Zion in All Corners of the Earth

The other day in Twi class, we accumulated gospel vocabulary words, and then put together our testimonies in Twi. It is comforting realizing that we will be attending church in Asamang. I guess for my own selfish reasons, I am just excited that among the culture shock and misunderstandings will be an aspect I can relate to. Not saying that LDS culture is anywhere near the same in Ghana as it is in America; however, foundational elements are the same, such as our belief in a Savior who atoned for mankind and a boy who restored the gospel. There was just something cool about hearing the Savior's titles in Twi, and realizing that church members there have some of the same deep running veins of belief as I do. I cannot wait to learn from the branch in Asamang, and to feel the fellowship of sisterhood and brotherhood the gospel provides, with people who live in an entirely different cultural world than me.

Here is my testimony in Twi:

Me nim sE as0re no yE nokware

Me gyedi sE Jesus Christ ye me odimafo

M'Egya a 0w0 soro te ase

Me de aseda ma onyame sE m'abusua betumi nya bEkyebo bra

Me gyedi sE Thomas S. Monson yE 0k0mhyeni a 0 te ase.

Medaase sE Jesus Christ ab0 af0reE

Me nim As0re no nkyerEkyerE yE nokware esan (as a result of) Homhom kr0nkr0n no.

Ew0 Jesus Christ din mu

Amen

Moyga, Ntoro, and Family Values

This week I have been really impacted by what I have been taught about family values and dynamics in Ghana. In our Twi class we took a break from grammar (thank the heavens above) and had a culture lesson. As a sociocultural anthropologist this has been my absolute favorite class so far. Milly taught us about the family structure in Ghana and it was extremely interesting. First, we learned that families are structured on matrilineal lines. Mothers give their children moyga (blood) and fathers provide them with ntoro (soul). Since their blood line is through their mother, their most significant family relations traditionally come through their mother's line. Surprisingly, instead of children depending on their fathers for money and stability, they will often be taken care of and provided for financially by their mother's brother - their wɔfa. Family ties are extremely important, and it is a known responsibility for family members to aid one another. Milly said that usually if one family member makes it financially, that means the rest of the family will also make it, because the wealth will be shared. She even related that although she has been in the States for a long time, she still recognizes her duties to continually give back to her family. One of the Ashanti proverbs she shared stated that "family is an army." If family members stick together, their strength will overcome obstacles. Milly also reinforced what I learned in an interview with my Ghanaian friend Daniella a couple weeks ago - neighbors will act as your family when you are in need. If you are in trouble or in great need, you can always turn to someone, even if they are not your blood relative, and they will try to help you out. Milly said that the term "it takes a village to raise a child" is basically taken literally in Ghana.

While listening to one of the inquiry conference presenters, Corrin, I saw traces of this mentality as well. She went to Ghana for her field study, and studied cultural ethnocentricity among tribal groups there. Although she seemed to argue for pushing a more unified front and mixing of tribes to lessen group pride, it was still cool to hear about how fiercely proud and loyal Ghanaian's will be about their family lines and tribal identity.

I could see some major cultural differences between America and Ghana just from learning about their ideas of what constitutes family and appropriate ways to be loyal to fellow Ghanaians. Again, I realized that Ghanaian's seem to take a more socialist approach to community - they will financially help out friends and relatives as a part of their moral duty. Additionally, they expect their community to help raise children, whether they be relatives, friends, or neighbors. In America, we are generally more motivated to help only ourselves and who we consider our close kin - also, there is a pervading mentality that one works for their own success, and that a lack of success may represent someone too lazy or meritless to deserve external help.

I enjoyed hearing Milly's take on these differences. She related that because of her native Ghanaian values and culture, she will continue to honor her obligations to her family back in Ghana. She also does not accept some norms in American culture, such as allowing children to be very informal with their parents or express an attitude towards them often without repercussion. She views this as highly inappropriate, and is working to instill in her own children a stronger respect for their elders more in line with Ghanaian culture. However, she also appreciates here in America that she has a closer relationship with her children due to her isolation in raising them, whereas in Ghana the entire community would be more involved with their upbringing, and leave her less time to watch over them personally.

Overall, it was interesting to learn about Ghanaian family values from a mixture of Milly's native experiences and Corrin's field study experience. Although they differ greatly from American values, I feel more endeared towards the Ghanaian people, and cannot wait for firsthand observation of how people interact, especially along family oriented lines.

Learning Twi

I realized that I have not even blogged about my Twi language class. So far it has been very interesting, although challenging. The only foreign language instruction I have been exposed to was three years of French in high school. However, French had many cognitive words to English, because of the common Latin base. It is very cool to be learning a language that is entirely different from English; it even has a couple different written letters. Once one starts to grasp the concept of communicative language, it is easy to see how even this one element could create a culture incomprehensibly different from another.

Language - words, phrases, even sentence structure - are metaphors for our actual thoughts and feelings. Our internal minds can never truly be known to another in full, and the main tool we as humans have to convey messages from our mind is language - spoken, written, acted out, etc. Thus, it is more clear why a person from another culture would act or think or say things so differently than me, when I realize the toolbox of metaphors they are raised with to convey their internal meaning is of a completely different brand than my toolbox.

Little things I have started to learn about the Twi language have already begun to give me insight into Ghanaian culture as a whole. For example, the noun one uses to refer to another person can change based on whether that person is an equal in class and age, younger, older, or much older. This makes me infer that the culture includes respect towards the elderly, or towards authority figures.

I am excited for the rest of my semester in Twi. I believe learning the spoken language of many Asante Ghanaians will give me a deeper understanding of the culture as a whole, since language is a vital underlying current of all cultures and societies. Also, hopefully being able to say even a little in Twi, will help me develop a rapport because of my invested interest in a significant part of their society.