Church.

Elana, a friend from NYU, was invited to attend a Sunday service at the Pentecost Church of Labone (our neighborhood church) by Rosemary, a girl who works at a food stand in the alley near our house. I decided to tag along. Before I begin you must first know that Ghana is a very religious country-- politics and religion usually go hand in hand and Christianity shapes Ghanaian culture to the extent that many locals engage in unprotected sexual intercourse because the church rejects the use of condom. When you ask people on the street how they´re doing your most common response would be “By the grace of God, I am doing fine.” Islam is practiced in the northern part of the country, with around 10% of Ghanaian population labeling themselves as Muslims. Beside Christianity and Islamic influence, traditional religions are still very dominant within Ghanaian society. Religion is a central part of their lives and we were lucky enough to have been able to participate in one of their many celebrations...

On Sundays everyone makes the effort to go to Church. Services that can last up to 5 hours, as did ours. Their church group is like their family and far more than a religious duty, going to Church is a spiritual encounter with God which is celebrated beside their loved ones.

When Elana and I arrived to the Pentecost Church, we realized that before praying and chanting, we had to attend Sunday school with the rest of the locals. Classes were divided into four fractions depending on age and the language. Classes were given in either in Twi, Ga or English. Thankfully for us, Rosemary´s class was in English. The students read passages from the New Testament and were questioned about their own perception of Evangelism. A lot of emphasis was put on “the purity” and “virginity” of girls, with the teacher insisting numerous times, that girls should not visit men´s house on their own. Once the lecture ended, men and women were separated into different aisles and the actual service began.

The service was held in Twi and Ga, so aside from the few instances that Rosemary translated for us, the words were impossible to understand. The one thing I did understand, however, was when, in the middle of the service, the priest stopped his sermon and asked for “our two white friends to raise their hands and wave.” We did as instructed and everyone cheered as the priest went on to say that he was "very happy” to have “the white friends visit” because it meant that “The Church of Pentecost at Labone is becoming international.”

What happened during the couple of hours was something that I had never before seen in my life. I am not a religious person, but this service certainly moved me. In the most humble location, in a Church that is merely a building under construction, with a couple of benches and no walls through which the sun creeps in, women sporting their most elegant dresses, with fabrics of all types of colors full of African designs and men wearing their long sleeved shirts, a community came together, to honor God. Music took over the room. As children danced, women and men sang; the eldest came up front and danced in a circle while playing instruments; the priest waved his white cloth around the air with a permanent smile on his face. He went around the circle of women and danced with them, occasionally closing his eyes making it clear he was thanking God for allowing him to direct this celebration. The rest of the people raised their arms welcoming God into their Church, their voices soaring out onto the streets, and the music kept playing.

As if the singing and dancing wasn´t enough, Elana and I were granted the opportunity to participate in the commemoration of Samson Mofu, a church member who had passed away on Wednesday night after a health complication linked to typhoid. Members of his family walked to the front and thanked the church for giving them the money to cover the expenses of the funeral. His brothers, all wearing black and white, and his sisters, most of them in red and black, chanted and sang in their brother´s name. One of them even made the crowd laugh as he delivered a speech that said farewell to his brother. The celebration left me speechless. Samson´s tribute is just merely an example of the way Ghanaians treat someone’s loss. Instead of mourning death, Ghanaians celebrate that person´s life and celebrate that person´s time to rest and go to the heavens, as explained by Rosemary.

(If you want to see the video click on the link above)