Public Affairs in West Africa

The Church's Africa West area manager for Public Affairs, David Watson, came from Salt Lake City to Lagos, Nigeria, and then Accra, Ghana, to do some excellent training with our national Public Affairs directors. We spent three days in Lagos with the national director of Nigeria and his entire council, plus the national directors of Ghana and Togo. Then we held meetings and another training in Accra for a newly-called Ghana national council and leaders from Ivory Coast. Our Liberia and Sierra Leone PA directors were not able to attend because of the Ebola quarantines in their countries. All who attended benefitted immensely from David's expertise and superb teaching skills.    

The Public Affairs group in Lagos included Africans from the countries of Togo, Ghana, and Nigeria. 

Dance Moves

We're not quite sure what to call the fancy dancing in this little video -- jive, boogie or bop -- but we surely had a good time watching these darling children rockin' out. West Africa continues to treat us with fun surprises.

What's in a Name?

Traditionally, days of the week are very important aspects of the naming culture in Ghana.  Parents give their babies a "day name" according to the day of the week on which they were born -- along with other ancestral and religious names that are also given.

Here is a chart with male/female names for each corresponding day of the week:

                                 MALE                   FEMALE

• Monday          Kojo                      Adjoa
• Tuesday         Kwabena              Abena
• Wednesday    Kwaku                  Akua
• Thursday        Yaw                      Yaa                     
• Friday              Kofi                      Afua
• Saturday         Kwame                 Ama
• Sunday           Kwesi                   Akosua

And here are some characteristics attached to each day of the week:

• Monday's child is the father or mother in the family; nurturing in nature, dependable and organized, and protective of his/her family.
• Tuesday's child is the problem solver and planner of the family. He/she is structured in nature, neutral in all matters and never take sides.
• Wednesday's child is fully in control of every situation, does not want to be told what to do, knows it all, is spontaneous, vibrant and cordial.
• Thursday's child is quiet in nature and incredibly observant. He/she is generally a listener, not a talker, and analyzes situations very well.
• Friday's child is a leader, not a follower. He/she is very temperamental but has a big heart. Generally the instigator of everything.
• Saturday's child likes to take control of family situations. He/she runs the show and makes the rules, but will go out of his/her way for others any time.
• Sunday's child is the general leader, sensitive to family situations and warm member of the family. He/she tends to be shy and likes to keep to his/herself, but is very aware of his/her surroundings and is usually the secret keeper of the family.

Elder Stoker was born on Friday. His Ghanaian name is KOFI.
Sister Stoker was born on Monday. Her Ghanaian name is ADJOA.

On what day of the week were you born? What is your Ghanaian name?

Glass Beads in Ghana

A unique business found in Ghana is glass bead making. We have visited factories in Accra and in Kpong. The owners are happy to give visitors a tour to learn how the beads are made. It's a fascinating process. These pictures are a combination of photos we took months ago at TK Beads in Accra and recently at Cedi Beads in Kpong.  

  

Glass of all kinds is collected and sorted into colors. 

The glass is crushed manually and prepared for the molds. 

A Friend at the MTC

We drove to the missionary training center in Tema this afternoon to greet a missionary from Salt Lake City who arrived in Ghana about a week and a half ago. Elder Tyler Kaelin, son of our friends Craig and Claudia, has been called to serve in the Ghana Accra West mission for the next two years. We were hoping to see him on the temple grounds in Accra last Tuesday when the new missionaries came for a temple session. It didn't work out, so we took time today to visit him at the MTC. 

The staff at the Ghana MTC trains all missionaries who will be
serving in West Africa or French-speaking African countries.