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| Tokokoe |
| The Volta Region The Volta Region lies in the eastern part of Ghana, along the Volta Lake. People speak Ewe, just like their neighbours in Togo. Formerly this part of Ghana and Togo was one and was ruled by the Germans. Children in Togo still learn German in school, Ghanaian don't. After WWII Germany wasn't allowed to keep its colonies and therefore a part was given to the Gold Coast (the name of Ghana before 1957, the year of independence) and the other part became Togo (the whole area was called Togoland by the Germans). A lot of people still have family in Togo and some even in Benin. The German missionaries were the first to right down Ewe. I bought a very old German - Ewe dictionary on the streets of Lome, the capital of Togo. It was written in 1906. The Ewe in the dictionaries is Anglo Ewe, an Ewe tribe in the south of the region, near Aflao, Keta and Ada. It actually differs slight from 'Tokokoe' Ewe, sometimes different words are used. When I was learning Ewe I used books with Anglo Ewe, that's what all the books are written in. I knew quite al lot of words, but still wasn' able to communicate properly... There is big difference between the book and actual speaking... Just because of the difference in dialect. |
| It did come in handy to know some Ewe, because the childrens' level of English is very poor. They don't speak English at home. So for explanations it' good to know Ewe. It was funny that I knew some words they never heard about. Take the word for BEAR, that's SISIBLISI in Ewe. They never even heard of a bear... |
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| The Universal Declaration on Human Rights in Ewe |
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| Prayer in Ewe |
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| 'Iovo' is the Ewe word for white man. When seeing a white person children often start singing a song. They are actually encouraged by parents to sing it... Iovo, iovo, ge yibo Ta ta ge yibo! White man, White man, with your black beard Your hair, your black beard! Somehow in the past they were surprised that white men had a black beard, therefore the song. You hear it everywhere. Children shouting to their mothers Look look, iovo! Tokokoe lies close to Togo, you only have to go to Nyive, a three kilometer walk, and you cross a bridge to head on to Kpalime. I remember the first time I passed that bridge, I just left Ghana and the first thing I hear is: Iovo, iovo bon soir Ca va bien? Merci! The Togolese version of the Iovo song! A small child sang it to me. It made me laugh! The funny thing is that after a while I didn't really notice anymore that I was the exception over there. I didn't really consider myself as white anymore. I had the feelig I just blende in. But then when you see another white person walking on the street, he or she immediately attracts your attention! |
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