Features
The AU and Ghanaian /African Diaspora in Finland
My write up today is about the Ghanaian/African Diaspora in Finland and how they marked the Africa Day as a day to celebrate the African Union (AU) on 25th May of each year. I dedicate it to the AU.
Incidentally, 25th May is my birthday too, but I focus mainly on the AU and activities of the Ghanaian/African migrants in Finland to mark that day.
What I write here is to highlight some positive things from activities to celebrate the AU’s anniversary.
The African Union
History tells us that the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) now African Union was formed on 25th May 1963 in Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, with Ghana’s first President, Dr Kwame Nkrumah playing an instrumental role.
The African Union (AU) is a continental body consisting of the 55 member states that make up the countries of the African Continent. It was officially launched in 2002 as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU, 1963-1999), according to information on its website.
The Union promotes a prosperous and peaceful Africa which is driven by its own citizens and represents a dynamic force on the global arena (see https://au.int/en/overview).
History
The history is that in May 1963, 32 Heads of independent African States met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to sign the Charter creating Africa’s first post-independence continental institution, The Organisation of African Unity (OAU).
The OAU was the manifestation of the pan-African vision for an Africa that was united, free and in control of its own destiny. This was solemnised in the OAU Charter in which the founding fathers recognised that freedom, equality, justice and dignity were essential objectives for the achievement of the legitimate aspirations of the African peoples, the information further says.
The guiding philosophy was that of Pan-Africanism which centred on African socialism and promoted African unity, the communal characteristic and practices of African communities, and a drive to embrace Africa’s culture and common heritage (see https:// au.int/en/overview).
Diaspora activities in Finland
There is no doubt that the African Diaspora and people of African descent are eager to portray and promote a sense of African unity, the communal characteristics and practices as pertains in African communities, and a drive to embrace Africa’s culture and common heritage in Finland.
This is in agreement with the AU’s objective that the Diaspora Division serves as the focal point and hub for implementing the African Union decision to invite and encourage the African Diaspora to participate in the building and development of the African continent (see https://au.int/diaspora-division).
Unity in diversity
Almost all activities organised have endeavoured to portray a sense of unity in diversity, bringing together the diverse cultural identity of the people originally from their African countries.
Although customs of, for example, northern African societies differ vastly from the customs of other parts of the continent, there are more common customs and cultural similarities.
With their various cultural and religious backgrounds, the African Diaspora in Finland promote unity and integration without any considerations to the fact that there are different countries in Africa and that there could be vastly diverse identities.
Enlightening information
and Cultural display
Events organised by members of the African Diaspora focus mainly on information that is enlightening about the African Union and its tenets as well as the African culture.
Some of the highlights of the events involved group of people that holding discussions about what the African Diaspora such as academics and other stakeholders in Finland and elsewhere can do to drive change in the education sector in Africa.
Participants from and representing the various countries on the continent took part in the activities to commemorate the Africa Day.
They engaged in cooking and eating of some African kinds of food (or an improvisation from food combinations) which are deemed typically Ghanaian or that of other African countries.
African migrants, including those originally from Ghana and other African countries organised celebrations and other events in typical “African way”. They adorned African clothes and performed cultural activities portraying the cultures of the various countries of the continent. Thank you!
By Perpetual Crentsil
Email: perpetualcrentsil@yahoo.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
