“Where there’s a whisk, there’s a way”
Five young ladies will graduate soon from the bakery training, a vocational training course offered by AE Ghana as part of the Street Children Apprenticeship Program (SCAP). One of the current students, Freda Omari, said her heart is gladding for an amazing opportunity to better her life. She further stated that she will go all out to learn and put to use the skills she will acquire.
Each year the SCAP program transforms the lives of young adults who were unable to finish school or enrol in tertiary studies.
Ohene Akrofi Enid
Enid Ohene Akrofi is 25 years old and a beneficiary of the AE Ghana project.
Enid heard about AE during the Akwapim Mission in 2018 when her church was one of our partner churches for the mission. She became deeply involved with the Akwapim Mission, especially youth events. In 2021 her church recommended her for the Street Children Apprenticeship Project.
Enid completed School in 2018 but her desire to further her education could not be fulfilled as her parents were unable to provide financial support.
As a diligent and hardworking lady she engaged herself in doing menial jobs to raise the money herself for tertiary education. Unfortunately, her meagre earnings were not enough to cater for herself, let alone support her through tertiary education.
After joining the SCAP program in 2021, Enid committed herself fully to the intensive training – comprising of skill training, entrepreneurship, costing, packaging, etc.
After completing the program Enid started in her own small way to apply the skills she acquired. She baked and sold varieties of bread and other pastries. Gradually Enid was able to save some money and she finally enrolled at the Accra Technical University to study Home Economics which is in alignment with the AE vocational training.
Enid is very happy, and she is very appreciative to AE donors for giving her the opportunity to add value to her life.
According to her, without AE’s support, she couldn’t have acquired the vocational skills.
She said, “I will gladly support some needy ladies in future when I have established myself.”
Each year the SCAP program transforms the lives of young adults just like Enid who were unable to finish school or enrol in tertiary studies.
AE is so excited to report on the progress of our work in Ghana. The Togo Farming Project, the Children’s Apprenticeship project, and AE Ghana Vocational Training are all programs that are ongoing thanks to the grace of God, and the generous support of our donors.
The first beneficiaries of the Togo farming project have started preparing the land ready to plant seeds. They have received assistance in the form of farming tools, seeds and a monthly allowance to enable them to care for the land.
The Agricultural Regional Director visited the farmers and donated two litres of Bio Pesticide to support the project. He also praised AE for starting the initiative to help young people in Togo, and offered to send Agricultural Officers to provide some technical assistance.
25-year-old Enid Ohene Akrofi, is thankful to God and AE for changing her life through vocational bakery training. Enid became involved with AE during the Akwapim Mission youth events and was then recommended for the Street Children Apprenticeship Project.
Enid completed High School, but was unable to fulfill her dream of tertiary education because she had no financial support. But her diligence and hard work paid off, and Enid committed herself to intensive bakery training – including entrepreneurship, costing and packaging.
After completing training, Enid baked and sold a variety of bread, chips, and other pastries. She was able to save some money and eventually enrolled at the Accra Technical Institute to study Home Economics. Enid is grateful to God and AE for giving her this opportunity.
Prince Aboagye’s church, New Fountain Ministry International Ghana, participated in the 2018 AE Akwapem Mission. When it came to counseling, Prince was an enthusiastic participant, and he was rewarded for his efforts by God.
He was offered the opportunity to learn computers as part of the AE Ghana Children’s Apprenticeship Project. “God never forsakes His own people”, says Prince. “Perseverance always pays off”. Prince was able to enroll in the Computer training program in 2019.
It’s a privilege to see the work of AE continuing to transform the lives of young people all across Africa because of your support. God’s faithfulness is inspiring!
Ministry Update – March 2022
Thanks to your ongoing support, our AE teams have enjoyed some wonderful success in our outreach programs across Africa. By the grace of God, our Togo farming project has begun, with participants preparing the land ready for seed planting. They are also being educated on the correct way to grow vegetables for sustainability.
In Kenya, the local church leaders are helping to train up missionaries to reach even more people with the good news of Jesus. The Foxfire program has also had great success, with high schools now participating in forums to expand and continue the harvest. One young student, Boaz, says that he ‘feels strengthened to keep pure and serve God and His people.’
Our sewing school in Malawi has seen many graduates become trained in tailoring and professional dressmaking. These skills enable people to generate an income to meet their basic needs, and some have even gone on to open their own businesses.
The Hope for Girls Project will also soon launch in Malawi, with the aim of providing essential re-useable sanitary products to young girls aged 10 and over. This will be incorporated into the needlework program to ensure the sustainability of the program.
AE Ethiopia continues integrating new believers from the Kotebe mission into the mainstream church. New believer Gelan Megersa says she was met by someone on the street who told her about Jesus. “I was convinced and became a believer, and have been attending discipleship classes for the past 3 months. I have seen such a transformation in my life.”
In Uganda, the Omoo Youth Skilling and Production Centre has been training young people to bake cakes, mandazi, samosas, chapatis and buns to sell to the local market. They were able to raise more than 200,000 Uganda Shillings (approximately AUD 73.74) through the sale of their products.
Once again, AE has been able to outreach successfully in South Africa. In partnership with other ministries, we have been able to bring food relief to those who continue to suffer from unemployment, the ravages of the pandemic and the aftermath of recent unrest.
One recipient said that she had been praying for God’s intervention after both her mother and sister succumbed to COVID leaving her with the responsibility of caring for her brothers, all of whom are unemployed. Her response to our outreach was, “I feel I have hope now.”
Your prayers and support are invaluable to AE, and we give thanks to God for enabling us to bring some relief and minister to communities in desperate need. Please continue to pray with us that those whose hearts are moved by the Holy Spirit may grow in their journey of faith and be a witness to others.
I am presently the Chairman of AE Ghana board and live in Accra, the capital city of Ghana. I have been in ministry for the past 41 years in various capacities. I have served as an evangelical leader in Ghana were I had led teams to Dr. Billy Graham’s gathering of evangelist in Amsterdam and also to Luasanne in Malina in the Philippines. I was part of the initial planning team to the last meeting at Cape Town, South Africa.
I have served with the late Robert Williams in the Missions team of BGEA, and together with my colleague in Ghana, Most Rev. Prof. Emmanuel Asante, travelled to Los Angeles in the USA to translate Dr. Billy Graham’s sermons into our local dialects for the purposes of evangelism in Ghana.
I have served in the Ghana Baptist Convention as Pastor for 34 years and as a Vice-President for 7 years. I was the founding team leader of African Enterprise Ghana, responsible for the sub-region of West Africa and at one point the Pan African Missions Director and also as Deputy International Team Leader responsible for North and West Africa. I currently serve as the Ghana AE board chairman and a member of the International Board of AE.
I am on retirement from my Pastoral ministry but serve as the local AE Ghana team evangelist.
At the moment, my wife of 43 years is sick to the point of death. She has been bedridden for about 6 months and has developed bad bedsores as a diabetic. It has been emotionally, psychologically and financially difficult for me personally and our children as well.
I am, under God, doing pretty well; notwithstanding occasional heartbreaking episodes.
Thank you for caring for me and wanting to pray for me and my family. Please pray that God’s sovereign ultimate will will be done over the life of my wife. She is currently going through so much pain that breaks my heart.
Sincerely Yours,
Nii Amoo Darku ( Rev. Dr.)
Nii Amoo’s story:
The work of African Enterprise is characterized by personal transformation, and one of the leading success stories of people coming to Christ is the current chairman of African Enterprise Ghana Nii Amoo Adarku. It was a long pathway that led Nii Amoo to become personal chaplain to the late Ghanaian president Prof John Atta Mills, and a member of the elite ‘Council of State’ advising the President and senior government leaders, largely through the evangelistic outreach of AE.
Born to Muslim parents, Nii initially came to Christ through the work of a Christian union at school. But his pride and faith was savagely crushed when some new Christian leaders demoted him from class captain, and he vowed to punish the Christian faith through partnering with overtly anti-Christian Islamic organisations.
However his life took a turn toward restoration of faith when he married Margaret, a nominal Christian who married him on the proviso that she would be able to continue attending church. Whilst this was a start of his journey back to Christ, it wasn’t until their marriage reached a crisis point during the pregnancy of their first child which exposed to Christian TV screened at the hospital. The evangelistic message truly transfixed him, he said. “I was so drawn to the message that I had to go and get a TV for my own home and watch these programs myself”, he said. “Eventually the true message of Jesus burst through into my life, and hand in hand with Margaret in our lounge we both came to faith in Christ.”
It was at that point that Nii Amoo decided to dedicate his life to Christianity through various roles in Christian media, church leadership and postgraduate study in theology. His evangelistic work was eventually noticed by the AE leadership, and he was approached and commissioned to establish AE’s office in Accra Ghana in 1994.
Quickly taking on a number of international leadership roles within the organization, including International Missions Director for West Africa, he worked closely with the founder Michael Cassidy to introduce many of the innovations that characterise AE’s unique ministry today. The 1997 pan- African mission was a high point he said. “It was at this point that we introduced some of the social action initiatives such as medical outreach during mission, established the parliamentary Christian fellowship group in Ghana, North African mission to Sudan, Egypt and Tunisa and the street route marches.”
He served as Team Leader of Ghana for 15 years until 2009, and in 2010 took over as Chairman. Nii Amoo believes that his experience has been very helpful to advise current team leader Rev Ben Sachie. “In time I am due to step down in accordance with best practice of board chair tenure now in place at AE. I would really like to encourage our supporters to continue to pray for us as we continue on this important work that has serious eternal consequences for our nations. Africa is producing the most Christians in the world today, and is best equipped to send missionaries to North Africa in particular.”
Poverty neglect and rural migration have led to around 61,000 children aged under 15 years being forced onto the streets of Ghana’s capital city Accra. Sadly the right to food, health, education and a safe environment are missing for these children and they are open to abuse, trafficking, health risks as well as being exposed to and involved in crime.
Every year through the Ghana Street Children Apprenticeship Project (SCAP), 50 children otherwise destined for crime and abuse are brought off the streets and equipped with skills through vocational courses including dressmaking and tailoring, computing, hairdressing and beautician, aluminum fabrication and auto mechanics.
One of these graduates, Gabriel Otoo, completed his training in auto-mechanics and now works independently in an Accra city shop. He is not taking the opportunity lightly, and is working hard to establish his new business and to employ others.
“I am forever grateful for AE Ghana and all the donors”, he said. “My goal is to save for land to develop into a training workshop and other children like I was.”
Providing a better future for other disadvantaged youth is now a passion, all made possible because AE supporters gave him a helping hand when he had no much hope.
“What AE has done for me, I am obliged to pay back by giving back to society”, he said.
Thank you for all your faith in the work of God to change lives through word and deed in the name of Jesus. Thank you for your continued support towards AE Ghana’s SCAP program.
The Mombasa West Mission in Kenya is the first one to be conducted in the year 2021. The mission is scheduled for 1st to 11th July. The mobilization of missioners and preservation facilitators took place in the month of May. The AEE Kenya team intends to host 300 visiting missioners in 9 zones. The rest of the missioners will come from within Mombasa. This month, there has been a series of continued mobilization and trainings.
The Kayonza Mission in Rwanda was scheduled for 20th – 27th June but following the Volcanic eruption in the neighboring DRC, the mission was postponed to 15th – 22nd August. Preparations for the same are ongoing. At least 127 homes are targeted to be trained to conduct Home Based Evangelism (HBE). Though this is an ongoing activity, 42 households were reached in May this year using HBE and 9 people accepted to follow Christ.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), preparations for the Mont-Amba Mission, which is set for 16th to 24th October, are ongoing. Mont-Amba is located South East Kinshasa in DRC. AE DRC Team conducted School of evangelism in the targeted location of the Matete, Ngaba, Kisenso and Lemba districts and a total of 276 participants from 99 local churches were trained. Currently, the team is mobilizing for prayer and funds for the mission. Earlier, 19 different local churches were equipped for further church members’ mobilization in the target area.
AEE Tanzania is set to have its mission between 22nd and 29th August in the capital city, Dar es Salaam. The team has been meeting the Pastors, equipping them through trainings towards the mission and conducting prayer for the 2021 Mission. Mobilization of evangelists and partners to participate in Dar Back-to-God Mission has as well been ongoing. In the month of May, a group of intercessors from different Churches gathered to purposely pray for the mission preparation and all programs at AEE-Tanzania.
In September, AE Uganda will have a mission in Jinja from 19th to 26th. The AE Team conducted a Vision Casting seminar for the mission where 52 leaders from Jinja City attended. This meeting brought together both the Anglican church leaders and Pentecostal church leaders in one house for the same purpose bridging the gap and dealing with misunderstandings that have always been there. Mobilization teams have been established and tasked to draft their strategies to aid achieving the mission targets. An overall steering committee with 18 members was constituted in May to help oversee the preparations. AE Uganda facilitated a training held in Entebbe for 120 evangelists by our partners in ministry who are planning a citywide mission in that city. The training was organized by the Joint Pastors Network in Entebbe city.
AE Southern Africa Region (AESAR) which is comprised of the Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe teams is set to hold a mission from 19th – 25th September in Zomba, Malawi. AE Malawi held three training sessions in Zomba ahead of the mission where 85 people were trained. The second phase of training the same group was set for the month of June. In April this year, task team leaders for the Zomba Leadership Mission were successfully appointed and a meeting with Church leaders in Zomba to review mission plans was held.
The AE Zambia team continues to go through the AE Manuals to adequately prepare for both the Kitwe and Lusaka mission scheduled for this year and next year respectively. The AE Zambia team visited Kitwe at the invitation of the Maranatha Pentecostal Assemblies of God church to help with the mobilization of the church for evangelism. Close to about 100 church members turned out for the evangelism outreach in Kalulushi.
In Ghana, the AE team is preparing to have a mission in Lome, Togo from the 15th to the 25th of October. An online meeting with the leaders in Togo was held earlier to aid preparations. The leaders were also able to meet the working committees in person. A HBE online training is scheduled for 30th June.
Preparation is ongoing for AE Ethiopia’s mission scheduled for 22nd – 26th December in Kotebe, North East of Addis Ababa. Last month, the AE team held a Home Based Evangelism training as part of the preparations steps for the mission.
