by Brian Edwards

About the author: Brian Edwards is a London-based television producer/ director.

About an hour east of Ghana’s capital, Accra, lies the Volta delta, a fertile plain criss-crossed by a few metalled roads, and speckled with Ewe villages that have changed little for centuries.

Among the Ewe nothing happens without cause. They are fervent believers in Einstein’s maxim that ‘God does not play dice’. If someone dies, it is for a reason. There is the superficial cause—malaria, drowning, etc. And there is the profound cause—the displeasure or vengeance of the gods. A family who has experienced notable misfortune—deaths, illness or just a failing crop—may well seek out a soothsayer, a man or woman who can...