Every week, international students from Nigeria and Ghana on exchange programme at the Centre Internationale de Recherhe et d’Etude de Langue (CIREL), Village du Benin, Lomé, Togo, are required to showcase their culture using French language. JOHNPAUL NNAMDI reports one of the events.
When a man sees a girl he likes and wants to marry, he traces her to her house. Then, in the company of his father or elderly relatives, he goes to the girl’s house with a bottle of Schnapps gin. This is referred to as “knocking.”
After making his intention known to the girl’s family, he will be given a date to return while his family and that of the girl investigate each other’s attitude, antecedents and life styles. If they are comfortable with their findings, the two families will make them known and the man proceeds to pay the girl’s dowry.
In paying the dowry, the materials to be brought for the girl’s family include sewing machine, jewelry, pieces of clothes, a bottle of Schnapps gin, cooking utensils, foodstuff and domestic animals, among others. The potential husband also buys gifts for the girl’s parents and pays Akunta sika – a sum of money to be given to the girl’s siblings, which is to appreciate them for taking care of her.
The marriage follows and the couple will be blessed by their parents and offered gifts amid merriment.
This narrative depicts marital processes in several regions of Ghana. The process was rehearsed by students of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, at the Centre Internationale de Recherhe et d’Etude de Langue (CIREL), Village du Benin, Lomé, Togo.
The students are on an exchange programme at the Lomé School of Language. Every week, international students studying at the school are made to participate in a cultural activity termed “Soirée Culturel”.
It is a cultural affair for students to showcase their customs and traditional beliefs. Participants are mostly students studying French from Nigerian and Ghanaian universities.
Each group of students is to hold the activity for a week. Throughout the week, the group holds a series of events, including traditional dance, drama, comedy, traditional drama and traditional fashion parade, among others.
The highpoint of the event is the exhibition, portrayal and dramatisation of key cultural and time-honoured values, mores and civilisation of the tribe in question.
Nigerian universities, which had staged performances include the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State; Nnamdi Azikiwe University (UNIZIK), Awka (Anambra), Imo State University (IMSU), Owerri and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, (Enugu).
Others are the Nasarawa State University, Lafia (NSUK); Delta State University (DELSU); University of Benin (Edo); Ignatius Ajaru University, Port Harcourt (Rivers); and Ekiti State University (EKSU), Ado.
The Cape Coast University displayed the culture of the people of the central region in Ghana; students of the University of Education Winneba, showcased the traditional practices in the various regions of Ghana.
Students of DELSU spiced their week by putting up interesting traditional dance steps to showcase the culture of the people in the Niger Delta. They also demonstrated the traditional marriage ceremony of the Agbor people.
But as the students are required to depict their customs and tradition, they are also compelled, while learning the French, study the culture, history, civilisation and politics of France.
In a chat with CAMPUSLIFE, the lecturer in-charge of socio-cultural activities, Mr Kalessou Thierry, said the primary objective of the “soirée culturel” was to give students a forum to be in touch with their background and to also make them express themselves in French.
“We have to also learn about our indigenous tradition and its origin. That is why we have the ‘soirée culturel’ in our curriculum. This will enable students not to forget where they come from. And while performing, they are required to use French to communicate which will in turn improve their mastery of French language. In the process, we would have achieved more than one goal,” he said.
Daniel Osabuohian, 300-Level, UNIBEN, said “soirée culturel” was not just a platform for students to showcase their traditions and cultures, but an opportunity to socially engage them in order to develop confidence and fluency while speaking the language. He added that most students had learned and mastered “good native expressions and proverbs” using French.
Ndubisi Adikankwo, 300-Level, UNN, said: “I believe this weekly event is a sort of recreational activity that makes it possible for Africans to be aware of the differences in our culture, create an atmosphere for interaction, and know the culture and language of other African countries so that there can be alignment between us.”
“At this point, it is a challenge for us as Africans. We should not be afraid or shy to expose, popularise, and broadcast our local customs. Anywhere we find ourselves, it is pertinent to demonstrate what we have because we have it,” said Bruno Gadazaezo of University of Education Winneba, Winneba, Ghana.
