The Round-headed Wooden fertility doll, akua’ba, has strong cultural associations among the Asante people. Bought by fathers for their daughters and strapped to the backs of infertile women by priests it was thought to have magical properties.
But this doll is not in the city of Kumasi in the Asante region of Ghana, it is in the British Museum in London.
It is artefacts like this which Rosalind Kainyah, head of corporate social responsibility for Tullow Oil, wants to see exhibited in Ghana.
“It would be lovely to have pieces, just displayed on loan, which are in international museums. The British Museum and others have lots of Asante pieces. Many of which are not on display but packed away,” says Kainyah, who is Ghanaian.
Her dream could become a reality within a “couple” of years. Tullow hopes to fund the building of an Asante museum in Kumasi. The museum, a project of the Asante leader — Asantehene — in association with the British Museum, would hopefully attract tourists to Ghana.
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“If countries have an area of an economy that can grow then it is important that we help to stimulate it otherwise you have this complete over-dependence on the oil and gas industry and very high expectations. In Ghana for example — and to a certain extent Uganda — one of the areas which we think will help towards this economic diversification is tourism,” she said.
“We think one of the attractions should be to have museums which properly reflect the culture and traditions of the people and country.”
“Cultures underpinning those countries should be shown off to make the people in the country proud and to give people who visit, whether on business or pleasure, a deep understanding of the peoples in those countries and that you can do through the art and craft.”
To attract the pieces from international collections it desires though, the museum will need to be built to international standards and its curators rigorously trained.
“We want to help to set up the actual infrastructure and fund training for people to be able to make something sustainable in countries where it would be an income generator,’’ she said.
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“Tourism is far more labour intensive than oil and creates a lot more employment than the oil sector ever could and it is longer lasting than oil.”
Kainyah intends to roll her sleeves up and get involved. “We will be supportive in going around and asking for these artefacts to be shown off in the museum.”
The British Museum should expect a call.