Elder & Sister Brown in the Ghana Accra Mission: October 2015

Chiefs being carried

Senior Couples vehicles all lined up at the event

Chief as part of the procession

Singing and Dancing their way into the grounds

Locals

The last day of the Kente Festival, was the Grand Durbar. This was held in Kpetoe, all the Chiefs and Queen Mothers from surrounding towns and villages attend and as shown above, some are carried in as part of a long procession.

VIP persons tent, not sure who!

I'm not sure if this is Pres Mahama,
(Pres of Ghana, he was in attendance last year,
otherwise some other policitician maybe)

Chiefs and Queen Mothers parade around the ground

Beautiful woman in the crowd

Philippe and his wife went through some more ceremonies and were crowned this day.

Philippe and wife - day of crowning

Philippe and others (including grandson)

In the middle of the month we had the opportunity to travel up to Ho (we have been there before) and attend the annual 'Kente Festival'. The Festival is actually about a half-hour drive from Ho at a place called Kpetoe. It was held over 3 days. There are 4 main events. Kente Weaving Competition, Fetching of the Water, Heroes and Heroines Day and The Grand Durbar.
Thursday, the first day, we had some prior commitments, so we arrived late and missed the first 2 events, so no photo's attached.

Kente Cloth

To wear the cloth, it is very hot, look closely; they sew the strips together to make the attire. It is heavy cloth and although looks nice not very practical for the Ghana weather.

Men dressed in cloth for the festival

Friday was quite exciting and a little scary! We met up with other Senior Couples from Accra and an Obruni couple Philippe Kradolfer and his wife (church members from Switzerland originally but now residing in the US) that were going to be crowned a Chief and Queen Mother. (this is quite a long story and one I will not tell here), but we ended up travelling into Togo (another country) without our passports! Philippe stumbled upon this event that was not widely known about and started taking photos, put them into a book, and has been advertising the event. Hence they have made them Kente Ambassadors. We were assured if we travelled in the "Chief's Caravan" - along with Philippe Kradolfer, that we would not need a passport. Louise was more than a little concerned with this plan. I could imagine the look on President Heid's face if we were all marooned in Togo and could not get back into Ghana...I think a NOT HAPPY look would be in order. But all was well. The border proved to be a man holding a gun and a bit of string across the opening, and we all sailed through it with no problems. There was a very long dusty road between the 2 check points.(Ghana and Togo). The reason we had to go to Togo is because that is where the celebrations of the Heroes and Heroines day was. The people dress in red, black or brown attire and have a mock war. They fire ancient muskets, and it is a day they celebrate to remember ancestors who have died or people who have demonstrated great heroism during their lifetime.