RESIDENCY DIARIES 4 - VISIT TO ADO-AWAYE

 WHAT THE KING OF ADO-AWAYE TOLD ME. 


One of the pecks that comes with being a resident writer at the Ebedi International Writers Residency is the opportunity to partake in sightseeing activities and go on excursions. 


My first Saturday in Residency coincided with an event at Ado-awaye, a neighboring town within the Iseyin catchment area. It's about a 40 minutes drive from the Barracks area, where the residency is located. 


The people of Ado-awaye had fixed their annual heritage festival around the same time as that of the World Theatre Day and had invited the Association of Nigerian Authors (ANA) for the event. 


One Nigerian writer in residency is an executive member of ANA and asked if I wanted to go with him. 'Of course, I would love to', was my response. And so together, we went in the company of the Chairman of ANA and some other executive members. There were six men in all in attendance. 


We set off and after a 40 minute drive, we successfully made our journey to the Ado-Awaye community. The event was being held at the four courts of the Kabiosi, paramount chief of the community. 


We were welcomed by the host and directed to our seats. After a short while, the Kabiyesi came to the forecourts and welcomed us and had us introduce ourselves one after the other to him. He was particularly happy to see me, a Ghanaian writer in the company fo Nigerian writers in his premises. 


We took our seats after the introductions and the event took off a few minutes after. People of the traditional area were pleasant and hospitable.  


After a session of poetry recitals, reading of literature from different writers, a beautiful cultural display as evidenced in the druming and dancing, we heard a brief history of the town and its people. 


We were also served a hot meals (Amala and Ewedu soup with goat meat) which we ate with delight at the forecourt of the palace. There was so much to eat and drink and so much to learn from a people and their culture. 


After all was said and done, the Alado of Ado-Awaye, that's the kabiyesi (king) called on us and presented to each of us an autographed book of his titled; ' IYAKE SUSPENDED LAKE'. The book shares about the town and its beautiful natural resources highlighting the King's Vision, Redemption and Development plan for his traditional area. 


When it got to my turn to receive my copy of the book, he said to me, my new Ghanaian friend, you have seen and heard about us. Please do share the good news of Ado-Awaye. Let the world know of our suspended lake and our elephant tree. Spread the word when you get back to Ghana and let Ghanaians and the world at large learn of us and vsist us to see what God has blessed our land with. 



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