Everyone in our group stamped the cloth with an Adinkra symbol- this one is of hope
Handmade stamped cloths- so beautiful
A man weaving Kente
The Chief's Palace and his 'guardian' peacocks
These creatures have God's beauty and creativity written all over them
A view of Kumasi Central Market- the biggest in West Africa
This man was explaining all the meanings behind the designs of the Kente cloth
Lake Bosomtwe
Talking about how the dye for the cloth is made
Stamps for all the Adinkra symbols
Giving Kente weaving a try :)
Our hike to where we ate lunch on Lake Bosomtwe
Isabel, Lindsay and I on Lake Bosomtwe
Lake BosomtweHELLO!! Sorry it has been so long!! Hopefully I'll make it up with a double-post this weekend :)
But all all has been going well and I can't believe that as of today, my program ends in two weeks! Of course that doesn't mean I'm going home but it does mean there are two countdowns to keep my eye on- once my semester here ends, then I'll have four weeks left until I head back to the good ol' US of A- I just moved the date up a couple of weeks. I'm definitely not itching to leave, but I can't help but miss my dear friends and family.
Last week marked the beginning of the University's Revision week. After that, then there is a three week period where finals take place. It's so different from back home because at Texas we only allot for not even a week and a half for finals, and there are only two 'dead days' for revision- I guess that's the Ghanian style. All my classes have ended well though and everything has just been quite the experience. I actually had my first final last week because the Fine Arts finals happen during revision week. It was for my drumming class and I think (hopefully) I did just fine- we shall see, though.
To catch up on the times of recent past, several weeks ago all of us on the program traveled to the second biggest city in Ghana called Kumasi. The trip was about 5 hours and it was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever seen. Rolling hills and mountains just covered with dense jungle and forest. The rainy season has come (at last!) so everything here is so much greener and fuller. The heavy rains bring brief, and I repeat BRIEF, relief from the heat but then we're usually confronted with muggy weather the next day- when in the tropics, I guess. But when we got to Kumasi, we visited the ex-palace of the chief of the Kumasi Region. He now lives next door in a not-so-humble abode. It was really interesting to learn more about the history of the region and in turn a lot about how Ghana came under colonial rule. The 'palace' yard area was filled with beautiful peacocks, randomly, but it was my first personal encounter ever with them- who knew it would be in Africa!
The next day we visited the village where Kente cloth supposedly originated from. Kente cloth is a uniquely woven cloth in which certain patterns have certain meanings. It was very cool to see it being done first hand, and I even got to try my hand of weaving, which was fun. We then went to a small village outside Kumasi where they make this certain type of dye to use for Adinkra symbols. There are about thirty different Adinkra symbols and they all have characteristics (such as strength, courage, humility etc.) associated with them. We each got to choose the stamps we wanted and put the symbols on the cloth ourselves- it was really neat.
After that our group drove to Lake Bosomtwe which is a crater lake, about an hour outside the city. It was so beautiful and big. Being able to look up and be surrounded by blue skies and green jungle is a pretty incredible feeling. We had lunch there and were able to relax and go on a short boat ride. The city of Kumasi itself was a nice change from the city of Accra and its surrounding areas, because it was much more spread out and not as congested every where we went. I take that statement back on only one occasion- before we left Kumasi, we went to the biggest market in West Africa. It probably stretched over 6 city blocks by 4 city blocks and looked like a sprawl of metal roofs from the top. It was pretty hectic so I just stuck my nose in for a second but chose to stay near the outskirts.
I haven't really done a lot of traveling else where since then but have enjoyed being a little more of a home body for a change- just some weekend jaunts here and there. One of my sisters, Hablanyo, her father died at the end of January but they just had his funeral the first weekend of May. Crazy- yes. But it was so interesting! The family decides on a certain design and cloth to be made, so everyone will be dressed in the same fabric. Funerary colors are usually black, brown or red, and this is exactly what it was. They decided on a fabric that was mostly black, with some red and brown and a picture of his face in varying sizes all over it. It was so interesting! So Rachel (my roomie) and I were invited to attend and bought some of the fabric and had it made into a dress. We looked so goofy compared to all of them but it's all good. Hablanyo's home village was about 2 and a half hours away, very near the Ghana-Togo border. Hablanyo is the 25th of 29 children and her father had 3 wives. Oddly enough, this is more normal than not. We arrived (there were about 10 from my family that went) and we sat and had some coffee then went over to the traditional ceremony was taking place with the Chief of the village there and it was quite the hoop-la. We then got to see the body, and I was prepared for it to be in a casket but he was placed in a chair like it was any ol' day. I'm not going to lie, was kind of eerie, and given that the body was almost 4 months dead, it was even weirder seeming. But oh well- the rest of the traditional ceremony went on for hours, but we went back to the house and there was food and music. After that we left around 4 and headed back to Legon. I didn't take my camera because I thought it would be rude, but now I really wish I had because it was truly a once in a lifetime experience.
My family is doing wonderful and I love them so much. It's hard to think about leaving them, especially my sister Yawo who I've become close with. The kids too, I will miss a lot- even when they bug me a little, it's so wonderful because they've really become just like little sisters to me. Rachel is gone to Mole National Park for 10 days for her internship so I'll be all by my lonesome for awhile- but the time to myself is kind of nice all the same.
I had the awesome opportunity to go to Egypt for a week and just got back yesterday. It was incredible, but more to come on that later...
Cheers to all those back home and I miss you tons!
