Weavers and volunteers, breakfast and M&Ms

The agenda: Dan at the weavers project, and hotels.

Kpetoe village first, to meet with a Peace Corp volunteer, Dan. Dan is working with the kente weavers in a huge shed, set up with about 20 weaving posts (I am sure there is actually a name for them!) Even Dan has one of his own, and he lets us give it a go.

I'll try to describe the setup in case I don't get to upload a pic! Sit on the stool part of a wooden contraption not dissimilar to the old fashioned fairy tale weaving loom minus the spinning bit. About 10 rows of thread is strung from the base to the top of the contraption which fits almost against the tummy. The toes of each foot grab onto a cotton reel on a string, and pull down on them, as the hands pass the spool from left to right. Make any sense? Took me a while to figure out which foot to lower when, but I did seem to add a couple of rows!

Once I've had a look at the photos I may redo the above description... although Kim just gave it the thumbs up!

On second thoughts, after looking at the photos, I think I'll quote one of the tourism books here:
        "The Loom
        Reputed to be the most colourful in Africa and the most expensive garment, it is noteworthy that "Kente" is woven on ancient handlooms. The traditional Ghanaian loom is designed on the same line as the pre-industrial European types but operated with the hands and feet.
        "The needles, which tread the wrap, are placed between the toes. A shuttle passed from the left hand to the right hand in deft movement inserts the weft. Simultaneous with the action comes the "kente" looms music, a well known squeaky "kro-hin-kro" ... "kro-hin-kro". This rhythm is made by the reverberating shuttles as they entwine the coloured yarns smoothly over one another to produce the dazzling double-weave strips of cloth, eight feet long by four inches wide. The strips are sown together make the required cloth sizes..."

Mmm.... maybe I should leave descriptions to the professionals....

Dan had a fellow Peace Corp volunteer visiting him for a bit. Stefan is a teacher in a school in the Eastern Region, teaching Maths, Science and Computers. Of course I had to put him in touch with Stephen and Yao – I really do hope he makes contact with them!.

Both boys are from Michigan USA, and are on a 2 year stint. Dan as a business advisor and Stefan as a high school teacher.

Dan's (completely unbiased) comment is that Kpetoe is the best place to buy the woven cloth – 4cd as opposed to the 7cd we paid elsewhere!

Dan invited us back to his place for breakfast – he makes the best egg sandwich in Africa! He had a friend visiting from the States recently, who had left him with enough home goodies for him to open a store! He gave us each a bag of peanut butter M&Ms, and cashews. I'll (try) keep the sweets for home, as I know the boys and Mum haven't tasted them before either. Dan's a good guy to know.. I wish he was coming with us!

Later we headed off to Afloa, which is a noisy, dirty border town so we left as soon as we could. Keta was ok – a beach town. The Peace Corp people had recommended Emancipation Beach (behind the old broken down Danish Fort) as a fun spot to stay. But it was too much of a work in progress for us! No loo, no water, but pretty, with potential. So back to the least bad of the hotels we'd seen – Twins Hotel. The niece of the twins, Joyce, took us in and then joined us for supper at Happy Corner. I like her... she asked for my email address so I hope she writes... she's at college in Ho, just helps out at the hotel during her holidays.