A little bit of history for you . . .

The other night I had dinner with one of my counterparts and he asked me if I knew the story of how the Ewe people came to Togo. They story he precceded to tell me was very interesting so I thought I might share it with you.

The Ewe first came to Togo from Nigeria. They crossed through Benin and into Togo and settled in a town called Notse. The king at the time was a very cruel man and kept a tight hold on the people. To make sure no one could escape from his kingdom he forced the people to build a clay wall surrounding the entire area. The men who were instructed to build the wall were not allowed to use water to mix the clay. Instead the king put broken glass bottles in the dirt and made them walk over the dirt with their barefeet, thus making clay with their blood. There was only one entrace in the massive wall and that was gaurded at all times. The people, tired of the kings cruel regime, devised a plan to escape. All the women of the village were instructed to discard their water at the same spot along the clay wall. Overtime the water broke down the clay and created an exit. One night the men of the village decided to throw a party in honor of the king. During the festivities the women and children were instructed to escape out the exit. After the king went to sleep the men followed they women and exited through the whole in the wall. As they walked away they threw corn and rice on the road behind them to attract the birds. The mass amounts of birds eating the grains erased the villagers footprints in the sand and made it impossible for them to be followed. After that the people dispersed all along the Southern portion of Togo and Ghana.

So, thats a little bit of history for you. That same night I also found out that when a village Chief dies the nobles take the head of one of the men villagers and have to bury it before the bury the Chief. But don't worry my counterpart assured me that they no longer practice this in Koudassi. Although it does still happen in some of the smaller villages.