Goodbye Ghana, hello Rome!

So here I am back in Rome...another amazing trip gone by already and a heavy suitcase full of cloth to remember it by. I'm going to miss my new friends, and old friends revisited from last year...I missed Michelle and Ian and the boys my last week, but was more than happy spending some more time with Trish and her crazy bird (although her car alarm noises at 6am were slightly less appreciated...!) I am already enjoying the lower humidity here in Rome, although it's still pretty hot. I won't miss the mosquitoes, or the whiff and potential danger of open drains - especially when being constantly honked at by taxis when walking around. "Obruni Traps" they call them. And I definitely won't miss the traffic - and the countless marriage proposals. One guy even just approached me on the street saying "Hello, My Wife" !!! I had never seen him before in my life, and reminded him of this fact. To which he replied, "oh, but you could be!" I will miss the mangoes, the pineapple and the pawpaw, but I'm so glad to have good cheese back in my life. And I have a whole wardrobe of new fabrics and bags and jewelry to have fun with. Thank you Ghana, and hopefully see you again soon!

My Last Night: a Conference, a Salsa lesson, and Waakye for breakfast...

A view from my bed last night: was very awake after a stimulating evening and was watching the breeze move the curtains, and the changing lights coming from outside moving the pattern on the cloth...I had a very eventful last night, starting with an event at Golden Tulip hotel, which Martina Odonkor invited me to. It was part of a series called "Adventures of the Diaspora", and was particularly interesting as it was a big discussion about re-vamping the National Museum (which is in a state - most of the 25 000 artefacts are collecting dust in the basement, and the rest are poorly manned by staff who are either asleep, or would be better off asleep given their helpfulness when awake!) There were some pretty big speakers: government members, the head of the museum board, a top local gallery owner and a couple of famous artists. It was a heated discussion and I met some interesting people - and then Martina whisked me off to a club called The 3121 which has Salsa on a Thursday...

It was great fun as there were guys on the dance floor who were teachers, and the music was good, if a little loud. But hey, thats Ghana for you. However, at about 11pm the music changed drastically to what I assumed was HipLife (a hip-hop local mix with "HighLife", the Ghanaian popular music), as all the young men formed lines and carried out a very smooth routine that everyone clearly knew and loved. It was quite amusing as at this very moment a large group of "Obruni" (white) volunteers charged in, with a boldness that could only mean they had been in a drinking spot somewhere beforehand. It was very amusing seeing them try to join in, much to the delight (and horror) of the local boys. We stayed on the sidelines and laughed a lot, then decided it was time for bed...I wish I had had my camera handy!

I have decided for my last breakfast I'm going to go out in a moment and buy some Waakye (pronounced wachii) which is a very wholesome mix of rice and beans, which ususally comes with an egg or some kind of meat, and shitole or pepper sauce (often left out on my part if its only breakfast!) I also ask for some gari which is like a flavoursome couscous topping made from a cassava and plantain mix. That should set me up for my last day!

Ahene pa Nkasa

After showing my new cloth to Trish yesterday, she happily informed me of the Twi name, since it is also the name of her bead company! "Ahene pa Nkasa" has various translations, one of which is the bee version mentioned yesterday, the other more along the lines of "Quality Speaks for Itself". I decided to give her half (what was I going to do with 6 yards of fabric anyway?!) and I'm glad I chose a pattern that is so fitting. Below I've posted a photo of the necklace I gave to Michelle before she left as a big Thank you, made by Trish. She has some gorgeous stuff, most of which includes recycled local glass beads, and brass pieces made through the traditional lost-wax method.

Check out her website if you're interested: http://www.ahenepankasa.com/

The Trade Fair and Makola Market

Here I am rounding up some more fabric before I leave...tomorrow I will pick up some of Esther's batiks that I had made into trousers - the same design as the red ones I got last year which I love. Trish took me to the Trade Fair yesterday, and there was so much stuff, mostly from Ghana but also from other West African countries. The fabrics and the bead stalls were the most interesting - the latter especially so since Trish was with me. I bought some new stuff from Burkina Faso - an amazing green hand-dyed ikat strip, about three times the width of a kente strip (see below)...and some beautiful tie-dyed indigo (stitch resist pattern) cloth from Guinea pictured above.
I couldn't leave Accra without going to Makola Market again, after last year's visit with Trish and Michelle I ventured by myself this time to look for some printed indigo Dutch-wax, and found this pattern (below) which has the title "The best bees work in silence". Strangely enough, the bees in this fabric are so "silent" they are non -existent. Still, it's a beautiful print...and I got a new pink back scrubber wash cloth too!

The Arts Centre

Following a quick visit on the weekend with Paul and Trish, I returned to the Arts Centre to meet with a guy who apparently has quite a large selection of old cloths. I immediately spotted Kwasi, who was sat with another older man stitching strips back together where the fabric had fallen apart. He casually mentioned that the likes of John Gillow from London (the guy who has written a very well known book on African Textiles) come to him to buy cloths - and was quick to start rumaging in his little hut stuffed with bags bursting with cloth when I mentioned I was a student interested in his variety of stuff...unfortunately I had long run out of money enough to buy one, but he let me take lots of photographs!

Kwasi going through his bags - literally every one stuffed with amazing old cloths!

Two Ewe cloths: you can just make out the hand-stitching in the colourful one above, and the one below has an amazing range of symbols and figures done in the typical supplementary weft style.

Two Ashanti cloths: the close-up above had a beautiful purple background, which has come out more of a blue colour in the photo, and the piece below is a stunning example of a cloth whose design has been "exhausted" - meaning the weaver has shown off his skill by including many different complicated patterns.

One of his many bags of scraps - he usually takes a strip off a cloth so he can use it to repair the other bits that have holes or are ripped etc. I had a good rummage and took a few home...

A Fante Flag from the Central region - which is an applique technique, not a woven one, but still interesting! and very old.