Tamale is Ghana’s hidden gem. The city located in Ghana’s north is the fastest growing in West Africa. Alhassan Musah Timtooni, speaker of the Northern Youth Parliament show us the local cuisine, the skillful weaving techniques of Tamale's craftspeople and takes us on a trip to the Red Clay Studio - an experimental playground for the lovers of history, art and technology.
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00:00Hello the 77 percentiles, my name is Halasa Musa Chintoni,
00:04speaker of the Northern Regional Youth Parliament and I welcome you to the third largest city
00:09in Ghana. I welcome you to Tamale. Tamale is the beating heart of northern Ghana.
00:14It's the center for the country's Islamic faith with 90.5 percent being practicing Muslims.
00:19The fast-growing city has just under 1 million residents and it's a melting pot of cultures.
00:25And Musa knows it needs lots of food to fuel the city, so he takes us to try the local favorite.
00:31Food forms part of the culture of people across the world and in Tamale,
00:34we also have our local food termed as Suu Zaafi or tea set and this is made from maize to be
00:41precise. After it has been harvested and then to be taken to the grinding mill,
00:45it will turn it into flour and then you just have to get your hot water, you just sprinkle
00:50the flour on it, so you know, keep stirring till it turns this way and I'm to eat it with
00:57a local soup called Bra as well. It's so delicious.
01:03Along with bowls of delicious Tua Zaafi, Tamale is known for tailoring Ghana's traditional
01:08smor kata. Women create the materials while skilled craftsmen finish the final product.
01:14Musa took us to a nearby tailor to witness the painstaking process firsthand.
01:21Today, we are here at one of the places where our local things are made. So come,
01:26let's have a look at it, how it is turned into nice smocks. So you can see,
01:31we still preserve our tradition by making it with our hands. Despite the fact that there
01:36is modernity, we still hold firm onto our tradition. We still make it with our bare hands
01:42and this is a way of protecting and preserving our tradition and this is who we are.
01:47On the streets, most people own a motorbike for personal or business use but sadly,
01:52most road accidents also involve motorbikes.
01:55Musa and others joined Ghana's road safety initiative to educate riders.
01:59So today, we are here to engage them on the need to put on the crash helmet.
02:07So that is the sensitization or the education that we are doing. Critically, when you look at
02:12it, you realize that they don't put on a crash helmet and this is something that
02:15is a major cause of road accidents in Tamale.
02:18As the sand dips below the horizon, Musa leads us to Red Clay Studio.
02:23Established by renowned Ghanaian artist Ibrahim Mahama, it's like stepping into another world
02:29with captivating contemporary art adorning every corner.
02:33In there, we have a lot of things, old engines of jets including old sunshine boxes and some
02:40of the beds that were used during the world wars and then as well, we have the capital corpses
02:46which is made of old tailors brought together by this young and talented man just to inspire
02:52or bring back to life their history. This is an aeroplane and in it, we have a classroom.
02:59We have furniture, you know, in it and during weekends, young people come,
03:03students come to learn coding, how to use a drone and how to use basic ICT tools.
03:09The Red Clay Studio is an artist-run project space, exhibition hub,
03:13cultural repository and artist residency.
03:16Emblematic of Tamale itself, it's a site looking to the future.
03:21When I walk through the city of Tamale and look into the eyes of young people,
03:25I see hope, I see resilience, I see determination and I believe that these young people would
03:32contribute towards the development of Mother Tamale as well as Mother Ghana.