We have been told that during the month of December things slow down as employees take time off for Christmas and the Area Presidency generally do not have responsibilities that require them to travel. It’s been almost three weeks and so far this month we have not seen that to be the case. Nevertheless we did accompany Elder and Sister Curtis to the Volta region north of where we live for three days for some sightseeing and a small amount of church business. The community we visited is called Ho and is the administrative capital of the Volta region. The Volta region gets its name from a man made lake, like Lake Powell, that provides a substantial amount of power to the region and to Accra some 200 Km south. On our way to Ho we passed a animal sanctuary where we saw some baboons foraging along the side of the road.
The Volta dam is located on the southern end of the lake so before crossing the Volta River we had a chance to take a look at the dam from the Volta Hotel. The Volta Lake is the largest lake by surface area in the world but only the 4th largest by volume of water. Because we are in the Harmattan period ( sand blown from the Sahara), it is hard to really see the dam very clearly but over Stephaney’s shoulder you can see the spill ways. The dam is fairly wide which you can see a little better in the picture on the right.
The lower pictures taken from Internet give you a better idea of the dam at Akosombo. The lake is 400 km long, 25 km wide and 3,275 square miles in size.
The below picture on the left is an interesting structure for a suspension bridge. The Volta river runs from the dam to the Gulf of Guinea. The picture on the right is to the South and the bottom two pictures are looking North.
Once we arrived in Ho it was early enough in the afternoon that we decided to visit a Kente fabric factory in Kpetoe that is East of Ho and near the Togo border.
Agotime-Kpetoe is one of the two capitals of Kente weaving in Ghana and is the home of the Ewe people. In this rural village, the skill of Kente weaving has been passed on from generation to generation. The language spoken is mainly Ewe. The picture on the left shows the outside of the factory and the picture on the right shows the inside of the factory with approximately 20 looms.
The cloth that is around Stephaney’s neck was woven by the gentleman seated next to her at his loom. When she asked for a picture with him, he put the cloth around both their necks. It takes about one day to weave the strip Stephaney purchased for GCD 5.00 ($3.25). Weaving is traditionally done by men. At this factory there is only one women weaver. All the weavers were very pleasant.
Along the way to Ho from Accra and back from Kpetoe we passed quite a number termite mounds. We decided to stop and get a close up picture of one.
Over my shoulder you will see a papaya tree with fruit that looks ready for picking.
Arriving at our very nice hotel, the Sky-Plus, we checked in and got settled down to relax. The hotel was up on a mountain top. We decided to pass on the swimming pool as you can see the water was not very blue but rather green and not very inviting. Instead we settled for a shower in our executive room. Unfortunately when Stephaney was ready to take a shower there was not water pressure so she experienced a bucket shower in stead. The bucket is the most common way Ghanaians wash up. I couldn’t believe it when I called the front desk to report no water and they said they would send up a bucket of water!
That evening we saw flames off to the south of us less than a mile away. The flames were actually quit high. We were assured that the flames would not reach the hotel but we could hear the crackling on the flames very clearly. We were told that the locals deliberately start the fires to chase the “grass cutters” (look like big rats - yes they eat them) into a more concentrated area so that they can catch them. It is part of their diet and was on the menu of the hotel. I was tempted to try it but the “Kentucky Fried” chicken I had was challenging enough. (Don’t be fooled by the name – but I had to try it.)
One guest at the hotel told us they keep telling people on the radio to stop making fires, but they don’t listen. The hotel staff was not a bit worried about the fire being so close. They said the guards at the gate would let them know if it became a problem.
We will add another couple of blogs about this trip.
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