Father Joeker

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

Incorrigible cat
“You fool! Stupid! Get out! Just because you don’t know how to read, you scatter all my books around?” on hearing my outburst our cook was frightened; thinking I was fighting with somebody he rushed into the  room, “What happened Father?” “Oh, it’s just our cat who always wants to sleep on my study table knocking all my books onto the floor.” The cook went back to the kitchen shaking his head.

Health is Wealth
Window shopping is one of my hobbies wherever I go to Accra the capital city of Ghana. In one of those shops famous for Kente cloth (Kente is to Ghana as Barong Tagalog is to the Philippines.) I asked an old saleswoman how much a full piece was. The price was rather fantastic. “Oh that is for the rich and I am not rich,” I told her trying to bargain. Apparently not convinced, she said seriously, “You are not rich? So long as you are alive and healthy, you are rich.” I left the shop with the old woman’s wisdom with me: “Health is wealth.” A saying found everywhere.

Let There not Be light
All their head were turned up towards the street lamps and they seemed to be praying out loud; it was such a strange sight that I was compelled to ask John Baffoe, my companion, “why are they gazing at the street lights like that?” “Oh those are kerosene vendors and they are praying that the lights will go off so that they can sell their kerosene.” I stopped and went back deliberately and checked it out more closely. True enough, around them were cans of unsold kerosene. That remind me of Ghanaian proverb: “One person’s sorrow is another’s joy.”

City Driver
He came with me from the village so excited to see Accra City. It was his first time ever. Unknown to him was the fact that actually I was not yet used to city driving. In the busy street, drivers to left and right at me blew their horns and even at my back too. Then he said in his innocence, “Oh Father, everybody knows you here.” That helped to ease the tension a bit.

Marriage Encounter
Everybody was sad. Frwons aand long faces. The usual smiles and rejoicing were gone. Reason: the most admired and model Catholic couple in their village had separated temporarily because of the heated arguments the previous night. Scandal indeed. Before we could start the mass everybody was eader to her what I would say and how I would reconcile the two. Conivnced the evocative approach would be the best move, I asked the people, “what is the best way to kill a fire?” Just after the catechist translated it, a woman at the back so confident of her answer blurted, “knife”, I was shocked more than anybody else. Before a pause of embarrassing silence could end, a teacher stood up and corrected the catechist telling him that Father said, “fire not fowl.” As the question was repeated correctly, the congregation exploded with laughter with all eyes on the catechist. As they all relaxed I zeroed in: At the end, the argument between the couple turned out to be a complete misunderstanding exactly the same as the catechist misunderstood my question. The case was solved instantly

Ear Snipping
Looking for a barber who really knows how to cut Asian hair is a problem here where everybody’s hair is curly. Once when i could not get the right barber, I was obliged to have my hair cut at a street side barber shop. The barber looked questioningly; I looked at him and knew immediately he had a problem. “oh , just cut it the way you like so long as you don’t cut my ears off” I said,” because those parts are irreplaceable.”