Our first full day with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church began before 5am the time that Solomon and Fred were leaving for Accra.
The original schedule arranged for us was changed at the last minute and we were asked if we would like to attend the funeral of a relative of the Clerk to the Assembly. The man who had died in mid November last year was a traditional chief in a town called Kpando. He had also been a committed Buddhist.
We were invited to view the body of the late chief, sitting in state on his throne in his finest attire and surrounded by gifts of traditional cloth, shells, beads and foodstuffs. The whole event, which was attended by traditional chiefs from all around, political leaders and dignitaries, took over four hours and included cultural dancing and a brass/jazz band. Afterwards there was the inevitable food, not in one place (as there were many hundreds of people present) but in the homes of various family members. We went to the home of the deceased's sister and were given a substantial meal.
On the way back to Ho we spotted several interesting shop signs, including an Irish bar entitled "Daughters of God Spot," the "Feel Free Store" (which advertised that it had 'comfortable chairs and mattresses for hiring') and "God's Finger Fitting Workshop" (the mind boggles.) But I think our favourite was "Heaven Gate No Bribe"
After a short rest we were taken to the Choir practice in the neighbouring church, or to be more precise outside the neighbouring church. It was already getting quite dark by the time the rehearsal started but the sound of the choir in the warm, humid evening was amazing.
Iain was asked to teach the choir a song. Rather than choose one from Scotland he chose to teach the Gloria from Peru, another slightly surreal moment as a Scotsman taught a Ghanaian Choir to sing a song from South America. Then the choir finished by singing 'What a friend we have in Jesus' in their local language.
Heaven Gate No Bribe?...but we were almost in heaven and it was absolutely free.
No comments:
Post a Comment