One of our visits this past weekend was to Kumasi, the capital city of Ghana’s Ashanti Region. One of the villages there specializes in Kente cloth weaving. I was so excited to see how they made Kente cloth, because I can’t believe how beautiful some of them are. They are so detailed too.

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After we got off the bus, I didn’t know what to expect. There were tons of children coming up to us, smiling and saying hello. Once we entered the building, we saw hundreds of different Kente cloths filled with patterns, multiple colors and some even had Adinkra Symbols on them.

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I was amazed at how detailed each one was. Each one was handwoven by someone and they all had their own meaning.

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After we all filed in, we watched as someone weaved part of a Kente cloth. I couldn’t believe how much concentration and skill it would take to create the perfect pattern.

There were so many Kente cloths to look at, all uniformly hanging on the wall. Each weaver showed us their talents as they held them up proudly, trying to get us to buy from them. I really wanted one even though I had already bought a few. So I tried my hand at bargaining… one turned into two and then at the end I had bought three.

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I am glad I bought some because I think that they hold a lot of meaning, especially if you give them as a gift to someone. The culture of the Kente cloth is very important to Ghanaians, because it’s their way of expressing their story to the world. Almost everyone got one and now we are all ready to show the world what our Kente cloths look like.