Culture & different ways of life

By Francis Okyere

Being from the southern part of Ghana, coming to the northern region of the country was something that I have yearned for for quite a while. It has always been my habit and my desire to explore beyond my native territory and learn from people with different geographical and cultural backgrounds. So the ICS programme with International Service was a great opportunity for me to fulfill that. I also saw it as an opportunity for me to show love, care and put a smile on someone’s face.

I was assigned to work with the NFED in Savelugu, and our team is naturally showered with individual skills and talents. Everybody in the team is perfect at something, and our team leaders Tanko and Emma ensure that everyone participates effectively, making maximum use of their skills to achieve the project goal. We all come from different cultural backgrounds and that is our strength! Difference in culture is something that I have definitely become aware of since coming to Savelugu, and I have learned a lot. My host mum Azumah has been educating me more on the culture of the Northern Region. I remember she once narrated to me about how marriage rites are performed  traditionally among the Frafra tribe of the north of the country, where she comes from.

She said that among the Frafra tribe, when a man is interested in a lady and wants to marry her, he first has to visit the girl’s family with kola and taboko (it’s a bit like shea butter!) in his hands. This is considered a welcoming gesture and is also a chance to propose marriage to the girl’s family.  In Akan, my local dialect, this stage is known as “kokooko’, which means knocking. You are then asked to return later for the family's answer, and you will have to provide kola, taboko and guinea fowl upon this next visit. After the family has agreed to your marriage proposal, you will be asked to return again with your own family to meet the head of the bride’s external family. This meeting is to fix a date on which the groom wants the bride to be sent to his house.  After a consensus has been reached, the girl will be taken to the groom’s house by her auntie, and the marriage rite will take place. The groom is then requested to get a goat, guinea fowl and pito (an alcoholic drink), and this will be used to prepare a meal for the bride’s family and the food will be distributed to people in the bride’s hometown. This is officially done to inform people about their daughter’s marriage. This is followed by a ritual performed for the spouses to seal their marriage using guinea fowl and a chicken provided by the groom. A cow is presented later by the groom to the bride’s family as some kind of appreciation for giving their daughter’s hand in marriage.

In the South it is quite different, and I think that it's also a lot more expensive! There is more of a dating aspect in the southern regions, where both people will fall in love with each other and they will decide together that they want to get married. Before you do get married you have to visit the lady’s family. If they agree to the proposal, they will give you a list of items to buy – and this can be very expensive! Items might include cloth (for the bride but also perhaps for her mother), jewellery, slippers, all sorts. You also give some money to one of the bride’s brothers. When you've got everything on the list, you come with your family to the bride's home and the marriage rites will be performed with both families present. You then go to the church for the official signing of documents and the legal aspect.  

I've learned so much more about my country's culture by coming to work in Savelugu. I've learned about greetings, marriage, chiefs, different dances. In the south visiting the chief's palace does not have the same importance at all as it does in the north, where it is a really important part of community integration. I've learned every day more about culture and about how people carry out their day-to-day lives here. It is thanks to the ICS programme I came to the north of my country and thanks to the programme that I've had the opportunity to learn all of these things!