12/13/14 March 2011
KUMASI, Ghana – Home of the Asanti
This is the land of African kings being carried about on palanquins, draped in gold. Two centuries ago their warriors declared wars on neighbouring lands to capture hapless victims who were sold further south to the slave traders in exchange for more guns. This is the Ashanti Region and Kumasi was the state capital for 3 centuries. The Asanti tradition is well and living around here – there is usually a funeral or celebration going on somewhere that requires dressing up in traditional robes by all who 
attend and certainly livens up the transport and countryside here. The Palace is still in use by the current King and their beliefs involve a golden stool (that you sit on) that was received from heaven, a myth believed by the British who annexed Kumasi in the early 1900s and made demands for it to be handed over. When the Asanti refused by handing a fake to Lord Baden-Powell, they exiled the King and King’s mother to the Seychelles! But I visited a sword embedded in rock that marks the spot where the said golden stool descended from the sky – it’s in the grounds of the hospital here, but to get there you have to pass the mortuary and that all pervading smell of formaldehyde – yuck!
attend and certainly livens up the transport and countryside here. The Palace is still in use by the current King and their beliefs involve a golden stool (that you sit on) that was received from heaven, a myth believed by the British who annexed Kumasi in the early 1900s and made demands for it to be handed over. When the Asanti refused by handing a fake to Lord Baden-Powell, they exiled the King and King’s mother to the Seychelles! But I visited a sword embedded in rock that marks the spot where the said golden stool descended from the sky – it’s in the grounds of the hospital here, but to get there you have to pass the mortuary and that all pervading smell of formaldehyde – yuck!
The Palace museum and Cultural Centre are good, but the Armed Forces museum housed in a British fort was a little mundane, in spite of the fact of the Ghanaian’s involvement in both world wars and also as part of the UN peacekeeping force here in Africa. One exhibit had a ‘head beating club’ used during the 90’s Rwandan civil war – a large lump of wood, with many huge nails embedded in it..Kumasi is also home to the biggest market in West Africa - Kejetia – the road beside it rises and from there you can see rows and rows and rows of makeshift roofs of stall after stall selling anything you may desire as long as it’s cheap or comes from China or you can eat it. Way too big if you are looking for anything in particular, and way too hot and enclosed to be enjoyable for sightseeing. A bit like Kumasi’s streets which are very crowded and busy, lined with advertisements for anything and everything, not to mention the bereavement posters and billboards. There have been a few articles in the papers lately decrying the costs of funerals and I can understand why – they seem to be used as an event for the deceased’s last effort at grandstanding and to impress all with generosity and benevolence. It will traditionally go on for a whole weekend with busloads of people turning up for the ‘event’.
I spend one day heading out to the Boabeng-Fiema monkey sanctuary – a couple of villages have a common forest and declared the resident Mona and Colobus monkeys there sacred. A great place, well organised with everyone very keen that you do see the monkeys and are informed about the history of the place. This includes the monkey burial ground, complete with little grave markers for each monkey that dies – The villagers perform a complete funeral service for these monkeys, including a coffin, shroud, libation and prayers by the fetish (traditional) priest!! I am camping in the verdant and shady grounds of the Presbyterian Guesthouse here but on my last evening a huge storm blows up and my little tent is no match for the winds and rain. I dash everything to the large verandah and along with everything else I have, get soaked to the skin. I run out again in the rain to the security guard’s hut at the gate, where it takes a lot of knocking to rouse him from his cosy shelter, to tell him I need to take a room tonight. He spends quite a bit of time searching his hut while I wait outside (how hard can it be to find a key?) when he finally unearths a BROOM. OMG! We finally agree that I need a room, not a broom and I’m soon installed in a great room underneath a great fan that successfully dries off all I have including the tent in time for me to pack it all up to move on to the coast in the morning.
FACT: Newspapers are reporting a cholera outbreak here in the north with warnings from health officials for food to be prepared and served hygienically. hmm I’m not so sure any of this is sinking in to the food vendors around here…. 
No comments :
Post a Comment