Abraham Bright

I am Pele Abraham Bright. I was born on the 3rd of March, 1983. I am a native of Gurungu in the Wa West District in the Upper West Region of Ghana. I had my Primary and Junior High education at Gurungu from 1991 to 1999, where I successfully obtained a certificate in Basic education. I entered Senior High School in 2000 at the then Lassia Toulu Secondary School, now Lassia Tuolu Senior High School. I completed my Senior Secondary School in August 2002 and obtained a Senior Secondary School certificate in December 2002. In October 2002 I was also appointed as a Parish helping teacher at Yuonuur Primary School.

In July 2003, I gained admission into the University to pursue a Bachelor of Arts degree in Information Studies and Linguistics in at the University of Ghana, Logon. In May 2007, I completed my University Education and was appointed teaching assistant in the same University in November 2007 to do my National Service. In September 2008 I was appointed the Sponsorship / Records Coordinator of Lassia Tuolu Parish Chalice.

I am the first of seven children. My late moter, Madam N-nyara Opiitey was very helpful to me during my childhood days. My father, Sey Pele is an Agriculturalist. My hobbies are researching, reading and observing nature.  Peleabrahambright@yahoo.com 

Charles B

I am Basour Z Charles and I come from Kawu in the Upper West Region of Ghana. I was born on 24th February 1987 and both my parents are still alive.

I attended Kawu Roman Catholic Primary & Junior High schools. I completed Wa Islamic Senior High School and I had my first Diploma in Sunyani Polytechnic, in the area of Accounting. It will interest you to know that, my Senior & Polytechnic education were supported financially by Chalice and after which, I was employed as a Fieldworker in Chalice too. Though it is challenging working with a good number of children from different homes, I love the work. My favourite hobby is farming and I am dreaming of becoming a commercial farmer in the future.

Charles

I am Domenile Charles, the Bookkeeper/Accountant of Chalice NBB, a Sub-Site of Chalice at Nandom. I am a young man of thirty-one years old, married with two children named Cyril and Clifford. I attended Wa Polytechnic for three years where I received a Higher National Diploma (HND) in Accounting option, which I completed in 2009.

I have been working with Chalice for two years and I love the work very much, because it keeps me busy and I learn a lot from my work.

Basil

My name is Maaniasie Basil. I was born on the 16th of December, 1978 in Nandom, in a farming community called Kogle, under the upper west Region of Ghana.
It is no wonder that farming is my hobby. Born in a farming community with my parents being farmers, I loved to help my parents on the farm when I was very young. In 1985 my father passed away, leaving my poor mother who continued to till a small piece of land to take care of the five of us (2 girls and 3 boys).
Currently I am working with Chalice, a Catholic Sponsorship Programme as the field worker for Chalice -NBB in Nandom. I am dealing with a total of 303 sponsored children which includes four schools, namely Betaglo, Brutu, Bu and Dabateng.
Sometimes the work is challenging, however it's interesting to me to deal with children from different homes with different characters. It is my hope that these poor children will grow in the spirit of God to be responsible, and sharing Christ's love with others who are in need.  maaniasiebasil@yahoo.com

Lassia Tuolu Parish Youth Centre

The Centre was built with funds from parishioners of St. Otger's Parish in Stadtlohn, Germany and Chalice Canada. It was officially commissioned in January 2008 in a Eucharistic Celebration by Most Reverend Paul Bemile (Bishop of Wa Diocese) and concelebrated by Reverend Fr. Patrick Cosgrove (President of Chalice).

The Centre comprises four blocks with four large halls, three of which serve as both sleeping rooms and meeting halls. Within the Centre is another block consisting of three rooms which are the Offices of Lassia Tuolu Parish Chalice, a Catholic Sponsorship Program that supports needy pupils, families and communities. The Centre has a six-seater KVIP toilet. Water is connected from a borehole and pumped into two large polytanks. Taps are connected at vantage points to fetch the water. Electricity was connected to the Centre five months ago. The Centre has a fence wall with barbed wire.

Several activities are carried out in this Centre. They include meetings, seminars/workshops, Youth Cultural Festivals, Youth Jamborees, Commitment courses for Junior High School graduates, Youth and Adult Catechumenate Programs, Cultural Development programs, and so on.
Other programs intended to be carried out in the Centre are Guidance and Counselling for young adults, students and couples, Health and HIV/AIDS Education, Retreats, Training of untrained teaches and Remedial classes for Senior High School students and graduates.

The Chalice Offices.

This building block has two large halls with an Office between them

written by Philip Dorkar Jatoe, Wa Sponsor Site Director

Immaculate Conception Church

The sacristy from the side. Immaculate Conception church, in Kaleo was the second church built by the missionaries in Ghana. It has wooden pews, the choir wears purple gowns and the altar servers wear the robes you can see in this picture.

A view from the back of the Church. This was a special Mass for the Marshallians, during their annual Conference.

A Wedding

I was delighted to receive an invitation to a village wedding. The small church was over-flowing with friends, family and well-wishers. The wedding party arrived together and came into the Church without ceremony through the side entrance. The bride with her Maid of Honour standing beside her read the first reading in English and then again in the local language. The Groom with his Best Man standing beside him read the second reading in English and repeated it in the local language. As the Church has no electricity a generator was used to power the microphone. The wedding ceremony was very much like ours, although there was no procession into or out of the Church. The Mass had much singing and dancing.  The person in blue in the photo above is conducting the congregation.  The person in the blue and white smock on the far left is conducting the choir.  The bride, groom and several wedding guests are dancing around the altar in this picture.

Following the Mass everyone either walked or drove over to the nearby Junior High School. As you can see in the picture we sat in a large circle outside. There were speeches and dancing, using the generator to power the microphone and play tmusic. People who brought gifts lined up at a table and wrote what they brought in a book. If money was given, the envelope was opened and the money was counted to verify the amount. Drinks and a meal of rice, beef and coleslaw were served to the guests. A group of ladies had cooked all night to prepare the meal. We left when the wedding reception was over although I heard the next day that the partygoers then went to the groom's village where they continued dancing all night.


I returned home to catch the end of a large wedding reception in the courtyard of the In-service Training Centre. It also had the gift recording table that I described earlier. This wedding reception was more elaborate than the one I attended and they had a wedding cake as well. The reception ended with the bride tossing her bouquet into the excited crowd.  I had breakfast with this couple the next morning and they told me that they were married at the Cathedral in Wa.  At their wedding there was a wedding procession, accompanied by traditional music played on drums.

Traditional weddings take place prior to a Church wedding.  The groom's parents visit the bride's parents to ask for her and pay a dowry.  If the couple has lived together for a few years the bride's parents visit the groom's parents and ask for the dowry.

Funerals

For the past week I have been working with the Chalice staff on Microsoft Office programmes at the Office in Lassia. During our 60-75 minute drive from Wa to Lassia, we pass through many villages.  Today two of the villages were in mourning. One village was Christian, the other Muslim. In this area Christian villagers traditionally place the body of the deceased person on a mat and people gather from all around for 24 hours to sing, play the drums, dance and drink pito. Pito is a traditional fermented maize drink which tastes like malted apple juice to me. The women do the bulk of the singing, dancing and mourning. The men wear their traditional smocks and carry a goat skin pouch that contains coins and shells. The shells are a currency in this area and together with the coins are tossed during the singing and dancing to help with funeral expenses. At the end of the mourning period the body is buried with the mat near the home. If the family can afford it they sometimes bury the body in a coffin. For Catholics the Priest comes to the Village to say Mass, or the body is brought to the Church and Mass is celebrated there.
The Muslim tradition is different. The deceased person is buried as soon as the grave has been prepared. Early the next morning people come to greet the family of the deceased. The women sit together close to the house or in the compound, while the men sit together outside. Three days later they gather again for another prayer session and a special meal is served to the mourners. This is repeated seven days later, forty days later and a year later.
In Ghana Muslims and Christians live peacefully side by side. From the In-service Training Centre where I'm staying to the Internet Cafe, it's a short walk along a busy road filled with numerous tiny shops and services. Interspersed among this busyness are areas where Muslims gather to pray. Their chanting and prayers blend into the sounds of motorcycles, music blaring, motors running, maize being grounded, people talking and children playing.

Balancing

Here I am trying to balance an empty container on my head. Ghanaian women walk with regal posture and graceful steps as they carry these containers both empty and full on their heads. I'm equally impressed with how easily they walk, work and get into vehicles in skirts!

More on Charcoal

The wood at the In-Service Training Centre has finished burning. A couple of days ago the pile was uncovered and the charcoal was bagged. Compare this picture to the 'Making Charcoal' posting picture.

Women carry these large bowls of charcoal on their heads.