Who is a Ghanaian?
Culture, as they say, is simply the way a group of people live.
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People live in groups based on their shared ideals.
The way they live is not erratic or unrestrained.
Laws or rules are made to ensure that people conform to these agreed values that make them stick together in their society.
Failure to conform to these values speaks of a desire to derail from society or to seek to bring about a change in the ideals.
Often, this is met with resistance because it becomes a cultural war against a set way of acceptable living.
Culture
Cultures are distinct everywhere in the world.
In the movie “Babies”, children are shown being raised in different cultures and around different customs.
Though the movie has been criticised for misrepresentation, it shows how the babies were exposed to different environments and stimuli.
Despite these differences, they all achieved their developmental milestones at the time they were expected to.
They all explored and learned from their own unique experiences.
Every child finds security in their own unique environment and learns very early what is acceptable or not through their interactions with other family members.
Language
The language of any people, their history, values and traditions make them unique and different.
These must, therefore, be protected.
As society evolves, the language may change too if the children are not well grounded.
History of the people, which has to do with facts handed down from ancestors are so precious that they actually provide the background to adopted ways of living, laws and theories about various aspects of society.
Without historical facts, the way of living of a group of people becomes questionable.
The principles that people live by are their values.
These preserve the people and help to maintain social order.
Values are shared ideas about what is wrong or right, good or bad, correct or incorrect.
They usually vary from one place to another and from one culture to the other.
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Values, therefore, form the structural foundation of any society because they guide social behaviour.
They are derived from one’s specific culture.
Traditional festivities and celebrations bring the people together (social connection) and promote social cohesion.
This is what brings a strong sense of belonging, crucial to our well-being.
Heritage
In Ghana today, the Ghanaian heritage must be preserved by paying attention to these issues that ultimately give one their identity.
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Who is a Ghanaian? Will a child answer this question as passionately and accurately as an elderly? If this is not so, then we have failed to instil in our children a true sense of being Ghanaian.
In the face of easy migration, cultural borrowing, the advent of technology that makes the world a global village and post-modern ideologies, any serious people will take pragmatic steps to root the children in their identity by way of opportunities to fully participate and engage in the areas of language, history, modelling values and celebrating traditions/ festivities.
To preserve our society and ideals, we must pay attention to our values that can facilitate development.
Children
Our children are witnessing few examples of these values, and are largely learning the culture of other societies from social media.
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The true Ghanaian is selfless and kind.
This is what is often described as Ghanaian hospitality.
He is honest and disciplined if well brought up in the typical home.
He is hardworking, and believes in the old-time expression ‘work and happiness’.
He is self-reliant as a result of this industrious nature.
Excellence is a true hallmark, and he diffuses patriotism everywhere he goes.
At this juncture, may I ask… “Are you, dear reader, a true Ghanaian?”
The writer is a Child Development Expert/ Fellow at Zero-to-three Academy, USA.
E-mail: nanaesi_19@yahoo.co.uk