Meeting with the National Cultural Centre

Roya,Katrine, Shazia and Festus at the National Cultural Centre

We recently had the pleasure of meeting with Katrine who is an officer at the Sandema Branch of the National Cultural Centre. We went to speak with her in order to get information and general guidance on whether there are any existing cultural groups, how we go about setting up cultural groups for Persons with Disabilities (PWD’s) for the Feok Festival etc.

The meeting was very interesting and we appreciated how frank she was about the current state of cultural activities in the Builsa District. She spoke about how the District Assembly (the council) doesn’t regard culture with as much importance as they should do. They see it as only being limited to drumming and dancing when in fact it encompasses a range of different elements such as the communities beliefs, traditions etc. This misconception also filters down to the rest of the community.

Trainee weaving the material at the Centre

She will be a valuable source of information for our project as she can supply us with a list of all the registered cultural groups in Sandema who we can then contact and speak to for further information, including how they’ve obtained their instruments as that is a big issue we’ve identified that effects PWD’s. Katrine also hosts free training for fabric weaving, specifically the fabric needed for men’s traditional smocks which may come in useful for our livelihoods program which we are working on, alongside the cultural activities program.                                    

It’s going to be a long process but the work we are doing will eventually lead to PWD’s becoming fully integrated into their communities. The cultural activities program will prove to the community and the PWD’s themselves that they can and should be allowed to celebrate their traditions and history.  As we spoke to various Disabled Peoples Organisation’s (DPO’s) we heard from individuals who felt scared to perform in front of the community because they have been stigmatised and discriminated against for so long, they fear further ridicule. That is why it is important to work on projects like these because it rebuilds their confidence in their own self-efficacy and will allow them to engage in cultural activities, profitable businesses and sports to the same level as able-bodied people. Although we may provide them with the tools they need to support themselves, part of the struggle is them overcoming their lack of faith in their own abilities which has been instilled in them from a young age. Despite this, after the recent meeting with the Sandema DPO and through our discussions about cultural activities, they have since organised a group rehearsal. This is the first organised rehearsal that they have had for many years so it is a positive step in the right direction! 

- Shazia

Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) Meetings in the Builsa District

As a continuation of the work the first set of Sandema volunteers have done, we are developing the Local Inclusive Festival Project (LIFE) by working on 3 specific areas as mentioned in Shazia’s earlier blog; Sports, Cultural Activities, and Livelihoods. All 3 of these are focused around the social inclusion of persons with disabilities (PWD) and will be done within the context of the Feok Festival.

This week we focused on Cultural Activities and Livelihoods by meeting with the Disabled People’s Organisation (DPO) of several communities within the Builsa District. Our aim was to interview the DPOs, who represent persons with disability (PWD) within their community, and find out about their livelihoods, difficulties they face at work, cultural groups that they are part of, and would like to be part of in preparation for the Feok festival.

Most DPO meetings started with a traditional song and dance by the DPO members followed by a prayer and this would be repeated at the end of the meeting. We introduced ourselves and Tracy talked about the LIFE project before beginning with interview questions to the group and occasionally individual interviews. Festus was our translator throughout our meetings and interviews with DPOs, as our knowledge of Buli didn’t go beyond greetings!

Overall, a very interesting experience and a stark realisation of the differences between Ghana and the UK:

-          Meetings took place in classrooms or under a tree as most DPOs don’t have a place for regular meetings, except in Sandema which had a Resource Centre specifically for PWD.

-          Not all DPO members could come to the meeting due to various reasons including family duties, lack of transportation, or lack of mobility devices.

-          Following a torrential rain shower on May Day, the meeting had to be cancelled as it would be difficult for PWD to travel to the DPO meeting.

-           The meetings were quite successful but slightly challenging as some DPOs weren’t always too eager to respond to our group questions and preferred individual consultations.

With regards to Cultural Activities, they were all willing and eager to have a singing and dancing group and to teach each other but needed instruments, training, and someone to organise regular rehearsals. With regards to Livelihoods, DPOs whose professions ranged from farming to shea butter production to trading emphasised the lack of resources available to them. The vocational training that some had received with the help of CBR or from the Disability Common Fund could not be developed and used to make and sell goods due to financial constraints.

Following these interviews at Sandema, Kadema, Siniensi, Gbedema and Wiaga it was clear that although very eager to learn, PWDs are faced with a lot of challenges and difficulties most of which are financial.

With our research we hope to create sustainable, yet practical, solutions to address the social inclusion of PWD by creating programs that will be go beyond the Feok festival, and will benefit persons with disabilities all year round.  We will keep you updated on any developments and our ideas!


-Roya

Pikworo Slave Camp

 While in Paga we took a slightly more sombre excursion and visited the once-was Pikworo Slave Camp. At 8 cedi’s entry per volunteer it is well worth visiting and learning about if you’re in the area.

Our guide, demonstrating Punishment Rock

During the early 19^th Century several hundred slaves were kept at Pikworo before travelling to Salaga market to be sold by infamous slave raiders Babatu and Samori. We were taken around the ruins of the camp; we saw the watch tower, the graveyard and the punishment rock – our guide demonstrated how each area would have been used. A captured slave on the punishment rock would have had their hands and feet tied and forced to face the sun with no water or food, often being whipped; they were often left there to die if they had argued against being sold. 

The "bowls" slaves were forced to eat from

While researching the Feok Festival for our project we have heard a lot of stories regarding Babatu’s reign and final defeat but seeing the real life slave camps made the stories and our interest a lot more real. We saw the holes in the ground that were dug by slaves as punishment and then they were forced to eat out of these, often 5 or 6 slaves per hole – they were never given quite enough food to make them strong enough to resist.  

On a lighter note, we also visited their “entertainment centre” where rock drumming, singing and dancing took place – our rendition of “the lion sleeps tonight” seemed to go down quite well with the local children who accompanied us on our tour although, the locals’ music played on these rocks was impressive – different size rocks beat against different sides of the rocks created different sounds.

- Poppy