The Great Kumasi Market Race

The Kumasi Market is the frenetic heart of the city of Kumasi. Kumasi is the 2nd largest city in Ghana and is a large metropolis. This was the setting for the greatest race of all time. (I imagine that being said in a deep, echo-ee, announcer voice). Three teams, the Asante, the Fanti, and the Ga pitted their muscles, wits, and craft abilities to unload the most yams, make the most shoes, form the most tins, and arrive at the finish line first. Each team had one hour at each station to complete the highest number of tasks possible.




Yams:
The yam market is supervised by the Queen Mother of the Yams. She sits in the shade wearing aviators and settles market dispute and exercises a general supervision of the yam market. Her domain is vast, busy, and at first glance appears to be barely contained chaos. But actually, there is a definite order to the yam market. Everyone is working on different tasks, unloading trucks, sorting yams, making deliveries, selling yams, etc. Team Ga dominated the yam market, but this can mostly be contributed to the fact that each of the team members was set to unload separate trucks with the market workers. The woman were yelling obruni, obruni at us, and cheered us on. Many wanted to shake my hand and ask my name at the end. Nicole got to carry yams on her head.


Tins:
The second floor of the market is like a factory. They make tins, shoes, and other odds and ends to be sold elsewhere in the market.  The tin shed we worked out of was slightly bigger than a broom closet. The noise of hammers on metal was deafening. The tin is easy to cut and shape, but hard to make look as good as what the tin maker showed us. He was very patient with us, and helped each of us in turn. Team Fante dominated this section with 50 tins.

Shoes:
The shoe factory, if you can call it that, was also on the 2nd floor. The was thankfully more breeze in this section and you could look out over the market below. The shoe makers were a little stingy with materials, and limited how many shoes we could make. Basically you trace forms on rubber, cut them out, glue the thong part of the flip flop to the tops, glue the tops to the bottoms, and glue on little heels. (Think men shoe flats, not women's heels). Fante and Asante tied this part of the market with 4 pairs of shoes each.

Finally we raced to the finish, weaving our way through the narrow passages of the market in search of the finish line. The passageways are narrow, the people move quickly, and if you stop, the yell AGO at you. Also the ground is uneven and treacherous, so you have to be part mountain goat to navigate the market quickly.

All in all, we had a lot of fun, and we all survied the Great Kumasi Market Race.

Maria