Culture, culture everywhere!

This weekend was a very cultural filled weekend! Saturday morning a few of us girls got up early to attend a funeral. Funerals here in Ghana are a community gathering and usually it is a funeral for two or three people. This was one of the biggest funerals to happen in Hohoe, because it was for a very well respected Pastor. Usually everyone wears black and red or if it is an elderly person then they will wear white and black which most people had done in this instance. There are huge tents set up in a square to create a courtyard type deal in the middle. At the front of the rectangle was a huge stage set up and all the district pastors were sitting up on stage. When we first arrived there was a line wrapping all around the tents. We went to the back of the line and asked a man, Albert, what the line was for. He answered all of our questions and actually helped us get a good spot to see the ceremony later on. The line was to view the bodies. Here in Ghana they preserve the bodies, somehow, for months. The pastor passed away on August 28th and here we are in October. We were right about to go into the center of the courtyard to view the bodies when they made an announcement for everyone to have a seat. The chief of HoHoe was entering to view the body and everyone had to make way for him. The chief walked right past us! Once the chief views the body nobody else was able to view them, so we had to then go and find a place to stand, since all the seats were taken, to watch the ceremony.

The ceremony opened with a prayer and several songs. One of the pastors called up each of the different districts and if you lived in that district, you went into the middle and danced. When they called up Hohoe we all went into the middle and danced too! After they called all the districts forward, they brought out the three caskets. One was for the well-respected pastor, one was a woman who died in a tro-tro accident and one was a little girl who had been hit by a car. Then they started the actually funeral part. For each person, there were tributes. First the wife for husband or parents came up on stage and said a something, then the children, then siblings and then there were words from the district pastor on the person. It was really emotional to watch people cry for those people who didn’t even know them. I even shed a few tears myself. Not only are funerals here in Ghana about mourning the loss of a loved one, but it is also about celebrating their life. There were thousands of people there, and many people who didn’t even have any connection to one of the three people who passed away. They were there for community support and to let the family know they were there for them. It was pretty powerful!

After the funeral, another volunteer, Marinda, and I went to her school. It’s a very small school and looks much like mine but with two solid walls and a tin roof for each classroom! It is a private school and with the help of a cellphone company, the headmistress, Suzzy, had the children do an hour long broadcast at the local radio station to promote the school. We went to the school and walked the kids to the radio station and we were able to listen to the broadcast. They had already pre-recorded most of the broadcast, but we were able to listen to it. The kids sang songs, read poems and did their school anthem. It was really cute and to see the kid’s faces when they were hearing their voice on the radio was priceless! The radio station was extremely small and is nothing what you would consider a radio station at home. It had two small recording rooms and a foyer where we waited. My favorite part was after we were done with the radio station, we walked the kids back to the school and then we proceeded to walk home. Two of the kids were walking home the same way we were so we actually walked them to their homes. They ended up living in the Zongo which is on the complete opposite of town from where we live but we went and met their families, saw their community and was welcomed with open arms into both of them!

On Sunday, Isabel and I hiked to the upper falls of the Wli waterfalls, the highest waterfalls in West Africa! It was a very intense hike that took us three hours but the view was wonderful! Although I have grown up and went to college right next to one of the greatest waterfalls in the world, I am still amazed at the natural beauty of this country, especially this waterfall. This will be my third time visiting it!

This weekend was wonderful and probably one of my favorite weekends so far. We didn’t travel anywhere but I was able to immerse myself into the culture. I think it might be safe to say that we are changing seasons. We are ending the rainy season and entering the dry season. It will still rain, but mostly at night and the winds from the Sahara will come blowing so loud and forceful that it feels like the house is going to fall over. When it does rain, it floods the streets but has been lasting a very short period of time. It gets cooler at night which is wonderful and the heat in the middle of the day is now a dry heat without the humidity which feels amazing!

I cannot believe that I have 3 ½ weeks of my journey here in Ghana! Time is going by oh so quickly! I hope all is well at home! I still look at the moon at night and think of all of you!

Lots of love from Africa,
Steph