25th February 2024
I was late getting to my monthly GaDangme Speaking Fellowship worship this afternoon. There was some event taking place in Wembley which although miles away from Ealing, was the cause of the backed-up traffic all the way to St Andrew’s Church on Mount Park Road in Ealing.
Today the turnout was very good, considering that we are still recovering from the Covid pandemic that has relegated a lot of the older folks to worship by Zoom. The excitement about today’s service was that this was a Youth service. The theme for the sermon was Christ the Alpha and the Omega, the Hope of the Child. In times gone by, all the scriptures were read in Ga and Dangme by the youth. The young liturgist and preacher also delivered their messages in the vernacular.
The sermon went down well. My interpretation of the message is that there is still hope for the Ga Child, wherever they are – be it here in London or back home in Ghana. Also that the language of the GaDangme people is making its deserved resurgence and despite the hostility from other tribes towards the GaDangme people in their own land, the capital city, none of the evil machinations will succeed.
There was a surprise at Church, actually a very pleasant one. As I went to put my pensioner’s mite into the collection bowl, I saw several people who were worshipping with us for the first time, dancing to the praise and worship jama songs from the resident choir and Nii Lante the organist!
Well, it was a welcome invasion from Radio GaDangme! I recognised some of the panelists on the weekly “Bohu obanye ofee” program in the congregation. Discussions on the program focus on shaping the Youth for social and economic development. For the past 20 years, I have been advertising the GaDangme Speaking Fellowship and they finally decided to honour the invitation to come, taste and see for themselves!! Our welcome song invites one and all to come to Jesus –
Ba Yesu ŋɔɔ,
Ba Yesu ŋɔɔ,
Lɛ dientsɛ etsɛɛ bo!
The fellowship after the service was more exciting and meaningful for the panelists – most had only met on Zoom but they were meeting in person for the first time!!
Those present were Doris Abbey and her daughter, Nii Ayaa Ralph Tettey, the technical producer, and his darling wife, Nii Yartey, the Host and his wife, ‘iPhone’Sam Okine, the class master after the main show, Rexford Nii Dodoo who is always ready with difficult questions, Naa Yaaboley, she always wants an explanation, Angela Quaynor who is quite good with looking for relevance in the discussions, and my good self, Ade Sawyerr, the Moderator of the Tuesday “Bohu obaanye ofee” show.
I do not know how the regular attendees of the Fellowship took it but for us, it was serving notice to them that we are on board, Radio GaDangme the authentic unadulterated voice of GaDangme in the Diaspora is asking us all to sit up – unashamedly GaDangme in our outlook, to put across that GaDangme viewpoint and take on all comers in our broadcast and really ticking all the boxes – education, entertainment and entrepreneurship!
So if you have a positive outlook and are interested in GaDangme issues, you are welcome to join us in worship at the London GaDangme Speaking Fellowship on the 4th Sunday of every month at St Andrews Church, Mount Park Road, Ealing W5 2RS – Service starts 3 pm GMT prompt.
We invite you to join Radio GaDangme in our discussions on Shaping the Youth for Social and Economic Development. The program is at 7 pm GMT every Tuesday.
Ade Sawyerr
GaDangme Nibii Sɔŋŋ
Croydon – London 25 February 2024
