People & Places: Could the endless supply of clay in this town be the game-changer to Ghana’s economic woes?

From as far back as the 1600s, the people of present-day Vume, a community in the South Tongu district of the Volta Region, have known only one major business; clay-molding.

With an eternal supply of clay in their town, which still remains a mystery to the very indigenes, these potters have continued to enjoy the blessings of being able to master their crafts by using clay for commercial purposes.

In this episode of People and Places on GhanaWeb TV, Etsey Atisu (host of the program) and the team bring to readers and viewers of the channel the little-known stories surrounding how the people of Vume got to identify clay as a viable business venture.

From the stories that Stephen Dewornu, who has been making pots since 1986, tells the team, this business could just be a major game-changer in the economic fortunes of Ghana.

“The whole land is covered by clay and when they surveyed it, they told us that if we have a big factory, we can use it for about 600 years… we settled here in 1600… but it was just a small thing that the women were doing; not a factory,” he said.

Asked why there is not yet a factory at Vume, he said: “Factory? Actually, I don’t know. It’s by the government because the government knows we are doing this type of work here so they need to expand it for us.”

There is more in the following video:



AE