Features
The Ghanaian Muslim community in Finland
Some Ghanaian muslims who are promoting Islam in Finland
Today, I focus on the Ghanaian Muslim community in Finland. As I have said previously, there are many personalities and institutions that contribute to the smooth running of things in the lives of Ghanaian migrants in Finland. The Ghanaian Muslim community is a very good example.
The exploits of such people or groups are laudable and should be acknowledged. I have previously written about the Church of Pentecost (COP) when their National Head, Apostle Eric Nyamekye, visited Helsinki a few months ago.
I have also written about the African Catholic Chaplaincy when Catholics, Lutherans and other worshippers celebrated a Thanksgiving Holy Mass organised by the Chaplaincy at the Kallio (Lutheran) Church in Helsinki, which was a key milestone in ecumenism.
The religious life of Ghanaian migrants in Finland, whether Christians or Muslims, also shows the role of religion in binding them together for positive outcomes.
The Ghanaian Muslim
community in Finland
There is a sizeable number of Ghanaian Muslims in Finland, although this estimation is based on my own rough evaluation and not on any official statistics. The Ghanaian Muslim group is a strong, well-knit one, devoted to building the spiritual and physical lives of its members through prayers at the mosque on Fridays and in other social activities.
The Muslim group has long been in existence. According to Mr Adam Mohammed Naporo, one of the founding members, most of the current members came to meet the group as a small community.
Initially, the members prayed with other nationals at their place of worship. Later, as the number of Ghanaian Muslims grew, they formed themselves into a well-organised group, which has existed for about 15 years now.
They also saw the need to educate the young ones about the Ghanaian culture and heritage. While teaching the tenets of the religion is seen as very important, “many parents felt the need to teach their kids the Ghanaian culture too, their roots”, Mr Naporo said.
Organising themselves
Aside going to the mosque for Friday prayers, the Ghanaian Muslims also organise other social activities that bring them together in unity and cordiality. These are goals that their leaders strive to pursue for the group to achieve.
The group usually gets together to celebrate important religious events such as the Eid ul-fitr and Eid ul-ahda. At such events, other people outside the group are invited to partake in the joyous celebration to mark the holy months of fasting.
The Muslim group also organises classes or a school (makaranta) for the kids every Saturday, Sunday, and on holidays. According to Mr Moro Abdulai, one of the leaders, the group also organises trips to Estonia and other places for its members.
Inculcating values
The new group got together a number of years back to raise their kids and teach them the tenets of Islam as well as values of the Ghanaian culture.
The leaders also try to instil discipline and give the kids the moral upbringing and identity as Muslims and as good citizens residing in Finland.
According to Mr. Abdulai, in their syllabus they also teach lessons on manners. Sometimes, they even invite experts within the Finnish society to talk and thus expose the kids with an education on discipline and integration.
How do they appreciate the Finnish society they live in? According to Mr Naporo, their group sees living as a kind of social contract. “We see ourselves as having a contract of living in Finland and so we should honour the contract by obeying the laws of the country. We let our people appreciate that”, he pointed out.
Unity and harmony
The Ghanaian Muslim community stands for unity and harmony in their group as well as in the larger Ghanaian migrant community in Finland.
The Ghanaian Muslims are very supportive of activities by the Ghana Union Finland, a body representing Ghanaian migrants and devoted to enhancing close cooperation and cordial relationships for effective integration of its members into the Finnish society, while also upholding the good image of Ghana abroad.
Members of the Ghanaian Muslim community prepare popular dishes—waakye, tuo zaafi, etc.—and donate them to the Ghana Union for its events, which are usually well attended.
Ensuring integration
All this also indicate the opportunities for members of the Ghanaian diaspora in Finland to integrate into the Finnish society through religion and their religious activities and affiliation.
As I keep pointing out, Finland encourages migrants’ participation in the planning of issues concerning the migrants themselves, using this strategy as one of the efficient ways to improve their inclusion. Thus, there is an enabling environment created within the Finnish religious ecology that undoubtedly helps migrants, including Ghanaian Muslim migrants, to integrate into the host Finnish society. Thank you!
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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