Kente Festival Day One

Ho is the administrative capital of the Volta Region. This region is East of Lake Volta and shares a border with Togo. Ho was actually the capital of British Togoland at one time.  We have gone to Ho twice and took two different routes.  On this most recent trip, the road we drove on went right on the border for a while.  On the East the people speak French and are citizens of Togo and on the West they speak English and are citizens of Ghana. They share the common local language of Ewe.

The red portion is the Volta Region

We drove our car and Elder and Sister Stoker went with us.  It is quite a coincidence that on our first trip in early April, we also went with the Stokers.  In April it was Sister Stoker's birthday and they had just had their "hump" day (half-way mark of their mission).  On our trip in mid-September, it was Joan's birthday and we had just had our hump day.  The Stokers are fun to travel with and they put in much effort, along with Bishop Sadahem, to plan this trip. The reason for this trip was to see the Kente Festival.  The festival lasted a full week but we missed the first four days, arriving on Thursday, September 11. Sister Sadahem and their daughter Emanuela rode with us. It took us four hours to drive there. The Wildes also drove their van and brought the Seaders and the Kirkhams with them.  Other missionary couples arrived later.  Bishop Sadahem lives in Accra but is from Kpetoe, a village in the Volta Region. He went to a great deal of effort to make it a wonderful experience for all of the missionary couples.

Brother and Sister Sadahem

When we arrived in Kpetoe (pronounced Petoway), we went directly to Brother Sadahem's home. We were invited into his home and allowed to use the "washroom".  We don't visit many Africans in their homes so we appreciated their hospitality.  Emanuela took their suitcase into the house. It took two people to help lift it up onto her head.

Sister Sadahem and Emanuela

Emanuela was a good sport and let everyone take a picture of her as she carried the suitcase into the house on her head.

Sister Wilde with the Sadahem family

Brother Sadahem and their seven year-old daughter, Ruth, were very excited to see Sister Sadahem and Emanuela.  This picture was taken in the inner courtyard of their home.

The gate to the Sadahem home

This is the gate that you enter from the street. This young man is a good friend of the family. I wasn't quite clear whether he lived with them or not. It is not unusual for a family to take in children of friends or extended family members and raise them.



Ghana is a democratic nation with a president who serves four-year terms. All ethnic groups within Ghana have kings with long established "kingdoms" of thousands of years. Ghanaians belong to different kingdoms but are all citizens of the nation of Ghana. They submit to the authority of the government but the government respects the positions of the kings.

Nene Nuer Keteku III

Brother Sadahem took us to meet the Chief of Kpeote, Nene Togbe Agbovi IV. He was very gracious and welcomed us into his home, offered us cold sodas and visited with us while we drank them.

The courtyard of his home

The courtyard of the Chief's home. Nene is a title that means king and he does have authority locally.






'Asia le torme' is an indigenous cultural event where women go to the riverside to fetch water for visitors to the festival. It is a tradition of old being kept alive by today's people as a demonstration of the good hospitability of the people of Agortime Kpetoe. According to history, this used to be an activity for old ladies and pure maidens. The beauty of it is when they are all walk back from the riverside in a single file cladded in different Kente attires carrying water in bottles to pour in a pot for use by visitors

Going down to the river

After visiting the Chief, we went down to the river to watch the "Asiale Torme". This is a procession of women carrying water to the king.

Drawing water from the river

The women all wore colorful wraps of hand woven Kente cloth. They took turns filling their bottles with water.

Waiting their turn

The women all had African head wraps.  They had made leaf circlets to put around the bottle of water that they carried on their heads. Many had stenciled designs on their arms and shoulders in white.  Most wore beads.

Carrying their bottles on their heads

Forming a line as they come up from the banks of the river.  They sang as they walked.

Going up to the main road

Some of the women used more traditional clay pots instead of the glass bottles.

Forming a line

Heading to the village

The women sang and did their traditional dance step as they walked along the side of the main road. The crowd followed along with them. Philippe Kradolfer the Director of Temporal Affairs for the Africa West Area until August, came back from Salt Lake for this festival. He took pictures at the festival last year and gave many to the Paramount chief, who was thrilled.  Brother Kradolfer also helped by providing poster photographs advertising the festival. Philippe brought his daughter Michelle with him to help photograph the festival this year.

Michelle taking photographs

As Brother Kradolfer drove the car slowly along the road, his daughter stood up out of the sun roof to have a good vantage point.

Arriving in the center of the village

It began to get very crowded in the center of the village.  But people were kind and helpful when we wanted to get close to get pictures.

Pouring in the water

The seven wives of the Paramount Chief, Nene Nuer Keteku III, sat ready to receive the water. Three older women, in white, sat in the front.

Wives of the Chief

Behind the women in white sat the four other wives.  They were dressed in beautiful dresses and head cloths. They seemed to take this quite seriously. People crowded all around them. 

Brother Kradolfer getting a good shot

Brother Kradolfer, getting a good
view of the pouring of the water.
This was much more precarious than it looks in this picture.  He was on top of an unstable pile of stuff and was even a little shaky. The crowed oohed and awed as he tried to keep his balance.

Selling their wares

Many people took advantage of the crowds to sell their products.  here two young girls pause for a brief visit.  I will never tire of seeing the Africans gracefully walk as they carry all kinds of things on their heads.

Posing for the camera

Generally speaking, Ghanaians like to have their picture taken.  Sister Wilde poses with one of the water carriers.

We all want to be in on the fun!

Sister Seader, Sister Wilde, Sister Smith, our lovely Ghanaian and sister Kirkham. Sister Kirkham was in Robert's class at Highland High.

A cute little girl

We love to see the sweet and beautiful children here in Africa. They love to have their picture taken and then they love to see it! 

Beautiful setting sun

As we drove from Kpetoe to our hotel in Ho, a beautiful red sun was setting in the West. The thought of dinner and bed were appealing. We were tired but felt like our first day of the Kente Festival was a huge success.  We had enjoyed it all.