Seminary Acceptance, Kumasi, and everything in between ;)

I’ve been accepted to two seminaries! Yaaaaaaaayyyyy! :) So exciting, so happy, so relieved. I mean, I knew that eventually things would work out, and that I should get into most if not all of them, but still. For the past few weeks there’s been so little I could do on that front. But anyway, I’ve been accepted at Candler and Wesley! :) It’s awesome. I’m so thankful. I’m still waiting to hear back from Harvard & Duke, but that’ll come in time.

Also, my laptop’s working, which is marvelous. Nana (a family friend) got me a 3-to-2 prong US plug adaptor, and that makes it work perfectly with my other adaptor minus the transformer. Glorious ;)

And speaking of nice things, here are some common Ghanaian English phrases for you:

Is it nice? -> Does it taste good?

I am coming -> I’ll be right back

Some pieces of Ghanaian etiquette:

1) To see a professor, knock on their office door and immediately enter if it’s unlocked. Back away with apologies if they’re busy.

2) Whenever you’re eating something, offer to share it by saying “You are invited”, or “atom” (sp?) in Fante

3) Start all personal questions, and perhaps occasions where you’re asking for help, with “Mepa wo chow” (sp?) which is often rendered in English as “please”. Ex: Please, where are you from? Mepa wo chow, efi hen?

Also, info about Fante that I would feel bad if I didn’t tell you ;)

So, Fante (actually called Mfantse (m- fahn- TSÉ) by the people who speak it) is part of the Akan language family, which are mutually intelligible languages among the people of the Southern half of Ghana, shifting somewhat into coastal Côte d’Iviore and maybe coastal Togo. The Asante (a- SHAN- tee in English or a-SAN-tee in Asante ;)) are one of these groups that you may have heard of. Anyway, there are lots of different types of Akan, but they’re usually split into two subsections: Mfantse & Twi. Twi basically includes all the other Akan languages/dialects, but like I said, they’re mutually intelligible, so it’s no big deal.

English is used as the language of commerce in Ghana and so everyone learns it in school, though with varying degrees of competency. Hearing Ghanaian people speak it is tricky because they have Ghanaian accents along with British accents. Also, because Akan languages distinguish between genders far more seldom than English does, people tend to confuse “he” and “she” quite often. This can become very confusing when trying to find out what your friend Akwasi might be doing, or when being told the plot of a soap opera. This makes me appreciate all the more how fortunate I am to already speak English. Communication would be far more complicated in a French-speaking African country, though I’ll try it someday.

Shows here are occasionally in English and occasionally in Twi, just depending on the channel and the program. There are 4 free channels in Cape Coast: Metro TV (apparently owned by a white guy, and therefore all in English), TV Africa (“Truly African, Proudly Ghanaian”, “Projecting African Values”), TV3 which comes out of Accra, and another channel that doesn’t come in well at my house ;) Shows range from Ghanaian music videos, talk shows & news to CNN, German economic news in English, MTV Base, the Tyra show & Aljazeera (of which I am very fond). There are also multiple soap operas… some Ghanaian, but also others from different countries which have been dubbed into English. The ones in Spanish are particularly intriguing because I’ve never been able to appreciate them before (not being able to speak Spanish), and now I get to talk to Mother about things like where Miami is located and why a Spanish-speaking soap opera is set there. That one’s called Secreto de Amor, and is a family favorite. The Revenge and The Gardener’s Daughter also come on, but are far less captivating. I think it’s just that Secreto de Amor has one good actress – and debatably also a good actor or two. There’s also Full House, which I believe is set in Japan, but though I’m curious I’ve only seen it once. Another called Timeless is set in Asia somewhere- I just can’t put my finger on the location.

Anyway, back to Fante language things ;)

Fante (emphasis on pronunciation rather than spelling), then English translation-

Mi/me -> I, which is very convenient

Akwaaba -> Welcome, lit: You have come back

Cobra -> Go and Come (something you say to a person who is leaving)

Wofrem -> My name is/ They call me

Paano -> Bread (my Mother here makes bread)

Me d’ase (meh- DAA- seh) -> Thank you

Nyame/ Onyame -> God. Did you know that God was born on Saturday? The Mfantsefo think so ;)

Also, there are various ways of asking “how are you” or “how is your health” in Mfantse. A common way of responding is “Bokoo” (BO – koh with a long second syllable) which means “cool”. Interestingly, Mfantse greetings for the time of the day also depend on how hot it is. So, what is commonly translated as “Good afternoon” (Mema wo aha) doesn’t precisely correspond to afternoon- you say “aha” when you’re still feeling the sun bearing down on you, so from roughly 11am to 4:30pm. Isn’t that neat?

Names are also interesting in Akan cultures. They’re matrilineal, but since colonization people were forced to use paternal names as family names, so that’s tricky. People also have baptismal names, which are often used in school. Everyone also has a day name, which corresponds to the day you were born. There’s a main male name & female name for every day of the week, and also lots of variants. Since I was born on Sunday and the Fante/Mfantse word for Sunday is Kwesida, I can be called Esi. However, (how fun is this) I can also be called Mansa because I am the third born girl and both of my older siblings were girls.

Generally, however, I just say Rachel, even though it’s hard for people to pronounce. (It’s often confused with Richard, which is used here. How convenient that I already have it as a nickname ;)). Using Esi makes some people happy, like the nice taxi drivers and local people selling things at stands… but I feel like my African Traditional Religion professor might not appreciate it. I had that class (my first real class) with ~150 other people yesterday and got picked on, I think, a) because I stand out, and b) because this is a 200 level class and the professor hasn’t seen me with this group of students for the past three semesters. But I think I came out of it ok. I got a nod from the professor at the end of class. The subject matter was very straightforward & introductory, though I had a lot of thoughts on the way he presented it.

In other news, I’ve made just one tentative friend at school (classes having barely started). His name is Mikdad, and he’s a Muslim chemistry major from Tamale. Katie, Chantal and I are sticking together pretty well, though. Mostly we’ve just had a lot of time together by necessity, but it’s been very helpful & enjoyable to talk to them and work through some of our confusions. Chantal’s a bit more independent, perhaps by nature and partially by virtue of her previous experience & old friends in Ghana, but we’ve all been striking out adventurously in our own ways. I think all is well on that front, and it’s nice that we keep each other abreast of things.

Friend-making at the seminary is coming along nicely, however. Especially within the last week & a half :) I’ve met and become friends with Ocansey, Rodger, Benjamin, Edward (I think ;)), and especially Richard. I’m going to Ocansey’s church this Sunday, Rodger’s a sweetheart, Benjamin & Edward play the drums in Chapel & push me in my Fante, and Richard’s going to town with me today to help me pick out a cheap phone. He comes by the most often because he’s a friend of the family. There’s also a guy here from Guinea named Mardi (Tuesday! :)) who speaks French! It’s a wonderful feeling to accidentally meet a francophone on such very friendly terms. I was actually trying to speak Fante with him when he interrupted with “Bonsoir” and apologized for not speaking much English. Neat guy.

I’ve started going to the 6pm chapel service at the seminary every night I’m home. They also have one every morning at 6am, but I’m still shying away from that one in favor of sleep ;) I think spending time with my family at night is important, too. But anyway, these services are very interesting. I’ve experienced ones like them before, but never on a regular basis. I was learning from the Dean about various strands of Anglican development in the US and he mentioned that this seminary is more closely tied to the Catholic tradition than the protestant one. So anyway, every evening except when we have communion there’s are various call and response prayers (which most people have memorized, but I don’t), the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, lots of “world without end”s, prayers for specific seminary alumni, the St Nicholas (seminary) prayer, one psalm reading, and Old Testament & New Testament readings. This is done in some order- we’ve been going through Genesis for a while reading the story of Abraham & Sarah, now getting to Isaac & Rebekah. The New Testament reading, however, has shifted now from Matthew’s account of the crucifixion to either 1^st or 2^nd Timothy. The hymns we sing are sometimes local ones and sometimes ones out of the book, which means that I might or might not know them- it’s a pretty old edition of the prayer book.

However, the other day we sang a very upbeat, African-drum-inclusive version of “Here I am, Lord”, which I love. That song means a lot to me. And so apparently I “danced” in the chapel service (though personally I wouldn’t give myself that much credit. I think I moved, clapped & sang) and this apparently impressed the seminarians. Lots of them spoke to me after that service. I wish I could do it more, but it’s something I dare not try unless I’m feeling it, and I don’t feel it often because I don’t know many of the songs yet. Perhaps that day will come. Perhaps they’ll also let me teach them about partnered dancing. I got to dance in Kumasi this weekend, which was madly fun until other people tried to dance with me. That sounds rather mean, but the thing is that Ghanaian men are persistent and don’t like to take hints, like when I would block them and dance bigger as they tried to slide in right next to me. Remarkably frustrating. In general, Ghanaian social dancing is far less exuberant than one might imagine. It seems that club dancing here is much like club dancing at home, and if anything, more tame. C’est la vie.

Back to Kumasi… We visited the place where Okomfo Anokye, the traditional priest who conjured the Asante king’s golden stool, placed a sword in the ground and claimed that if it ever came out, it would be the end of the Asante kingdom. Now, there’s evidence to suggest that it came out in the early part of the century, but it’s been returned, and various strong people (Muhammed Ali, for example) have failed to pull it out. The Asante also claim that they never truly lost their war with the British because they never surrendered the golden stool (stools are a mark of chieftaincy). Instead, they sent a gold-plated copper one to them, and the British were quite mad when they found out. It’s an interesting story. King Pimpei I was in exile for most of his reign, first in Elmina Castle, then perhaps in Sierra Leone, and then in Seychelles for many more years. Since then, I think we’re on our fourth king, aka Asantehene. There are also queen mothers to be considered, but there’s much debate about the extent of their power. Many have been extremely influential. One was a hero of that most recent war with the British. But again, it’s a matrilineal system with large doses of sexism against women. It’s tricky.

We also went to the place where boys weave Kente cloth near Kumasi. You know, all the literature says that men weave Kente, but perhaps they just mean males because the only people we saw were adolescent boys, and they were EXTREMELY competitive. It was a very charged atmosphere. From the moment we got off the van they were all vying for our attention and catering to typical tourist fetishes, like Kente-style bracelets with your name on them woven before your eyes in a matter of minutes. There were also neckties, waist wraps, passport bags, and purses with very handy amounts of pockets. In many ways, it was very intense. The boys would shove each other out of the way and argue to get our attention, and we felt rather uncomfortable but learned a lot aside from and because of that experience.

And I need to report success on the fufu front! I had some this Sunday, and while I can’t say that I particularly enjoyed the fufu itself, I did swallow quite a lot of it (and in normal-sized chunks, too!) Amazing what you can learn to do. Interestingly, fufu’s name is the same as the Fante word meaning “white”. I think it’s sort of off-white, but whatever ;)

Sheesh, I know this is a long post, and I could say more, but my final bit of news is that my parents here (Mother and the Dean) are going to America on Thursday night for about 3 weeks. The Dean has a lot of speaking engagements at various seminaries and churches, and Mother’s just going to have a vacation. I think it’s nice. Kind of a weird reciprocity. So, I’ll be here, hanging out with Mother’s other daughters, the seminary folk, and the people who work around the house.

Good luck to everyone at home! I hope school's going well, and life, working, dancing, WtHC plotting, etc etc. I love you all. I'll try to write some letters soon.

More to come later :) Thanks for caring.

Love,

Rachel Rose