A Follow-up on the North and our trip to Kumasi

Well our good fortune with travel has remained with us as we have traveled back south again. This time we have landed in Kumasi, which is the cultural center of Ghana, and if I am not mistaken is the most populous city in the country. From the bus point of view downtown Kumasi appears to be like the other metropolitan areas we have passed. There are many many shops, which mostly have names related to Christianity. Perhaps the most interesting one we passed yesterday was the Jesus Can Do It Plumbing Service. We are staying at the Hotel Rexmar which is located on the southwest perimeter of the city according to the map. I believe we are several miles from the town center. We have a lot of activities jammed in to our 9 day stay in this area including meeting the queen mother and seeing kente cloth being made. Our activities should do well at further dipping us into Ghanaian culture.

I now want to discuss further my impressions after being in the north. The Bolgatanga area was a small metropolitan area with plenty of bustling activity. Some of the members in the group made some of the fabric sellers in Bolgatanga very happy as they bought yards and yards of cloth. I had asked Mora Martin, a member in our group to purchase a piece for me to serve as a table cloth and Kellee (another member of our group) bought it from me because she liked it so well. I didn't mind letting Kellee have it because I am fairly certain that I will come across a piece of cloth that will serve my needs. From a shopping point of view men's smocks, these nifty little hats, and baskets seemed to be the highlight of what folks were interested in. I am afraid I did little to boost significantly the economy in Bolga as I purchased a small bag of millet, a small bag of rock salt, and a few kola nuts so I could photograph them. I allowed Joan (yet another group member) to use the disks for my digital camera (since it is broken) in exchange for two disposable cameras. I am being very selective in what I shoot since I have only 54 pictures on the two cameras. I figured that most of my students had never seen millet (I hadn't) so I decided to take a close-up picture. I would bring it home to show, but I do not believe U.S. customs would allow agricultural products (no matter how small) into the country.

enough for now about our economic activity and on to some interesting visits we also had. On Sunday afternoon, we were scheduled to see 4 different groups of dancers. The emcee explained what each of the dances meant. We were greeted with a tumultuous downpour which postponed the performance till 4:30. The wetness also moved the show from our hotel courtyard to the local Catholic Church social hall. I had become very sleepy, but the energy of the dancers and the drummers brought me back to life. We also participated in this custom by placing cedis (Ghanaian currency) on the foreheads of the performers.

Perhaps our most interesting visit was to a village called Tongu. There we me the chief who was in the middle of surveying the dirt road that ran through the village. With him was a contractor. They were discussing the costs and materials needed to pave the road on which we were walking. It was very fascinating to wee a chief (a traditional position) engaging in such a modern activity. After we talked with and thanked the chief, he graciously instructed our guide to show us his home. It was very interesting to see his complex, which was home to more than 300 people. They all did not live there now as many of the young people live in Accra and Kumasi for economic opportunity. The complex had a meeting place where the extended family would come together to discuss the various issues that are certain to arise. Our guide showed us where the first wife would live, and in her room subsequent wives would stay with her for a period of three weeks to learn how to properly "look after" the chief. The neatest part of visiting this housing complex is knowing the purpose of the structures. There were areas set aside for storing grain. There were both indoor and outdoor kitchens. there were over 100 different structures altogether. It was quite elaborate. The two highlights of this particular stop on the tour of Tongu was seeing a very old woman (she was 87) sitting just outside her room weaving a basket. This reminded me of one of our lecturers statements of how Ghanaians were proud of the fact that they had no need for such institutions as "old folk" homes. Ida Malloy ( a group member) approached the woman and as she began to arise, Ida extended her hand to help her up,l but the woman shooed Ida's hands away and hopped up on her own and started dancing a little jig. The laughter from the group was thunderous, and the woman was simply delightful. The other highlight was when we were offered some Pito from the guide. Pito is a beer like beverage made from millet. Sam, Kellee and I were the only ones daring enough to try it. It tasted like a sweet beer. also at the house we visited a shrine where sacrifices are made so that one can climb into the Tengzu cave and ask the deity for help with personal matters (marriage, money for further education for your children etc...). It was interesting to find out that when an animal is sacrificed that the meet is taken away and prepared for eating. It is only the soul of the animal that one offers to the gods. This practice fits into the very eminent practicality that is apart of the things they do. As we left the chief's place if you will, we noticed the dish for tv, and the solar panels for electricity. It was a very nice blend of traditional and modern living. The one evident challenge of all of Ghana is the very serious need for indoor plumbing on a universal basis.

We left the chief's house to enter the sacred cave. Before I tell you about that though, I am going to do my best to quickly describe this area. It is part of the savanna of Africa and there is a multitude of tall grasses and in the Tongu area there are more huge rocks than one can imagine. these rocks have naturally settled into areas in which they have formed "caves." They are not really caves in the sense of a dark extended passage way where Tom Sawyer would play, but they set up nice "rooms" in which things can be accomplished. Most notably, the people of this area in the past used such caves to hide form slave raiders. The guide boasted that none of the people of Tongu were ever captured. the other modern day use of the caves was that they were used for classrooms. The one we were in shielded inhabitants from the rain and from any direct sun until around 4 in the afternoon. Well we all know that school ends before four. they now have a school building, but the space we were occupying is still used for kindergarten through 2nd grade. Wow!!!!

Finally for this blog entry, I will discuss our visit to the shrine. To enter an individual must strip down to nothing but his or her underwear. When he heard this Sam said,"Isn't that funny to go to the Vatican you got to get dressed up, but to visit this god you have to get naked." Well we climbed up the rocks to the cave. It turned out that one could simply role up his or her long pants, but you did have to remove your top. The men went first and we allowed the ladies to0 go (topless) without us. It was a fascinating experience. When we got into the cave there were already three men in there and they told us more of the tradition. I was interested in these stories but found myself daydreaming as I looked out from up high and could see for many many miles. It was quite beautiful.

Well that is all for now. The Hotel Rexmar in Kumasi (where we will stay for nine days) is very nice, but it has only one computer that I have dominated for long enough. there are others waiting. I am going to go and "take" my breakfast. I will try to write daily while we are here. This might be ambitious, but the Internet connection is the best we have had yet. See you for now.