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A Tour of West Africa
From Kavicandra Swami
Posted February 10, 2004

In early January I made it back to West Africa. Because I did not need a visa for Ivory Coast, my first stop was the principal city there, Abidjan. I landed at 7 PM. Several devotees work at the airport, so I was able to go through the formalities and get outside quickly.

After a fast stop at the temple for bathing, we went for a radio show that goes from 10 until midnight. It was the first revival of a religiously oriented show, and the moderator was favorable. The call-in questions were sober, and all went well. On Saturday, we had a press conference at the temple. Reporters from four newspapers came, and some nice articles appeared. The media in West Africa are interested in spiritual things, and it is nice to meet with them.

The devotee community there is growing, and they have recently acquired a new house, in a good neighborhood and conveniently located. A great boon is that the BBT had just donated three container loads of French books (Ivory Coast is a French-speaking country), and they have arrived safely. Now the devotees will be able preach widely and give books to everyone. The stress there, since there is always some sort of civil war going on, is on peace.

In the morning, while we were chanting japa in the temple, four of the small children came and sat around me. I was pleased to hear them all chanting clearly. One girl, about two years old, sat for a long time chanting clearly while fingering her beads (see photo).

The next stop was Accra, in Ghana, an English-speaking country. We have five temples in Ghana. The main one is just outside of Accra and is quite big, with Radha Govinda Deities. We also have a school there, which serves the devotees' children and the local village children. It is run by Mother Ila devi dasi and her husband, Shastra das. It is basically charitable, since the locals are quite poor. It is growing fast, and the children all come to the temple every morning for kirtan. They do nice dramas of Krsna lila and are making their parents favorable, since they read better then those who go to the government schools. Now the village chief is sending his child to the nursery.

We had two radio shows at the GBC (Ghana Broadcasting Corp). Again, they are favorable and happy to let us preach. We spent a day in Sweda at a big Food for Life program. There was kirtan for hours, and a huge crowd took lots of prasadam in spite of the rain that came at the end. The leader there, Nrsingha Purana Prabhu, is an important chief and a powerful preacher, and there are many devotees there.

From there we drove to Lome, in Togo, another French Speaking country. The scenery is interesting, especially the anthills (see photo). If anyone is mathematically inclined he or she might make a calculation. Take the size of the anthill compared to the size of the ant, and the size of a skyscraper compared to the size of a man. Then consider that millions of ants are living in and working cooperatively in the anthill, and the residences are also deep under the ground, where they get the mud for the construction. They have something in their saliva that makes the hills very solid, like cement.

Varaha Prabhu has been active in Lome for two years, and things are going nicely. On arriving he found many devotees who were practicing Krsna Consciousness on their own. They had ordered books from France and are happy to have a temple there. The programs of studying Bhagavad-gita are going on nicely, and many new people are taking interest.

More French books arrived there, and the local Indians cleared them, including paying the fees. So there are mountains of books everywhere, and it is blissful to see.

From there I flew to Lagos, Nigeria, and then right around to Abuja, the capital because our friend Charlyboy wanted us to come to a peace conference. Because of flight schedules and delays, we missed the conference but went with him the next day to meet the organizers and others.

From there I went to Enugu to speak at a new university, AUCCACCOI, African University for Critical, Creative and Caring Community of Inquiry. The founder is the Reverend Father Dr. Stan Anih, who is an avid reader of Srila Prabhupada's books. The university is connected with the Philosophy for Children Community of Inquiry at Montclair State University in New Jersey, founded by Matthew Lipman. I suggest that readers with children or working in education check this out.

Dr. Anih speaks strongly on the radio, telling the people to go to the Hare Krsna temple and get books. He has 300 students in this institution, and they all came to hear about Hare Krsna. They listened attentively for three hours and asked intelligent questions. The motto of the school is "Self Realization, Self Actuation." Dr. Anih is a prolific author and many concepts from Srila Prabhupada's books pervade his works.

There is much more happening in Nigeria, but that will require another posting..

Krsne matir astu.

Your well-wisher,
Kavicandra Swami

© dipika.org February 10, 2004

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