1st Day of Work plus Religion, Society and Women

So though I had till Friday to go explore the city, my birthday blues forced me to ask Ernst (my boss) to start working earlier… Hes actually got a pretty cool idea using contacts that I had made before arriving. In short, he wants to create a regional coalition to help combat the immense violations of child rights that occur here. The place I work at, Center for Human Rights and Legal Research [CHRALR], will provide the training regarding the legal aspects of child rights with other groups contributing their own strengths. So Im pretty pumped about working on something that is a hidden passion of mine.

On another note, I started to learn more about Kumasi, both through my host as well as a journalist here. First, Religion is a pervasive force here. I will go into more detail in a later post, but the Ghanians are a highly religious people. For instance the headline of a national newspaper reads ‘Deliverance from Spider Spirit’ and starts off with a quote from the Bible but then proceeds on how one excises the spider spirit. Really fascinating stuff with maybe African spirituality and Christian religion merging to form something else? Other cool things : a letter to the editor denunciating the ‘unbiblical’ practices of infant baptism. Think Toronto Star publishing a letter from the Jehovahs Witnesses about how the Catholic Church is the devil. Given my religious background, this is incredibly awesome (and yes I am a nerd).

So yes religion is going to be a major subject of this blog as I try to figure out how intricately connected religion (or rather Christianity) is connected with societal values. To this end, I will hopefully have the time to visit secondary schools and universities to find out more.

Second, after spending a few more days here, I can actually give a more realistic depiction about Ghanian society rather than the bloody fawning I was doing earlier. Society here is incredibly reliant on deep trust, whereby every person you meet is instinctively your friend. I have come to realize over the past couple of days that I will have a lot of learning in this regard. While I am always good at being nice to people, I have a long way to go to make those acquaintances into friendships. Needless to say Im having a crash course in that right now. Went out for a couple of beers with Brendan, a journalist with JHR… What started off as a walk around the town noting sights and scenery, ended up in lounging in a patio meeting all of Brendans friends and their friends. The funny thing is is that you could sit down at any table, strike up a conversation with absolutely anyone and no one bats an eye. Very different from what I am used to.

And the women… The women I see around me are absolutely incredible, so mentally and emotionally strong… and even STRONG does not suffice. Its really difficult to describe how much of admiration I have for them. Let me make no bones about it, there is patriarchy here. Men rule the roost as it were, with women being confined to household duties in typical businesses. It is almost as if clientele are all males, therefore only males are able to serve them. But let me tell you, I have never seen a woman wear her pride as much as some of the Ghanians here, with their chins almost horizontal. It was almost one of the first things I have noticed, but was reluctant to comment on until I had more experienced. And hardworking? They have an incredible sense of balance , with one women holding multiplie suitcases on her head while holding a baby on the back… I am honestly in awe. Pictures are coming once I figure out how to get it done.

I’ll talk about this more when i have a free moment.