Saturday took an adventure to the bead factory! Had to take a Tro Tro (kinda like a big van) to a town called KPong 2 hours away. Fit 25 people in there! This is the furtherest away from the ship I've been so far, the more outside of Tema we got, the more green and lush it became. Reminded me a bit of the tropical Dominican mountains and forest...beautiful!
Saturday is also the only day of the week that people in Ghana have funerals. So as we drove through the village streets, we saw probably about 10 funerals taking place. They dress in black and red linens. For them, a funeral means a celebration of life. They carry the casket down the dirt road while family and friends dance and sing along their sides. It was amazing, made me all teary- eyed.
After a Tro Tro ride, taxi, and walking about 2 miles on foot, the end of the middle of nowhere dirt path led us to circle of small buildings (the factory)surronded by HUGE mango trees. Mr Cedi of Cedi beads himself gave us a demonstration of how each one is hand crafted.
Most are made from crushed glass bottles, others are made from red dirt/clay from termite mounds. Apparantly their saliva used to build their homes, helps the clay they make their beads out of withstand hot, hot temperatures during the firing. Each molds of bead are fired around 800 degrees celcius! If they are hand painted they need two rounds of firing and 2-3 days of cooling.
After the demonstration went to the local bead market and did some shopping! It was SO fun to wander through rows and rows of hanging beads. Went home and have spent Sunday morning, stringing and creating my finds. Most strings of beads cost anywhere from 20-60 cents. However, they also had a section in the market with lots of older beads that were a little bit more expensive; bought a few beautiful, long, white beads that been handed down from generation to generation through their grandparents. For all my artsy amigos, I documented the bead making process for you on the photo link. enjoy!
