Pete Freeman, intern

When I first learned that there were more than 80 languages spoken in Ghana, I panicked. Sure, English is the national language. But I can count on one hand the number of times I heard English spoken while walking through the streets of Ghana during my first week as a volunteer. In place of my native tongue, I heard a cacophony of what I later learned was Fante, Ewe, Akan, and more.

While English is the national language, Akan and its derivatives are the most popular indigenous languages. Fortunately, the Global Mamas volunteers and I live in an area in which Fante, a government-sponsored language and derivative of Akan, is widely spoken.

It made sense to start learning Fante as quickly as possible, so I asked a shop owner across the street from our office to teach me the local language during my lunch break. She agreed, and for two weeks I spent my one hour lunch break learning from Chillin’ Chillin, whose actual name is Comfort. I made quick progress and was soon able to hold basic conversations with Chillin’ Chillin’ and other Ghanaians. I took to the internet as I pursued my own independent study of Fante. But I found no Fante dictionary and no resources for learning the language. I was disappointed. So I logged off and began to ask around.

Not long after my digital dictionary disappointment, I found the ‘dictionary’ I was looking for, though it was the furthest thing from what I expected. Patience, my boss at the Cape Coast office, offered me a tattered old dictionary that contained Fante words and phrases translated in English. I blew the dust off of the cover and got to work.

Days passed. I began to recognize simple Fante words when walking around Cape Coast. This delighted me. By this time I had spent five weeks in Ghana and was beginning to grasp the local language. I now affectionately refer to Ghana as my second home. My mother tells me that as long as our family’s house in Indiana remains my ‘first home,’ she’s fine with my preference. I have fallen in love with the Fante language and I can’t wait to return to this diverse country.

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