Dancing for the Chief and speaking out on radio, just another week for team Savelugu!

In the week following Monday 6^th February, team Savelugu had a lot planned, from watching a chief become enskinned, having their first of the two live radio shows and visiting a local school. The week was full of planning and preparation, and it led to three successful events. Simone and Sylvia have explained these events through their joint blog for this week- enjoy!

 Simone: Cycling up to ‘Might FM’ was the first challenge of many on Thursday morning, the uphill ride left us all breathless as we all pulled up outside the large, pale green building. Stood in the middle of an open spaced area, just off the side of the road, the radio centre was unlike most buildings around; and we all took in the fact that within half an hour we would be live on radio. Stepping into the room the aircon hit me, and I felt as though I had stepped into a large fridge, because in comparison to the 38-degree heat outside- it was pretty cold. Never-the-less, I felt grateful to have been given the privilege to have a 30-min live radio slot- an experience that is completely new to me, and something that I possibly may never do again.

After going live and being introduced by the host, Mr Yaro, we all got the chance to personally introduce ourselves as individuals and say where we come from. We split our team into two groups, one of which did the radio show today, and the next will do it in some weeks to come, so as the first team, we had to ensure we gave Cohort 6 the best first impression possible. Throughout the sit-in, we got the chance to inform the audience about our project, ranging from information regarding ICS as a whole, NFED- our partners, and the work both us, Cohort 6, and previous cohorts have done. We spoke about the community women we work with, and the main challenges and issues that they as cooperatives face.
We as a team, along with Mr Yaro, discussed a variety of topics, for example; the mentality of the community women. This was an interesting point, as often volunteers are thought to simply parade through a deprived area throwing cash at people, but we spoke about this point and made it clear that our role here is purely to guide and facilitate movement towards more sustainable income. These topics are vitally important, and with our Dagbanli speaker translating, we were hopefully able to get a number of important issues across to the whole audience. All in all, it was a highly successful trip, and all 5 of us who took part thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
 

Sylvia: On the 8^th of February 2017, the fantastic cohort of Savelugu NFED-ICS had the greatest opportunity to the Yoo Naa’s palace to have a real experience on how the culture of enskinment was performed in the Northern Region. It was a great and a blessed day for the UKV’s and some of the ICV’s because that was their first time of witnessing such a wonderful and great feast.

Before the cohort arrived at the chief palace a lot of people were already there some dancing and some also with their local guns, waiting for the over-lord, and the new chief. In a few minutes the new chief arrived with his elders of the community, as they were also warmly welcomed and took their sit, the over-lord was highly welcomed too with his elders where some were at his back and others in front of him, which shows that they were all protecting and guiding him. As the king step out of the royal palace to the playing ground everybody from the royal palace to the bowed down before him, which I was amazed of because I do see all this in movies but this time it was real. A lot of praises where made to the king through singing and drumming.

After, the over-lord took his seat, the rites then started. The elders brought the new chief to be enskinned. The over -lord prays; he asked the good lord to give him knowledge, wisdom and understanding to rule his kingdom very well. When he finished praying then he wears a new smock and hat then he is enskinned as a chief of his community. The drummers then drum for the new chief to dance.

After the enskinment finished, some money was collected from the people and replaced by a cola-nut which means the chief has been accepted by the community. When all this is done the over -lord blessed the people and went back to his palace. Then the new chief goes back to his community to continue the feast there. Before the king could leave the palace ground Simone, a UKV, and I were invited to dance for the king - I was  so amazed  by it, and confused because I didn’t know how to dance. Simone went first to exhibit her style of dancing and after that I also went out to show mine. Some of dances were; Gonje, Jara, Kombong waa, Naagbegu. It was a great experience with the people, chiefs and the over-lord who was so, so excited to see us around. When everything was successfully over the lovely and energetic volunteers, both the UKV’s and ICV’s, exhibit their dancing styles and Rachel our UK team leader danced melodically

Dancing for the chief