Ann's Visit to Ghana: Adjeikrom

The village where Dorothy lives and works does not appear on any map I've been able to find. Adjeikrom is northwest of Koforidua, which is almost directly north of Accra. Dorothy is currently involved in compiling a census of the village; no one really knows how many people live there. There is one main road through town. The picture to the left is taken from the north end of town, near the guest house where Dorothy lives.

The guest house was built by Cadbury and is part of a campus that includes a visitors' center, a screened canteen, a kitchen building, a four-shower bath structure, two latrines, and a large yard. I have posted a video of where Dorothy lives on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hjL9Sj6vVY

This is Dorothy standing outside the two rooms in the guest house that she lives in. One room is her bedroom and the other is a living area that includes a cooking area, a desk, a single bed/couch, and a couple of chairs.

We were very fortunate to be invited to a couple of events: a traditional engagement ceremony and a wedding blessing for Mary Tetteh and Richard Narketey. The engagement ceremony took place at Mary's father's house in Adjeikrom on . Patience (a young woman who sometimes works for Dorothy) came to escort us to the engagement ceremony. We walked down the main road and then walked off to the right between several mud buildings. The ceremony actually took place between several buildings, under canvas canopies that had been set up. When we arrived there were already many people there. There were two groups facing each other. One group was the bride's guests and the other was the groom's guests. I estimate there were more than a hundred people in all.

Soon after we arrived, a "door-knocking" ceremony began. This involved many of the groom's family/guests asking permission to enter and present gifts to the bride's family. I have posted a video of the engagement ceremony at :  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69xs5sP6eEA

Because the ceremony was not in English, I had to rely on what Patience told us about what was going on. The ceremony involves a lot of negotiation and numerous appearances of the bride in different outfits. I noticed that the bride's hair arrangement changed with each outfit, but I don't know if there was any significance to that. The negotiations appeared to concern "bride price" or what the groom's family was offering to give the bride's family for the couple's wedding. At one point representatives from both families retire to a building where they apparently "audit" what the groom's family is giving. During another part of the ceremony, several women get up and sing to the groom's family a song that apparently questions how the groom will "perform" as a husband. 

After the families arrive at an agreement, Mary looks for her husband to be. She obviously knows that he is there, but at this point he is hidden behind a cloth. As you can see by watching the video, everyone is obviously very amused by this trick.

The last part of the video shows Mary presenting a "libation" to her father. Her father asks her if he should accept the libation. By telling him to accept it, she is telling him that she wants to marry Richard. 

The ceremony that day was an abbreviated version of the truly traditional ceremony that apparently can last a very long time. This version lasted 3 or 4 hours and was actually interrupted by a rain storm that filled the canopies and flooded the packed mud floor. The ceremony was then moved to the chief's palace. Dorothy & I went back to her place because Kate and Tony (teachers from Tafo) came to exchange books with Dorothy.