Our Story
How it started
SWOPA was conceived and started under the visionary leadership of Melanie Kasise in 1997 as a vehicle of empowering the women of Sirigu in improving the quality of handicrafts and artworks, to enhance their incomes, and to preserve their traditional artforms and culture. SWOPA has received numerous national awards in the tourism sector and counts amongst its august visitors the then UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan.
Sirigu’s story is typical of farming villages in Northern Ghana; several years of intensive farming and poor rainfall has degraded the land to the extent that even subsistence farming is threatened. This is where the similarities end though; Sirigu village is also well known for its traditional architecture, basketry, pottery and wall designing. Faced with declining yields from farming, it became not only important to revive the traditional arts of the women of Sirigu but also to leverage it as an important source of income for the women for the upkeep of their families. Many children owe their education and healthcare to income generated from the handicrafts and traditional arts produced by the women of Sirigu.
Folklore
Our story is told through the motifs and symbolism of our artworks; whether wall decorations, canvass painting, or calabash decorations. Aside from their beautification purposes, all the motifs represent real events in the community. A complete wall decoration will usually have three main motifs; Akuyana-nii (Akuyana’s cattle), Zaalinga (calabashes in an intersected woven fibre), Aminziah Zuvaaka (Aminziah’s hat).
Akuyana-nii (Akuyana’s cattle);
Cows are symbols of wealth in our tradition. People respect a man with many cows. A man with many cows can marry as many wives as he desires for himself and his sons. This motif tells the story of Akunyana, a rich man in Genengu in Burkina Faso. He had a lot of cattle which usually stream out of the house in a queue, one following the other, with their calves by their sides to graze. The cows were so many, people in that community found it difficult counting them. Musicians composed music to praise him, and the wall designers of Sirigu artistically depicted this scene in their drawings calling it Akuyana-nii. This particular motif is usually on top of all other motifs.Zaalinga (calabashes in an intersected woven fibre);
Zaalinga symbolizes a set of calabashes in an intersected woven fiber hung in a lady’s room. It is the symbol of a responsible woman. The zaalinga contains a set of different- sized calabashes: big, medium and small. The various sizes are used for different purposes. The biggest of all are used as drums for drumming during a marital ceremony. The second biggest is used to serve water and food for a large group of people on the farm or at other large gatherings. The medium and small sizes are used to serve food or water. The Zaalinga can be found in the middle part of a wall decoration.Aminziah Zuvaaka (Aminziah’s hat);
This symbol tells a story about my uncle (in fact everybody’d uncle) who was a bald-headed man. He was almost all the time found with his hat on. One day his brothers’ wives were plastering a room and he came around and asked them about the meanings of the various symbols and they told him. When he came to this particular motif, the women teased him, saying it was his hat hence the motif was named Aminziah-zuvaaka. This motif is usually at the bottom of a wall decoration.Our Vision
Our vision is to be a community-based service provider for empowering women and their families in Sirigu. We provide a unique opportunity for women to come together to share and find solutions to common challenges, strengthen social ties, enhance our bargaining powers, improve on our skills in the production of quality canvass painting, basketware, pottery, and art, and in so doing improve our incomes.
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide services to the community to improve the social and educational position of women and the youth, to strengthen the traditional and cultural expressions and to develop and promote community-based products for local, national and foreign markets towards poverty reduction.
Partners
SWOPA is grateful to have partners who have been consistent in their support over the years. Among our many partners, special mention can be made of SPEED Ghana, a joint DANIDA and GTZ implementing organisation that facilitates the development of the financial market and business development services for Ghana's micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which contributes to their increased competitiveness. For more information on SPEED Ghana and our other partners, use the links below;