‘My Fuugu stole the show in Midrand’

July 18, 2024

3 minutes read

• The writer with President of PAP, Mr Churambira

It was half past 10 p.m. in South Africa, two hours ahead of Ghana, our South Africa-based Ghanaian host dropped my colleague from Ghana and another from Lesotho, at our apartment at Air Goes in Midrand, after a long drive to an eatery at Montecasino, South Africa’s most popular hangout, that attracts 9.3 million visitors.

The weather was very cold and temperature was around 10 degrees Celsius, I was almost frozen and worn out from the long-day coverage of the closing sitting of the Pan-African Parliament (PAP), and the late evening outing.

I was in a hurry to jump on to my bed to rest the body and, then a neighbour from another apartment, as if he had laid ambush for me, beckoned me, and said he was attracted to my Fuugu (smock).

“Hey, I like your attire, you see my wife at the door, she also admires it, I need it, I’m prepared to pay for it and take it away from you,” he said as he approached me with seriousness.

I did not know what to tell him, I was rather in a hurry to enter my room to warm up myself, then my colleague interjected and told the man that we will get him one the next time we come back to South Africa, since we were preparing to check out to Ghana the next morning.

“No, I want this one now!!” he insisted. At this time, he realised I was getting frozen from the rising cold temperature, so he let me go to my apartment, perhaps to catch me up again the next day.

The next day, we checked out of the apartment at the blindside of my neighbour to the airport, en route back to Ghana, after we completed our assignment of covering the two-week sitting of the PAP (June 23-July 5), lest the “Fuugu-mania” might “strip” me of the traditional Ghanaian apparel which has gained international adoration.

Earlier at the Montecasino, where our good friend took us to cool off after a long-day coverage of the sitting of the PAP, a lady who was hanging out with her boyfriend, suddenly turned her attention to my Fuugu and with an infectious smile said “I like your attire, so nice.”

“It’s beautiful, it is so nice, I like the colour of your attire!!” were the common remarks showered on me by the admirers of my smock which I wore often, right from the day I arrived at the Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg, to the Hotel Inani at Gallagher Convention Centre, South Africa’s premier event centre, the vicinity of which locates the Pan African Parliament, to the Air Goes Apartment, owned by a South African couple, both in their 70s, who had a sojourn in Ghana in the mid-90s, while working for an airline.

It was an opportunity to me to explain to them to appreciate that the Fuugu means a lot to us as Ghanaians; it gives us a sense of cultural identity and unite us in our diversity, and very significantly, our forebears, led by our first President, Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah wore the smoke to declare our Independence from British colonial administration on March 6, 1957 at the Old Polo Ground, now Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Park.

I felt proud that my national attire gets recognized and admired internationally. It was a good time to be a Ghanaian, despite the economic challenges.

I requested for a pose with the President of the PAP, Honourable Chief Fortune Zephania Churambira, after the adjournment of the Third Ordinary Session of the Parliament, and he gladly agreed to take a picture with me, except to say that he missed the opportunity to match me with his Togolese version of my attire.

“Your attire looks nice, I also have one from Togo, if I knew I would have a picture with you, I would have worn mine too, it’s immaculate, it’s from Togo,” Honourable Churambira, the Zimbabwean Senator told me.

I felt very proud being a Ghanaian in another country. I felt very valued and cherished in my traditional apparel which originates from the north but has taken a national acceptance and adoration, as many Ghanaians from various persuasion, ethnicity and cultural background patronise and adorn it for various functions.

I’m unable to globetrot to promote made-in-Ghana cultural products, but as we pursue economic diplomacy, our frontline officers in missions abroad would do that to their best, by organising Kente and Smock fairs in the missions, especially during national days like the Independence Day celebrations.

The Fuugu is a foreign exchange earner, like my aficionada in Midrand who was prepared to buy it at any amount!

At least, I felt honoured to play a dual role while in South Africa for an official assignment with the PAP, and at the same time served as a self-acclaimed Ghana’s Fuugu Ambassador in Midrand.

BY ALHAJI SALIFU ABDUL-RAHAMAN