STORY: TIM DZAMBOE, HO
WITH the first half of the year coming to an end, a season of tourism-related festivals unfolds in the Volta Region in the second half of the year.
Incidentally, the people of Have in the Hohoe Municipality will mark this festival season with the celebration of the 75th edition of the Agadevi festival from June 8 to 15, 2008.
Unlike many communities and traditional areas, which associate their festivals with the migration from their ancestral homes, the people of Have celebrate theirs to commemorate remembrance of their survival from a landslide that nearly annihilated the town in 1933.
The festival, known as the Have Agadevi festival, has always been celebrated on the theme: “The Development of Have; Our Shared Responsibility with the view to generating the spirit of self-help in the people to contribute to the development of the area.
Over the years, the people, under the umbrella of the festival, have mobilised resources to enhance education, health and human resource development, among others.
For health, the people have been able to construct a health post, which has since been upgraded to a clinic with the potential for further upgrading to a polyclinic.
Local resources have been harnessed to build structures for the various schools in the town. One of the structures, which is ready for inauguration, is a six-classroom block with offices and a library. All the projects were constructed under the joint collaboration of the Have Citizens Association and the Social Investment Fund.
The people have also constructed a technical institute, which has been absorbed into the public system by the Ghana Education Service. The school has been rated among the best in the country.
With the advent of the self-help electrification programme (SHEP), the people mobilised resources and provided poles and other materials to become instant beneficiaries of the SHEP.
They have also entered into fruitful partnership with the Community Water and Sanitation Programme (CWSP) with sponsorship from the Danish Agency for International Development (DANIDA) to provide potable water for majority of the people.
With adequate educational facilities on their doorstep, many citizens of the area have been trained to become a source of human resource capital to the nation and are found in various fields of human endeavour, such as the military, police, civil and public service, educational institutions, judiciary, legal, performing arts, banking and entrepreneurship.
That has been the significant hallmark of the Agadevi festival celebrated on the philosophy of collective responsibility.
The Diamond Jubilee celebration of Agadevi from June 8 to 15, 2008 will serve as a rallying point for all towns in the Have Traditional Area under the leadership of the paramount chief, Togbe Asemtsyra IX. The communities are Aveyoyoe, Ando Number One, Ando Number Two, Sadzikope and Central.
It is expected that the people of Have will truly redefine their roles in consonance with national and international objectives, particularly to streamline their needs to modern trends as demanded under the global revolution on Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
To the general public, their visit to Have from June 8 to 15 will not be regrettable because many activities will be held to broaden their horizons about the culture and traditions of the people.
They include a borborbor (a traditional dance) night, public health lecture, clean-up exercises, , migration story, festival story, quiz competition, choral night, beauty contest and a football match.
Certainly, the 75th anniversary celebration of Agadevi festival and subsequent celebrations would continue to serve as a rallying point and platform for the development of the Have Traditional Area.
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