Kumasi & Central Region

Greetings after several busy and move-about days.
TUES: City of Kumasi, Capital of the Ashanti Region
We visited Manhyiah Plalace, seat of the Ashanti Kingdom and the Kumasi Cultural lCentre. Our group heard a lot of tradition and history. In the Ashanti Region,l the Royal family bloodline is traced through the maternal uncle line. In the Akan speaking areas women are very powerful. The current Ashanti King: Osei Tutu II took office in 1999 and sits at the Rooyal Palace and settles disputed of residents over land or other matters, Monday through Thursday. After leaving the Palace, we visited the Bonwire Kente Weaving Village. We met 4 young weavers at their looms in a small modest building. Some of the Kente patterns were explained. We purchased an asstm. of Kente and Kente products. Richard, custom bracelet maker took many orders for bracelets made with cottom threads. One of the young hawkers at the Kente Village Frederick gave me his address and asked for American pen-pals. His info is: Asante Frederick, Box 48 Bonwire-Ashanti, Ghana, W. Africa. His e-mail: mickey15gh@yahoo.com Lunch was at Mekoen Catering Restaurant where we tried traditional dishes, such as okra stew, fried plantains, foo-foo, akplan, etc. From the Kente village, we went to another active and exciting venue: Ntoso Adinkra Village. Adinkra means: farewell. We were informed of the 160 Adinkra symbols. I selected 3 to print on my fabric strip: God is first; The Law and Sankofo - back to your roots. We walked through the Adinkra making process. It was fun to actually kneel down and stamp our individual symbols.
WEDNESDAY: After breakfast we set off to visit the Cultural lCenter at Kumasi. There was a life-size statute of the current King at the entrance to the small outdoor station. We shopped at craft shops and met artist and craftspersons. Our last stop for the day was truly a cultural experience - The Kejetia Market, a 15 min. walk from the bus.
As we walked single file between our tour guides, Nathan and our group leader Chantey, we experienced a plethora of personalities, scents, colors, strong odors, traditional language banter and patterns. Surprisingly for atleast 6 or 7 times as we presssed through the crowded aisles, market women spontaneously with joy on their faces shouted at us: "Americans", "Black Americans", "Obama, Yeah" and "American Women", as they waved to us. Every good imaginable was for sale. We purchased fabric, clothing, shea butter, matches, souvenirs and local music. Wed. night was scheduled for our night on the town. But after dinner, not a single word was said about going out to dance.
THURS: We departed Kumasi at approx. 8:15am We crossed the bridge over River Pra leaving the Ashati Region and entering the Central Region at 11:115am, local time. Assin, the 1st. town in the Central Region was a very small village area. The residents here are Fanti people, who speak the Ashanti/Asente language, as descendents of the original people who chose not to be a part of the Ashanti Kingdom. Our bus also passed through the city, Obuasi, from which 60% of Ghana's gold is mined. Obu means the rock asi means beneath. The name means beneath the rock.
A stop enroute to the Cape Coast Castle was at Assin Manso, a part of the route of the slave trade, but it was closed. We will go back on Friday. There is a River, The Slave River at this site. This River was the last river that the inland slaved moved through before delivery to the dungeon at the Cape Coast Castle. In shackles, this was the last bath slaves had before crossing the Atlantic. The march of the slaves from the north, took about 1 month.
We arrived at the Cape Coast Castle...a message by itself. Will write later or on Saturday. This computer connection is through dial-up and is not reliable. We are staying at the One Africa compound, just on the Atlantic Ocean...certainly a paradise on earth. See 'ya.

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