The Building Phases

The Building Committee at Peki Church has outlined the following plan for completing the church. Where would you like to fit in?

Phase 1

• Concrete work
• Block work
• Joinery – door frames and window frames with security bars
• Metal work – aluminum louver carriers
• Glazing – glass louver blades

Phase 2

• Concrete work
• Block work
• Carpentry
• Joinery
• Metal work - aluminum louver frames
• Glazing - glass louver blades

Phase 3

• Plumbing installations - plumbing, piping, and sanitary fittings
• Electrical - installation of electric conduit and cables
• Finishing - wall rendering, slab screeding, plywood ceiling

Phase 4

• Electrical - installation of ceiling fans, flourescent lights, switches, and sockets
• Finishing - floor tiling, terrazzo, and wall tiling

Phases 5 & 6

• Finishing - painting of wals
• External works

Estimated total budget: $130,000 (US dollars)

Traveling to Ghana

Ghana is a beautiful country that has just celebrated its 50^th Anniversary of independence. There is so much to see and experience. To enrich your mission trip, we will visit some of Ghana’s historic and natural areas.

The Volta Region, where Peki is located, is visited by less than 5% of foreign visitors to Ghana, and yet it is a beautiful, lushly vegetated and relatively mountainous region with a rich culture among the Ewe-speaking people. Bounded by Lake Volta on the west and Togo on the east, the Volta Region includes these highlights:

• Wli Falls – the tallest waterfall in West Africa

• Kente-weaving centers at Tafi Abuipe and Kpetoe Agotime, reputedly the area where this ceremonial cloth was originally developed

• Avame Dzemeni – this village’s market is one of the largest and most colorful in the Volta Region

• Amedzofe – this scenic hilltop town was an historic German mission and education center

• Kalapka Reserve – this dry savanna and forest preserve boasts kob antelope, baboons, green monkeys, patas monkeys, buffalo, and a variety of birds

• Lake Volta and Akosombo Dam – the most expansive artificial lake in the world and famous hydroelectric dam inaugurated by President Kwame Nkrumah in 1966

Accra, the capital city from which we will arrive and depart, is a modern city of more than two million people. Highlights include:

• Makola Market – largest open-air food market in Ghana

• National Cultural Center – bustling market full of authentic handcrafts, artwork, and souvenirs

• DuBois Center – the former home and burial place of African-American leader W.E.B. DuBois

• University of Ghana-Legon – the oldest university in Ghana features a botanical garden, the Balme Library and the Museum of Archaeology

The Cape Coast area, west of Accra, is perhaps Ghana’s most popular destination for foreign visitors. Highlights include:

• Castles at Elmina and Cape Coast – offer an intimate look at the Europeans’ historic involvement in West Africa and the painful legacy of the slave trade

• Kakum National Park – includes a 40-meter-high canopy walk above a rain forest, one of only four in the world

The Need For A New Building

Over time, the present building became too small to accommodate the growing congregation. During celebrations – such as funerals, Christmas and Easter – all of the members of the church (both those living in Peki and those who have moved to the larger cities for employment) gathered at the church. With great effort, temporary palm-branch shelters were erected around the church building to accommodate the overwhelming crowds. In addition to being too small, the building itself was deteriorating despite temporary repairs and needed to be replaced.

In the late 1980s, the church decided that a new building was urgently needed. With the generosity of some church members, the foundation of a new building was started. The project struggled for lack of ongoing funding, however, and work continued sporadically over the next decade as resources became available.

In 1999, the Peki Church decided to hold a “Harvest Celebration” fundraiser in support of the new building. Beatrice Affram, one of the church leaders and granddaughter of the church’s founder, took it upon herself to travel to Accra, the capital city, and spread the word about the Harvest Celebration to church members living in Accra. At dawn, she took the early bus from Peki to Accra. Tragically, as she got off the bus, she was fatally struck by another vehicle. Her funeral in Peki was attended by bishops and ministers from across the country. Soon afterward, the Harvest Celebration fundraiser was held in the unfinished church building, which only had a floor and a roof. The congregation has worshipped in the unfinished building ever since, determined to look forward and see that Beatrice’s death was not in vain.

Today, the floors, pillars, and roof of the church are built and there is a renewed movement to complete the church building.

Under the leadership of Mr. Beatson-Affram’s grandson (who shares his name) a Building Committee has formed to raise the remaining $130,000 (US dollars) necessary to complete the 1,200 seat sanctuary, meeting rooms, classrooms, and Sunday school wing.

The Story of the Peki Methodist Church

The Peki Methodist Church was the first of its kind in the Volta Region of Ghana. This is its story:

Mr. Samuel Beatson-Affram, the Chief Linguist for the town of Peki in the late 1800s, was gifted to know at least 16 Ghanaian languages and accompanied the town’s Chief on his travels throughout the country. On one of those trips, Mr. Beatson-Affram attended a Methodist Society meeting where he experienced a conversion to Christianity and asked to be baptized. He asked the Methodists to come to his home of Peki to establish a Methodist Society there.

With the help of other members of the Peki community, they founded the first Methodist Society in the entire Volta Region (the easternmost region of the country). Mr. Beatson-Affram donated land to build the Methodist Society and Methodist school in 1893, providing from his own resources to pay the teachers.

He also sent his first son, Isaac Affram, to be trained and ordained as a Methodist minister. Rev. Isaac Affram became the first Secretary of the Methodist Church Conference in what was then called Gold Coast.

Mr. Beatson-Affram’s second son, Emanuel Affram, was one of the pillars of the church and also a lifelong member of the choir.

The Peki Methodist Society spread the faith throughout the area, planting at least 14 other churches in the Volta Region.