Sunday, August 3, 2008

Tales from an Obruni, chapter 3

Early the next morning, we headed back through Tamale to Kumasi again, this time to spend time in the Kente and Adinkra villages, learning about their respective textile traditions. The day was another long hurry up and wait driving day, let's call it "Coughing to Kumasi"--I was developing quite a cough by that point. I bought cough syrup in Kumasi that evening before heading to the hotel.

The next morning, joined by David our Ashanti guide, we headed to the Kente village of Adanwomase. We took the tour that led us through the chief's house, to the fetish priests' house and the cocoa tree grove and finally to the weavers, who were all working together under one pavillion that has been built for this purpose. According to our guide, men are the primary weavers, and all the men of this village are taught to weave kente cloth in the traditional manner. The speed with which they are able to complete a piece is astonishing. I tried the weaving technique myself, all caught on tape, and let me just say you need strong toes to make it work! Afterward, we went looking for Kente cloth and I bargained my way up one side of the street and down another.

After Adanwomase, David took us to his village of Ntonso, where they make Adinkra cloth. He showed us how they make the dye with which they stamp the cloth, and we looked at the different carved calabash stamps that are made for the process. David is coming to Aba house on Tuesday next to work with a small group of us in creating our own Adinkra cloth.

That evening we prepared ourselves for the market in Kumasi, which is the biggest in Western Africa.

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