Yesterday, we spent the whole day in a roadside village known as Kpetoe.
Kpetoe is larger than Nyive, but really still just a spit of buildings along the highway to get to Aflao and the Lome/Togo border....but its FAMOUS!
Well, its famous around here.
Kpetoe is the hubbub and happening center for one of Ghana's best known and special handicrafts: kente cloth. When shopping for Kente, this is where you go.
Kente is a form of intricate and time consuming weaving that is done with some very elaborate looms. Kente is usually a family trade and small boys start their apprenticeships very young. Its very difficult to do and will require years of practice. Initially, Kente was done only by men and boys but lately (contrary to all the guidebooks) I've been hearing small mentions of women taking it up too.
Kente is very special to Ghanaians, especially the Ashanti and the Ewe (who I'm told have niftier patterns...but staying in Volta, my sources are a touch biased). Biased or not though, Kpetoe's collection of Kente is amazing, especially when you take a few minutes to watch it being made. Realising the effort that goes in to making it is a little breath taking. We found out that it takes one person 18 days to finish the average cloth. With a whole slew of apprentices working, they estimate they might be able to finish in 4 days.
Kente is woven in small strips, with varying patterns and colours, about the width of my land and 4 yards in length (I think that's about right). Then, when someone chooses their kente, the weaver takes all the strips and sews them together into one gigantic blanket of cloth according to the size needed (its pretty standard). Often, women have the kente sewn into a dress and the men wrap it around much in the way that they did at the inauguration. I'm keeping it in one big sheet since, as a chief, I need to wear it in the "men's" style. I don't know that its really a men's style, I just know they don't sew dresses out of it and some women do.
Also...sign of the day: on a tro-tro coming in to Ho, one of them had a sign that said "Heaven's Gate, No Bribe"
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