Volta Region Excursion

Hello all! As promised, here's a quick view on our 5-day excursion to the Volta Region. (Well, in my case, 4-day, but that was covered in the last post...)

The Volta Region, formerly known as Togoland, is on the eastern-most part of Ghana. It was once a German colony, until World War I, after which it was administered by the British as part of the Gold Coast colony. In the 1950s, a plebiscite determined that the region would join Ghana. The Ewe people, predominant in the Volta Region, are spread across Togo and western Benin as well, with different language and customs.
On this trip, we got to learn a bit about Ewe music, dancing and pottery making. Also, we climbed Ghana's tallest mountain, Mount Afadjato, and visited a Traditional religion Thunder god temple.

Let's start with the shrine:
Traditional religion is based on the forces of nature, worshiping, as the High Priest explained, "forces that were in existence before man came". They do believe in a supreme God, who created everything, and worship these other, specific gods as a means through which they worship God. Traditionalists do not believe in Heaven or Hell, but in reincarnation. Also, some customs are similar to those of other religions, such as the sacrificing of a ram every year, in an allusion to the story of Abraham. The High Priest said, however, that their belief in this story comes not from the Bible, but from accounts of their ancestors of the same occurrence.

To enter the shrine, we were required to dress as one would traditionally. When this religion was established, there were no shoes and shirts, only cloths. We all had a fun time walking around barefoot, wrapped in cloth in the heat!

 

In the temple, the High Priest gave us a very informative reception, guiding our group through a ritual of offering a bottle of alcohol and asking for blessings. The ceremony was mostly conducted by the High Priestess, who was the one doing the actual praying. After everything, the High Priest answered several of our inquiries, enough to give a basic glimpse at Traditional religion and raise new questions.

On Sunday morning, we went for a dance and drumming workshop, where we learned the Gamu dance, or the money dance. A combination of sideways movements of the arms, rhythmic stepping in a circle, and smiling.

After some intense sweating and dancing, we learned to play each of the instruments that compose this traditional Ewe rhythm.

On Friday, the day I missed, there was the first half of a doing pottery. In this technique, the top of a pot is done first, by molding the clay and setting it to dry. Though I was absent, the guys did extra tops for Clara and myself, including a bowl which read Y3 d) wo, or "We love you". haha Very sweet.

It just so happens I was not born to do pottery, and on our second session, when the task was to scrape the top in order to make it thinner, I destroyed the bowl and the two tops... On the picture above, for example, the top I am holding only had a few more seconds of existence, before it crumbled in my skilled hands.
After molding the body of the pot and uniting each piece, these were also set to dry. After a few days time, the pot is to be sand-papered and painted. Below, the final step: building a fire with hay, corncobs and wood on top of the pots, in order to toughen them.
Because our time was short and the our masterpieces had not dried by the end our excursion, the pots are to be brought to us in Accra. Personally, I don't think I had any left, but we will see how this goes.

Finally, the climb of Mount Afadjato, the tallest peak in Ghana. The name comes from Ewe, and means "at war with bush", in reference to a kind of poison ivy found in the mountain. Upon reaching the peak, we were presented with a great view of green forests, a waterfall, and the neighboring country of Togo.
I must be honest here, at under 900m, this was not a very imposing mountain... The build-up we had awaiting for its size was also fairly disappointing, considering that as soon as we reached the top, the mountain right next to it, located in Togo, was slightly taller.

Nonetheless, it was a very fun climb, with some steep parts and lots of pauses for water. Three months without regular exercise definitely kept our group a little out of shape, but this made the 45-minute climb more rewarding.

 

The excursion was a lot of fun, with opportunities to get a different view from the usual Akan, and to a lesser extent Ga, cultural exposure. A great way to enter December, the last month in Accra and work at DAI. Although over one third of the program has gone, it is hard to locate myself in a time line, as life here has become part of a normal routine. This makes me more excited to begin the stage of living in the village, for a drastic change in lifestyle and more new experiences to learn from.

By the way, thank you all so much for the health wishes. I am cured from malaria, no worries. haha
I appreciate all the visits to the blog very much, and it is an incredible joy to know that people from six continents and over 20 countries have read some of the posts! This is incredible motivation, and makes telling a little bit about Ghana very fun.

Thanks much,

Kwame