Jews in Sefwi Wiawso live amongst non-Jews and only separate themselves due to their religious observances. On Shabbat the Sefwi Wiawso community sets itself particularly apart. Each family celebrates the evening of Shabbat with its own celebration. From the moment the Shabbat lights are kindled the community uses no electricity. Men wear long, flowing white robes and traditional kippot.
Women wear their best dress, usually a flowered, hand-made creation.
The community elders sit at the front of the synagogue facing the rest of the community. Women and men sit separately on the synagogue's wooden benches, and children sit on benches running along the synagogue's side. The synagogue of recent visitor Mike Gershowitz has donated plentiful Sim Shalom prayerbooks, but David and Alex do not quite know yet how to sculpt a Shabbat service from them, so they draw upon a fraying Union prayer book intended for the High Holy days that someone had sent them. They have memorized prayers word for word from that prayer book, and recite them back in order with near perfection. After about 1 hours of services, community members return to their homes for breakfast.