Bentsifi’s Tattle – Guy about town
Bentsifi’s Tattle – Guy about town
This week’s headline
- Rolling in Adaklu
- A Roving Femi’s Touch
- Ghana Culture Forum
Rolling in Adaklu
I am in Ho. Driving southeast out of town, approaching the iconic Adaklu inselberg which rises some 580 metres above sea. I’m with my team, looking for a spot to settle and set up camp for my cycling buddies from Trivoxo, who have invited me to throw down one of my ‘Dine-in-the-Wild’ safari picnics for one of their cycling adventures.
Set against the Adaklu Mountain
As soon as I saw this park, I knew that was going to be the idyllic spot for the kind of framing I wanted. I quickly pull up; and together with the team, we set up and get the most amazing frame of a background with the mountain against the backdrop of our dining set-up. I am super pleased.
Mount Adaklu is very prominent and can be seen in the horizons from the Ho township itself. I’m not sure why we don’t talk about it more, but its 580-metre (1,900 ft) elevation and free-standing nature gives it a particularly picturesque appeal.
Table-topped, surrounded by cascading hills, it apparently provides a unique ecological zone known for wild honey and varied wildlife.
It has steep hiking trails and offers hikers extraordinary panoramic views. There are some nine villages surrounding it; and from Isrefe or Adaklu-Wumenu, you can start a 3-hour hiking expedition to its summit. But today we haven’t come here for that. We’re here to provide a hangout for a group of young executives who have taken up cycling as sport and hold cycling events every so often.
Planned and coordinated by Trivoxo Events – known for outdoor adventures and tours, they especially think it’s a great way to explore the country’s beautiful landscapes and often ride miles on end! For instance, today they are riding some 70km here from Sogakope. When they arrived, they were talking of “the joy and perfection of the experience!”
One thing I know these cycling events do is bring people together, fostering a sense of community and camaraderie. Often, I serve hospitality with bush dining set-ups which add some excitement to the day. Today was no exception.
We stayed overnight at Sky Hotel in Ho and had the most fun at dinner by their pool terrace overlooking the nights-cape of Ho township. It was beautiful.
A Roving Femi’s Touch
Skilled in wellbeing therapy, Femi gives intense attention to his craft
“You deserve to be well taken care of, to be pampered…” brochures for most spa services shout. I believe in the kind of holistic approach to health massages give, but after experiencing most of these fancy spas, I realise all you get is some technician, having been so trained, only apply the textbook routines, and not necessarily one who is able to figure out that we all have different bodies and, therefore, need different approaches.
I do massages for my sciatica and other aches, and so I am very particular about who I use.
Undergoing a therapy session is not an aesthetic exercise for me but serious therapy. Applying just enough pressure to get me feeling relief; it is the way he is using his knuckles to knead my nape without necessarily lifting my head off the bed, showing how skillful he is. I’m impressed. I had mentioned during the consultation that I had aches at the back of my neck, so he went to work.
A few weeks ago, feeling so completely physically burnt out, I came across his Instagram page, @Femi’s Touch, and saw the intensity with which he was working in a video. That drew me in. That’s when I called Femi. It was an impulsive call, especially when I read his promise that he helps “…people improve their health, physically and mentally”. The aches egged me to make the call.
I wasn’t disappointed. Femi is gifted, and I was pleased that he makes house calls. When he began my therapy session, kneading my neck, I was then completely “sold”. I did need a bit of taking care of. And he was so technically measured. Why? I am even walking better now, after only a few deep tissue sessions. It was Dr. Bankyi who once gave me the best reflexology massage I ever got. I am testing Femi next. So should you.
Ghana Culture Forum
You can be sure that around the same time you are thinking of an idea you might think is unique to you, several others would have the same thoughts. And nothing feels more intoxicating than meeting with these others who are on the same “page” with you.
I first met Mr. Akunu Dake in 1992. I was a young culture reporter with the Ghanaian Chronicle newspaper. He was the producer for the first PANAFEST event that brought in acts like the legendary Dionne Warwick, Isaac Hayes, and Public Enemy – the influential hip-hop group. Mr. Dake facilitated my interviews with these stars. I was on top of the world, and Mr. Dake was my hero. He still is.
The inimitable Akunu Dake
Later on, in my journey seeking to mainstream culture into everyday life in Ghana, I had many more opportunities to work and learn from him and other great minds such as Nanabanyin Dadson, Korkor Amarteifio and her brother, the late former Accra Mayor Nat Nunoo Amarteifio.
Through the 2000s, we pushed through much, working with various institutions, including the World Bank, the Ghana National Development Commission, among others, to get political recognition for culture.
I remember the day Auntie Korkor called me, excited about having a whole paragraph mention on “culture” in the National Budget Statement, from a single line, the year before.
How far we’ve come! The year after, I think we had some three paragraphs, and boy, were we buoyed!
The undercurrent was stirred and all of us working in isolation for that same goal of “mainstreaming culture in our country life” eventually came together to form the Ghana Culture Forum, as convened by Prof. Esi Sutherland-Addy and Mr. Akunu Dake. I felt so privileged to be sitting on the same table with them, in a very small grouping, discussing the future of the course and place of cultural institution and development in our dear country Ghana!
Then, I found Mr. Dake extremely committed to this cause, just as he is today. Having been out of circulation a while owing to my back aches, when he sent me the invitation in the days leading up to this year’s ‘Ghana Culture Week’ (GCW) – one of the activities that resulted from these earlier deliberations on how to grow traction for the cause – memories of the early days came flooding back. I reflected on those days and the efforts we put in. How, through it, I got to engage with some really erudite minds, including Prof. Anyidoho, Prof. Gavua and Hon. Mamaga Dzifa Gomashie – our current Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts.
Hon. Mamaga, posing with school children at the Ghana Cultural Week
It feels so edifying to see that the same energy is being put to work to make culture permeate our mainstream life, by the same ‘old guard’ and, indeed, a crop of younger people who all want to see our country’s development through culture. After all, culture is hands-down the largest employer and paying it attention will surely make us winners.
During the opening of the GCW’s activities in Accra last Friday, keynote speaker Prof. Kwaku Boakye, Vice-Chancellor of the Cape Coast Technical University, said history has shown that the decline of many societies often begin with the neglect of their cultural values and the adoption of foreign practices. In spite of this, he noted culture must not be regarded as static, but as capable of adapting to external influences while maintaining its unique identity; and called for renewed efforts to reposition Ghanaian culture as a central pillar of the country’s development.
The event was on the theme: “Resetting Ghana’s Tourism, Culture and Creative Ecosystem”, with activities including culinary and visual arts exhibitions; film screening and presentation; literary and verbal arts; and a local architecture exhibition on Ghanaian heritage.
Hon. Mamaga Dzifa Gomashie, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts engages vendors at the GCW Taste 69@69
The morning session saw the display of a great variety of Ghanaian cuisine in the “Taste 69@69” spread by the Traditional Caterers Association, led by the Ghana Tourism Federation (GHATOF) and the Ghana Tourism Authority (GTA).
Fin
