Effah Dartey (R) in a photo with Ghana’s Ambassador to Germany, Gina Blay (middle)
I was in my law office at Asylum Down when two visitors suddenly walked in.
“Captain, we are from Asylum Down Presby Church. We are celebrating our new outreach 1st Anniversary at Dzakpatra and we want to invite you to be the chairman,” they requested.
I could not believe what I was hearing. “You people are from Asylum Down in Accra, and why have you travelled all the way to Dzakpatra in the Volta Region to open a church there?” I queried.
“No, no, no, Captain! Dzakpatra is not in the Volta Region. It is four kilometres from Adeiso in the Eastern Region,” they responded.
Oftentimes, I boast to my close circle of friends that I know every nook and cranny of Ghana; thanks to Local Government. “But is Dzakpatra in the Eastern Region? Very well; I will come. When will you hold the celebration?” I asked. “Sunday, 26th May, 2019,”they replied.
I told my wife late Saturday night that I would go to Dzakpatra the next day so she should wake me up early. Unfortunately, she ignored my advice and allowed me to sleep until 7 o’clock. I was furious when I woke up.
“Gloria, why didn’t you wake me up earlier? Look at the time,” I queried her. “Dzakpatra is in the Volta Region; it’s too far,” she replied.
I have this personal newly formed choir – Noble Voices – and the choristers were already in my house. I quickly got ready with military speed, and by 0800 hrs we had hit the road in a two-car convoy to Dzakpatra.
A little along the Nsawam bypass, we made a U Turn and then turned right on the main Asamankese highway, which has been asphalted. At Adeiso – the district capital – we turned left on the Bawjiase laterite road, and having covered about three kilometres, we turned right on a feeder road. And after covering about one kilometre, we hit the Ewe-speaking 500-man small community called Dzakpatra – full of thatched roofed huts – a haven for small fetish gods led by the “Alafia” god.
According to an account, the village has been in existence for one hundred years and it’s full of all manner of rituals – don’t eat this, don’t do that on this day, don’t talk to this person. The rituals are a bondage and servitude to the devil, Satan.
Every attempt to send Christian Gospel there fails time and time again until the Asylum Down Congregation of the Presby Church decided to storm the village in April 2018. They did a lot of fasting and prayers, set up a special Task Force, did a lot of legwork and finally on Sunday, 27th May, 2018, the first ever Christian Gospel Church Service took place at Dzakpatra.
One year on, the church has taken root. It has a congregation of 140 souls, including about 50 adults and 90 children. The whole community is made up of illiterates; there is no school there.
The Presby Church is trying to build a chapel and is looking for funding to open a school and a clinic. For the 1st anniversary, virtually the whole of Asylum Down Presby Church Accra travelled to Dzakpatra in buses, private cars and 4×4 land cruisers.
I got there just as the service was about to begin and, reader, it was a wonderful service. There was this extraordinary good-looking songstress, Abena Kyerewah, who led the praise and worship segment, and there was so much ecstasy and singing.
I was touched to the bone marrow when about 30 children – none of them in school – came to perform some Sunday School agbadza drills, and as they sang and danced, I imagined their age mates at Cantoments, East Legon and Airport Residential Area … the devil is King in the land of IGNORANCE!!!
“For lack of knowledge my people perish,” says the Bible.
I was nearly moved to tears when during the sermon, the Asylum Down Presby Church Pastor, Rev. Adarkwa, upon seeing me seated in the congregation, acknowledged me and started singing my popular song “M’atwen Awurade Anim. . .” He then walked to where I was sitting and gave me the microphone to continue . . .
Reader, don’t you think I should contact the composer of that song for some dividends in his copyright earnings since I have contributed to some extent in popularizing his song?
To my shock, the Appeal for Funds yielded almost GH¢7,000, excluding pledges. I promised them that if God answered my secret prayers, I would build a clinic for them and task my fourth born, Dr. David Effah-Dartey, now on duty at Tema General Hospital, to see what he can do in medical services to this community that is trying to break out of the stranglehold of the devil.
It was then 3pm and the service was over. Noble Voices took centre stage as over fifty commemorative pictures were taken together with the queen mother and the chief of the village, Nana Baffour Ampofo Opare.
At one stage during the service, the pastor invited the Asylum Down Presby Choir to sing an anthem. I was scanning through the programme brochure at that time. When I raised my head I saw the leader of my personal singing group, Stephen, acting as the choirmaster, conducting the Presby Choir, singing merrily with the rest of the Noble Voices.
I was stunned! Wonders, they say, will never end. We got back to Accra finally around 7pm. To God be the Glory.
By Nkrabeah Effah–Dartey