Not all fingers are equal

Two Akan hunters went out into the forest and were enchanted by a spider making its web. They learned from the spider how to use all of their extremities to weave what we know today as kente.

I heard the story of the hunters a couple years ago in the Council of the Arts and Humanities in Staten Island (COAHSI) and had seen the loom and the weaving there as well.

There is a big Ghanaian community in Staten Island and I had met some of them while volunteering at El Centro del Inmigrante through the Staten Island Immigration Coalition. I never would have imagined I would be in their hometown, Bonwire, years later.
I had emailed Sam, one of my Ghanaian friends living in NY, and he gave me the number of the Gyasehene (divisional chief) in Bonwire. He was very kind to receive Allison and I in his home. Here is a picture of the Gyasehene, Nana Kwame Kwanning and I.

He called some weavers he trusted and they took us to the Weaving Center. There were so many looms, so many kente cloths but most importantly so many patterns.

Love is pure

Knowledge is power

Peace and harmony

Not all fingers are equal

Stop there for a second.

Not all fingers are equal. What do you mean by that? I asked.

-       Not all of the fingers in your hand are the same, right? It is like you and I, you are white, I am black, he said. We are not equal.

My first response was: Hopefully one day, madamfo. (madamfo means my friend in Twi) to which he smiled and said may be.

My first thoughts went back to Animal Farm. “Some animals are more equal than others.” –a phrase that always instigates anger and pain in me.

But then I thought of the wise message this kente cloth carried. We talk about appreciating each other for who we are today. We know we all come from the same place but we have developed our culture in separate ways that make us unique. I kept having a long discussion with myself on the way back from Bonwire to Kumasi.

I kept on thinking about the fine line that makes this phrase difficult to swallow, about how it can be enlightening if heard with the right mindset or destructive if not. What makes people equal or not equal to each other anyways? That we think in similar ways, share the same religion, have a similar skin tone? It depends on where you want to subdivide humanity but we share the same palm and I couldn’t play the guitar without all of my fingers…

Anyways, I visited Bonwire on the first weekend of August and I just came back from Cape Coast where I stayed this past weekend. The past workweek was long and busy. I already started my transition out of the lab and the site; I am sad to leave the team.

Jeremy - biodiesel/yoga cool guy- came back to Ghana and Allison has already left. This week will simply be different. Here we are on our project farewell lunch.

Last weekend I also went to a small BBQ for Reid’s departure and Patrick’s birthday. Here are a couple pictures. Good times! Reid et al actually slaughtered the goat for this event –the way to go if you want to be entitled to eat meat!
Great people

A couple I wish I could have spent more time with! Ingrid and her husband

Reid and Patrick looking at the camera!

My trip to Cape Coast deserves a completely different post so I’ll stop here but I will write soon! 


Afia

With two of my favorite Ghanaians, Michael and Dorcas! (Looks like a telenovela pose, I know)