There is
a boy in my class who came to this school in December from Ghana. He's a
smart student. He can speak English and his tribal language. His name is
George. He taught us how to say our names in the Twi language.
Raymond
We had a Ghanaian
visitor named Michael Amppiah who is living in New York City to study at Columbia
University. He came to meet us through the Global Classroom program.
George taught us how to say “akwaaba”, which means welcome. George also
told us that when you are born in Ghana everyone who was born on the same
day of the week as you gets the same name. There are seven female names and
seven male names. George's name is Kweku and my name is Adjoa in Twi.
You can find yours in this chart.
Shameeka
Birth Day Female Name Male Name
Sunday
Esi
Kwesi
Monday
Adjoa
Kojo
Tuesday
Abena
Kobina
Wednesday
Ekua
Kweku
Thursday
Yaa
Yaw
Friday
Efua
Kofi
Saturday
Ama
Kwame
Before Michael's
visit we went on the Internet to find out which day of the week we were born
on so George could teach us our Ghanaian names. Go to CalendarHome.com and
click on the 10,000 year calendar.
Pierre
Kofi Annan
The Secretary
General of the United Nations came from Ghana. He was named Kofi because he
was born on Friday and Annan because he was his mother's fourth child.
We had learned about Kofi Annan when we made a report about the United Nations
Millennium Summit. It was his idea to ask all of the world leaders
to meet here in New York City to try to plan for the future. He wanted
the richer countries to try to help others. We made a report about
this and sent it to him, and Mr. Annan wrote us a very nice letter.
When we gave a copy of our report and the letter with Kofi Annan's signature
to Michael, he had a big smile on his face.
Rashika
It seems strange
that everyone in Ghana has the same name as all of the people who were born
on the same day. But we talked about it and it is really similar to
the way we all have the same Zodiac signs. Michael told us that the
names are part of their traditional religion.
Sierra
In our country
people like to ask you about your Zodiac star sign. Mine is Leo, the
lion. Michael said it made people feel good when they meet people with names
they know because it is like they are all from one big family.
Amanda
When we
started to study about Ghana we saw a lot of pictures of people wearing kente
cloth on the Internet. Kente cloth is popular with African American
people too. The designs are very hard to make because you have to use
a loom and weave the different colors and shapes into the cloth. Michael
brought another kind of cloth that also comes from Ghana. It is called
adinkra and it has really great patterns.
Akilah
Adinkra
cloth is made by using a piece of a gourd that you carve symbols into. Then
you dip the gourd into dye and press it on the cloth to stamp the designs
on. Each symbol means something special. Michael brought a book
about it and we found more on the Internet.
Alexis
Adinkra Symbols From Ghana
Akoma (the heart)
Have patience. Symbol of patience and
endurance.
Sankofa (return and fetch it)
You can always undo your mistakes.
Osrane ne nsoroma (moon and star)
A symbol of faithfulness.
Hye wo nyhe (the one who burns
you be not burned)
Symbol of forgiveness. Turn the other
cheek.
It was a pleasure
meeting Michael and I liked learning about Ghana. George and I wrote
a report about the new President.
Taneisha
“From today, we must learn to smile
again, we must learn to appreciate the good in each other and we must feel
pride in being Ghanaians.”
“Our greatest enemy is poverty and
the battle against poverty starts with reconciling our people.”
"Ghana is open for business Come
in and let's do business.”
(Source: Africana.com)
These quotations
are from the speech John Kufuor made on January 7, 2001 when he was elected
president of Ghana. Before that Jerry Rawlings had been the leader
of the country for over twenty years. Now Ghanaians have voted for John Kufuor
to be their new president in a peaceful election.
It is good that the
new president wants to work with everyone to improve his country and help
the poor people. He is wearing a kente cloth robe to keep up the traditions
of his county.
George and Taneisha
Links and References
Global
Classroom, Metro International
http://metrointl.org/
Ghana, (also has Adinkra
Symbols, Kente Cloth)
http://www.ghana.com/republic/index.html
Akan Cloth (more
Adinkra and Kente)
http://www.marshall.edu/akanart//akanclothintro.html
Grade 5
Mr. Greenberg, Teacher
Public School 241
976 President Street
Brooklyn, New York 11225 USA