On the road, part 4

Where to start with a city called Ho? I mean, come on, it’s like naming your kid Dick. Despite, or because of its name, we next ventured to this capital of the Volta region, opening up a million comedic possibilities in the process.

We had actually come to visit Global Mamas’ northernmost production “facility.” This is a slightly more grandiose word than is called for to describe the simple one room that the four seamstresses occupy. But they, along with a nearby team of batikers, are just getting started and have high hopes of growing, having already begun to eye a neighboring building as a likely next move.

The madam, which is what one calls a lead seamstress in Ghana, even outside cities called Ho, is a beautiful young Togolese woman named Asana (right in picture) whose dress is bested only by her smile. This she uses, and to great effect, to fill in the holes of her halting English. Despite the language divide, she and the other women manage to convey a sense of great optimism for the future of their fledgling partnership with Global Mamas.

After an hour, we thanked them and departed. As they stood and waved, I tried to send them whatever good luck I might have to offer. They seemed so alone standing there in the door of their small shop. But the reality is they represent a great many; their success could be the difference not only for them, but for their children, their parents, their nieces and nephews, and who knows who else. So sew away, you Hos, I say, sew away.

(Picture: The seamstresses of Ho, the madam on the right)