Culture Shock: Extreme Privacy

I was watching a TV show and dealing with the plot line (a married couple having issues having children) the wife asked her husband how much money he made at work (he was working late now and it concerned her he was cheating) and he refused to tell her because he said it was none of her business. I was truly shocked at this. (This is actually what spurred this post).

I know that when volunteers work with various individuals here, it can sometimes be challenging because they don’t want to share their numbers with others. As a volunteer put it, it wasn’t that long ago in the U.S. that farmers didn’t want to share how many acres they had because figuring out your income could be pretty easy. The same seems to be here and I thought I was aware of privacy, but it is pumped up here.

We were at a meeting the other day and someone made a comment about something happening in 1986. I said, “I wasn’t even born then.” And my colleague was like, “Oh, don’t say that.” My colleague’s comment in that situation seemed to be a concern that I was sharing too much information. Something I found interesting because I obviously didn’t mind but I guess age is among those things that just aren’t talked about.

On the flip side, thinking this, the church I’ve been attending is preparing the congregation to pay their dues (Leviticus 27) and how much those “dues” are and for one family he even spelled out the total amount they would end up giving (when services last 3.5+ hours you have time to go through the family and numbers). I was shocked he was making it so open how much that one family would be expected to pay (FYI the church is only half built so I think this is a type of fundraiser). Also, when the bible says “30 silver coins” and the pastor has interpreted that as US$30 or 45 cedis lol I think he does that to get a little more money- but that’s just my thoughts.