The Ghanaian Network
Helping the discerning user discover, taste and enjoy
the variety of Ghanaian culture
on offer in London
Helping the discerning user discover, taste and enjoy
the variety of Ghanaian culture
on offer in London
Symbol colours & their
hidden meanings
Clouds/Dye = Wayfaring
Chocolate = Food for thought
Gold Dust = Ghana (formally Gold Coast), home
A permanent mark
FIHANKRA - security, ‘home’
ADINKRAHENE - chief of adinkra symbols, ‘blog’
AKOMA NTOSO - a gift of the heart, ‘miscellaneous’
Originally, there wasn’t a plan to include this symbol so it was born out of necessary to make the pages ‘hang together’ nicely and boost the information architecture of this site. Plus eight (symbols) seemed like a nice round number.
To be honest, this is an extra treat for you, a ‘secret page’ if you like that you only stumble across due to the helpful tag categories which I’m planning to add to the blog part of the site.
I’ve never seen a symbol that represents understanding before so this is a chance to break the mode and try something new. Understanding plays a much bigger part in this project than I’m led to give it credit for. It was understanding that motivated me to learn more about my parents, especially what life was like for them living in London all those years ago. It continues to be the driving force as I discover more about my culture and ultimately myself.
I discovered the more involved I became involved with this project, I would need an ‘extra tag’ as not all the blog topics I hoped to explore fitted into the four main cornerstones (food, sports, customs and arts) of culture.
So there I am scratching my head, wondering ‘how am I supposed to depict that?’ And low and behold, in walks this little fella. Meet Akoma Ntoso or miscellaneous as I like to call him. He’s here to link the stragglers together. Actually, I discovered him while I was researching the other members of the adinkra family of symbols and this one was just right.
While I’m on this topic, understanding will be the foundation for a lot of what goes on on this site and my hope is that it will silently police discussions should any arise from comments.
Understanding has already opened my eyes to a lot of the hardships my parents faced when they first touched base with a very different England to the one we know and love today. Understanding allows me to appreciate my parents better and what they taught me.
In fact when I think about it, what they have passed onto me and my siblings is a gift.
