Fao Kuri festival health walk held in Kassena-Nankana

The people and chiefs of Manyoro in the Kassena-Nankana East Municipality of the Upper East Region held their annual Fao Kuri Festival Health Walk over the weekend.

The health walk, the third in the series, saw participants walk from the palace of the overlord of Manyoro through Natugnia to the palace of the paramount chief of Sirigu in the Kassena-Nankana West District of the Upper East Region of Ghana.

Senior citizens who defied the chilly weather conditions and participated in the health walk were Azakem Wembi, from Yiakolo community, Kwowujei Kadunga from Dambisi community, Nyaba Adata from Gware community; and Robert Awolugutu, a retired prison officer from the Wura community.

Spinners mounted on a truck with loudspeakers provided music for the participants, who took advantage of it to dance and socialise. The songs mostly praise the overlord of the Manyoro traditional area, His Royal Highness, Pe Dr. Pakweaa Atudiwe Atudipaare Manchi III, for his exemplary and progressive leadership.

Asked about the significance of the health walk, the overlord of the Manyoro traditional area, who is also a law lecturer at the University of Ghana, Legon, said, “The health walk is important because a healthy mind lies in a healthy body. It’s also meant to engender some kind of exercise or fitness culture among the youth, the elderly, women, and children to ensure that the people stay mentally and physically great to do their work”.

He further explained that “Modern medicine supports the view that exercise promotes health and longevity.”

Mr. Denis Kwopia Yawulga, secretary to the overlord of Manyoro was impressed with the larger number of people who turned out for the health walk and urged the people to close their ranks and forge a united front for the accelerated development of the area. “All hands must be on deck,” he said.

The fitness walk to the Sirigu paramountcy took two hours. At the forecourt of the palace of the Sirigu paramount chief, there was a short display of some of the cultural and traditional practices of the Manyoro people by the female participants, which drew admiration, laughter, and cheers from curious onlookers.

The palace authorities in Sirigu welcomed the Health Walk group and provided water for participants to quench their thirst after covering a distance of about six kilometres.

Pe Jantiti Wasajei, chief of Wura who was mandated to speak on behalf of the group, said the visit to the Sirigu paramount chief’s palace was to strengthen the existing bonds of friendship and cooperation between their people and also to honour the paramount chief, His Royal Highness Naa Atogumdeya Rowland Akwara III for being the first to initiate such a health walk in that part of the Kassena –Nankana Municipality.

“We are in no way competing with the Sirigu paramountcy. We embraced and replicated his health walk idea because of its benefits”, he said.

The palace authorities in Sirigu lamented that they could not give a better treatment as they would have wished because they were not privy to the visit by the health walk group from Manyoro. They prayed for a safe return to Manyoro.

The health walk exercise precedes the Fao Kuri festival, which will be commemorated on the 27^th of December, 2023 to honour our ancestors for their sacrifices and blessings as well as thank the gods of the land for a bountiful harvest.