2018 Trip to Ghana - Coming Home, Chale Wote Festival

- Coming Home, Accra - Mole National Park - Nkabom Grand Durbar - Chale Wote Festival - Cape Coast -

The Sankofa bird looks back towards its history, to inform its steps forward... Chale Wate is an multi-day, open air nasquarade ball and cultural festival.

These photos were taken during the afternoon, so they don't show the huge mass of people that fill the streets, as the evening falls. But what was so striking to me, as we milled about, was how American "black people as threating" lens is, OMG! When it did get crowned later, I had people grab my hand and beg pardon for casually bumping into me. So gracious was everyone you encounter...

Admidst the abundant street art, the youth of Ghana showed themselves to be strong, beautiful and aware of their rich culture and history.

This is the troupe of young guides BeYonne solicited to lead us to one of the main throve of murals.

There was plenty more to it than the murals, but the festivities, the food and music were all at one with the art expressed all over the buildings! The message was, we are proud, African and free.

Thedra had an uplifting time, clearly

We left the festival on the first night, just ahead of the crush of people who come at night..., for the serious partying. There were thousands of mascaraders and party-peopz fulling in, as we pressed to get out!!!. But we came back the next day, thanks to BeYonnes T-Mobile-Uber hook-up!

...And with open streets, the shopping was on and poppin'!!

BeYonne hooked up with these two sisters whose design and dressmaking had me wondering if I could pull of a Kente kilt! Their wares are off the chain...

Needless to say, we were pleasantly exhausted by the time we got back to the hotel. Mellow Accra vibes...

...and I was in heaven because, since mt first encounter it (circa 1972, D.C., Malcolm X Park), I always wanted something made of genuine woven Kente cloth.

I have since found other music that would convene more thematically with the video, but these were two of my fav cuts as we road north to Kumasi, my first journey into the interior of the Motherland, my ancestral home. The second cut though, is something of an analog for British arrogance during the colonial period... "thing the world revolves around your big ass."

- Coming Home, Accra - Mole National Park - Nkabom Grand Durbar - Chale Wote Festival - Cape Coast -