IT SEEMS important to humanism that an indigenous humanist movement has appeared in the ancestral land of many African Americans. Humanists, however, are late arrivals in Ghana. Christian and Islamic missionaries were there long before. Part of the north has long been Muslim, and Christian missionaries made their appearance in the eighteenth century (the Moravians) and operated in force in the nineteenth century. They found a wide variety of beliefs, rituals, and ceremonies among the various tribes. There was a strong emphasis on the importance of honouring ancestors and tradition. About 35 per cent of the population still practise their traditional religions. Christians outnumber Muslims by about two to one. Though Christian baptisms originally were few - only about 40,000 by 1900 - the twentieth century saw rapid growth of a variety of Christian sects.

Churches from storefronts to cathedrals and mosques are everywhere, and religious proclamations appear on buses, taxis, trucks, and automobiles. Small shops bear such names as 'Heavenly Dressmaker'; ']esus is My Savior Lottery Stall'; 'He Has Risen Store'; and 'Jesus Is My Redeemer Chop Bar'. Seemingly every American Christian religious group has followers in Ghana, including Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses, Anglicans, and Evangelicals. Easter weekend is a national holiday lasting from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday morning.

Ghanians take their religion seriously, and humanists walk with a cautious tread. The humanists emphasise that they are rationalists, and that they believe men and women must solve their own problems and not rely upon God or the gods. Hope Tawiah, one of the leaders, has gathered small groups of followers together in what he calls the Rationalist Centre of Ghana, the motto of which is 'Down with Superstition'. The centre is in reality only a post office box, although Tawiah is hoping to build a facility in Pokuasi, one of the villages near the capital of Accra that is on the way to becoming a suburb. The chief of the village, Nu Otto Kwame II, considers himself a rationalist, and has given land for the centre. As chief {he had been an accountant before he was chosen as chief), he is a combination of social worker, counsellor, priest, and medicine man who must deal with the problems of his six thousand villagers in ways set down by long-established tradition. This means conducting the necessary ceremonies, donning the traditional clothes, and severely limiting his personal freedom. He described how one of the villagers came to him with a child suffering from intestinal worms. Beside offering the traditional remedies, he also went to the pharmacy and bought a vermifuge which he administered to the patient. After the patient had recovered he explained to the mother that the illness had been caused by worms and it could be cured by the medicine, an approach she accepted. Such is the work of a rationalist in Ghana.

Another member of the rationalist group is Professor Niitse Akufo Awnku Ado-Dwanka, a nuclear physicist (he has a Ph.D. from Cambridge), who spent much of his professional career in Europe before returning to Ghana. Ado-Dwanka is not unique since the British, either by government action or through missionary groups, established traditional English public schools that, like their English counterparts, were boarding schools for boys. One of these schools, Achimota College, just outside of Accra, was particularly noted for preparing its graduates for English universities and the British civil service. Ado-Dwanka is an alumnus of Achimota. The British left Ghana not only with a highly educated elite, but a vast number of literate Ghanians whose educational levels are above those of most Africans.

Separate schools for girls were also established but not on the same level. Most of the older generation of leaders of Ghana attended one of the schools and there is a strong 'old boys' network among their alumni. Many are friendly to humanism but, like their American counterparts, few have publicly committed themselves.

One of the effects of the boarding schools was to break down tribal animosities, since boys from various tribes were thrown together. Moreover, since there are more than sixty different languages in Ghana, the public schools established English as the basic language of communications, which it remains. Thus, while tribal identity is important, it is not as divisive a factor as in many of the other emerging African countries and there is considerable tribal intermarriage among the leadership of Ghana.

IN OUR trip to Ghana, and as individuals who lived and travelled in Third World countries, it seemed clear to us that Ghana is moving into the first rank of such countries. It has major natural resources including gold; diamonds; oil (just beginning to be explored); hydroelectric power (the dam on the Volta River supplies electricity to much of west Africa); major crop, cocoa; a strong manufacturing base; and enough food to be self supporting. Interestingly, much of the retail trade is run by women, whose stalls are ubiquitous. The standard stall is a three-foot by four-foot box with a tin roof and lockable door that remains open during business hours. Though their merchandise is limited, the sheer number of vendors assures variety.

We spent much of our time speaking on contraception, something in which both the people and government of Ghana are very much interested. In fact, the President of the International Association of Planned Parenthood, Dr Fred Sai, is a Ghanian. Planned Parenthood and family planning clinics are numerous in Ghana, helping families plan for two or three children instead of the traditional six or seven. The programme has recently received new impetus from the willingness of the United States to contribute to family planning programmes on a world wide basis, something that was radically curtailed and even temporarily eliminated by President Ronald Reagan. We found the family planning people, mostly women, to be dedicated, knowledgeable, and concerned with reaching both men and women.

We agreed with the National Council of Women that the problem was to more effectively reach the men. Presently, the dominant form of contraception is oral contraceptives, followed by the copper IUD, diaphragms, condoms, and progesterone injections. In the northern parts of Ghana, however, they are experimenting with Norplant, which will probably reach the Accra area soon. Condom use is encouraged, even in combination with other contraceptives, to lessen the threat of sexually transmitted disease. We distributed American condoms which were much valued because they appeared to be thinner than those now available in Ghana.

Sterilisation and abortion can be obtained in Ghana, but sterilisation is primarily performed on females. Apparently only a handful of vasectomies have been done in Ghana so far. The Ghanians, however, were interested in encouraging more.

Certainly the efforts of the Ghanian Rational Association to introduce us to various ministries and professional groups, which was reported in the media, helped publicise family planning in Ghana. It also gave some publicity to the Ghanian humanists.

We brainstormed ways to help the incipient Ghanian humanist movement grow. While donations would be appreciated, banks charge hefty fees for cashing American cheques (about a third of the money goes to the bank). Another way to assist Ghana and our fellow humanists is to send recently printed, used books, both to sell and to build libraries. Current books are scarce in Ghana because they are expensive and the Ghanian publishing industry is still in its infancy. What are especially needed are large numbers of college texts from the 1980s and 1990s, even if there are more recent editions. Most of the texts we saw dated from the sixties or seventies. Trade books in almost any field are also welcome, in paper or hardback, although non-fiction is much more highly prized than fiction. Ghanians seemed to be hungry for current knowledge. Since books enter the country duty free as educational materials, it is possible for the humanists in Ghana to set up a book-store to distribute books inexpensively.

Right now the prognosis looks hopeful, since, in a troubled continent, Ghana almost alone is free of the fierce tribalism that disrupts 'much of Africa. It seems fitting that Ghana also is home to a nucleus of African humanism, modest as it is. It would be one of the ironies of history that Ghana, where the Europeans started the slave trade, would be the African country that emerges as an example for other African countries to follow for an independent, economically secure, democratic nation with a pluralistic religious configuration that includes secular humanism.

The above article is a slightly shortened version of an article published in Free Inquiry, (Volume 14 No 3) USA, which we thankfully acknowledge.