e-Ananse Empowers ‘Kayayei’

e-Ananse Library has engaged about thirty female head potters,  popularly known as ‘Kayayei’ at its centre in Osu, Accra, and empowered them on how to reduce their vulnerabilities, as they do their work.

The event, which took place last Friday, taught the young girls how to access books at the e-Ananse library, and also inspired them on how to make informed decisions to improve their economic status, irrespective of their challenges.

It was also aimed at strengthening the National Folklore Board, through the preservation of Ghana’s rich Cultural Heritage and history, to ensure that it delivers on its core mandates for the betterment of Ghanaian citizens, including the Kayayei.

Two videos were streamed for the ladies, one, a folktale where Ananse tried to steal all the wisdom of the world, and the other, the origin of the popular Northern attire, called the Fugu.

After the video streaming, the participants were able to draw moral lessons in the folktale, and also grasped the history and foundation of the Fugu dress.

”The girls learned a very great lesson, the videos inspired them. They have not had such an atmosphere of a modern library before. I suggest more of this should be done to empower the girls the more”, Inusah Mohammed, a spokesman for the Kayayei, said in an interview with the media.

”The idea is a laudable one since we are lacking modern libraries in the country. This is a bold step to help these young girls. They witnessed everything. The videos played, the stories told, they got the understanding and were inspired”, Adam Mohammed, an assistant leader of Success Book Club, added.

He believed that the interaction also helped to improve the confidence level of the young girls.

e-Ananse plans to engage Kayayei monthly to inspire and empower them through more video streaming and book reading sessions.

About e-Ananse Libraries

The e-Ananse Libraries are to help revitalize Ghana’s reading culture and provide people with the tools to compete in the 21^st Century by giving them access to high-quality contemporary literature, state-of-the-art computing facilities, and world-class literary events.

Each library has an e-Ananse technology centre, christened the Innovation Hub, which is equipped with internet-enabled PCs to give library-members access to the full range of resources available on the World Wide Web.

The libraries are the CSR initiative of West Blue Consulting, an indigenous IT solution firm.

The official launch of the e-Ananse Libraries will take place at the University of Ghana, Legon on, 30th August 2019 at 10:00 am.

The launch will not only be a celebration of the opening of the new libraries, but a commemoration of Ghanaian story-telling in all its forms, from the oral to the written.