Warmly Welcomed to Ghana

by Sister Kathleen Lunsmann, IHM

Last month I was fortunate to participate in an ASEC service learning program in Elmina, Ghana, with students and faculty from Marywood University and Chestnut Hill College. This program is a three-week service learning opportunity held
each year in one of ASEC’s 10 countries of operation. The program’s goal is to provide an experience of interculturality that promotes global leadership, a key attribute in building the next generation of leaders.

It would be impossible to talk about the experience in Ghana without using the word, Akwaaba. In the local language of Twi, this word means, “Welcome.” We saw Akwaabe as soon as we arrived at the airport, and we heard it nearly every day of our stay. When Ghanaians says, Akwaaba, they mean so much more than just a simple welcome. They mean, “you are warmly welcomed, you are welcomed into our community.” It reminded me of our IHM hospitality when we say, “you are welcome.”

In addition to spending time at several schools in Elmina, the service learning participants visited historical sites that brought us to a deeper understanding of the immensity of the transatlantic slave trade. Before going to Ghana, we had all read Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi which prepared us for what we experienced at the Ancestral Slave River and Elmina Castle. Slave River was the site of one Western Africa’s largest slave markets, and Elmina Castle, which sits on the Atlantic coast, was the fortress where slaves were detained while awaiting transport across the Atlantic. These site visits were impactful for all of us.

One interesting tradition I learned is the reverence  Ghanaians hold for the day of the week on which they were born and the deep connection they have with others born on that weekday. If you are born on a Saturday, you have a meaningful connection with other people who were born on a Saturday, and, you likely share the same name. If you are a Saturday-born female, you are called Ama (in addition to your Christian name). A Saturday-born male is named Kwame. I
learned Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary General, was born on a Friday as he has the same name as other Friday-born males. In school it is not uncommon for the teacher to call for all of the “Tuesday-borns” to hand in their assignment, followed by the “Wednesday-borns.”

I participated in this ASEC service learning trip as a representative of the IHM Sisters and a member of the ASEC board, along with Sister Sheila Kennedy, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Philadelphia.

N.B. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is the story of seven generations of an African family split into two without knowledge of each side of the family. The circumstances of two half-sisters in 18th century Ghana determine the fate of their families. One sister marries a British nobleman and lives in luxury in Cape Coast Castle; the other sister is imprisoned in that very same castle and sold into slavery.