A Final Visit to Sefwi Wiawso... for now

Last weekend was my last opportunity to squeeze in a quick weekend visit to Sefwi Wiawso before my return to Canada. When I called Joseph to make arrangements for my stay, I was delivered the unfortunate news that Joseph will be travelling to attend a funeral for the weekend. I was truly disappointed to hear this as Joseph is one of my favourite things about Sefwi Wiawso!

Joseph is a naturally paternal figure. He's very in tune with people's needs, particularly the needs of his community. It's difficult to explain how I know this about Joseph, but I suppose it's from noticing a lot of little things he does. Like making sure you have a seat in the shade or that you've had time to rest; making sure that everyone is looked after, well fed, healthy and comfortable. In synagogue, when people appear to have zoned out or lost interest, Joseph is the first to notice. He jumps to his feet and tries to liven up the services, engaging people either in a conversation or a song.

He's a natural leader and I can tell that people not only respect him, but they really like him. Every Shabbat I've noticed that people like to gather on his compound, as opposed to anyone else's, to relax and enjoy each other's company and conversation. Even if Joseph isn't involved in the conversation, it seems that people just enjoy his presence.

A few times when I have found myself lost in Dwumasi (pronounced Junasee), when people ask where I am heading, I mention Joseph's name. People immediately react with smiles and tell me that he is a good friend of theirs - a "bosom" friend, is often what they say.

So, needless to say, I was a bit sad that I wouldn't get to see Joseph before leaving Ghana. However, I was happy that at least I would get to see his wife, Gladys and some of his older children - Partick and Anthony, whom I felt close to as well.

Much to my surprise, however, when I arrived at the compound around 4:00pm on a Friday - the place was remarkably empty. As I exited the taxi, I recognized a tiny smiling face - it was Frank, one of the youngest sons on the compound. He smiled, giggled, and ran into the kitchen (a concrete room with a corrugated tin roof, separated from the rest of the compound). I followed him into the kitchen where I found about 12 children all gathered together preparing dinner - pounding fufu, boiling plantain and cooking some stew. I greeted each of them, gave them hugs and asked where all the adults were.

"It is only us children here." Said Joshua, who was crowned the oldest sibling in the absence of his older brothers and sisters.

The situation made me laugh. There wasn't an adult in sight! I felt like I had walked on to the set of Annie... in Africa. I wondered what kind of trouble we could get into. What would Kevin from "Home Alone" do in this situation?

The scenario I imagined in my head was what my brother and I would likely have looked forward to with our parents out of town - a weekend of kraft dinner, pizza, candy, tv and playing games that involved hopping all over the furniture and handling the objects in the house we were advised not to play with like delicate statues and vases. However, that scenario didn't translate too well in Sefwi Wiawso. Especially since the key ingredients, Kraft Dinner and Pizza, were unavailable.

But another idea came to mind. How about a movie? We had about a half an hour left before sundown, the welcoming of Shabbat, so I quickly grabbed Joshua and we went to the main street in town and I had him pick out a movie that everyone would enjoy. Without thinking twice, he grabbed a Jet Li flick called "The Defender." I said I wasn't such a fan of action movies, but our selection of pirated DVDs was limited. So I picked out "You Got Served", a self-titled "dance-drama", in case I found The Defender too unbearable. We would watch the movies on Saturday night, when Shabbat ended.

The weekend went very well. I was amazed at how incredibly self-sufficient and responsible the children were. At the crack of dawn, each of them followed their household duties as they would if their parents were around - meticulously sweeping the compound, washing their clothes, bathing, cooking breakfast by the fire. Other than a minor mishap involving two fighting brothers and a machete, the children were on their best behaviour! (don't worry, no one was hurt...)

Synagogue was quite interesting as well. Services were said to be held at 8 and every showed up about 9:30 as usual. Alex, the community leader, decided to teach the congregation a new prayer. For about an hour and a half, we practiced reciting this prayer - each of us being selected at random to say a line or two as a test. People were encountering significant difficulty in pronouncing the guttural "ch" sound of the Hebrew language and it was pretty amusing to watch Alex and I try to explain how to make this sound.

After Havdalah, the ritual ending of Shabbat, a small audience gathered in my room in front of an old computer to watch "The Defender." The fact that it was an action flick worked out in our favour, as the  audio wasn't working too well.

Whereas I normally find myself ready to pass out around 7:30pm when I visit Sefwi Wiawso, this past Saturday night was different. I didn't want the night to end because I knew it would be a very long time before I see my friends in the community again. After The Defenders ended, I asked the kids to stick around and watch the second movie... but for the first time ever, they were the ones who wanted to go to bed and not me!

Front row seats to Jet Li's "The Defender"

Havdalah services in front of the synagogue.

Havdalah Services in front of the synagogue.

Mr. Samuel, a dear friend from the community.

Early the next morning, Alex, Joshua and Mata's oldest son, Kwame, escorted me to the junction to catch a taxi to the bus stop. I would catch the 5:30am bus to Kumasi and then make my way back to Accra. As promised, I left Joshua about 15 self-addressed envelopes and money to buy stamps so we could write each other while I'm in Canada.

As the bus took off for Kumasi, I watched as the sun rise poured its pink and orange hue over the gorgeous green mountains that harbour some of the tallest trees I have ever seen. The site is absolutely beautiful and I remember thinking to myself: this better not be my last time seeing it.