Sometimes we need people to remind us of beauty, the beauty of our traditions and the fact that our ethnographic belonging is not by mere coincidence or a grand plot by nature to render us poor or lesser citizens of the world.
Our being a part of a society, which seems damned because of the comparisons often carried out by our minds based on what the media portrays as the ideal society in a modern world continues to harm our progress as a people belonging to an ethnic minority. Technological advancement may have a role to play in our ill appreciation of our world, yet a careful look will suggest our appreciation of technology is also based on a rather pathetic look at the sophisticated societies with sophisticated problems. Technology is to make us improve on our traditional ways of doing things and not necessarily take us away from “who we are” and make us “who they are”.
I have often bemoaned the seeming stagnant state of our development as a people; this seemed true until a lady by name Barbara pointed out some other truths to me. I say the other truth because most of what we pitifully moan about is also a form of truth. The challenges we as a people from a presumably minor ethnic group face is presumably vast. All the sectors that drive the economy of our nation averagely do not consider our input as significant. It may be true, but the truth or false aspect of it lies in our point of view as per who we are and what we have.
Many of us dwell on the problems/challenges we face in savanna and hardly ever consider the beauty/opportunities we as people are blessed with. God/Nature has never planted people in an area that can’t be used as a transformational tool in our pursuit of progress along with the rest of the nation/world, we are rich yet we do not see, we have rich cultural practices yet we prefer a foreign culture, we live in Fumbisi and still think we should live somewhere else to make us accepted.
The past 2 months in Sandema gave me an opportunity to reflect on the words of Barbara Meier, which suggests we should make the most of our ethnographical location.
As I spent hours running around Buluk I began to appreciate it more and more. As I saw the green fields with men and women busy tilling the soils in anticipation of successful harvest season, I realized what we often refer to, as peasant farming is a proof of potential large-scale farming and can therefore be improved.
As I saw boys aged 13-display great knowledge of animal husbandry, I realized the natural intelligence of our “village folk”.
The distances young boys and girls have to travel to attend schools in some of the villages after a whole lot of house chores in the morning suggested how industrious, ambitious and determined we are/can be. Despite the unavailability of electricity in some of the towns and villages one can only imagine how/why that is not used as an excuse to study, yet determined pupils and students can be found busily studying with the aid of lanterns.
The preserved cultures/traditions can’t be left out, people greeting you and being concerned about your day obviously is a show of love from a fellow man. People’s willingness to help you get to your destination without asking for anything in return is so awesome. The communal spirit can still be seen when people gather to plow the lands of their neighbors, which is simply amazing.
The beautiful scenery that greet us in almost every town/village and the freshness of the air we breath, the rock formations with beautiful shade from trees all over Buluk make an ideal destination for campers and picnics. The beautiful view of the stars not forgetting the moon, that lying on a “gbung” gives you can only be experienced and not imagined.
There is so much that can be said about Buluk positively yet we do not seek to utilize those positives to improve our society but rather dwell on the negatives which can be attributed to the corruption of our minds by the “powers that be” (media and the few citizens who have spent sometime in other parts of the country or world).
All the above when carefully analyzed can be transformed into viable economic/cultural gains but we assume it is too much work. Policy makers have constantly made us think, it will take the policies of other parts of the world or of the country to make us a “better” people. How can we make us better without building on the positives of our society, shall we continue to presume everything about us is substandard? I will say a big NO, but its beyond an individual, it will take all of us to build a better society in all aspects of our lives. My commitment is to use what we have to the best advantage of Buluk, what is yours?
There are varied truths and depending on which we accept, the journey to a “better” Buluk either becomes shorter and fun or a sophisticated set of trial and errors. The choice is ours.
Long live Ghana, long live the Savanna.
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