It's difficult to know how to write about the Tuwohofo-Holly International School 30th Anniversary festivities that took place all week at the school and culminated in Saturday's 3 1/2 hour program. Since this is Ghana, Mr. Baidoo's printed start time of "10:00 AM PROMPT" actually didn't occur until 10:15. Prior to that, from about 9:30am, Mr. Baidoo, his elder brother Thomas, and I sat in the plastic arm chairs common throughout the country under a tree in an open area between two of the school's buildings. (This is Mr. Baidoo's favorite place to sit. His home is partially visible in the rear left)
Around 9:45, the Chief of Abura Village, Nana Kodwo Addae II, dressed in his official "cloth" and wearing his chief's necklace, bracelets, and sandals, joined us. He is a wonderful man who was a year behind Mr. Baidoo in elementary school and has been on the board of T.H.I.S. for many years. He was also the chief who performed my enstoolment (Ghanaian chiefs sit on a stool not a throne) as T.H.I.S. Development Chief in 2013. He conducted my day-long ceremony because there has not been a chief in Akotokyir Village since the elders drove the last one out several years ago - which is a whole other story all together. As a concession to modesty and decorum, I opted not to wear my cloth as 12 yards of fabric wrapped loosely around one's body has a tendency, for me anyway, of becoming a train in the dust behind me. So I dressed "western" in jacket and tie but with my chief's necklace and bracelets. 
Just before 10am, the Akotokyir Village Elders, all wearing their "cloth" arrived and additional chairs appeared and after each one greeted each of us, they took their seats, and we waited for Mr. Baidoo to decide it was time to begin.
Around 10:15 he decided that the preparations were sufficiently in place in front of the Catholic church across the dirt yard from the school and so he got up and we all began to make our way to the seats under the Head Canopy. The celebration space was bounded by 4 huge canopies rented from a local agent with plastic chairs under each and each designated for a particular population. To the right of the Head canopy were the students (all dressed in matching blue golf shirts with school logo). Opposite the Head canopy was a double canopy for Parents and Community; to the left of the Head Canopy was the canopy for Alumni and the disc jockey who provided music before and during the program.
When you meet and talk with him, you would never suspect that he in many ways is Ghana's version of P.T. Barnum. No one puts on an affair like Augustine Ato Baidoo and anyone who has been to Ghana as part of the Teaching & Learning in Ghana Program can attest to this surprising aspect of his personality - quite possibly one of the reasons T.H.I.S. has continued to exist and excel for 30 years.
There were invited officials from the area including school officials from the Cape Coast branch of the Ghana Educational Services. Despite the fact that T.H.I.S. is private, the school is well-respected by GES folk and Thomas Baidoo, Ato's elder brother, is a retired Fante language teacher who still heads up the scoring teams for the national Fante language examinations. Also making appearances, though at different times so they wouldn't be together, were two individuals running for Parliament in November's elections (representing the two biggest political parties). Each of these folk was invited by Mr. Baidoo to address the crowd. The second candidate is currently a teacher at Wesley Girls' Senior High School (one of if not the best girls' schools in Ghana) and her husband teaches at Mfantsipim Boy's High School (also one of the top 3 in the country). So, while I am not partisan politically, I have to lean toward a fellow educator come November. Besides, she came dressed for the occasion.
There were speeches by invited individuals, poem recitations by students dressed in traditional garb, and also a really well-done skit on the dangers of teenage pregnancy. (I know, I know, "At an anniversary celebration?" But, yes, it was exceptionally well done by the students, loved by the crowd, and I recommended to Mr. Baidoo that they take it on the road and perform it at other schools.)
There was singing and dancing and a good deal of that was by members of the audience as they came up to the platform and dropped Cedis bills (Ghana's currency) on the heads of performing students - bills that were gathered up and put into a plastic basin set on a stand.
And there was "An Appeal for Funds" conducted for almost 20 minutes by one of the more energetic faculty members. Unless you have been to Ghana and experienced an appeal for funds, any description I might attempt would be futile. Find someone who's been to Ghana and ask them to explain. 
The program ended as it began, with prayers of gratitude for God's blessings over the school's thirty years of existence and requests for continued guidance, direction and blessing in the future.
Mr. Baidoo and I said goodbye to Nana Addae and the Akotokyir Elders, shook hands with all the folk under the Head canopy, and then made our way back to his humble home where his wife, Mary, had prepared a lunch for him and I and Anthony Takyi, my new best friend and driver around the Central Region visiting high schools. He is also the newly-promoted Director of Planning and Statistics for Cape Coast Schools.
After lunch, Tony dropped me off at the Fair Hill Guest House and I crashed for the rest of the day.
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