There is a community in the North Dayi District of the Volta Region with a population of about 600 where no adult is unemployed.
The people of Yordan-Nu leave their homes early in the morning for their farms and return after sunset.
They take advantage of the fertile soil and thick green vegetative cover to produce maize, cassava, yam, rice, mangoes, vegetables and honey on bountiful scales.
The first time visitor to Yordan-Nu (meaning by the banks of the Jordan) is also struck by the clean environment, serenity, botanical gardens and more importantly the wide absence of people on the streets and the houses during the day.
Simply put, they grow what they eat and eat they grow.
Conspicuously, there is no market at Yordan-Nu.
“This because we have all that we need to live on and there is no need for us to go and buy food stuff from anyone”, explained Simon Mawuxom, a member of the community who offered to conduct the Ghanaian Times round the community on Monday.
Times: So how do you sell your crops?
Mawuxom: We transport them to Kpando, Kpeve, Ho and other towns to supply them to the traders.
Yordan-nu was founded in 1977 by the White Cross Mission (formerly White Cross Society) to serve God and mankind, spiritually and physically, according to the leader of the mission, Prophet W.K. Kudior.
In those days, naked children, mud houses and abject poverty were the striking features of the village.
Over the years, members of the White Cross Mission deployed their self-help spirit to undertake various development projects, and succeeded in transforming the community into a model one with modern houses, portable water, schools, a library and other amenities.
The place of women of Yordan-nu which is connected to the national power grid is not just the kitchen, as the mission involves them vigorously in every development activity.
In the early 1990s, for instance, the women of Yordan-Nu teamed up to procure a corn-mill to produce ‘weanimix’, a food supplement for babies.
The women operated the corn-mill themselves without relying on the men, and produced the food supplement which they supplies to markets in various parts of the country and raised enough money to invest in other development projects in the community.
Similarly, the people of Yordan-Nu contributed money to construct a reservoir from which water is connected to homes and vantage points in the community.
In the same way, the community library was built to prevent the young people from becoming idle.
The White Cross Mission Basic School is yet another monumental testimony to the firm development posture of the mission, and for that matter the people of the community.
Prophet Kudior said that sometimes public-spirited individuals supported to the efforts of the people.
Another common feature in the community is the tipping-taps in almost every household.
These are built with a very simple technology involving a gallon ganging on a wood craft to facilitate wand washing.
The community strictly adheres to the culture of frequent hand washing with soap and water, to maintain high standard of hygiene.
No one has died in Yordan-Nu for the past five years.
“We need to be healthy to do the work of God”, Prophet Kudior insisted.
Still on sanitation, Prophet Kudior announced that the mission has adopted a plan to ensure that every household has a water closet toilet before the end of 2020.
“There are decent toilets in many houses but the plan is to have them in every house”, he told the Ghanaian Times.
The prophet said that more communal urinals would also be built in the community to put an end to ugly sight of visitors urinating about.
In spite of its success story, Yordan still faces a few development challenges.
“We are expanding as a modern community and we expect the assembly to intervene to expand the basic school”, said Prophet Kudior.
That prompted a visit by the Ghanaian Times to the school where there was an intriguing juxtaposition of modern and dilapidated school blocks.
Some of students were writing their examinations under trees.
The headmaster, Prosper Egbenya, complained that one of the classroom blocks, which was damaged by a severe rainstorm had still not been repaired by the assembly.
He said that the school, with a total enrolment of 300, was the best in the district in terms for academic performance and, therefore, deserved better and expanded facilities to maintain high standards.
“We also applied for the school feeding programme and have structures in place for it but we were not considered”, the headmaster moaned.
Clearly, the White Cross Mission has proved its worth as an icon of human development in addition to the role of evangelism.
Today, the White Cross Mission has about 50 branches at various locations in Ghana with the same development agenda in the spirit of self-help. It also operates in neighbouring Togo.
It is hoped that the government would smile broadly at Yordan-Nu and commit greater zeal and resources to its development efforts, which undoubtedly hold highly bright prospects for generations yet unborn.
BY ALBERTO MARIO NORETTI
