Features
Educating kids and others about Ghanaian culture
• GUF hosts events to promote
Ghanaian culture abroad
In my children write-up, I promised to bring to readers at points in time some of the positive things that the Ghanaian immigrants are accomplishing or trying to accomplish in Finland.
There are a lot of engagements among the Ghanaian immigrants in Finland, within the Ghana Union Finland as the representative association as well as by individuals.
As I keep pointing out, Finland encourages migrants’ participation in the planning of issues concerning the migrants themselves as one of the efficient ways to improve their inclusion.
There are many positive things that are happening within the Ghanaian immigrant community in Finland. Great efforts are being made by certain groups or associations as well as individuals, which need to be highlighted.
organise events from time to time
Promoting Ghanaian traditions
The Ghanaian diaspora in Finland has been growing fast and many associations such as the Asanteman Kuo, Brong Ahafo Association, GaDangme, Mfantseman Kuw, as well as those of Eastern Region and Nzema groups have been formed.
The Ghana Union Finland (GUF) is an umbrella organisation representing the whole Ghanaian immigrant community. The Union and other organisations have been engaging in social activities and promoting the Ghanaian values and cultural heritage.
These are demonstrated during funeral where people mostly wear Ghanaian-style funeral clothes made with fabrics from Ghana.
The cooking and serving of “Ghanaian food” is encouraged at events organised by Ghanaian groups and individuals.
Also, at such events Ghanaian and other African drumming, songs and dancing are on display and even Finns get in the mood. The drums and other Ghanaian instruments attract many people to the scene.
On Ghanaian languages
Finnish agencies and other institutions encourage integration for migrants residing in the society. Such institutions are ready to support immigrant groups to teach their children especially those born in Finland about the language and other traditions of the countries of origin.
I remember that some years back, there were efforts by some individuals within the Ghanaian community to start classes for children to learn at least one Ghanaian language such as Akan/Twi. Unfortunately, I think it could not be sustained because the number of immigrant children was not high enough.
All the same, educating the children in the local languages of Ghana is still on the minds of many people in the Ghanaian community. Fact is, many people seem to worry that some Diaspora women who even had little basic education try to speak in English to their children.
The children born in Finland speak the Finnish language fluently. But many people worry that many such children are unable to respond well to Twi, Ga, etc., although they may understand it. Thus, the fear of some parents and the older generation is that their children may lose their roots completely.
Encouragement
There are many personalities and institutions that have contributed to or ensured the smooth running of things for Ghanaian immigrants in Finland.
Many of them have used their knowledge and abilities to encourage and help improve the lives of members of the Ghanaian immigrant community in Finland.
Many have acquired huge expertise and resources (academically, economically, technically, technologically, etc.) and try to give something back to society through imparting that to others or supporting them in other means.
This also helps to integrate immigrants into the host society. In my next write-up, I will hopefully bring to readers the efforts of a group or an individual within the Ghanaian community. Thank you!
By Perpetual Crentsil
Email: perpetualcrentsil@gmail.com
One of the issues we have been grappling with as a nation is corruption, and it has had such a devastating effect on our national development. I have been convinced that until morality becomes the foundation upon which our governance system is built, we can never go forward as a nation.
Our traditional practices, which have shaped our cultural beliefs, have always espoused values that have kept us along the straight and the narrow and have preserved our societies since ancient times.
These are values that frown on negative habits like stealing, cheating, greediness, selfishness, etc. Our grandparents have told us stories of societies where stealing was regarded as so shameful that offenders, when caught, have on a number of instances committed suicide.
In fact, my mother told me of a story where a man who was living in the same village as her mother (my grandmother), after having been caught stealing a neighbour’s cockerel, out of shame committed suicide on a mango tree. Those were the days that shameful acts were an abomination.
Tegare worship, a traditional spiritual worship during which the spirit possesses the Tegare Priest and begins to reveal secrets, was one of the means by which the society upheld African values in the days of my grandmother and the early childhood days of my mother.
Those were the days when the fear of being killed by Tegare prevented people from engaging in anti-social vices. These days, people sleeping with other people’s wives are not uncommon.
These wrongful behaviour was not countenanced at all by Tegare. One was likely going to lose his life on days that Tegare operates, and so unhealthy habits like coveting your neighbour’s wife was a taboo.
Stealing of other people’s farm produce, for instance, could mean certain death or incapacitation of the whole or part of the body in the full glare of everybody. People realised that there were consequences for wrongdoing, and this went a long way to motivate the society to adhere to right values.
Imagine a President being sworn into office and whoever administers the oath says, “Please say this after me: I, Mr. …., do solemnly swear by God, the spirits of my ancestors and the spirits ruling in Ghana, that should I engage in corrupt acts, may I and my family become crippled, may madness become entrenched in my family, may incurable sicknesses and diseases be my portion and that of my family, both immediate and extended.”
Can you imagine a situation where a few weeks afterwards the President goes to engage in corrupt acts and we hear of his sudden demise or incapacitation and confessing that he engaged in corrupt acts before passing or before the incapacitation—and the effect it will have on his successor? I believe we have to critically examine this option to curb corruption.
My grandmother gave me an eyewitness account of one such encounter where a woman died instantly after the Tegare Priest had revealed a wrong attitude she had displayed during the performance on one of the days scheduled for Tegare spirit manifestation.
According to her story, the Priest, after he had been possessed by the spirit, declared that for what the woman had done, he would not forgive her and that he would kill. Instantly, according to my grandmother, the lady fell down suddenly and she died—just like what happened to Ananias and his wife Sapphira in Acts Chapter 5.
NB: ‘CHANGE KOTOKA INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT TO KOFI BAAKO
By Laud Kissi-Mensah
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BY ROBERT EKOW GRIMMOND-THOMPSON
