Rev. Jim and Mary Smith established the Mission about 30 years ago. Their desire was to serve the African church and help it in areas where it needed help. By God’s grace that desire has become the centre of the mission with a walled compound containing a Mission church, a meeting Tabernacle, a mission house and “Lydia House”, a dual purpose building with rooms on the ground floor and above an open prayer floor, overlooking the valley. A few years ago, Jim and Mary felt the Lord calling for a school on its base in Accra, Ghana. The land was bought, and a Kindergarten started with just 2 pupils and one teacher. Now we have over 130 children and 23 staff. Outside the compound is a school for older children and space allocated for a two storey teachers’ centre. We are working that all of this be self-supporting, and we are always looking to expand. 

The base is established as an important contributor to the expanding community around and in the recent virus outbreak when the government imposed a lockdown, the Mission initiated a food relief programme reaching out to the most needy families. The schools are providing an essential education for the children, giving them high quality lessons with an unabashed Christian ethos.

Numbers are growing in the Kindergarten, as the good reputation for the school spreads. A bus now picks up the children from outlying villages and the facilities are being added to as funds become available. 

The Future

We are at a crucial point in the life of the Mission and we are looking to the future. The Serving Africa mission is moving to a sustainability model for its financial needs. There are a number of projects, both in hand and for the future that we are developing.

The Beloved Missionary School

The school is a work in progress and has functioning classrooms. It is the school the Kindergarten children can move into. The school launches officially in January 2023, initially with four classrooms but the plan is to add at least one extra floor. The work progresses as funds become available.

….and then…

Land is being bought for the second campus, the Beloved Missionary School – Diamond campus. Work will begin as and when resources become available.

Teachers’ Centre

This exciting development is a two storey facility, which has already been praised by the local inspector of schools. It will provide quality training for a new generation of teachers in high quality surroundings. This will enable the Mission to build a lasting legacy for generations to come.

…And beyond

We are now developing a number of projects that will help the school and the base to build on our foundation.

Digital Skills

There are few – if any – computers in the area around our base, so it is essential that we bring our children up to date with digital technology

The beloved missionary school must be a 21st century school. Ghanaian children need to develop their computer skills while they are young. The benefits in this are enormous.

• Children learn quickly.
• We provide a safe digital environment.
• Digital skills will help them find employment.

We aim to provide 4 computers and printers. We already have two computers, a printer and a computer teacher, but more is needed. Click here to find out more.

Africa Workers

Meanwhile the day to day work of the base and the school press on under the direction of Apostle Paul Sefa and his wife, Anita who looks after the catering. The headteacher, Naomi and the other staff are paid at prevailing Ghanian rates and partly financed by the school fees and its budget.

The Serving Africa Mission is committed to paying all those who work for us a fair wage. Salaries for the Africa mission team are paid out of a UK based charity (Takk Trust Registered UK Charity Number 290753). 

We are embarking on a process of linking our African pay scales with African jobs of a similar salary, as we do with all our English staff.

Medical Needs – Wholeness of the Child

Education is more than learning to read and write. We have over 130 children on our base, plus 23 staff. Then we have many mums with babies. We need to think about the health of the whole child. 

We have 160 people on the base everyday, over 130 families linked to the school and all our neighbours. We would like to have a nurse living on the base, available to help the children and their families, and hope to run some Primary Health education – the very basic things to help families. this would be a person based work rather than an equipment based one, although we would need to provide basic medicines. 

So we plan to employ a qualified nurse who along with medical skills can teach a whole range of primary health  – basic hygiene, cuts, fevers, sexual issues, with emphasis on caring and equipping girls.

It would be good to fund the nurse for five years as well as the setting up costs. 

We would hope we can develop to being a centre for primary health with the State health system using us for vaccination and other clinics.

You can be a part of any of these exciting and long term projects to build up the community. 

Primarily we ask for PRAYER! The Mission has a number of WhatsApp groups where members regularly contribute prayers and are given frequent updates on developments on the base and in the school. Contact us to ask for more details here.

You can DONATE towards any of these projects. Any gift that is made will be kept for the indicated purpose in a dedicated account.

To make a donation on the trust’s CAF online donation page click here.

Please email us to confirm the project you are making a donation to. Click here.

(Friends in Ghana can contribute via Apostle Paul Sefa. Phone him on
0244 292986 or e-mail – kayisefa.gh@gmail.com.)