Freedom & International Day for the Abolition of Slavery

Father's House Ghana, a rescue home for 8 beautiful boys that were freed from child slavery in the fishing industry, is on my heart today as we recognize the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery.
 See more posts about Father's House International by clicking here,  
or check out the Father's House International website here.
Here's a few of my thoughts on how Father's House is beacon of hope for physical and spiritual freedom from slavery.   

In my first days at Father’s House I asked the boys how to say “Thank You God” in the Ewe language and they told me Akep na wo Mawu. When they taught me I put the words into a simple tune and we began to sing in our two languages.

One of the boys, Ame, seemed to love the song! Whenever Ame and I were sitting at the table together, or sitting on the beach watching a soccer game, after a few minutes one of us would begin to hum quietly. And then we would sing, in hushed tones (me because my singing voice is admittedly abysmal, and Ame because the English words were still foreign to him). 

I began to recognize that while on the one hand we shared very little: we lived on different continent, didn’t have a shared story, or speak the same language, we did share a common love for Jesus. And it seemed that was more than enough; it was a lot. 

I learned to love the moment he would look up at me, flash me a giant grin, and begin to sing. I loved that somehow without ever talking to each other we could become a part of each other’s worlds. 

(Singing with Ame and drawing in the sand...holding an unhappy neighbour child).  

Probably Ame will never know that he was showing me a little glimmer of how fantastic our God is; that Ame singing with me in multiple languages, while drawing in the sand, was a reminder to me of God’s overwhelming presence and power.  

It’s this side of Father’s House that struck me when I first walked through the gates and that continues to have a profound impact on my heart. In the week leading up to my arrival at Father’s House I’d found myself deeply discouraged as my research lead me to revelations about child trafficking & slavery that were foreign and disturbing to me. When I walked through the gates of Father’s House and discovered it was not an orphanage but a rescue house for child slaves, and I recognized the air was thick with the Holy Spirit I was undone. 

It was the recognition that God had used Father’s House not simply to free eight little lives from human slavery but also to free his children as they come to know the love of the Father. 

Today, on the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, I am quietly humming ‘Thank you God’ and remembering that he has power over the darkness that is human slavery.