{"id":1497,"date":"2018-10-14T09:06:12","date_gmt":"2018-10-14T09:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana\/?p=1497"},"modified":"2018-10-14T09:06:12","modified_gmt":"2018-10-14T09:06:12","slug":"a-taboo-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/2018\/10\/14\/a-taboo-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"A Taboo Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Pastor Joseph and Fati<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pastor Joseph is Gonja.\u00a0When he was a young man, his father decided to pay Fulani to watch his cattle. Joseph became friends with one of the Fulani’s daughters, Fati. The Gonja tribe are Muslim, and so are the Fulani, yet everyone knew it was taboo for Joseph to be with Fati.\u00a0 The taboo was not simply because the Fulani are on the cultural fringe, but in fact hails back to the founding of the Gonja kingdom in 1675 by the great warrior king Sumaila Ndewura Jakpa. Joseph is soft spoken, yet as he explained his tribe\u2019s history, his speaking quickened, he was recounting an oral history that had been passed down for generations.\u00a0 He explained that the mighty Gonja warrior king conquered many nearby lands and tribes, giving the Gonja the largest territory in northern Ghana.\u00a0 There may have even been fleeting moments of pride as the pastor explained his tribe\u2019s history.\u00a0 However, as Joseph went on, his voice changed.\u00a0 He explained that the King\u2019s success on the battlefield was attributed to the very powerful dark juju (magic) of a Fulani man aiding the King.\u00a0The sacrifices and talismans he made gave Sumaila Ndewura Jakpa invincibility on the battlefield.\u00a0 The Fulani had a most beautiful wife, and the Gonja men were very interested in taking her.\u00a0 The King, whose expanding empire was attributed to the powerful juju of the Fulani, understood that not only was his kingdom at risk, should the beautiful wife be taken, but given the Fulani\u2019s powers, his very life could be at stake.<\/p>\n

King Sumaila Ndewura Jakpa made a proclamation.\u00a0 Not only would no Gonja man touch the Fulani\u2019s wife, but in fact no Gonja man would ever be with any\u00a0<\/strong>Fulani woman\u2026 ever.\u00a0 That taboo, set by the founding king more than 300 years ago in Gonja-land, remains today.\u00a0 As westerners, it is hard for us to even imagine how powerful and pervasive such a Taboo can be.\u00a0 Gonja men are allowed to marry women of at least four other tribes, but the Fulani women may not be touched.\u00a0 In this region of Africa, from the facial scars marking tribal membership to the names given children, people know their cultural boundaries, and their taboos, well.<\/p>\n

At this point, Pastor Joseph began to explain how he left Islam and became a Christian.\u00a0 Naturally, his father and entire family were displeased.\u00a0Leaving Islam is quite a serious matter.\u00a0However, it was his intention to marry a Fulani woman that shocked the village.\u00a0 Breaking that Taboo was unthinkable.\u00a0 He was called in by his father to explain.<\/p>\n

With vigor in his voice and posture, Joseph recounted what he told his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI explained that as a Christian, the Taboo had no meaning.\u00a0 The Bible teaches that \u2018There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.\u2019 [Galatians 3:28]\u201d<\/p>\n

It may not be surprising to learn this new freedom, that we were all one in Christ, did not immediately persuade his Gonja family members.\u00a0 He was told that if he married the Fulani woman, he would fall into ruin financially, and would surely die within a year.<\/p>\n

His elder father (grandfather) wrote him a letter, summoning him to come to his village to discuss the matter.\u00a0 It was a very grave matter, not only for Joseph, who intended to break the Taboo, but for the entire family.\u00a0 Joseph was told, from the highest authority in the family, that financial ruin and death would be his future if he violated king Sumaila Ndewura Jakpa\u2019s 300-year-old edict.\u00a0 Yet Joseph had decided to put his trust in a greater king, one that forgives, and under whom all are equal in Christ \u2013 under whom there is no separation of peoples.<\/p>\n

With a broad smile, Pastor Joseph shared that he and his wife have been married over 30 years.\u00a0They have children, and a thriving ministry reaching out to the Fulani.\u00a0 \u201cThe taboo has been broken, and everyone in my family knows I am free\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some photos from the day…<\/h3>\n

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djallo, one of the Fulani Christians in Buipe.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A trip to the river which joins with the Volta<\/h3>\n

We walked to the river, through a small village, where the raw sewage and trash trickles down the hill and into the river. \u00a0At the small landing, where the sewage flowed into the river, canoes arrived with their nets and women filled their water basins.<\/p>\n

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Pastor Joseph is Gonja.\u00a0When he was a young man, his father decided to pay Fulani to watch his cattle. Joseph became friends with one of the Fulani’s daughters, Fati. The Gonja tribe are Muslim, and so are the Fulani, yet everyone knew it was taboo for Joseph to be with Fati.\u00a0 The taboo was not … Continue reading A Taboo Broken<\/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-1497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497","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=1497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/leopardshark.com\/ghana-trips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}