The Odwira Festival

Odwira is an annual festival held in Akropong (Akuapem), Ghana. Last week marks its 200th anniversary and celebration. Odwira means “purification,” and serves as a memorial to those whose lives were lost during the war with the invading Ashante people in 1826. Moreover, Odwira is adorned with sacred rituals with the purpose of cleansing the community, cleansing the local “stools” which have authority over the land, and cleansing the peoples of Akuapem from the wrongs of the previous year. It is a time of looking back to the ancestors and honoring them, a time of mourning and remembering those have died in the last year, and a time of welcoming the New Year of the Akan calendar which began on Thursday during the week of Odwira. Lastly, Odwira is a thanksgiving festival centered around the yam harvest. From what we gather, the spiritual markers and identity of the Odwira Festival are rooted in a history of resistance to the slave trade.

Last Friday we celebrated the Grand Durbar outside the King’s Palace with thousands in attendance which included local townspeople, the peoples of the Akuapem area, visitors from inside and outside Ghana, and dignitaries such as the Norwegian Ambassador and the former President of Ghana. It was a grand affair with incredible colors and pageantry! At the center of it all was Nana Oseadeeyo Kwasi Akuffo III, the King, or Paramount Chief, of the Akuapem Traditional Area. 

On Sunday, two days later, a thanksgiving ecumenical service was held outside the Palace as means of acknowledging the strong and productive relationship of the Paramount Chief and the peoples of Akuapem with missionaries from Europe and Jamaica dating back almost two centuries, coupled with an ongoing relationship with local churches and the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture (ACI) where I serve.

From the side of the missionaries, the church, and ACI, let me suggest that it is essential to not condemn the social and religious histories of a people, but rather to be in relationship with one another, to promote dialogue, and to find places of convergence and mutuality despite differences. After all, the richly layered and textured history and religiosity of the peoples of Akuapem (Ghana) have much to offer us all in terms of understanding our shared history and to better understand our God of grace and mercy who chooses to meet us in respective socio-cultural-religious contexts.

Please delight yourself in the photos below to gain a different picture of Ghana and Africa, a Ghana and Africa beyond what you may currently see or know with regard to this glorious continent.

Entrance of Nana Oseadeeyo Kwasi Akuffo III,
Paramount Chief of the Akuapem Traditional Area

Members of Royal Families who have volunteered to carry 
food to the ancestors on New Year's Day

Girl carries food atop her head for the ancestors;

a spiritually arduous task 

One of the Chiefs of Akuapem greets those attending
the Odwira Festival 

Another chief, decked out in Kente cloth

 

Dressed to the Nines!

Much fanfare as groups and dignities come 
to greet the Paramount Chief (King)

Kristi kneels on the balcony of the Palace to get a better view

Inside the Palace

Young boy poses inside the Palace 

Dr. Francis Addo Sakyiama of ACI leads a team of student researchers as
they conduct particpant observation during the Odwira Festival, 
seeking to learn about local culture in relation to the Gospel of Jesus Christ 

Ecumenical Thanskgiving Service (Sunday, outside the Palace)

Members of various churches gather to Worship together to
give thanks to God for the Odwira Festival

The Paramount Chief and his Sub-Chief sit with the elders
front/center in the worship service

The Very Reverend Professor J.O.Y. Mante (Chancellor of ACI)
shares God's Word 

Linguists (Spokespersons) of the Paramount Chief and Sub Chiefs
sit with theirs staffs during worship 

The Pastor (J.O.Y. Mante) prays for
the Paramount Chief 

Bumps in the road

In the last month we have encountered several challenges in the process of adjusting to life in Ghana. It feels a little like we were cruising along a road and then hit some unexpected speed bumps and potholes, and now we are waiting for a flat tire to be fixed.

In July, we moved into a house in Akropong. Soon after arriving, we realized that the running water in that neighborhood is VERY unpredictable. It will work for 3-4 days, and then go out for a week. In the 6 weeks we have been in the house, the running water is working about half of the time. Our neighbor allowed us to use the rainwater in her tank for a week or so, until that ran out. Gradually, we are finding ways to make life work without predictable water. I found another house in the neighborhood that has a well and sells buckets of water to neighbors. And a young woman who stays next door is helping us to fetch water when needed, since we don’t have the strength or skill to carry big buckets of water on our heads. We also bought a barrel to store up water when the running water is flowing, and are looking for a way to harvest rainwater. Progress...but still an adjustment.

Then, after one month of being in the house, we noticed mildew growing on the walls. We are in the midst of rainy season here, and nearly every morning there is a thick mist that blankets the area. Fortunately, we have not encountered mildew in the houses we have lived in before. We talked to neighbors, did our online research, used lots of vinegar in cleaning walls and furniture, and have a professional company from Accra coming this week to address the mildew.

A few weeks ago, Bob also got sick. A visit to the clinic and some lab tests diagnosed him with typhoid. He took the prescribed course of antibiotic but has not yet recovered. He has gone back for more tests, and we plan to see another doctor this week to explore some other options. After a flurry of activity in July for Bob with classes at ACI, it has been hard to not have the energy to do the work he would like to do. When they learned that Bob was sick, a group of women in the neighborhood came one morning to visit and pray. And then the leadership of ACI sent a delegation of the staff along with a big basket of fruit, which was a great encouragement to Bob in the midst of a discouraging week.

 Auntie Julia and some friends from the neighborhood

came to visit Bob while he was sick

These three examples are some of the ‘bumps’ encountered as we try to adjust to life here. But in the midst of the frustration, we also see how these challenges have opened opportunities to learn, to depend on the people around us, and to find our strength and hope in God. We have been encouraged by the concern, the advice, and the experiences shared by colleagues and friends here in Ghana. We also share this with you now, recognizing we need your prayers that God brings healing to Bob and gives answers in some of these other challenges.

Our Apprenticeship Journey

Mentoring has been highlighted as a core value at the Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture (ACI) where I recently joined the faculty. For new faculty, we have been asked to enter a period of apprenticeship, as noted in our handbook,

A period of ‘apprenticeship’ is required before teaching begins. A prospective lecturer appointed to teach a course should first sit in the course to understudy his/her predecessor for at least a year or for the duration of the course before assuming teaching responsibilities.

From my own experience and from listening to the experiences of others, this form of mentoring and apprenticeship is the exception rather than the rule in institutions of higher learning. Perhaps some important reasons for ACI’s approach to mentoring and the apprenticeship period for junior staff include our desire to inculcate in our students and staff the high value we place on scholarship and spirituality, our desire and need to “channel” our mode and method of pedagogy (manner of teaching), and lastly our strong desire to be responsible, thoughtful, and faithful in our approach to African Christianity as a field of study and a field worthy of deep exploration beyond the scope of other theological institutions whose frame of reference emanates from the West.

Last month, colleagues and I had the opportunity to begin this period of apprenticeship. We were able to sit through and audit two courses: “Studies in Gospel and Culture,” “Christ and Other Faiths in the African Context.”[1] Some salient issues we covered include the idea that theology must be rooted in culture, the centrality of language (the vernacular, local language) in apprehending reality and responding to the Transcendent through religious practice, the significance of Christian-Muslim relations as an opportunity for promoting peace and demonstrating mutuality, respect, and collaboration around issues which promote life and development, and understanding the person of Jesus Christ in ways which resonate for African persons and communities in light of primal understanding and African religious heritage and lived experience.

These two courses were held online,
with lectures and interaction with students
 

I am grateful for this apprenticeship journey. The greatest joy in this journey so far has been not only witnessing students' engagement with the lecturer and the material, but also seeing their gratitude for what ACI is presenting to them. For example, at the end of the course ‘Christ and Other Faiths in the African Context’, the student representative of the class said:

Akrofi [ACI] is such a wonderful place…the knowledge we get, we want to thank you very much; we want to promise you that as we go out, we will do great things…we know that God loves us, God loves our culture…we know that God is with us…

The end of this course felt like a celebration and a time of thanksgiving as students expressed their gratitude for what ACI has to offer. It encouraged me to know that as my colleagues and I begin this apprenticeship journey, we can anticipate great things to follow.



[1] These two courses are part of our nine-course MA program in Theology and Mission.

Making ourselves at home

About two weeks ago we moved into a house in Akropong where we will stay for the foreseeable future. It feels good to get to know our neighbors and start to feel settled. We came with our clothes and some books in suitcases, so this feels like starting fresh to furnish a house and figure out what we need.

A truck loaded with our stove and suitcases,

with some curtain rods tied on top

One of the projects before we moved in was finding a refrigerator and stove. After visiting several places and feeling overwhelmed by the options, we were grateful to have those basic appliances and very grateful for the friends who helped us transport them from Accra. At least we can make and keep food now! Just before we moved in, we bought a few plastic chairs and a small plastic table (which will eventually be used on our porch). Those have functioned as our only furniture thus far while we are waiting for a local carpenter who is making us a table and chairs, sofa, desks, and some other things. We did get a bed before we moved in, which involved multiple trips to the big city of Accra and asking for advice from several people. We also discovered the convenience of Jumia, an online store that will deliver items to our town so that we don't have to go into Accra.

The carpenter in Accra taking apart our bed to load it into the truck

in our living/dining room

While living without running water in the house for our first week or so and then having challenges paying our electricity bill, we have experienced some of the ‘drama’ of the utility companies in Ghana. We are thoroughly grateful for the simple gift of having water and electricity in the house, when they are there.

We are living at the edge of the town of Akropong, which sits along a mountain ridge. When we take walks in the neighborhood, we get some beautiful views of the valleys and forests in the areas around. We were specifically praying for a place to live that would be quiet and where we could see some nature around us. God has answered that prayer abundantly, and we are grateful for God’s provision.

One of the views while on a walk near our house.

Many new houses are being built in the area, so the

view may be different in a few years.

Learning Twi - a good start!

Learning a new language is humbling. We feel like little children again, stumbling over words and not understanding what is being said. It has happened more than once in the last few weeks that we try out a sentence in Twi with someone and they give us a quizzical look and then say in English, “what are you trying to say?” Ooops…so our pronunciation or word choice is off, but most of the time the person is willing to show us our mistake and help us get it right.

 

These are our flashcards. akɔkɔɔserade literally
means "chicken fat", and is the word for "yellow"

There are some interesting challenges in learning Twi. It is a tonal language, so high and low tones can change the meaning of words. For example, the word ‘kakraa’ can mean ‘very few’ or ‘very big/huge’, depending on the pronunciation. There are also some nasal sounds and some consonant combinations that are difficult for us to imitate. And then they have two more vowels than English that have distinct sounds. In English the same vowel can make different sounds in different words, so at least in Twi they identify the different sounds with a different symbol!

 

Us with our language teacher, Mr. Osei Kwebi

We have been meeting with a language teacher three days a week for the month of June. After our language lesson, we review what we learned and then go out to practice. We talk to shopkeepers who are waiting for customers. We talk to children walking home from school. We talk to people we encounter on the road as we wander the streets of Akropong. We say the same thing, ask the same questions, over and over. It is intimidating, speaking our halting words in a new language, particularly when some of the people we are talking to are fluent in English. But it has also been such a gift to get to know some wonderful, patient, gracious people and to learn about history, culture, and life in this region of Ghana.

One man who has been particularly patient and helpful is Kwadwo (pronounced Kwadjo). One day, we encountered him on the road walking with a woman, on their way to a funeral. He introduced the woman as his mother and then explained that she is actually his mother’s sister; in this culture, all of one’s mother’s sisters are considered one’s mothers. It was striking because just that morning we had learned about the matrilineal family systems in this region and learned how to say in Twi, “the sister of my mother is my mother.” This encounter was a perfect confirmation and connection over the important issue of family.

We have made good progress for our first month, and we are very grateful for your prayers in the process. Learning a language is a very long road, so we are asking God for the time, perseverance, and relationships to continue to improve in our ability to hear and speak Twi.