Our day in Kumasi was a busy one as we ended up celebrating multiple events! The first thing we did was go to the centre of town where the King’s celebration was taking place. This involved all the Chief and Sub-Chiefs from the Ashanti region walking into the main soccer stadium. Each of them was accompanied by umbrella holders, drummers, stool carriers, and various others.
The atmosphere was something like a Stanley Cup Parade. People were lined up a couple deep, the cell phone companies were all busy selling phones and giving things away, hawkers were selling everything from commemorative books and ribbons, to plantain chips and water. There was lots of cheering and police and military were everywhere. It was a bit nerve wracking as it was hard to keep track of all the students – fortunately we all really stood out with our Canadian Winter White skin!
The scene at the celebration is a little hard to describe as much of it was seen through a wall of people. There were hundreds of people dressed in very traditional clothing, singing, dancing, drumming, and basically celebrating. This was like the Queen’s jubilee…just more colourful! The main entrance into the stadium was a bit of a surprise as there was a huge inflated Guinness arch! Yup the drink of the Irish is a live and well here - including a non-alcoholic version called Malta. Anyway - at the stadium there were entrances on either side of the arch (located in a centre concourse of sorts) that would be used alternately. What this meant was that a tidal wave of people would move from side to side as something exciting happened or someone exciting arrived.
After about an hour in the heat is was decided that we should head back to the relative comfort of the air conditioned bus. Poor Jen S was just starting to recover from her intestinal bug (3 days in bed) so the heat was slowly killing her. Of course when you are trying to herd 20+ people back to a bus and it isn’t always a direct and orderly thing. However, it was during this trip back that we learned just how cheap cell phones are here! The students managed to get phones for $25-35 and a sim-card only cost $2! All students and staff except Jen B now have cell phones…more on how well they work later!
After this celebration we were off to the wedding and baby naming ceremony. Amanda was instructed to tell us that these two events do not normally happen together. Interestingly, when a couple finds that they are expecting and are not married they do not quickly go out and marry, rather they wait until after the baby is born and then do so. The wedding we were attending was of an FFRT faculty member and as Obrunies from Canada we were considered to be honour guests who brought extra prestige to the wedding.
As a cultural experience the wedding was quite interesting. There are numerous sections of the wedding that are for family only (although we were invited to witness some of these parts) and then a more standard part where vows are exchanged. Ghana is a deeply faithful country so much of the private ceremony was members of the family praying for a successful marriage. When we arrived we were invited to greet the entire family - this was quite interesting as they were all crowded into a tiny room and the wedding videographer was attempting to get it all on tape! There was a great deal of laughing when I introduced myself as Effia (Friday born) which is my Ghanaian name. It turned out that there were a lot of other Effia’s. Due to Michael’s (our bus driver) excellent tutelage most of us had the basics down in the local language. After this we sat outside the room (were invited to take pics occasionally) but as there was shade a light breeze it wasn’t too bad.
Once the private family blessing was completed we were asked to move downstairs to our seats for the public portion of the wedding and naming ceremony. We were right (3 feet away?) next to the head table and felt very much like we were on display. The ceremony itself was similar to what we would see in Canada but when the minister started talking about a women who had approached him about domestic abuse and wanting to forgive her husband I wasn’t really sure where he was going…I never really saw it coming!!!
The basic purpose behind the story was to inform the groom (or more likely us) that it is not alright to beat your wife as you do not own her. In fact you merely “lease” her from her family. So, if you miss treat your wife the family has the right to take her back! Needless to say that that this particular topic was a big surprising and lead to many jokes on the bus once we left! While you may think that this was the most unusual aspect of the wedding (aside from having 20+ strangers there) you would be wrong. It turns out that the Groom was part of a group called a “Bangers Club” and that in his past he had participated in its traditions with great enthusiasm; thus, it was felt that his wedding would be a good time to reciprocate. The primary activity you ask…throwing water at people who are involved in formal ceremonies or event. As you can see in the pictures the Groom is soaked mostly with water but there was also some Coke, blue sparkling juice (sick looking stuff), and of course the water wasn’t always the cleanest. What you cannot see is that the Bride was also doused with water and in fact was chased out of the main area for a while. You are probably thinking that this happened at the end of the wedding and that it was nice as everyone was so hot…you are wrong! This happened during the first dance!!!!!! Other guests stated that they knew that it would happen but I was still looking for a Bridezilla to emerge!
Fortunately this all happened after the baby naming ceremony. This part of the day was quite sweet as their young son was brought forth and his name was released to the public. It is my understanding that they wait until at least 6 months to do this due to a relatively high infant mortality rate but I have not confirm that information. All in all the event was a couple of hot hours long, made a little easier when someone when and bought us some lovely plastic fans (from China) and offered us minerals (pop - drinking a lot of orange Fanta here!). After it was over we posed for numerous pictures and then headed back to the lovely air conditioned bus!
The ride from Kumasi to Sunyani was an exciting one as each kilometre brought us closer to our final destination and the site of our work. It was quite different from the Accra drive as we were quickly out of the city and then passed through smaller towns and villages rather than endless urban sprawl. We drove through neighbourhoods that were all painted Vota Phone red and others that were MTN yellow - apparently people get free paint and possible some free cell minutes to paint their houses with the company colours and logos!
As we drove we started to see what the rural life was like - with people living in houses of dried mud bricks with palm frond roofs. The yards are all hard packed red soil that is generally kept meticulously clean. In all the villages we’ve visited we have seen people sweeping their yards and houses with short brooms that consist of reed like bristles that are loosely tied together where you would hold them.
It was mostly dark when we arrived at Sunyani but it was okay as we were only dropping off our gear before heading the Eusbett (local resort hotel) for dinner and a swim...the swim didn't pan out as there was a large party going on. In retrospect I should have just braved the throung of young ones but I got to enjoy AC and a cold drink so overall not a bad night.
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