Ghana (MNN) — “I want to take this opportunity to thank all Americans for helping Africans because we thought we can’t do anything, but with God’s help in giving us [help from] Americans we think we are now progressing. There have been so many changes in Prampram and Ghana as a whole, so we thank you all for all that you are doing, for providing us with our needs,” says student Mathias Korley. He has participated in the Oasis International Ministries vocational training program and continues to grow and learn.
God is working in Ghana, West Africa, and Korley’s testimony is just one of those stories. Art Speck of Oasis says, through their training center in the city of Prampram, exciting things are happening. “What we see happening is just a continual changing in the lives of the people that we’re working with in many different levels, even to the effect that it is affecting the town that we are in, not just the people that we’re working with, but they are taking it out from this place and affecting others, and that’s what is most exciting to see.”
It’s not just job skill training, Oasis also teaches students that God loves them and has given them unique talents and abilities. Speck said that makes a world of difference. “We’ve been trying to teach the students that they will never improve if all they do is beg for things. So we have been trying to teach them that God has made them fearfully and wonderfully, and they are special in God’s eyes and they have unique talents and abilities. And once they learn those talents and abilities and begin using them then they can go forward and love one another through the love of God.”
Recently, Africa Union Day was celebrated to try and bring all of Africa together as one. While desiring unity in Africa, Speck says the key is Jesus Christ: “It is a very noble idea, but without God at the center, I don’t see how it would ever work. And so we are hoping that we can bring unity to Africa and Ghana, in particular by bringing the Gospel and sharing the love of Jesus.”
So as Oasis continues their vocational and spiritual training, their sights are set on Christ Jesus and the power of the Gospel to change lives. And they are seeing that happen in their midst, says Speck, “Once they learn that they are someone special then they can stand on their own feet. And that’s going to bring unity, that’s going to bring a love and a working together. We see that happening in Prampram, in a greater way. And we hope to eventually see that happening throughout Ghana and all of Africa.”
