Ghana Gas commissions craft and gift shop center at Ho Museum

Ghana National Gas Company has commissioned a craft and gift shop center at the Ho Museum in aid of youth and women of the community to learn handicraft work.

The construction of the craft gallery center will be able to tell the story and history of the Volta Region.

The craft shop comes with classrooms and stores to showcase the culture and other crafts created by the museum and other individual artifacts.

The museum gift shop will help to train the youth and women in the community. The training acquired will enhance the young women to put their skills to bear and make money to cater for themselves.

The Volta Region Museum is dedicated to the history and traditions of the Volta Region and it is administered by the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board.

Beads making, soap making, artifacts, and handicrafts done by individuals, among others, are taught at the training center completed by Ghana Gas.

A board member of Ghana Gas, Delphine Dogbegah, was grateful to the board, and management of Ghana Gas and told the story of the gift shop and center that anything that is produced from the center will be sold at the gift shop for business at the Museum.

“We now have a training center, a gift shop,” she noted. “What we produce at the top, we will sell some in both of the gift shops. The gift shop is specifically for Ho Museum which has the history of the Volta Region.”

According to her, training of the young women was something that demanded time and commitment.

Ladies who are passionate and ready to do something for themselves were trained and have acquired the necessary skills to be able to craft artifacts among others.

“When we started training women in the Volta Region, we realized our women are determined to do something so we decided to try and see what we can do for them and so we came out with jewelry making from different parts of the Volta Region who are now instructors and have taken to train others all over the country.”

The Ho Museum’s exhibits on display include the Chair of the last German Colonial Governor, woodcraft, pottery, Kente textiles, masks, and Asante shrines.

Again, the museum contains exhibits on the ethnography of the Volta Region and collections of handicrafts and contemporary art. Ho Museum also has exhibits from when the region was part of German Togoland, as well as artifacts from when the British colonized the region and local culture.

It will interest Ghanaians to note that the Ho museum has several collections of cultural artifacts including swords, stone relics, musical instruments such as drums, maps of the Ewe State, stools and earthenware cooking vessels that have been kept for so long among others.

Center for National Culture was represented by Madam Patient, who delivered a speech on behalf of the Volta Region Minister, Archibald Yao Letsa.

The regional minister was grateful for the addition to the Ho Museum.

“The Museum plays a very significant role in promoting our authentic Ghanaian culture with an emphasis on revealing our identity as people of the Volta Region.

“It is important to note that, our history goes a long way to shape our future, hence, the role of our museums cannot be over emphasized.”

The Regional Minister is of the view that the Volta Region is full of talented craft men and women which goes to say, a craft shop will therefore help display their creativity and ideas that shows the history and culture of the Volta Region.