered and made donations to the Nyamedua Orphanage, Great Mission International orphanage, Saviour Children Foundation Orphanage and Save Them Young Orphanage. They also ministered and made donations to the Akuapim School for the deaf and the Dzorwulu special School. The team also visited the Doron Medical Center and prayed for the facility and made special donations to the hospital.  They also embarked on evangelism in Agorkpo, a suburb of Big Ada where we distributed gospel tracts, prayed with the people and planted a church. A free medical outreach was generously sponsored by the team for the people of Agorkpo.

The Ochs family and friends are indeed devoted to the lordship of Christ, the obedience to his call, and the desire to make a difference for eternity. They are not living for their own comfort, safety, and convenience but for the glory of God among the nations.

There is still more work to be done in the Master’s vine yard. We are inviting all of you our cherished partners to support us in prayers, in cash and any other form to reach out to more people with the gospel.

15TH ANNIVESARY PROPOSED PROGRAM LINE-UP

s/no. PROGRAM PERIOD
1. Anniversary launch May, 2021
2. Field visit to conduct interviews in project communities June, 2021
3. Media interviews (radio, television etc.) podcast, for UK, Australia, U.S Once every month in 2021
4. Clean-up exercise May, 2021
5. Health walk/blood donation June, 2021
6. Community outreaches (medical, film shows, church planting and evangelism) June, August and September, 2021
7. Missions conference (one at Harvest Missions Chapel & another in Tamale) August and September, 2021
8. High school outreaches (depends on the covid-19 situation) Once every quarter in 2021
9. Donations to orphanages June and August, 2021
10. Professional missions trip/ launch of Tamale office September, 2021
11. 15th anniversary water project (Legacy wells) October, 2021
12. Night of worship/ Maker’s praise November, 2021
13. Awards night/partners day December, 2021
14. Thanksgiving service at Harvest Missions Chapel December, 2021

REPORT ON THE EMERGENCY COVID-19 RELIEF PROJECT

REPORT ON THE EMERGENCY COVID-19 RELIEF PROJECT AT DEDUKOPE ON THE 10th OF APRIL, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging health systems across the world. Rapidly increasing demand for care of people with COVID-19 is compounded by fear, misinformation and limitations on the movement of people and supplies that disrupt the delivery of frontline health care for all people. When health systems are overwhelmed and people fail to access needed services, both direct mortality and indirect mortality from preventable and treatable conditions increase.

This research called for an urgent need to partner with The Church at Rancho Bernardo, San Diego to reach out to the people of Dedukope in the Volta region of Ghana.

On the 10th of April, 2021, our team together with some partners embarked upon this important outreach at the Dedukope community. Upon our arrival, we were welcomed by the natives who were all excited about the day’s activities. The program commenced with an opening prayer, praises and worship by the local Assemblies of God church and the welcome address was done by the pastor, Rev. Joshua Anane.  Rev. Godwin Ahlijah (PhD) the C.E.O of Meaningful Life International in his address explained the purpose of the outreach and encouraged the people to keep their trust in the Lord in these difficult times. He was full of praise to the Church at Rancho Bernardo for heeding the call to come on board to partner with MLI to organize this outreach. He thanked the leadership and members of the Church for their generosity and love towards God and humanity.

Dr Lenusia Ahlijah educated the community on the Covid-19 pandemic and its preventive measures. She encouraged them to observe the covid-19 protocols by observing social distancing, regular hand washing and personal hygiene among others.

We provided food packages to over 100 families which consist of 5-kilo bags of rice, a 5-litre bottle of oil, tin tomatoes, tin fishes, hand sanitisers, and face masks. We also distributed hand sanitisers and face masks to over 500 people who gathered for the program. The children were not left out of the party. Each child received drinks and biscuits and the atmosphere was like that of Christmas! It was heart-warming to see the joy on their faces as we distributed the items to them.

A total of over 500 individuals directly benefited from this outreach to the glory of God. Programs such as this are a great way to bring people together, to serve and share blessings and to give hope. Through these outreaches, we know that in our way, we are providing hope and new opportunities for our less fortunate brethren.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will repay him for his deed. – Proverbs 19:17