TwitterFacebookInstagram

Monthly Archives: August 2023

The Last Rites.

The Asantes perform rituals for their dead kinsmen and loved ones generally known as ayie (funeral) in the Akan language. They hold a general belief that death is but a transition into a next world termed locally as Asamando (Asante/Akuapim) or Samanadze (Fanti) and not necessarily the end of mankind. The traditional Asante funeral is…

Read more

‘Abadinto’. Naming a child among Asantes.

In the Akan societies in Ghana especially among the Asantes, names and the process of naming are essential since everyone and almost every living entity has a place and mission in the world. The name of a person or entity reflects their purpose in life. The adinto or abadinto (‘to throw a name’) or naming…

Read more

Ghana. The Church has a strong voice in Africa.

The challenge of the Pentecostal churches. Young people who only want to leave. The importance of having African missionaries as a stimulus to the local church. We spoke with Father Saa-Dade Ennin provincial superior of the Society of African Missions and president of the Conference of Major Superiors of West Africa. How do you see…

Read more

Chinese Private Security Companies in Latin America.

The expanding presence of China-based companies in Latin America, and the security problems they have experienced there, create an inherent demand for Chinese private security companies. The enormous expansion of global engagement by China and its companies over the past two decades has generated a corresponding need to protect Chinese operations and personnel in the…

Read more

Asante Traditional Wedding.

The Asantes, have a unique style of marriage ceremony. It is an important community engagement as it involves the couple, the couple’s immediate and extended families, and the community at large. Each ethnic group in Ghana has its unique way of performing a marriage ceremony. However, for every group, there are similar processes involved. For…

Read more

The Forgotten Conflict/Kashmir. A Decades-Long Crisis in the Heart of Asia.

Kashmir, a small Himalayan region claimed by India and Pakistan, is the protagonist of a frozen conflict that arose between Islamabad and New Delhi. The rivalry gave birth to four wars interspersed with political tensions. It all started in 1947, when the United Kingdom granted independence to the nations of the Indian subcontinent and each…

Read more

Chad. Navigating into Political Storms.

The regional ramifications of the clash in Khartoum have important appendages in N’Djamena. In fact, the various attempts at coups always started from neighbouring Sudan, with protagonists belonging to the fragmented Zaghawa community as well as Arab and Gour groups. For this reason, the transitional president Mahamat Idriss Déby is forced to negotiate in the…

Read more

Mission. Living and Working Together.

Three young missionaries share with us their experience. My name is Father Clement Kazaku Bosh Bebe.  After ten years in South Africa, I returned to the land of my ancestors – the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to continue being a missionary among my people. I thought everything would be easier and there wouldn’t be…

Read more

Literature. In Memory of Ama Ata Aidoo.

In novels and plays, in politics and in university classrooms. A lifetime of fighting for Pan-Africanism and women’s rights. A model artist and activist for multiple generations. On May 31, Ama Ata Aidoo passed away; an African postcolonial writer, feminist and activist who played a very important role in the cultural history of the continent…

Read more

Ghana. A Journey into Asante’s Cultural Heritage.

The Asante are a group of people who form part of the Akan ethnic group in the central part of Ghana in the West African Sub-region. The Asantes were one Akan-speaking people who settled in the forest region of modern Ghana between the 11th and 13th centuries. They are known to have migrated to present-day…

Read more

Peru. The Time to the Asheninka.

What is the importance of time to the Asheninka, an Amazonian people of western Peru? Let’s find out. In the Amazonian world, time is marked by elements that can be stars, plants, animals, and others. The day is marked by the sun. The sun is what largely determines the conception of time and consequently the…

Read more

Iraq. A Book to Live Again.

The young Yazidi Janan Shaker Elias has opened a bookshop in a village on the Nineveh Plain that suffered the invasion of Isis: “When we returned, I decided that reading was among the essential necessities”. On the white shelves are volumes of fiction and nonfiction, history books and biographies of famous people, philosophical texts, and…

Read more

Advocacy

Ecuador. Alexandra Narvaez & Alex Lucitante. “We are people, who…

Two young leaders from the A’i Cofán community of Sinangoe in Ecuador led a movement to protect their people’s ancestral territory from gold mining. Their leadership…

Read more

Baobab

The Spider, the Elephant and The Hippo.

Because there was a famine in the land, the spider and his family grew thinner and thinner and hungrier and hungrier. In his desperation, the spider…

Read more

Youth & Mission

The voices of young people. Some leave and some remain.

Leaving the Church does not mean abandoning the faith; moving away from the faith does not mean giving up one's spirituality. Even though they are leaving…

Read more