wfn.org | Emory alumnus from Africa honors United Methodist

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Jan. 29, 1999  Contact: Tim Tanton*(615)742-5470*Nashville, Tenn.
10-31-71BP{049}

NOTE: A photograph for this story will be available soon.

By Elaine Justice*

A United Methodist academic literally received royal treatment on a recent
trip to West Africa, where he helped a friend celebrate the fifth year of
his reign as king of a Ghanaian village.

The Rev. James Fowler, director of Emory University's Ethics Center in
Atlanta, had traveled to Ghana to be with his friend, the Rev. Anthony
Ephirim-Donkor, a graduate of the school and a member of Ghana's royalty. 

After graduating in 1988 from Emory University's Candler School of Theology
with a master of divinity degree, Ephirim-Donkor earned his doctorate from
the university in 1994, then returned to his native land to live out the
title he inherited at birth: Nana (King) Obrafo Owam X, royal sovereign of
his village, Gomoa Mprumem.

Ephirim-Donkor celebrated the fifth anniversary of his reign Jan. 12-18. As
part of the celebration, the village dedicated the Lurline and James Fowler
Primary School, named for the director of the Emory Ethics Center and his
wife. 

Before the dedication ceremonies, Fowler was brought outside before the
village elders and visiting kings to receive more personal thanks from
Ephirim-Donkor. The king presented Fowler with a Kente cloth robe and gave
him the equivalent of an honorary doctorate. 

"They brought out a stool similar to the type kings sit on. Then I had to
sit and rise three times -- a way of saying 'I am home' in their village,"
said Fowler, who was deeply moved by the ceremony. Besides serving at Emory,
Fowler is an ordained United Methodist minister and member of the church's
Western North Carolina Annual Conference.

The village also dedicated a new reservoir that a group called Friends of
Mprumem, a charitable organization chaired by Fowler, helped support. Susan
and Mac Goekler of Tallmadge, Ohio, formerly of Atlanta, spearheaded the
development of the reservoir and were made "sub-kings" of the village in
honor of their support.

Also at the celebration, Fowler announced that the International Foundation,
an Episcopal trust dedicated to African aid, has given a grant of $18,000 to
buy a tractor for the village, which will enable villagers to farm their
land more easily.

"We were overwhelmed when we received photos showing the sign out in front
of the school," Fowler said. The new school will serve up to 200 children
from Gomoa Mprumem and other nearby villages, and also will provide child
care so that mothers can do some agricultural work that the village depends
on, he added.

Ephirim-Donkor's American ties developed over his 15-year stay in the United
States during his college and graduate school years, much of it in the
Atlanta area. After graduating from Candler, Ephirim-Donkor served as pastor
of Suwanee Parish United Methodist Church from 1990 to 1993 in Suwanee, Ga.,
and of Thurman-Hamer-Elington Church in Decatur, Ga.

Visiting his homeland in 1993, Ephirim-Donkor was promptly "seized" by
elders of his people, the Akan, and made the reluctant king of his mother's
township. The Akan monarchy, which is matrilinear, passed to him because his
mother was daughter of the last king, who died in 1982. In addition to being
the traditional, sociopolitical and spiritual ruler of Gomoa Mprumem,
Ephirim-Donkor also owns the land of the village and is responsible not only
for his people's well-being but also for the preservation of their sacred
traditions.

Those traditions relating to their ruler may seem constricting by Western
standards. As king, Ephirim-Donkor may not speak in public, except through a
spokesperson; may not walk alone; and when outside, must never allow his
bare feet to touch the ground.

Despite the constraints, Ephirim-Donkor also maintains a busy career as a
scholar. He teaches at the University of Ghana in Winneba, is founder of the
Afro-Gomoa Cultural Center for the preservation, education and promotion of
African and Ghanaian cultural traditions, and has published two scholarly
books. The first, African Spirituality: On Becoming Ancestors (1997),
focuses on the beliefs and traditions of the Akan as a
resource for examining human development. The second, The Lion King:
Patrilineal and Matrilineal Struggle Among the Effutu (1998), examines the
historical, political and religious causes of the violent struggle for
kingship among the Effutu in Ghana since the 19th century.
#  #  #
*Justice is assistant director of university communications at United
Methodist-related Emory University in Atlanta. 

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