Visit to Trinity Theological Seminary in Ghana

We docked in Tema, Ghana, about 20 miles outside Accra, this morning at 8:00 am.   Incredibly, we are docked right next to an Argentine naval vessel, a 3 mast tall ship used for training cadets, that has been refused permission to leave because of a legal case in the United States. Apparently a hedge fund has refused to accept a repayment deal on a bad Argentine loan and somehow that has resulted in the ship being held here.  I am glad we got to see it.

 

Barry had his first field-lab today.   One of his World Religions classes visited Trinity Theological Seminary in Accra.   The Seminary has five sponsoring churches, Presbyterian, Evangelical Presbyterian, Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal-Zion, and Anglcan.   Students from those churches are sponsored by them and pay no tuition (that's 170 out of 550).  Students from other churches have to pay their own way and in recent years many are attending from Pentecostal congregations (which are thriving in Ghana and across Africa).

We heard a presentation from a church history professor and seminary vice president.  He spoke to us about the way in which the missionaries who came to Ghana tried to stamp out aspects of traditional African religious practices.  He mentioned particularly their concerns about naming ceremonies, the pouring of libations dedicated to ancestors and minor deities, polygyny (men having multiple wives), drumming and dancing in worship, and African styles of dress.

He made the argument that Christian faith must be "contextualized" or incorporated into the culture and day to day lives of people who embrace it.   He affirmed the knowledge of God that Ghanian's had gained and bore witness to through their religious practices in their pre-Christian experience and talked about the ways in which aspects of African tradition religion, particularly drumming and dancing and the use of African names, are incorporated into contemporary Christian life in Africa.  We were also supposed to hear a presentation by a New Testament professor on homosexuality in the New Testament, but we ran out of time.

 

Barry had insisted that it was important for our students to have the chance to interact with theirs and they had made arrangements for fifteen or so to be with us throughout the day.   Barry had wondered if we would have to somewhat artificially get them together, but that proved absolutely unnecessary.     We had brought extra box lunches from the ship to share with their students and it was amazing to see how quickly our students and theirs began to engage in animated conversation over lunch.    

    

Jayne  talked to several of the women during lunch and one took Jayne under her wing, a 26 year old in the final year, Sylvia.  She was so helpful and introduced me to her friends as her mother; it was after much time together that we realized that her mother is also Jane!

Jayne writes:  "Her first goal was to help me find postcards, which we never did and then she want to help me find the clothing they wear at the seminary that Barry had liked.  It is printed cotton, in various colors of African print and the emblem of the school.  I got to see a dorm room of two of the female students.  It was very large with a balcony, where they often cook for themselves rather than eating in the canteen.  We found the shirts and a piece of fabric and carried them around until we found Barry to try on the shirts.  They were not quite big enough so we brought the fabric and I guess I will be sewing! I saw a young man cooking on his balcony and asked about seeing what he was cooking, but said I did not want to go and look without his permission.  Sylvia then suggested we go to one of the two canteens.  The first looked like a camp dining room with a small kitchen.  The director was not available so we were not allowed in the back.   So we set off to the other canteen, stopping along the way to see our students in the chapel watching a drumming session by our guest.  Barry missed it; he was on a private tour.  We watched a while and went to the second canteen, the yard of the Vice President's home where his wife and 4 other women were preparing authentic Ghanaian food.  I will try to recall everything I saw them preparing.  But first I was amazed that they were cooking for students in this outdoor area, there were chickens running around eating scrapes, a kitten laying next to one of the pots, a dirt floor, a open fire and a gas cooking area. 

I watched several of the steps listed below for making fufu:   Cassava and plantains were being boiled.  Next to them a woman was working with a batch that had already been cooked here is a description of the process from my class reading for this week:

Once the tubers or plantains were cooked and while they were still warm, the clean mortar was moistened with water. The starchy vegetables, added a few pieces at a time, were pounded and turned with a steady rhythm. Usually one person would turn and another person pound, though for a small amount of fufu one person might both turn and pound. A little water would be added from a bowl to keep the fufu from getting sticky, and lumps would be picked
out as it became smooth. This labor-intensive process takes an even rhythm and split-second timing to ensure that the pestle never descends on hand or finger. It hits the mortar with a soothing thump, the fufu softening the sound. Eventually the mass becomes a smooth, springy ball of dough that looks a little like a cross between freshly kneaded dough and a dumpling.

I saw kenkey – rising – a boiled maize dough, I saw another woman boning salted fish for a soup, a saw a huge bowl of Jollof rice and a soup made with red palm oil.  They were also frying - krakro and tatale -- ripe plantain fritters these were piping hot and hot in flavor with a lots of spices!  Thankfully I was offered a handful!  Yummy!  Now to find that recipe!"

 

  

After our tour we got back together and it was clear that it was going to be difficult if not impossible to break up the multiple interactions among the Trinity and Semester at Sea students and try to do anything as a group!   We were able to do some singing together.  The Ghanians tried to teach us one of their gospel songs.  We insisted they perform it for us.  Then we made an effort to sing "This Little Light of Mine" for them!   

It was clear that Barry's students had a blast.  And several told him how much they enjoyed the day.  One added that he had not expected to enjoy at all!

 We had a wonderful tour guide on the bus.  He is actually trained as an actor and has played some major roles in Ghana.  He is also a Methodist lay preacher.  On the way back he told us a folk tale about how Anansi, the famous spider of Ashanti or Akan folk tales, accidentally spread wisdom to all the people of the world.

One of the sites we enjoyed on the way back was seeing all the vendors along the road.

 

Including this obviously Muslim women (in a very dominantly Christian place).  The Muslim population in Ghana is way up north for the most part.   

When we got back to the ship, we spent a bit of time looking at the wares offered by the vendors who set up just outside our ship.   Barry got a drum lesson, but didn't make a purchase yet.