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.

Odwira Festival (Akropong, Ghana)

Odwira is an annual festival held in September or October in Akropong, the town in Ghana where we now live. Odwira means “purification,” and commemorates the four-day battle between the peoples of Akuapem and the Asanti people who came down from the Kumasi area of modern-day Ghana. This year is unique in that 2026 is the 200th anniversary of the battle whereby the Akuapem staved off the attacking Asanti. Because of this grand occasion, local re-enactments of the five different divisions of the Akuapem people who garnered victory after holding off the Asanti are being held in different parts of the Akuapem region from June until September when the two week festival will take place.

Over the last three weeks, Kristi and I have been able to attend two of these events, each sponsored by the royal house of Akuapem in partnership with Akrofi-Christaller Institute of Theology, Mission and Culture (ACI, where I work) and the Center for Performing Arts of the University of Ghana in Legon (Accra). Three of my colleagues have been busy each week with the planning and preparations for the events, and they are heartened by our attendance. In fact, one of these colleagues recently told me that the ɔmanhene (Paramount Chief) of Akuapem invited ACI to help facilitate these events for the purpose of documenting and recording the oral histories of the local people.

Some of the interesting and noteworthy occurrences of this history include one division of the Akuapem having the special power to call bees to help them fight off their attackers. Also, as the Asanti came with their sacred artifacts which they believed would grant them victory, these artifacts were taken by the Akuapem people and represent a central part of their annual rituals and remembrance. In the enactments we have seen, men wear “batakari,” war regalia, and the women play a prominent role as they support the men as they go off to fight and then mourn the loss of the men who die and their bodies are brought back from battle. In one re-enactment, a medicine man, influenced by a spirit, dances around wildly and anoints the men for battle as a young woman goes before him, throwing white powder onto his body as part of a sacred ritual.

The late Kwame Bediako, co-founder of ACI, developed a strong relationship with the former ɔmanhene (Paramount Chief) of the Akuapem region and people; this relationship serves as an ongoing legacy of the Institute and part of our witness to the community. While the annual Odwira continues to hold a central place in the hearts of many, its purpose of annual purification for the peoples of Akuapem foreshadows the purification all peoples can now receive; for as Kwame Bediako writes, “The Odwira to end all odwiras has taken place through the death of Jesus Christ.”*

To learn more about Odwira, this website provides additional information. Below are some photos we have taken of our experience of the two re-enactments over the last few weeks. We hope to attend more re-enactments and the two-week festival this year in September.


*Bediako, Kwame. Jesus and the Gospel in Africa: History and Experience (Theology in Africa) (p. 33). Orbis Books. Kindle Edition.

Arrival in Akropong

We have had a full first week in Akropong, Ghana! We are grateful to be here, grateful for the helpful and gracious people who we have met, and very grateful for a good start in adjusting to life here. Here are a few pictures and reflections from our first week.

The entrance to The Akrofi-Christaller Institute (ACI),

where Bob is now on the faculty.  

ACI has just completed the spring semester, so this week was full of meetings for the staff, such as a faculty review of the semester, an all-staff ‘Durbar’ (meeting to share updates and express thoughts and concerns), and a planning meeting for the rest of the year. These meetings were a great introduction for Bob to the staff, the culture, and some of the current issues at ACI.

Above photo is of the Wednesday chapel service at ACI,

which is a bit more structured than the daily devotions.

ACI has devotions every morning for staff and students. Everyone worships, discusses a short passage of scripture, and prays together for specific people or needs in the college community. This semester they have been going through the book of Romans, a few verses each day. We really appreciate that they open space for anyone to share their thoughts on the verses and learn from each other. We were able to attend this week before the college goes on break for a month.

An example of the narrow roads in town -

on the left of this photo is ACI the guest

house where we are currently staying.

We are slowly finding our way around Akropong. Many of the roads are narrow with houses built right up to the road in some places. The town sits on the ridge of a mountain range, so there are a lot of hills. We learned a few phrases in Twi and many people have been helpful and encouraging as we try to practice with them.

 

Grateful for new friends helping us to find a place to live!

We saw the house where we will soon be living, and have enjoyed getting to know the woman who owns the house and lives next door. We plan to move into our new home in July, so we will slowly find furniture and get set up in the next month or so.

Simon, pictured above expertly cutting coconuts with a machete, gifted us with a large coconut to enjoy. The coconut tree in the photo is in the courtyard of the guest house. Simon accompanied us to church on Sunday where we enjoyed worship and fellowship with some new colleagues.

We are so grateful for God's faithfulness and the gift of getting to know new friends as we arrive. We have a lot to learn and a long way to go in feeling at home here, but we give thanks for a good start. Thank you so much for your prayers, encouragement, and support along the way!

Facing our collective pain

One significant place we visited in our travels this month was the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, AL. This museum was started in 2018 through the vision and initiative of lawyer Bryan Stevenson (see the book/movie Just Mercy) and the Equal Justice Initiative. The museum chronicles the experience of people of African descent in the U.S., “from slavery to mass incarceration.” 

The Legacy Museum entrance.

No photos allowed inside, so here is the outside. :)

It was powerful to see in one place the timeline of events through legislation, court decisions, and quotes from specific leaders which maintained slavery and later oppression through Jim crow.  We were really impressed to see the specific details compiled – it was more than you would ever learn in a textbook or in school. We highly recommend a visit – it was hard but also important to see more closely the pain and the injustices in our country’s history.

One aspect that stands out to us is how slavery impacted all of the United States, not just the South, in terms of the economic gain from free labor, which benefitted financial institutions, the government, and also normal citizens. Another point that came to life to us through the museum is seeing the negative social and financial impact for people who were enslaved – imagine the generational trauma when families are repeatedly torn apart for centuries during slavery and even after. 

The audio-visual exhibits, including many personal testimonies, along with the sheer volume of material, is impressive. We had been in the museum about 3 hours when we talked to a staff member and learned that we were only half-way through!

Along with the museum we also visited the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, an outdoor site that commemorates the people killed by lynching throughout the United States. They have a large memorial stone for every county in the U.S. where racial-terror killings are known to have happened between 1877 and 1950, along with the names of each individual in that county who was killed and the year they were killed It is a powerful visual reminder of the more than 4,000 people who were killed without getting due process in the justice system - including in northern states like Illinois.

One of the stone markers showing

the people killed in Amite county, MS

One person asked us why we would want to go visit these sites in Montgomery, given that it is such a hard thing to face. We said that we wanted to go because we have learned that in order to find healing, we have to be willing to face, accept, and express the pain. That goes for individual pain but also for corporate pain. That is one of the key principles in the ministry of Healing Hearts, Transforming Nations. We have to be willing to lean into the pain and injustice in our nation’s history if we want to understand it, accept it, and hope for healing and justice. As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States this year, we thought this was one significant way embrace the ‘whole’ of our history – to acknowledge the wrongs even as we celebrate the many good accomplishments, great people, and hopes for the future.

International School of Reconciliation: the miracle of the cross

This month I participated in the International School of Reconciliation in Rwanda. About 30 people from 16 different countries attended the Healing Hearts, Transforming Nations (HHTN) workshop that happened the first week, and then 21 of those people stayed on for additional training and practicum to become facilitators. Wow. Each one of the participants has experienced deep heartache and conflict in their lives on in their communities, but they share a passion to draw close to God and to bring God’s healing and peace to others in their communities.

Some of the participants in the school (in a disorganized photo!)

It truly felt like holy ground being together at the school, sharing stories of loss and pain, and experiencing the hope and healing that God makes possible. I was humbled by the perseverance and love of these special people and want to share a few glimpses from the workshop during the first week of the school. 

Group discussions during the workshop

One of the sessions in the HHTN workshop is about naming the collective losses that our countries (or people groups) have experienced. Each country or region named the material or inner losses that they had experienced, such as the loss of lives, of homes, of trust between people, or the loss of hope. One pastor from the Tigray region of Ethiopia was there and shared about the atrocities committed during the recent war in his region. A woman from the province of Manipur in India was there and shared with heartbreak about the many villages that had been completely burned and the thousands of people displaced in the recent conflict. After each person shared their page of losses, the paper was put up on the wall. It was sobering to look at the wall and see so much hurt and loss!

 

The losses identified by each country, put up on the wall

In the middle of the workshop is the “cross workshop”, where we give over pain, grief, or sin to God. We took some time for personal reflection and then were given the opportunity to share some of the pain we had identified with a partner. As we came back together and gave over the individual pain and also the collective losses identified earlier, I looked around and felt the weight and grief of the pain represented in the room.

nailing our pain to the cross

 
But the miracle of the cross is that Jesus bears our pain and our sin – he does not leave us to bear it alone. Jesus endured suffering and empathizes with us in our pain; he invites us to let him help us to carry the burdens. The following morning, several people shared how much lighter and relieved they felt after sharing their pain. Here are just a few of the reflections from participants after the cross workshop session:

• The session was very powerful. I realized I had a heavy pain in my heart, hiding it as if nothing had happened. I had to pour out my heart to the person I shared with. Then I realized how heavy it was, not easy to carry. It was not easy for me to bring the pain to Jesus, to say to him that I am bringing him my pain. I was thinking “how did I live with such pain in my heart?”
  
  
• I thank God for the peace within me. The climax was nailing everything to the cross yesterday and saying “Lord, I surrender.” I feel a peace that I have never felt before.
  
  
• My tears came as we brought our pain. I thought “this is how the body of Christ is supposed to be.” This is a powerful reminder of what Jesus did for us.

worship and prayer together with new friends

I am so grateful for the prayers and support of many people that covered this school and made it possible. If that is you, know that your prayers were needed and answered! Some of you have heard me describe the HHTN workshop many times, but each time it feels like a fresh experience of watching God at work. So thank you for bearing with me! I could only describe a small part of this school in this post, so hope to describe more in another one next week.