Ghana is famous for the finest types of bamboo in the world, and residents rely on it in their traditional crafts (Al Jazeera)
Ghana -
Africa - including Ghana - is famous for its bamboo, which is considered one of the finest types in the world. Africans in general have relied on bamboo, straw and cane to make traditional furniture such as beds, tables and chairs, but this profession is gradually declining for many reasons.
Alex has been working in this profession for a long time. He inherited it from his grandparents and tried to develop it to keep pace with the times, as he put it, by implementing modern designs.
But he still runs into a wall of disappointment that prevents him from developing it. He says, “The bamboo furniture profession is ancient and ancient. We inherited it from our ancestors, and we are trying to hold on to it, after many skilled craftsmen and customers abandoned it.”
Bamboo makers complain about the decline in Ghanaians' interest in the traditional bamboo industry (Al Jazeera)
Intense competition
Alex adds, "Some people from certain classes of society are no longer satisfied with traditional bamboo furniture, and they have moved towards what is newer by purchasing imported furniture, especially Chinese furniture, because it is cheaper."
He continues, "Competition has become intense due to China's interest in this industry and its flooding of the global market, while we are still working with primitive tools and on the sidewalks."
The bamboo furniture manufacturing profession faces other challenges that make it a dying profession, according to the words of “Isaak,” one of its workers. He believes that the exploitation of artistic crafts - simply because they are hand-made in Africa - still stands in the way of the rich African heritage towards global markets.
Isaac says, "Sometimes some merchants come and buy our products at the lowest prices, but the situation is no longer the same as it was before. Today, even the raw materials that we depend on and travel long distances to obtain have become expensive due to the exploitation of merchants under the pretext of lack of crops and the spread of urbanization."
He added, "Also, governments do not take care of handicrafts or preserve them, and we do not receive any support from them. We work to secure our daily livelihood, and in the rainy season we suffer because it hinders our work, and sometimes it may be the reason for the loss of many pieces and materials, as rainwater makes some wood wet and unusable." ".
Maoko has been working since his childhood in carving statues and making doors and jewelry boxes (Al Jazeera)
Artistic sense
The natural environment helped create that innate artistic sense among some craftsmen. In Ghana, they are famous for wood carving and making statues that embody their heritage, culture, and environment, such as the wooden masks that were used by African tribal leaders.
Mauko has been working since he was young in carving statues and making doors and jewelry boxes. He inherited these skills from his father to secure a living, but - like other sculptors - he has an artistic sense and a real talent for embodying his culture, especially when we see the tools that produce these artistic masterpieces. The distinctive feature is just a chisel and a wooden pestle.
Some may be surprised that the smooth texture of the statue is the result of manual work with no machine involved.
Mauko says, “Tourists have become more interested in acquiring these sculptures as an African heritage, while that no longer interests people here, especially after the import of Chinese manufactured doors, sculptures, and antiques was opened. This craft has become almost impossible to provide for those who work in it, but I cannot abandon it and I do not know.” Another profession.
We cannot deny the impact of modern industries, especially in developing countries that are considered a lively trade environment, due to the poverty of their resources and the weakness of their industries.
Asantua learned to make straw hats and baskets from her mother (Al Jazeera)
Survival struggle
But Africa is still struggling to keep its traditional industries and crafts alive, despite their simplicity and limitations, especially with the presence of still simple villages that have never been touched by modernity, due to their distance from centers of economic gravity.
One of these villages is northern Ghana, which is inhabited by a Muslim majority, where people still depend on clothes dyed and patterned in their traditional ways, as well as shoes, women's bags, jewelry, straw baskets, and hats.
Asantwa, a northern woman who moved to the capital, Accra, to look for work and still speaks the language of the local tribe, says that she learned the craft of making straw hats from her mother, and making baskets, on which the villagers depend a lot to place their needs for shopping or storing food.
She explains that she makes them in different sizes and shapes, and relies on straw as the main material, especially the colored one, which helps her add an artistic touch to her products.
Ghana is famous for wood carving and making wooden statues and masks that embody its heritage and culture (Al Jazeera)
Asantwa says, "Sales are more in the north than in the capital, but it is cheaper. In both cases, the materials are only available in the Kumasi region in the center of the country, and I have to travel to obtain them, so my business and industry are not very profitable, but I try to preserve them as much as possible."
She continues, "There are many people who have begun to prefer imported hats, especially used ones that are sold at a low price, and bags as well, instead of the baskets that I make."
If the wave of modernization and industrial technology has contributed greatly to the extinction of many professions around the world, will these professions and artistic crafts in Ghana and Africa face the flood of imported goods? Or will it become extinct and its features that have survived hundreds of years will disappear?
Source: Al Jazeera