 |
| Biscuit |
You
might have your reasons why Black Raster’s Barrack Hussein Obama may never
appear in your good books. But as it is said, the duiker’s swiftness must be
appreciated even if it is one’s arch enemy.
Obama’s
“Yes I can” indeed won him popularity among many. It has lifted the spirit of
the down-spirited and has caused great change in multitudes. I suppose.
Therefore giving him a thumps up for it will not cost you a thing.
It
is such ‘I can do spirit’ that sent me to Agbozume, Volta Region. My mission?
To find out the secret behind the Ayigbe biscuit, your favourite snack. If you
have never come across it, ask your Rapperholic, Sarkodie what it is? For it is
his favourite.
The state of Agbozume
Here
at Agbozume, the town looks beautiful. It has the best of roads as compared to
the stretch of manhole-like road between Suhum and Nsawam. On the shoulders of
the main road, passing through the town, are nucleated buildings interspersed
with kiosks.
Its transportation system is that which allows
commuters to have easy access to movement. Although “Okada” is not legalized in
Ghana, it ‘floods’ Agbozume like the Bagri Dam’s spillage. As we walked through
the town, both smooth and hoarse voices called on me to patronize the service.
Ironically, but dead-headedly, I responded to the Okada riders’ call with the
only vocabulary I have learnt in the Ewe language, “yoo,” which means “yes.”
It took the intervention of my interpreter to clarify the confusion between me and the riders. What a fond memory.
The occupation of the inhabitants
of Agbozume
At
the site of the coconut raffia fencing most of their houses, I had grown
thinner than an orphan fed grudgingly by a foster-mother. But after a short
enquiry, I got to know the ‘bad perception’ people associate the Ewes with
were just a cheap talk.
Hiding
their activities from passersby and domestic animals, this coconut raffia fence
encloses most of the inhabitants in a half of a square space creating a room
for their bakery. Whereas Koforidua proud herself of ‘B-Foster bread,’ the inhabitants of Agbozume and perhaps,
the Volta Region, “swag” themselves with the ‘starch biscuit’ of which we call
the ‘Ayigbe biscuit.’ Probably, because the biscuit emanates from the Ayigbe
land as in Ghana every tooth paste is Pepsodent and every washing powder, Omo.
The
manufacturing of the starch biscuit is one of the main occupations of the
“Abogzumenians.” If a spade will be called a spade but not a big spoon, it
could be said that every household of Agbozume manufactures the starch biscuit.
Moving
to and fro like a bevy of ants, the inhabitants of Agbozume especially the women
work assiduously like the clock daily. Their seriousness towards their work is
targeted to ensuring a constant flow in supply of their products to their
retailers and wholesalers.
History behind the Ayigbe biscuit
It
is a common knowledge that Tetteh Quashe is credited and hailed across the
length and breadth of the country for bringing cocoa from the Fernando Po to
Ghana. Moreover, Obunumankoma, Adapagyan and Osono may be “worshipped” by the
Fantes for leading them from Techiman to their present day settlement. But for
the people of Agbozume, Madam Yonunawo Kwami Edze will forever be adored for
providing for their livelihood.
Clad
in a pink gown, Madam Victoria Adzo Adawu, a daughter of Monica Nortoenyeku (the
woman who first learned the making of the biscuit from Edze) told the story
behind the biscuit.
Before
she began telling us the Edze story, she had rushed to her room excusing me of
being with me soon. On her return, she held a well kept T-shirt like a terminal
results card in the hand of a pupil. The shirt had the name and the picture of
Edze with the inscription “Introduced bakery to Agbozume.”
The
essence of Madam Victoria showing me the shirt was to provide prove of
evidence. However, unlike the so called modern Ghana where we turn library into
tailoring shops, it tells us how well our old folks keep track of their
records.
She
said in 1907, Edze had returned from Cote D’Iviore with the knowledge of
manufacturing the starch biscuit to Agbozume. “She could not have brought
anything better than the knowledge in the manufacturing of the biscuit. Now we
the descendants are benefiting from its fruit as it employs hundreds of us,”
she added.
“My
mother first learned the bakery as a trade under the tutelage of Edze. She (my
mother) then taught other apprentices from near and far. Now the business of
the starch biscuit is common with us like the annual ritual in Ghana, the
cholera,” she said.
Madam
Victoria said plans are far advanced to set a day aside in honour of Edze for
her selfless effort towards the development of Agbozume. “A nation or a town
that does not honour its heroes is not wealth dying for,” she said while mixing
the ingredients of making the biscuit with the cassava starch, “Edze to us is a
hereon and she must be celebrated and honoured. Since her death in 1963, memories
of her have been on our minds like a fresh palm wine.”
The Ayigbe biscuit
Madam
Lydia Mensah, a baker, described the biscuit. “It is simply made of cassava
starch, coconut, sugar, salt and water.” She said aside the ingredients, one
needs equipment such as baking sheets and oven (ekpo in Ewe).
“The
Ayigbe biscuit ‘perfumed’ of these ingredients used for baking, distinguishes
it from the cream crackers and the digestives.” The baking of the biscuit goes
through a similar process of baking bread. But unlike bread baking where nut
milk is (mostly) added for taste, the Ayigbe biscuit mixes a milled coconut dour
with the mixture of the cassava starch and the other ingredients for a good
taste.
The
biscuit is brown in colour with a unique design on one of its sides. The design
made with a special stamp (laku in Ewe) brands the biscuit from the rest on the
market.
Although
it comes with no branded package, it advertises itself in the white and
transparent rubber in which it is packed for sale. If you care to know whether
a package of the biscuit can replace your bowl of banku, just chance on one. A
package of the Ayigbe has a well arranged twenty four pieces of the biscuit.
Madam
Lydia said a package cost GH₵2. As cheap as it is, I guess you will take your swag to the next level by grabbing a chilled bottle of the Coca Colas or the
Alvaros with it.
In
a day, a house in Agbozume that manufactures the Ayigbe biscuit sells not less
GH₵200. With the little effort of not remaining adamant in life, the
Abogzumenians are really fending for themselves of the biscuit’s proceeds.
Yes we can
Nelson
Mandiba Mandela was not an inch from the truth when he asserted, “It always
seems impossible until it is done.” In the movie, Akeela and the Bee, Little
Akeela reiterated Mandiba’s words by telling us that we can do it in life if we
will take the impossibility lens we wear off. “Our deepest fear is that we are
powerful beyond measure,” she said.
The
success story of Agbozume’s Ayigbe biscuit may be as short as a lady’s skirt,
but, this “skirt” is long enough to cover this “lady’s” essentials. With
determination, perseverance and the zeal to succeed, Edze’s introduction of
bakery to Agbozume has been given a new breath since 1907.
It
tells us as a nation that if we will put a stop to holding cups in our hands
tightly like a relay button for loans, we will indeed be the gate way to West
Africa.
It
is pity how a nation like Ghana responds to developmental issues. Our actions
and inactions depict that we do not bestow confidence in Obama’s yes we can in
our very citizens.
We
relegate innovative minds like the Kantankas to the background. We call what
they do that could uplift our nation re-engineering. From managing our natural
resources to building our human capability, we consult the oracle of the man
who came from beyond the horizon. Like Desmond Tutu once said, “When the
missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said
‘Let us pray.” We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they
had the land.” Indeed, of the white man’s deceit, we fail to recognise that
“yes we can.”
“The
Ayigbe biscuit,” Madam Lydia said, “has become a delicacy in and across the
shores of Ghana.” If we will believe that our little effort as a nation will
push us forward, we can turn our impossibilities to possibilities.
The
Ayigbe biscuit, for instance, needs a push to as well compete with the cream
crackers and the digestives.
Whereas the government
is called upon to rethink of helping support the initiatives of our local
folks, individuals and stakeholders must also come in. These agencies should take
it upon themselves to donating and supporting initiatives that have the
potential of raising the bar of our economy.
The Ayigbe biscuit
aside the people employed in the manufacturing process, it offers employment to
retailers in and around Agbozume.
Helen Keller, the
leader of the blind, says “life is a daring adventure or nothing.” In daring in
life, we must keep behind our ‘coconut’ that for the success story of the
Ayigbe biscuit, we can do more than we have ever thought.
Long live the Ayigbe
biscuit, long live the can do spirit within.
The
writer is student-journalist at the Ghana Institute of Journalism
No comments:
Post a Comment