Heading North

Greetings from Tohajie!!!

We are leaving Accra to head north to Kumasi for a night and then on to Tamale' and Bolgatanga. It will be roughly a 21 - day excursion until we return to Accra for our home stay. We are storing a big portion of our luggage, and trying to ravel as light as possible. I am trying to wash a little bit of my clothes each night. It is an experience that is very satisfying. It reminds me of pumping water on a backpacking trip.

I wanted to take some time out to reflect on our first ten days here in Ghana. We have been extraordinarily fortunate to hear from the very gifted professors along the way. Yesterday was no exception.

The first we lecturer was an expert on land uses in Urban areas of Ghana and how it is changing. The professor's name was Joseph Ayee, and he spoke about Urban sprawl in the Accra-Tema metropolitan region. The Accra area differs from Atlanta in that it has a bay that stops growth in the south, but it is similar to Atlanta in that there are not really any boundaries that stop it from spreading in any other direction. An urban area is defined in Ghana as an area that has a population of 5000 or more. A rural area is defined as one with 4999 and less. Around the time of independence in 1957 approximately 20% of Ghana was urban. By the 2000 census, the urban percentage had jumped up to over 44. The urban areas, Accra-Tema in particular, have received a disproportionate amount of money for its infrastructure. Seeing how most of the wealth that comes into Ghana is a product of gold, cocoa, and trees (all found in rural areas), the metropolitan areas have had more money allocated to its development than the income it brings in. The Accra-Tema area is a good area for investment however because of its proximity for land locked nations such as Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Accra-Tema can serve as a port, so the development seems to me like a worthwhile investment.

It seems that land usage is the biggest problem that is hurting the growth of the greater Accra region. About 80% of the land is still distributed in the customary fashion, which I am sorry to say I do not understand so well as of yet. Here is what I understand so far. The chiefs and their subordinates dole out the land as they see fit. If they tell a farmer he can use it for five years and if a developer comes along and makes the land controller a better offer then the chief can make a new deal with the developer leaving the poorer farmer out of the loop. This of course creates a very desperate situation for farmers who fall in this category. The area around Accra is lined with a blend of commercial shops and small farms. It is unlike anything I have witnessed in the United States. It is a problem that is hindering Accra's development, but there are signs of growth. It was very interesting when Professor Ayee said that the youth all are desiring to own cars, so they can sit in the traffic jams of the city. Doesn't this have a familiar ring to it. It will be interesting to see how well Accra compares to other urban areas we will visit like Tamale, Kumasi, and Cape Coast.

It is also interesting to speculate how the need for debt relief (as we discussed last week) might help this developing nation handle its very modern day problem of urban sprawl.

I will change direction now because yesterday afternoon we were treated to a talk by Owuso Brembong who is an expert on the many festivals of Ghana. There are two national festivals (holidays) dedicated each year and there are two dedicated each year to Islam. There are also days of celebration for national holidays. A very special example of this would have been Ghana's 50th year of independence from the British on March 6th earlier this year. Now here is the interesting part. There are 68 different ethnic groups in Ghana that celebrate 174 different festivals a year that all have a different deity at its base level. Naturally these festivals do not receive a national holiday status, but the preparation and actual celebrations can last for two to three weeks, which does interfere with the amount of work that gets done in a certain region. We are going to attend Akwasidae Festival in Kumasi in a few weeks. In the Akwasidae Festival, people try to make connections to their ancestors (those who have died in this life).

Again I don't fully understand the traditional religions, but they go like this as far as I understand. The Ontology is that the Supreme Being is called Onyama and his offspring make up various other deities. Next in the pyramidal structure are the ancestors who exist in the after-life. Then there are humans who are then followed by natural objects like trees, seas, rivers and animals. It is not acceptable to use the bathroom int eh river because of one's respect for nature. A love for mother earth is at the heart of these traditional faiths. One of the reasons why Christiananity and Islam blended so well with the traditional religions is because the gods of these monotheistic faiths did not offend the structure of the traditional religion. After all, how can another god in one's corner be a bad thing.

An interesting celebration that Professor Brempong told us about was the one in his home village (near Kumasi) of Techiman. The festival is called Apo] ( the ] stands for a backward "c" in the Twi language - it has an o sound). It is a festival that originated because the chief's sons were mistreating the people. they were riding around on horses and throwing arrows at folks. Some of the people were killed. In protest, the people refused to work and even more people began to die. At the behest of the gods the chief created a time in which people could compose songs that in essence complained to the chief. The chief was not permitted to retaliate against the people and was supposed to atone for his actions. As the years passed by, the festival has become an 11 day affair where anyone can right songs and sing them about anyone that they have a problem with. It is a time of reconciliation and sounds like a very civilized way to handle differences between people.

So there you have it - my rudimentary understanding of Urban sprawl and festivals. I wonder if any of you reading this find it a fascinating as I do. Take care for now and I'll try to blog again when we get to Tamale'.