“How did you walk with the elephants?” That was the question I was asked on Facebook recently in response to my post that I had walked with the elephants in Mole Game Park in northern Ghana. The question was posed by a Christian minister and that prompted me to give it more thought.

I suppose in a way, the question is easier answered for me because I am not constrained by the currently fashionable teachings of evangelical or charismatic Christianity. I was born into and raised in a Christian family, and was baptized as a baby long before I had any say in the matter. As soon as I left home after my high school, I dispatched with the restrictions of Christianity. Throughout my life I have found much more resonance in traditional spiritual beliefs, in my homeland in Canada with First Nations peoples and here in Africa with those who still adhere to their traditional beliefs. These are the ideas which have defined the core of my spiritual being and have reinforced a respect for the natural resources with which Spirit has blessed us.

This leads back to the question – how do we walk with the elephants? Well, we walk with them in the same way that we walk with the smallest ant that crosses our path, or the butterflies that unexpectedly flutter in and out of our space, or the birds that greet us each morning when we awake, or the spirits that inhabit the streams that provide us with life-sustaining water and the great trees and small plants that inhabit our forest and which cure our physical ailments.

There is a greater force running throughout all of these which sets in motion the circumstances that we encounter each day of our lives. It is up to each of us to make the choices which will be most advantageous to all, and therein lays the challenge for each of us. The blessing which our brother/sister elephants have given us  is this – through their size they capture our attention and force us to focus on the most fundamental questions of our existence in this sphere. Let us express our gratitude for these mighty beasts, and let us act in such a way as to ensure that they will be with succeeding generations to offer that lesson to them.

Check out this unique design.

Here is an opportunity for poets from Ghana to have one of their poems published in an anthology – see the notice below:

Submission Guidelines

RHYTHM INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION SOCIETY OF EDMONTON

SUN AND SNOW 2010 ANTHOLOGY

Please keep in mind the mission of Rhythm International Foundation of Edmonton when submitting your poem.

“It is our mission to make this world a more healthy, peaceful, creative, caring place to live, one project at at time, based on one or all of our objectives.”

This anthology is intended to promote creativity as well as a connection between African and Canadian writers/poets.   At the same time we are working towards raising money to help get water to the Dixcove Hospital which is located just outside Takoradi, Ghana, West Africa.  Money raised from the Anthology will go towards the Society and the Dixcove Project.  For any further inquires about Rhythm Foundation please email Michelle at terrian.mlb@hotmail.com.  Thanks for your participation!

WE ARE A NEWLY FORMED SOCIETY AND THIS IS OUR FIRST ANTHOLOGY AND PROJECT.  IF FOR SOME REASON WE DO NOT GET ENOUGH MEMBERS OR CONTRIBUTORS TO COMPLETE THE ANTHOLOGY THOSE POETS WHO HAVE BECOME PAID MEMBERS WILL HAVE THE OPTION TO HAVE THEIR MEMBERSHIP REFUNDED AND THEIR POEM RETURNED OR REMAIN ACTIVE WHILE WE CONTINUE TO WORK ON THE DIXCOVE HOSPITAL PROJECT FOR WHICH THEIR MEMBERSHIP WILL HELP WITH.

DEAR POETS;

Please read the POETRY SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS carefully.  IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW SO THAT YOUR POEM CAN SUCCESSFULLY BE SUBMITTED.   WE ARE A VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION THAT PROMOTES CREATIVITY WHILE DOING GOOD WORKS AND WE DONT HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF TIME TO SPEND ON EDITING…..so please help us all do a good job by submitting correctly.

YOU are invited to submit one 30-line poem and one 75-word bio for the 2010 SUN AND SNOW Anthology. Each poem and bio together gets one page in the anthology.

Poems and bios that fail to meet the specifications for the anthology may need to be edited or worse may be rejected. Editing may unintentionally change the meaning of your poem or bio.  In order to have a poem in the anthology you should be a paid member of the Rhythm International Foundation Society of Edmonton, exceptions will be made for those Canadian or African poets who can not afford to contribute to membership but wish to help with the Dixcove project by submitting a poem as their contribution.  If space is limited then paid members will be chosen first.

INSTRUCTIONS:

–Poems must have a title.

-Maximum length of poem allowed is 30 lines and this includes a one-line title and blank lines between stanzas. -Please don’t use double spacing as those spaces will be counted as lines.
-Maximum width of poem is 58 spaces
-Please do not SUBMIT your biography in broken-line form
-PLACE YOUR BIOGRAPHY RIGHT BELOW YOUR POEM, on the same page. USE YOUR NAME AS TITLE OF BIO – this will identify your poem.
-If you do not submit a bio, your bio will appear in the form – “WALT WRITER IS A CANADIAN OR AFRICAN POET.” (which ever the case may be)

TO SUBMIT via email…..send to;   rhythm_int@hotmail.com

If your poem and bio have no special formatting such as italics or bold, you may submit them in a plain-text email message. If they do have that kind of formatting, please submit them via email message set for HTML/rich-text formatting or use a Word attachment.

DEADLINE for poem and bio submission: APRIL 28 2010.