Is Face Of Dodowa Really Promoting The Shai Land?

FACE of Dodowa is one of the numerous programs design to project the image of the people of Shai-Osudoku during the annual Ngmayem festival at the Dodowa forest Hotel. The program has become an annual celebration since its inception but the program is an embarrassment to the people of Shai.

The leaders of Shai, parents and all love ones are all invited to be part of the annual eventsbut most of the girls cannot even express themselves on stage and some due to the crowd they came across. Now my question is “Is Face of Dodowa really championing the cause? It was really embarrassing to see the ladies who cannot even express themselves on stage.

It was really embarrassing. It seems the main aim of organizing such a program for the organizers is the returns they will make atthe end of the program but not to project the image of the people of Shai-Osudoku and I was right as I was walking through the town during the festival celebration I came across some of the organizers furiously angry with the organizers of the Green FM street carnival.

I heard some of them complaining bitterly about the program and some were saying the organizers of Green FM program wanted to sabotage their program and there I drew the conclusion that these people are only interested in their stomach and not to project the image of Shai. Anyway, Green FM gave the people of Shai a good street carnival and made the festival a beautiful one indeed for the very first time!

In fact many people who paid the seven Ghana cedis to watch the program only enjoyed the live band at the forest Hotel and not the Face of Dodowa but do the organizers themselves understand the meaning of the word 'FACE'. Let look at the word face from Wikipedia.

The face is a central organ of sense and is also very central in the expression of emotion among humans and among numerous other species. The face is normally found on the anterior (frontal, rostral) surface of the head of animals or humans, although not all animals have faces. The face is crucial for human identity and damage such as scarring or developmental deformities have effects stretching beyond those of solely physical inconvenience.

Faces are essential to expressing emotion, consciously or unconsciously. A frown denotes disapproval; a smile usually means someone is pleased. Being able to read emotion in another's face is "the fundamental basis for empathy and the ability to interpret a person's reactions and predict the probability of ensuing behaviors". One study used the Multimodal Emotion Recognition Test to attempt to determine how to measure emotion. This research aimed at using a measuring device to accomplish what people do so easily everyday: read emotion in a face.

People are also relatively good at determining if a smile is real or fake. A recent study looked at individuals judging forced and genuine smiles. While young and elderly participants equally could tell the difference for smiling young people, the "older adult participant's outperformed young adult participants in distinguishing between posed and spontaneous smiles". This suggests that with experience and age, we become more accurate at perceiving true emotions across various age groups.

Gestalt psychologists theorize that a face is not merely a set of facial features, but is rather something meaningful in its form. This is consistent with the Gestalt theory that an image is seen in its entirety, not by its individual parts. According to Gary L. Allen, people adapted to respond more to faces during evolution as the natural result of being a social species.

Allen suggests that the purpose of recognizing faces has its roots in the "parent-infant attraction, a quick and low-effort means by which parents and infants form an internal representation of each other, reducing the likelihood that the parent will abandon his or her offspring because of recognition failure". Allen's work takes a psychological perspective that combines evolutionary theories with Gestalt psychology.

In Metaphor by extension, anything which is the forward or world facing part of a system which has internal structure is considered its "face", like the façade of a building. For example a public relations or press officer might be called the "face" of the organization he or she represents. "Face" is also used metaphorically in a sociological context to refer to reputation or standing in society, particularly Chinese society, and is spoken of as a resource which can be won or lost. Because of the association with individuality, the anonymous person is sometimes referred to as "faceless".

So from all indications what do the organizers want to champion with the face of Dodowa? Money or promote Shai? This is the question I believe we must all ask the organizers. The organizers must sit up and not to use the program as money making venture! Many people also question the basis for selecting the girls!

When I question this on face book “Is Face of Dodowa really championing the cause? It was really embarrassing to see the ladies who cannot even express themselves on stage. The organizers must sit up and not to use the program as money making venture! Many people gave their opinion for instance, Evans said, yes - i totally agreed with you. I don't even know the criteria they used to select the ladies.

SylvanusSeshie : It is very very embarrassing. They must sit up!

David Kwaku : how could they do such a thing to embarrass Dodowa land . If i may ask what bases did they use for the selection?

Evans Obu #Sly - I think the planning committee for the festival should take holistic view about that segment since it's used to promote our culture and stop those individuals who used their personal interest to organized the program and to disgrace the Shai state. It is time as a concern citizens we should petition the leaders for them to do something about it.

The organizers must seek for advice on organizing such an event. Ghana Most beautiful is a reality show that promotes Ghana's national unity amongst the unique regions, its people, their culture and values of Ghana through the eyes of ten (10) beautiful women from the various regions.

Week by week, these beautiful, talented women must show the nation something new from their region and after three (3) months, the most beautiful in knowledge, moral values and good upbringing in the ways of her people is crowned Ghana's Most Beautiful.

Some shows like Miss Malaika has requirements for entry .In their requirement the pageant is open to single females between the ages of 18 and 26. Hopeful contestants need to be a size 10 and 14 and must be of "African" origin. Other requirements are that the ladies are high school graduates, have no breast implants and no height restrictions. The organizers of the face of Dodowamust look at their priorities and tell us their selection criteria even the judges were all disappointed during the programs, italso tells the people of Shai-Osudoku to take their education seriously and the leaders and Shai-Traditional Council should also sit up.

Whoever won on the day from the definition of the word face and the organizers must know where the falls and the good people of Shai-Osudokustart giving your accounts! God bless Shai-Osudoku and we shall get there one day!

Raphael Nyarkotey Obu: ND

The writer is a registered Naturopathic doctor &Prostate cancer specialist (TAP00396) MSc Prostate Cancer-Sheffield Hallam University, UK

CEO De Men's Clinic& Prostate Research Lab& Men's Health Foundation Ghana-Dodowa . President Dangme Youth Awake Network

Tel: 0541090045. E.mail:[email protected]