{"id":1469,"date":"2018-10-13T09:59:43","date_gmt":"2018-10-13T09:59:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana\/?p=1469"},"modified":"2018-10-13T09:59:43","modified_gmt":"2018-10-13T09:59:43","slug":"the-fulani","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/2018\/10\/13\/the-fulani\/","title":{"rendered":"The Fulani"},"content":{"rendered":"

From the first time Beth and I ventured to Ghana with Emily and Paul in 2011 we have heard stories of the Fulani.\u00a0 Ray explained that Ghanaians might say \u201cIf something is stolen, it is probably a Fulani\u201d. \u00a0They are nomads.\u00a0 Over the years they have wandered with their longhorn cattle herds across 17 countries.\u00a0They are the caretakers of cattle in many regions, and a Dagomba or Gonja man with a cow might pay a Fulani to care for it.\u00a0 The cow would be added to the Fulani\u2019s herd until it came time to sell it.\u00a0 The Fulani speak Fulfulde, which, as the herdsman wandered Africa has shifted and spread into many dialects.\u00a0 Over hundreds of years, their migrations have also spread their religion, Islam.\u00a0 The nomads are tolerated, and at times persecuted.\u00a0 While there is compulsory grade school for everyone in Ghana \u2013 the Fulani are exempted.\u00a0Their children do not need to attend school.<\/p>\n

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As a Westerner, it was hard to imagine how the Fulani could be so different from the others here in Ghana.\u00a0Beth and I have met people from a wide range of tribes: Komba, Akan, Mamprusi, Dagomba, Bimoba, and Gonja to name just a few of the roughly 50 people groups here in Ghana.\u00a0 To me, they all seemed quite similar\u2014like trying to distinguish the Germans, Dutch, and Swiss without their automobiles, cheese, or chocolate as hints.\u00a0 But as Fati, pastor Joseph\u2019s Fulani wife of 30 years, led us into a Fulani village just a few miles from Joseph\u2019s Gonja village, the uniqueness of the Fulani quickly become apparent.<\/p>\n

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From the longer, more slender shape of their faces and often fairer skin to the construction of their huts, which were of woven grasses instead of mud, the Fulani stand apart.\u00a0 As Fati led us into the village I sensed a slight air of tension.\u00a0 At first, we could see only a few men.\u00a0 An elderly man with poor eyesight and a father with a leg injury sat in the shade.\u00a0Many of the men were still out tending their flocks and would slowly march them back to the village before sunset.\u00a0We stood smiling, making eye contact and waiting for the subtle body language to let us know they were happy to meet us.\u00a0 Like other villages, the women were initially quite shy, but very curious.\u00a0 We continued, with large toothy grins, to say hello, and wave at the children.\u00a0 Of course \u201cObroni\u201d, white people, are uncommon here in Ghana, but Obroni walking among the Fulani is rare indeed.<\/p>\n

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A rare photo of me, taken by Enoch. In green is the Sheik’s son, Sayed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I’m working hard to make them laugh, in the next photo (not included) they break out in smiles. But they prefer these dignified poses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Women were cooking dinner and caring for the children.\u00a0 Almost all of the women had colorful head coverings.\u00a0 They were delighted to see their portraits on the LCD panel of my camera.\u00a0After one picture, one of the women got a panicked look and ran back into her hut to gather up a green and white checked covering.\u00a0 I retook the photo.\u00a0 As we have become accustomed to, smiles quickly disappear as soon as I raise the lens.\u00a0Long beaded necklaces dangled and swayed as the women went about their work.\u00a0 Colorful tassels distinguished the men\u2019s necklaces.\u00a0 Rather than batik, their dresses were made from imported prints decorated with rickrack and short white fringe.\u00a0 Many of the men wore the traditional galabia in bright solid colors.\u00a0The Sheik\u2019s son, Sayed, was learning Arabic, and spoke for village.\u00a0 He explained that we would not be able to visit the Sheik because he is not in the village right now.\u00a0 Even if he were in town, we would not have been allowed to visit without first an invitation, and then sitting in the courtyard and waiting for up to an hour.\u00a0Then we would have been allowed in.<\/p>\n

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A Fulani shepherd<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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After warming up, we were able to talk, joke, and laugh with the men that were not with their cattle.\u00a0The Fulani are beautiful, timid, and isolated from the host country in which they reside.\u00a0 We pray that Pastor Joseph and his wife will continue their outreach to the Fulani, showing them the love of Jesus.<\/p>\n

Some pictures from Pastor Joseph’s Gonja village (not Fulani)<\/h3>\n

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Food, including okra and peppers, drying outside a hut.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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A hike through the farms to a more remote Gonja village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the first time Beth and I ventured to Ghana with Emily and Paul in 2011 we have heard stories of the Fulani.\u00a0 Ray explained that Ghanaians might say \u201cIf something is stolen, it is probably a Fulani\u201d. \u00a0They are nomads.\u00a0 Over the years they have wandered with their longhorn cattle herds across 17 countries.\u00a0They … Continue reading The Fulani<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}