Category Archives: Culture

A New Key

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Dr. Solomon Sule-Saa presenting a summary of his research to September conference

Dr. Solomon Sule-Saa presenting a summary of his research to September conference

I have written before about Solomon Sule-Saa, a Ghanaian who has done extensive research on the impact of translating the Bible into the Konkomba and Bimoba languages of northern Ghana. In a summary of his research presented to a conference in September, he said of the Konkomba and Bimoba peoples:

“The Bible now provides the key to understand the world”

I have heard my share of sermons on Romans 12:2

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”

But I do not think that I have heard a better description of one way to put that verse into practice – that the Bible should be the key through which I interpret the whole world.

Translating the Bible into new languages is often billed as effective evangelism, and it is. But it is much more than that. Beyond bringing people to Christ, these translations are transforming individuals and communities through renewing people’s minds.

Dr. Sule-Saa's doctoral thesis which explored the impact of the translation of the Bible in two languages of northern Ghana

Dr. Sule-Saa’s doctoral thesis which explored the impact of the translation of the Bible in two languages of northern Ghana

During an ethnic conflict which was so serious the Ghana army had to intervene, the Bimoba lost confidence in the neutrality and good will of the Ghana government. They saw no way forward but to continue fight for their rights. In a war council, several leaders quoted from the translated Bible, arguing that that Jesus way is the way of reconciliation. So, abandoning their own wisdom they agreed to engage in peace talks moderated by the government they no longer trusted. It worked. They got what they were seeking through negotiation. Now that is faith – following the teachings of the Bible when your life and your livelihoods are at stake. This story shows that the Bible in these languages is doing more than influencing the decisions of individuals. It is also affecting the decisions made by the chiefs for the whole group. Now that is being transformed.

If you liked this, you might also like Tome, Patois, or Feeling the Gospel in our bones.

Bimoba traditional dance

Bimoba traditional dance

Expectations of the road

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I could see cars slowing down and moving to the right about a mile ahead of me. I slowed down a bit and took stock of what vehicles were around me. Then I tried to both drive where I was and keep track of what was happening down the road. More cars were slowing and moving to the right. But nobody was stopping. When they got past whatever was causing the problem, they resumed normal driving.

It also looked like the problem was moving, almost like there was a slow vehicle driving right down the middle between the two lanes. Strange. Now I was really wary. The traffic was relatively heavy, so one wrong move by someone and we could have a pile up. I slowed a bit more and moved as far to the right as I could while staying in my lane.

The car ahead of me was now the only thing between me and the problem. That car moved to the right to reveal … an emu running down the center line at an amazing clip!

Now that was unexpected. You might think that a missionary would not be shocked by such a thing, and you would be right, except that I was somewhere north of Roseburg, Oregon on Interstate 5.

We humans need to put things in categories to understand the world and live in it. So the category “Oregon” caused me to exclude the possibility that the problem was an emu. At the same time, those categories often lead us to wrong expectations. Sometimes the result is humor. Other times we put people in negative categories they do not deserve, hurt them and make bigots of ourselves.

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If you liked this, you might also like Non-talking parrot, Trash talk,  or No hard knocks.

Passing the Purse

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In Burkina Faso,a person lower on the social hierarchy does not let someone higher status carry anything.

Dayle and Eleanor returning from the market in Niangoloko

So, when Dayle’s mother came to visit us in rural Niangoloko, Dayle had to carry all the purchases back home when they went to the market together. Allowing your visiting mother to carry something on a shopping trip was the sign of a lazy and disrespectful daughter. People were not shy to let Dayle know that.

Here in Ghana it is the same. When we arrive at the office in the morning, one or more of the staff run to carry our computer and lunch bags into the office for us. As self-sufficient and egalitarian Americans, we don’t like it. But, I have seen the hurt in the eyes of local people who don’t understand when Americans resist having their stuff carried.

Once, this social feature allowed me to do an analysis of the social hierarchy in village in Burkina Faso in about 3 minutes.

Daniel Kompaore, Director of ANTBA, on a visit to translation projects (not the trip in this story)

Daniel Kompaore, Director of ANTBA, on visit to translation projects (not trip in this story)

An American couple was visiting. They represented an agency helping fund Bible translation. We took them to a rural location where a translation was underway. I was in the vehicle with the couple, the director of a national Bible translation agency (ANTBA), and a driver. When we got to the location, many people had gathered to welcome the couple. The American woman got out of the vehicle with her handbag. Immediately, the Director reached out and took it from her to carry it as the international visitors were higher status than he. In the blink of an eye, the driver took it from the Director as he could not let his Director carry a bag while he was around. I rushed to the side of the worried woman to assure her that no harm would come to her bag. Meanwhile, the chairman of the board of the local church saw the driver with the bag, he took it from him, as visitors always have the highest status. The pastor took it from him. One of the translators took it from the pastor. The bag continued its descent down the social hierarchy until it ended up in the hands of a small boy who dutifully and cheerfully carried it at the heels of the visitors until we got back in the vehicle to leave, when someone of middle status took it from him and gave it back to the visitor.

I am sure that the village had no written rules about who should carry whose bag, but everyone knew where they fit in the social hierarchy and they took the bag from those higher and relinquished it to those lower. The bag passing from hand to hand told me who had higher and lower status. I was too enamored watching the bag go from hand to hand to take it when it was my turn.

Watching the bag go from hand to hand also gave me a revelation. An advantage of  hierarchical societies is that everyone (except those at the very top and very bottom, of which there are few), learns to cheerfully serve and cheerfully be served.

What’s in a name

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Happy MannIn the US, we don’t notice names that have meaning as long as they are common names, especially girls names. So Hope, Faith and Rose are seen as normal. In fact, we might not even think about their meaning when we say them. But give a child a name that has meaning that is not usual, and people raise their eyebrows. I was amused by this Canadian election campaign sign for a candidate for the WildRose party. Yes, his name was Happy Mann. He did not win, so was Happy happy after all?

The Bible is full of names that are odd from our perspective. On the same day, Eli the High Priest died, his two sons were killed in battle, and one of their wives gave birth. She named the boy Ichabod – literally “Glory Gone” to mark the tragic events. The naming that tops them all, though, is when the prophet Isaiah named is son Maher-shalal-hash-baz which the Good News Bible translates as “Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder”. Can you imagine the introductions?

This is my fiancé, Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder
Hi, I’m Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder and I’m applying for a job as a security guard

Child naming practices in parts of Africa where I have lived are sometimes strange to my American sensibilities. In some places a child’s first name is the day they were born on.

President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan

President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan

So I have known a good number of Friday’s including a great Nigerian colleague, Danjuma (meaning Friday) Gambo. Here in Ghana, Ashantis can give a child up to 10 names, including one for the day of the week. Lots of names are names of hope or of blessing. You will meet lots of people here in Ghana named Naana, which means Chief. Oh, and you will meet some named Chief and a few named Prince. The president of Nigeria is a man with a wonderful handle – Goodluck Jonathan.

But some do not hesitate to give names of calamity and despair, just like the biblical Glory-Gone and Quick-Loot-Fast-Plunder. A child born in times of famine and be given that as a name.

Nessiel Nodjibogoto

Nessiel Nodjibogoto

My favorite is the name of my dear Chadian friend Nessiel Nodjibogoto. Nessiel’s mother carried her first 3 pregnancies to term, but the babies were stillborn or died shortly after birth. Nessiel was her forth and she named him “He won’t last” which is the meaning of Nessiel in her language, Ngambaye.

Many years later Nessiel was going to a meeting outside of Chad. He went to see his now aged mother before leaving. In the course of the conversation she said to him: “You have given me grandchildren. We should consider changing your name!” But Nessiel told her that he wanted to keep his name. He said that some might call his development efforts in Chad, one of the poorest countries, “It won’t get done”. He likes the reminder, he told his mother, that those who say negative things are not always right.

Divine Munukum, one of my Ghanaian colleagues

Divine Munukum, one of my Ghanaian colleagues

Naana Nkrumah, one of my Ghanaian colleagues

Naana Nkrumah, one of my Ghanaian colleagues

Kente

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Young man weaving Kente cloth

When we lived in Burkina Faso we were introduced to strip weaving. Using simple looms, hand-made out of branches and strips of home-cured leather, men wove beautiful strips of cloth which are then sewn together to make cloth. Weaving, it turns out, is a man’s job in Burkina Faso. The cotton is dyed before weaving, and the intricacy of the design depends on the skill of the weaver. I still have a garment made by a man who won third place in a national weaving contest. It is a beautiful combination of blue, black, silver and white.

Here in Ghana, there is a very special kind of strip-woven cloth called Kente (pronounced ken-tay). It contrasts other strip woven cloth in Africa by its vivid colors and geometric shapes. A room full of Kente cloth can be a bit overwhelming.

Kente cloth shop near Kumasi

Traditionally, Kente cloth was only worn by the members of the royal court. The weavers worked for the king. Now days, it is freely available. You can buy it at the airport as well as in many markets. But for the really good stuff, you need to go to the source. I had the opportunity to visit the town which is home to the weavers for the royal court. We visited a small shop stuffed with the brightly colored fabric while a young man sat at a traditional loom in the street outside making even more.

Nawuri Chiefs in Kente Cloth

Nawuri Chiefs in Kente Cloth

The most common use of the cloth is as men’s wear. A large piece is draped in a specific way over the left shoulder leaving the right shoulder bare. I’ve tried it. I learned that I need a lot more practice before I try wearing it in public! The men who wear it all the time make it look so easy. The men in the photo wearing kente are traditional cheifs among the Nawuri people of Ghana’s Volta Region.

If you liked this, you might also like Cloth and Meaning, Festooned with Signs, Fancy Caskets. or Mobile Colors.

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The Ram, the Lion and the Lamb

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Merry Christmas - animated banner

This is our second Christmas in Ghana. We are celebrating by posting again what we posted for our first Christmas.  It is uniquely Ghanaian.

Ghana has a rich history, culture and beliefs. Long before explorers and missionaries arrived, the Akan people of Ghana developed a rich set of symbols to explain their beliefs. One of them is this stylized representation of rams horns, called “Dwennimmen“

Dwennimmen - Rams hornsA ram will fight fiercely with a predator or another ram. So it is associated with strength, which is why the ram’s horns are found on Dodge Ram trucks. But it also submits quietly to slaughter. In the Dwennimmen symbol, the Akan people captured these opposite qualities of the ram: meekness and strength. It was a reminder to those who are strong to exercise their strength in humility.

At Christmas, we celebrate the all-powerful God coming down and being born as a baby. He was born with animals into a family of modest means. Talk about being meek and being strong!

When Jesus was accused by Pilot, he did not try to defend himself, just like the prediction about Jesus in Isaiah:

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7 ESV)

Again, great strength exercised in great meekness, just like the Akan symbol Dwennimmen.

Another animal used to symbolize Jesus is the Lion. He is called “the lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5). The lion, of course, represents strength and courage The praise chorus “How Great Is Our God“, celebrates the unexpected juxtaposition with the words

Christmas animation - mixedThe Godhead three in one
Father, Spirit, Son
Lion and the Lamb
Lion and the Lamb

When Jesus said that his kingdom is not “of this world”, his meek approach to power must be one of the things he meant. Through simple grassroots action, such as Bible translation, that kingdom is expanding around the world. There is a power in the Gospel even when to this world it seems timid, meek, or irrelevant, just as did Jesus birth.

People associate all kinds of symbols with Christmas: snow, sleighs, Santa, reindeer, trees, wreaths, stars, angels, wise men, shepherds, a stable, a manger, even tin soldiers and more. This Christmas I am adding a Ghanaian symbol to my repertoire – ” Dwennimmen” or rams’ horns.

May you have a blessed Christmas.

Manger banner

This was originally posted in December 2011.

Advice from Ghana Taxi Windows

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Ghanaians love to put interesting sayings on their vehicles and shops. Often they are quotes from the Bible and, almost as often, quotes of traditional sayings, some of which sound like they might come from the Bible, like “God’s time is best”.

A number offer advice to the reader. These are often found on taxi windows. Another feature of Ghana is that Ghanaians are not embarrassed to write the signs in their own languages. Taxi windows are as likely to carry words in the Twi or Ewe (pronounced Aye-Vay) languages as they are to display English. Most of the advice is pretty good.

We’ll start on the main road from Kumasi to Accra, where I found this taxi offering advice in the Twi language. Literally it means “Think about yourself”. The meaning is something like “Don’t put your nose in other peoples’ business”, “Mind your own business” or “Don’t Meddle”.
My next example comes from the streets of Accra. This taxi driver is also offering advice in the Twi language. We are told to “Let it go”, meaning that when someone does something bad to you, then let it go. In other words, forgive them. “Let it go” is an interesting idiom for the concept of forgiveness. It is important that we do not assume that the English and Twi idioms have exactly the same meaning. That considered, the hard part of forgiveness is often to “let it go”, that is, not keep dwelling on the matter, running it over and over in our heads.

Next we have a taxi on a road in the beautiful highlands of Eastern region. This time we have advice in English. Apparently, gossiping is not something confined to any one culture or age. We are warned about it in parts of the Bible written 2,000 years ago. This taxi driver seems to think that the advice is as relevant for contemporary Ghanaian society as it was then.

One day, I walked out the gate and found this taxi beside the road. The driver was grabbing a bite to eat from the roadside food stand. I commented on his advice. He brightened up. According to him, we need to be humble because even Jesus Christ was humble. I suppose that he had read the second chapter of the book of Philippians. About an hour later, he came driving past me as I was finishing my walk. He leaned out the window, smiled and yelled, “Be humble!”

These photos were originally posted on my Facebook feed. If you liked this, you might also like Festooned with Signs, God’s Time is Best. or Shame.

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Cufflinks in Kete-Krachi

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GILLBT 50th Anniversary cloth

GILLBT 50th Anniversary cloth

The Ghanaian organization Dayle and I work with is celebrating its 50th anniversary. As in many African countries, on such occasions an organization will have special cloth made and sell it. I explain that more in my blog on [get title and reference]. Anyway, here is the 50th anniversary cloth. Of course, along with other staff Dayle and I enthusiastically had outfits made of the cloth.

GILLBT board chair in his 50th Anniversay celebration cloth

GILLBT board chair in his 50th Anniversay celebration cloth

I was pondering what to have made – a long sleeved shirt, short sleeved, or something else when I saw the chairman of the board in his outfit (see photo). Then a couple days later at church I saw a man in something with different cloth but the same design, but his had cufflinks. I could not remember ever seeing cufflinks on that kind of outfit. But over the next few days I saw several. I had not worn cufflinks for years, so I decided that I would do it. We found a tailor (they are not expensive here), and commissioned my outfit. The tailor himself was wearing an outfit in the same style, also with cufflinks. We found a set of inexpensive cufflinks and I was ready to go.

My next trip was to the town of Kete-Krachi near Lake Volta. We left very early in the morning and did not arrive until after dark. The last 60 miles or so were on a very bad, dirt road. We bumped and jostled our way there at about 25 miles per hour. It seemed interminable. Anything but a serious 4×4 would be beaten to death in no time on that road. We were there for the dedication of the very first Scripture ever published in the Kaakye language – the Gospel of Mark. Of course, I took my new outfit, and all my colleagues would be wearing their anniversary cloth too. The next day I was getting dressed for the event when I discovered that I had made a serious mistake. I had forgotten the cufflinks!

Shop in Kete-Krachi where I bought cuflinks

Shop in Kete-Krachi where I bought cuflinks

Kete-Krachi is a smaller town with not much of a shopping district. I thought that I would have to wear something else and all of my colleagues would be in their 50th anniversary cloth. No one in the delegation had a pair of cufflinks with them, nor did any of the Kaakye translators, with whom we had breakfast. On a lark, we drove down the main road glancing at the shops. There weren’t many and it would not take long. My colleague, Naana Nkrumah, said “Stop! Stop! That one!” I got out and walked over to the little shop to see a glass and wood display box in which were placed about 20 pairs of cufflinks! Not only would I get cufflinks, I would have to spend a little time choosing among various designs. I bought a pair for about $3, was rescued from my error, and was able to celebrate the event in the proper attire.

Cufflinks in Kete-Krachi — who would have guessed.

Festooned with signs

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Sign painting shop

Sign painting shop beside the road in city of Tamale

When we moved to Ghana in 2011, I started doing some reading about Ghana. An article on economics mentioned something new to me. It said that and important next step in Ghana’s economic development should be the naming of streets and giving houses and businesses numbers on those streets. Being able to identify the physical location of a person, or where a vehicle or other piece of property is kept, turns out to be an important for business, banking, and credit.

Before coming to Africa, I naively assumed that all places had street names and house numbers. In Burkina Faso, our first assignment, only a few main streets had names, I never saw numbers and I made my own map. Ghana has more – some streets with names, some lots with numbers, and there are several maps of the city for sale. See an earlier blog – The Rock that God Put – for a story of how I found someone in a good-sized town when I only knew the part of town he lived in.

Street corner in Adjiringanor, Accra

Street corner in Adjiringanor, Accra

Businesses and churches want to be found. So they have solved the problem of lacking street names. The solution? Many roads wear a lively garland of signs. Intersections host a swathe of them, each vying for your eye so that you will see that their business, church or whatever is just down this street, if only you would turn here. The need for signage is an economic opportunity. Sign painting businesses proliferate along with the welders who make the bare signs for the imaginative painters.

Street corner near our place

Street corner near our place

The content of the signs is just plain fun. There is no other word for it. Not fun in the sense that they are to be made fun of, but fun in the sense that I don’t know what is coming next. Will it be the “Blessings come from God’s Great Covenant Beauty Salon?” Or perhaps the “Jehovah Lives Automatic Mechanic”, the “Out of Time Radiator Specialist” or the “Remember the Truth Photo and Video Studio”? I would love to have conversations with Ghanaian shop owners to find out how they chose the names for their shop, just like I did with a taxi driver to find out why he put Shame in his window.

Enjoy the signs, I sure do.

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Outdooring

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One cannot live in Ghana for long without hearing about or being invited to an outdooring ceremony. If you go to one, you might see a scene like this:

The Ashanti chief, adorned with gold bracelets, rings and chains, closed his eyes, bent his head down and chanted a prayer to the health and fortune of the squirming 3-month-old boy before him. Nana Adu Adjei, a 57-year-old Ghanaian, had donned his green, yellow and royal purple kente cloth for an ”outdooring”.

But you don’t need to be in Ghana. The scene described above took place in New York City and was reported in the New York Times.

Among many peoples of Ghana and elsewhere in West Africa, a baby is kept indoors until he or she is eight days old. The baby is then brought outdoors for the first time in a ceremony called an “outdooring”. It is the occasion for a party with friends and family. In many cases the baby receives its names at this ceremony and in some cases, male children are circumcised.

A word like “outdooring” is a Ghana-ism. It was born out of the contact of the English language with cultural realities for which English has no words. The word “christening” really doesn’t fit.

English is the official language of Ghana which inherited it from the colonial period when Ghana, then the Gold Coast, was a British colony. But there are over 60 languages spoken in Ghana, and very few Ghanaians speak English as their first language. They learn English in school, use it in government business, but speak their own languages in their families and in their communities. They continue to follow their many helpful traditions even when they profess a world religion such as Christianity.

English does not have words for many of the things that they hold dear, or just want to talk about. So they have invented new English words, or they sometimes use standard English words, but with new meanings.

Culture is a powerful force – so strong that a local culture can bend a world language like English to fits its needs, rather like gravity can bend light. When that happens, some mistakenly say that Ghanaians are not speaking English correctly. As I am writing, my impoverished spell checker has mounted a campaign against “outdooring”, suggesting that I replace it with “outpouring”. That Ashanti chief in his traditional regalia could teach it a thing or two about a proud part of Ghanaian culture.