It has now been nearly one week since 're-entry' into Canada. I have had a chance to catch up on sleep, visit family, and eat too much Ghanian chocolate. Now I hope to convey some of what happened during my visit to Accra. The week's post will focus on the 'who' and 'what' - who I worked for and with, and what did we work on? Next week I plan on answering the question 'where' and 'why' - giving you a closer look at Ghana through these eyes and some thoughts on what brought me and our team to this country.
Meet the Team
Each Engineering Ministries International (eMi) project is a partnership between a ministry and volunteer team. Our client for this trip was Dr. Edward Fynn, a Ghana raised radiologist who volunteers heavily with the Navigators of Africa. Edward's vision was to develop a 70-acre site North East of Accra into a training and retreat centre. One of the Navigators main ministry thrusts is discipleship, growing Christians through Bible discussion and training, specifically in smaller groups of 8-12. This seems to follow Christ's example closely as Jesus himself chose a select group of 12 to teach and impact specifically while ministering here on Earth.
Edward was our host extraordinaire...arranging for our accommodation and food while providing constant feedback during our efforts to design Abonse Farm Lodge.
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| Blue labels show the location of our accommodation in Accra and the location of the future Abonse Farm Lodge. |
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| Kevin (left) discussing the potential of the site with Richard (right.) |
Kevin Keiter, PE (Project Leader & Mechanical Engineer) - It seems as though each of my trips will be led by a Kevin! (Kevin was the name of my trip leader when I was an intern in 2014.) A full time project leader out of eMi USA for three years, Kevin was a continual source of wisdom, encouragement, and wit. It was a joy to work with him, especially because I shared my original training time with him as an intern back in 2014.
Dan and Abby King (Architect and Daughter) - Native to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this was Dan's twelfth (!) trip with eMi and brought a ton of experience and skill to our team. He also brought his daughter Abby along to experience the work of a short term missions trip. She was a constant source of energy and never ceased to life our teams spirits.
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| Team King prepping a final master plan sketch for our presentation. |
Kristen Paulsen (Architect) - Hailing from Minneapolis, Minnesota, this was Kristen's second trip with eMi. Her quiet and disciplined work ethic belied a tender spirit and I enjoyed getting to know her (and comparing reading lists) while on the trip.
Roberta Oramabo (Landscape Architect) - You always knew when Roberta was in the room! Eager to start any conversation and a whiz a Revit, we were all thrilled to have this joyful eMi veteran (who hails from Lagos, Nigeria) on the team.
Maryam Daniyan (Landscape Architect) - Our second Nigerian was invaluable for experience with site planning and focusing on edible landscapes. Maryam was never afraid to speak her mind, a necessary part of our group dynamic on a team full of engineers!
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| The rest of our fantastic architecture team, Maryam, Kristen, and Roberta (or Robbie.) |
Roy Farley (Surveyor) - I was able to spend three days working closely with Roy on site surveying. Roy had a fragrance of peace and calm about him that was unmistakably Spirit-driven. I could spend an entire blog post talking about the things I learnt from this soft spoken native of Missouri.
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| Roy in his element. |
Kirk Askins, PE (Mechanical Engineer) - Hailing from South Carolina, this was Kirk's first trip with eMi. He brought a steady work ethic and thoughtful perspective to our team, and was the quintessential 'Southern Gentleman.'
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| Kirk listening to an update from Kevin. |
Herbert Bimpong (Electrical Engineer) - A native to Ghana, and an eMi veteran, Herbert was the second half of our expert Mechanical and Electrical engineering duo. With Herbert you always had peace of mind that whatever he was working on would be completed and completed well, whether researching electrical costs at the local utility company or doing the dishes at night.
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| Herbert listening intently during a meeting. |
Nana Sarpong Agyeman-Badu (Civil Engineer) - The second of our two native Ghanians on the trip, Nana was always willing and able to answer questions we had about his country (from concrete to politics to theology and everything in between.) Nana was part of our site team and I cannot imagine completing what we did without him.
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| Nana discussing the value of eMi while driving back from church. |
Jeremy Duncan (Civil Engineering / Drone Guru) - Jeremy took the lead on completing a drone survey of the site, utilising some recent technology to our advantage. It was a struggle to get results from the drone software but this former intern and proud Kentukian met the challenge and provided the team with some awesome resources to complete our work.
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| Jeremy working furiously to provide the team with the drone results. |
John Simoneaux (Intern - Civil Engineering)
- John has the enviable task of taking all our work from the week forming a final set of drawings and report for our ministry client. Through working with him in Ghana, it is easy to see we are in good hands. John's servant heart and humour endeared John to the whole team.
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| John (left) during our final presentation. |
Ben Scott (Structural Engineering) - Yours truly! I had the chance to wear a bunch of hats throughout the week - photographer, survey assistant, structural designer, even cook! It was a joy to serve once again on an eMi team.
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| Getting a shot of the Royal Palms. |
One of my prayer requests before leaving for Ghana was for team unity during our time together. Consider the request answered! This diverse and talented group was wonderful to work with; genuine admiration, trust and joking were evidence of deep connections and friendships forming. Thank you for your prayers - we were a Church within the Church.
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| One great team (sans Kevin - he was napping at the time.) |
Abonse Farm Lodge Master Planning
So that was the team - what exactly did we do? I still find it remarkable the amount of work that an eMi team can produce in one short week! Once we arrived in Accra (Tuesday morning) and got settled in our home away from home, our first order of business was to travel to the land Edward has purchased and scout the site.
I don't think anyone was prepared for the adventure that first day on site (Wednesday) held! The site itself was about 30 km (20ish miles) north east of our accommodation, but it took nearly two hours for us to arrive on location. National highway led to regional road, regional road to dirt road, dirt road to extremely bumpy dirt road until finally a long single file path through plantain and mango groves.
It was worth the ordeal to arrive! I suppose the best way to describe the location would be serene. Nestled in a valley between two forest covered hills, I was struck by the beauty of the place. A constant, cooling breeze from the south west helped to ease the effects of strong sunshine overhead, but overall - it was quiet. I could understand why Edward had such grand visions for what this place could become!
We spent close to four hours on site getting a lay of the land and discussing with Edward his hopes for the property. We arrived back at the house tired, hot, and hungry but excited for what the coming days would hold.
Kevin quickly split our team into two groups - master planning and surveying. The master plan team would be in meetings with Edward and stay at our accommodation to work on the overall plan of the site. At the same time, the survey team would be relied on to get valuable details about the site, its extents, topography and features, critical information when trying to place buildings in a valley!
The next three days were a flurry of activity for us all; trips to site, drinking water surveying, taking countless photos, drinking more water, troubleshooting stubborn equipment, water. By the end of day Friday, a base master plan had been selected, drone surveying was completed and several of the critical feature buildings on site had preliminary architectural designs. Saturday was a slightly slower day as half our team was presenting about eMi in town. I took the opportunity to do some structural work - and had good discussions wtih the architects about ensuring the designs were as Kevin put it 'reasonable'. This meant making the buildings both aesthetically pleasing and constructable considering the location and materials available. It was a thrill to put my experience from work towards a unique project in Africa.
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| Bumpy road into site.... |
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| ...led to us going on foot. |
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| Through very beautiful terrain. |
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| Getting a lay of the land. |
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| A view of the site from the path entrance. |
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| A bird's eye view from the drone. |
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| Team survey resting from the hot sun. |
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| Discussing possible site plans with Edward. |
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| One of the sketches (option 2 was selected) |
Sunday brought a much needed day of rest. We had a chance to worship and eat a meal out. Inevitably, our thoughts turned to the remaining work. Our presentation to Edward on Tuesday morning was approaching quickly.
Monday was a very full day as 'final' drawings and calculations were finished and PowerPoint slides prepared. At this stage, structural engineering input was minimal so once my slides were done I made myself busy preparing the biggest spaghetti dinner in my life. Nana boasted to his girlfriend that night that he had enjoyed a proper 'Canadian' dinner!
Our presentation Tuesday highlighted all that we had accomplished as a team. Each team member provided input on their field of expertise, describing both the challenges and opportunities of such an ambitious project. Eventually, we described the following key features of the master plan.
- Limited vehicle traffic to ensure a pedestrian friendly site
- Focus on edible landscapes, including mango groves, passion fruit patches, and hibiscus plants.
- dining hall / restaurant building that will double as a conference building during the first phase of construction.
- future conference centre for events from bible training to weddings
- student and family accommodations.
- a water feature, and
- water storage and electricity to support the site
Edward listened intently to our presentation and asked numerous questions once we finished our discussion. The question period was longer than our presentation time! In closing, Edward offered a blessing to the whole team and thanksgiving for our efforts. We celebrated by unpacking the drone and taking a sky-high team selfie.
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| Discussing Water and waste water needs. |
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| The power team sorting out electrical needs. |
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| Overall master plan. |
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| Dining hall plan |
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| Dining hall revit model |
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| Dining hall structural comments |
The Invisible Hand
More than the efforts we put in - it was clear from the first site visit that there was a larger force at work in our work. I could give countless examples of how God in His wisdom provided for us each step of the way. One day stands out in particular. In hindsight, we were not well prepared for our first day out on site. It was hot, with a long hike that was quickly sapping our strength. At the middle of our hike the sun filled sky darkened, rain started falling softly (during the dry season), and the temperature dropped. The change in environment was welcome and was a needed boost for our team to finish our first day on site. In hind sight, I'm thankful to know that God caused the sun to rise each day, granting new morning mercies to us as we worked.
The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
your going our and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
Psalm 121:5-8
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| Drone shot of the whole team. |
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