Two Religions

Last Sunday before the lectures and the tour of Accra we experienced two of the major religions in Ghana. The first was Christianity. A group of us went to church with the student guides. Note that we look significantly more sweaty/dumpy than the guides. Ghana is a pretty religious nation. The south (where we are) is predominantly Christian and the north is predominantly Muslim. I have yet to meet or hear of a Ghanain atheist. It is a shocking notion to people here that I am not a Christian and even more so that I do not have any particular religious affiliation. It's usually about the 5th question I get asked after my name, where I'm from, etc, and the fact that I am not religious really sets off a twitch or something. I'm going to experiment with some different responses until I find one that communicates what I'm trying to say. At church we caught the last 15 minutes of Bible study and then sat down in a big obvious group. The service was long but included plenty of singing and drumming. At one point the reverend asked all of the people joining the congregation for the first time to introduce themselves. Emily Aeschleman bravely stood up and took the microphone to explain that we are students studying for a semester and to thank them for making us feel welcome (not mentioning that most of us are not religious). The design of the building and the fans made it way more comfortable than the lecture halls we've had to sit in which is a little upsetting to me. But people really like God. They say if you come to Ghana and don't go to church, it's like you never came. It's such a part of the culture here. It's all I can do to bite my tongue and not make too many references to 'Jebus'.

During the sermon the congregation was asked to pray for two things: 1) That the violence in Kenya subsides and that the people there can live in peace and 2) That the Ghanain national football (soccer) team play with integrity and their maximum effort. This brings me to the second religion: Football.

Nii was able to score us tickets to the Ghana vs. Nigeria game on Sunday night in Accra through the black market. The tickets were very expensive for here (about $20), and not a single one of us was willing to miss it. We drove as close as we could get through the the masses passing vendors, clowns, honking car horns, etc. Making our way into the stadium was a battle, and uniformed military men and women searched people as they entered (sidenote: apparently security is so high because Ghana has undergone four major military coups since independence. The current governmental structure has only been in place since 1993! That's why they don't like pictures of government/sensitive areas, but the stadium is apparently ok). I had a ticket all by myself, but my friend Kelly put her arm over my shoulder and pretended to be my wife so I tagged along with a small group of other students. The stadium had numbered seats and everything, but order is no match for a traditional society that's enthusiastic. I ended up sitting on the stairs behind two trombone players and a bunch of drummers who played through the whole game. The crowd cheered at every shot that the Ghana team (the Black Stars for the black star in the center of the Ghanain flag) made, no matter how much it missed by. We were talking about how in the US people boo when their team comes close and doesn't make it. Another interesting difference- Ghana and Nigeria have had political bad vibes in the past. I'm not sure of the exact history, but this was a heated game. But somehow at the stadium, the cheers were not divisive. The Nigerian supporters got a bit of flack, but the point of the African Cup of Nations it seemed was to bring the entire continent together, to show that Africa is not just the home of sand, AIDS and under-development, but that the people are passionate and can get it together to host a great tournament. It was a very empowering place to be. Even more so because Ghana won 2-1 (for those who care- Nigeria got the first goal on a penalty kick and everyone was disheartened, but right before half-time Ghana scored a great goal. At the beginning of the second half, the captain of the Black Stars was given a red card and stress was high. Then, with about 10 minutes left in the second half Ghana scored again. People threw water every time a goal was scored (a big deal b/c it's such a valuable commodity here) and screamed/drummed/danced/embraced all over the place). I screamed myself hoarse.On the way home all the cars honked in celebration, people shouted, and one man started running next to our van and kept up with us for a good 45 seconds even though he lost his two flipflops. He was just shouting 'Go Ghana!' We went to a resteraunt in the boys dorm called Tyme Out to buy some beers to celebrate and went off to bed for lectures early the next morning