God I love Ghana

Post By: Sam Briggs

Life in Ghana follows like this; Eat... Sleep... Pray... Repeat.

Living in Ghana has shown me that above all else religion is the most important aspect of the Ghanaian way of life. 

As part of our relationship with NFED we are working with small rural communities with little influence from the outside world. As the expected sign of respect and custom, our meetings will always start with a prayer and finish with a prayer as the belief of change and prosperity are gifts from God. We aim to help these Income Generating Groups of female dominated members to have a fighting chance in a world where the odds seemed stacked against them, and I believe this is a fight we can win with the awareness and support these women deserve. During this fight the first step of combating this battle is underway as me and the media team have grasped onto the likely prospect of a monthly radio broadcast due to the goodness of Simli radio station, to raise awareness and gain support.

But this is only the beginning of many changes that will come. With media coverage these groups have a much stronger chance as villages and towns all over the northern region can learn about the group’s struggle and many will be able to  show empathy with their situation as this is a struggle that is widespread in many areas, this empathy will hopefully lead people to support the NFED programme and spread the word. Every radio show will give us a better chance of being noticed by large NGOs and charity organisations that I hope will answer these strong people’s prayers.

When people go to work they will drop their work for prayer times, people will temporarily close their small businesses to go pray and people will close their laptops and stop reading blogs to go pray. 

This links with the idea of how above all over aspects of life their religion is priority. This is something to be expected with a country that is one of the most religious world and the percentage of atheists are dropping while beliefs in God are rising. It is interesting to see a country with such a powerful belief that influences everything from politics to not talking while in the shower, especially as I come from a country where religion plays little to almost no influence in life.

In so many ways I respect and almost envy the complete love and dedication these people have to their God. Despite the hardships many suffer and the stress of life many will face they will never blame their God, they will only blame the real reasons like the corruption and unemployment that cripples the citizens of Ghana. I’ve never fallen victim to the lies of the UK press that demonizes Islam but I never expected the opposite to be so true. Christianity and Islam here both teach peace and the people of this fine country hold that virtue to its highest standard. They will not treat you as substandard for having a different belief or a different way of doing things, they wont hate you if you even disagree with a certain belief, they see you as one of God’s children and will treat you accordingly. Many times I have wandered around the streets of Tolon and people will invite me to share their food. One of my Ghanaian counterparts told me if a person who is starving and in need of food goes to a market and asks for charity they will receive it, such is the teachings of these religions. The brutal fact is if a homeless man came to the doors of a thriving business in the UK and asked for scraps they would be turned away and left to fend for themselves in fear of legal action because ‘they might get ill and sue us’. So many people in the UK have fallen into the belief of how religion causes so many problems in the world and it is better off not existing but how can this be true when the vast majority of these followers take their religion in its truest form, kindness, charity and love.

I believe that without religion the poorer people in northern rural Ghana would have little hope of anything, imagine living in a poor rural area where everyday life is difficult and you have little hope that external influences are there to protect you and care for you. With religion though these people find happiness and something to bring their community together to make them stronger and more likely to tackle their issues. The belief of a fatherly figure watching down on them brings them a feeling of content and hope that even though they are suffering now, they won’t always suffer, how could anyone even think of trying to take this away from them. Imagine being a believer of a religion and letting this be a source of peacefulness in your life and your passion for doing something good in this world and only trying to use your religion as a force of good in the world. Imagine how that person would feel when their religion is shone in a negative light when all you’ve ever done is try to be a good person for your God. No religion is evil, religion is peace.

God, I love Ghana.

Nawu ni labsina.

Ami!