Going to Church and Soccer (Ghana's other religion)

Church entrance with Tony

This was one of the most memorable days of the month for many reasons with 2 major events at very different ends of the spectrum in one day.

Tony from Tema Tech who told us about his Charismatic church on orientation day did indeed take us to a service.  Nearly everyone on the team wanted to go so he arranged for a bus to take 9 of us to a nearby town where he worships.  We were so grateful to him for sharing this with us and I think he really enjoyed having us there.

Talking in tongues

Physically the church isn't what I usually envision with older architecture, wooden pews and tons of crosses.  It's a regular looking modern building with chairs, a band set up at the front with guitar, drums etc and a nicely ribboned stage, which I am guessing they may call the altar but not actually sure.

Church singers

Dancing, beautiful dresses

The service is 3 hours long which sounds daunting (especially to those of us who don't frequent church often) but now that I went, you hardly realize so much time has gone by.

It begins with prayer time which is led by 2 men in the front.  I had assumed they were speaking in a local tribal language, it had a really cool beat.  They are pacing back and forth in the room and so is everyone else.  There aren't that many people there yet but those that are sort of walk back and forth wherever they are standing.  I learned later they were speaking in tongues not a language.  I have heard this phrase before but never actually knew what it meant or what it sounded like.

I thought this was fascinating, it's quite special and held in very high regard as a very personal communication channel with God.  For those of you who also aren't familiar, it was explained as something you develop, you don't understand what you are saying nor does anyone else but it puts you in a place of concentration to allow you to have a very deep conversation.  I am probably not saying it totally right but that was the idea.

Joanne, Shikha and I joined the dancing

As the church starts to fill, the program begins to change and several women go to the front and start singing and the dancing starts.  This goes on for a long time, it's called Praise.  A few of us joined them in the dancing and it was really cool to see how joyful individuals were in dancing and enjoying the spirit of the service, especially Tony. 

We had the chance to see a baby baptizing ceremony.  Then came the sermon.  It was interesting to me that the pasture spoke in English and then another woman repeated everything he said in Ewe (one of the common languages).

The pastor introduced us and our countries and then went on to preach.  Ghanaians repeat themselves a lot, as if you don't understand the first time and to make sure it gets through, the sermon was a demonstration of that.  It had all the ups and downs and spirit you would expect from a Charismatic church.

"Sunday school"

It was interesting to me to experience a Christian church so opposite of the ones I grew up with which were very quiet with low monotone sermons, singing but not with this type of energy and most definitely no dancing!  The most activity was going up for communion and that my church did serve real wine, not grape juice.  If a baby cried or a kid stirred everyone around you knew it and it was a disruption.  The thing I enjoyed so much here was there so much freedom of movement, there was energy, it was fun.

What a great experience...

The scene outside the stadium

Then came part II of our day, I guess the one consistency was lots of energy!

We had plans to go to what I thought was a "local" soccer game.  I was thinking it was some small match, we'd walk up and no big deal.  Turns out we were going to the biggest rivalry match b/w Accra and Kumasi, another major city in Ghana.  It was in a huge stadium with massive crowds milling around outside.  We had no tickets and we showed up late so it was already most of the way through the first half when we arrived.

Parades of fans chanting/dancing to cheer their team on

After a bunch of back and forth trying to scalp tickets, we came across a big military looking guy with huge chains around his neck.  He tells us he can get us in and 'we won't be bothered'.  He and Francis go off and secure 8 individual tickets - then begins the process of trying to get in.

The doors are barely bigger than a person, the second one opens a mad rush of guys start pushing their way in.  Naively we all start pushing our way into the wall of men.  It is getting us nowhere.  Plus, everyone is getting lots of hands trying to get into their pockets for phones and wallets.

Accra Phobia vs Kumasi Kotoko

We are getting pushed back and forth with the crowd when all of a sudden a wave pushes me far back, I almost fall and at this point I'm about to say "I'm done" this is ridiculous and starting to feel not so safe. Then I hear "Go, go, go, go!!!"  The sea of men parts and the string of foreigners rush through to the other side of the doors.

Turns out our military man had gone in to the stadium and come from inside and started swinging his big chains to break the crowd for us.  Joanne had her gold chain ripped from her neck, fortunately she held on to it from the front but it was broken.  Everyone with pockets managed to keep their stuff in tact.  We were all just in shock, what just happened?? Is everyone here and OK?  It was unreal.  Did I mention this is the first soccer game I've ever been to?

Post victory celebration as the stadium emptied out

Once inside it's smooth sailing, the crowd is normal and it's like any other sports game, people cheering but normal - oh except for the guy that popped up out of nowhere and basically did a lap dance with his pants half way down for June.

We needed a beer, there were none for sale which in retrospect is good.  I notice in the hundreds of people sitting around us, only 3 or 4 girls.  The only other girls are the ones selling drinks or food.  That's a lot of testosterone and now the lack of alcohol is seeming even smarter.   We come to learn that everyone knows how crazy these games get and no one brings their wife or girlfriend - including Francis!

By the time we get in there is hardly any game left but it was well worth the experience and what a story to tell!  We went to a pub after for some much needed beers and rehashed that experience with a lot of laughing.  Kumasi Kotoko's won by the way.

Die hard and novice fans unite!