Ghana National Gas Company has commissioned a craft and gift shop centre at the Ho Museum to help the youth and women of the community learn handicraft work.
The construction of the craft gallery centre will help tell the story and history of the Volta Region.
The craft shop includes classrooms and stores to showcase the culture and other crafts created by the museum and other individual artisans.
The museum gift shop will help train the youth and women in the community. The training they acquire will enhance the young women’s skills so that they can start their own businesses and support themselves.
The Volta Region Museum is dedicated to the history and traditions of the Volta Region and is administered by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board.
Beads making, soap making, artifacts, handicrafts made by individuals, and more are taught at the training centre completed by Ghana Gas.
Delphine Dogbegah, a board member of Ghana Gas, was grateful to the board and management of Ghana Gas. She told the story of the gift shop and center, saying that anything produced from the center will be sold at the gift shop for business at the Museum.
“We now have a training center and a gift shop,” she noted. “What we produce at the top, we will sell some in both of the gift shops. The gift shop is specifically for Ho Museum, which has the history of the Volta Region.”
According to her, training the young women took time and commitment.
Women who are passionate and ready to start their own businesses were trained and have acquired the necessary skills to be able to craft artifacts and more.
“When we started training women in the Volta Region, we realized our women are determined to do something, so we decided to try and see what we can do for them. We came out with jewelry making from different parts of the Volta Region. They are now instructors and have taken to train others all over the country.”
The Ho Museum’s exhibits on display include the chair of the last German colonial governor, woodcraft, pottery, Kente textiles, masks, and Asante shrines.
The museum also contains exhibits on the ethnography of the Volta Region and collections of handicrafts and contemporary art. Ho Museum also has exhibits from when the region was part of German Togoland, as well as artifacts from when the British colonized the region and local culture.
It will interest Ghanaians to note that the Ho Museum has several collections of cultural artifacts, including swords, stone relics, musical instruments such as drums, maps of the Ewe State, stools, and earthenware cooking vessels that have been kept for a long time, among others.
The Center for National Culture was represented by Madam Patience, who delivered a speech on behalf of the Volta Region Minister, Archibald Yao Letsa.
The regional minister was grateful for the addition to the Ho Museum.
“The Museum plays a very significant role in promoting our authentic Ghanaian culture with an emphasis on revealing our identity as people of the Volta Region,” she said.
“It is important to note that our history goes a long way to shape our future, hence, the role of our museums cannot be over-emphasized.”
The Regional Minister believes that the Volta Region is full of talented craftspeople, so a craft shop will help display their creativity and ideas that show the history and culture of the Volta Region.