The village chief sits fourth from the right. To his right (our left) sits his lingust, who holds the linguists staff. Staffs are beautifully carved, with a figure at the top covered in gold that depicts a scene from a proverb that represents the chief's and the villages beliefs.

We left Accra and headed for Ho on the next day. Ho is on the east side of Ghana, about 1/3 of the way up. On the way to Ho we stopped off at a bead making village called Somanya. We had learned at our first class in Accra that it is customary when you arrive in a village to always greet the chief first, and you must state why you are visiting the village - your purpose. Though they were expecting us and knew why we had come, we still had to go through the process of stating our purpose, and they then welcomed us to the village. Charles Joyner, the professor leading our group, gave a gift of gin to the chief, as is the custom on greeting a chief. It is also custom here that they then share the gin with the guests, but they said since it was so hot (and it was!) that they would not do this.

We received a tour of the bead-making process, and then were able to make some purchases in a hut where they displayed the beads for sale. The villagers then treated us to dancing and music, and we even got to partake toward the end. The chief surprised us by honoring us with a special dance before we left.