The Playground That Brought Light: Seth, Alan Riser, and the Lord's Prepared Path from Alorkpem, Ghana, to the Mission Field

Seth grew up on the remote island of Alorkpem in Ghana. His father died when he was young, leaving his mother to raise him and his sisters on her own. Life was difficult — each morning before school, Seth helped sell kenkey, a traditional Ghanaian food, to help support his family. And there was another challenge: the island had no electricity. When the sun went down, so did Seth's opportunity to study.

Then, when Seth was in primary school, help arrived. A humanitarian organization called Empower Playgrounds came to the island with Latter-day Saint volunteer Alan Riser. Alan helped build a merry-go-round that generated electricity, and he invented a seesaw swing that generated electricity every time children played. The power charged portable lanterns that families took home each night. For Seth, the playground became more than a place to play — it became a source of light. After helping support his family during the day, he could finally study at night.

When the project was finished, Alan returned home. The villagers had affectionately nicknamed him for the wheelbarrow full of mangoes he once brought. Neither he nor Seth expected they would ever meet again.

Years later, Seth met missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through a friend. He embraced the restored gospel, was baptized, and soon decided he wanted to serve a mission. About that same time, Alan returned to Ghana for another Empower Playgrounds project. One Sunday, he visited a nearby Latter-day Saint branch, far from the island of Alorkpem. During his testimony, he mentioned that people in Ghana used to call him by his nickname. A young man in the congregation suddenly froze — he remembered a man by that name who had come to his island years earlier and installed the playground that brought light to his village.

After the meeting, the young man introduced himself. It was Seth. Alan learned that Seth was preparing to serve a mission, so he helped pay for his passport and some of the supplies he needed before leaving. Soon, Seth received his mission call to Madagascar. He now continues serving the Lord in his home country of Ghana.

"Whenever I look back at my journey and how everything started," Seth said, "I always say it's the Lord who prepared all this to happen." Alan came to Ghana to help children generate light for their homes. Years later, one of those children dedicated his life to helping others find the light of Christ — a reminder that simple acts of Christlike service can bring both literal light and the Light of Jesus Christ into the lives of others, and that sometimes the Lord uses simple acts of service to illuminate a path we could never have imagined.