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SCOTT DICKENS
Photos: Scott Dickens
H
ave you ever dreamt of spending the afterlife buried in a giant shoe? Perhaps you’d prefer a luminous orange fish, or a miniature Boeing 767? I thought not. Nonetheless, those are just some of the infinite fantasy coffin options on offer in the Ghanaian suburb of Teshie; a mere 20-minute drive from the center of Ghana’s capital city, Accra. This small town has found itself at the center of Ghana’s custom coffin business. A place where the term “going out in style” takes on a whole new meaning! 18 | April 2021
Fantasy Coffins – An ‘Eternal’ Market Funerals in Ghana are not the somber, morbid affairs so many of us are used to. They are a celebration of life and a toast to the departed. With hundreds in attendance for even the most humble of events, and with costs stretching upwards of $25,000, Ghanaian funerals are also big business! On a recent trip to Accra I played witness to Ghana’s festival-like approach to death. Huge billboards announcing recent bereavements littered the walls and lampposts of Accra’s
suburbs. What appeared to be roadside celebrations featuring live DJs, dancing, an abundance of alcohol, and BBQs turned out to be the Ghanaian equivalent of a wake. But going beyond the common extravagance and pageantry of the event itself, one thing clearly stood out above all else; the tradition of what in Ghana are known as “Fantasy Coffins”. The trend for elaborate coffins can be traced back through several decades of Ga community tradition to a man better known as the founder of the custom coffin craft, Kane Kwei. The craftsmanship
behind the intricate designs, better known as Abebuu Adekai (“boxes with proverbs”) by the ethnic Ga, has since been passed down through generations of trained apprentices. Paa Joe, who is probably the most famous successor to Kane Kwei, has since toured the world exhibiting his designs. The UK’s Independent newspaper went as far as to describe him as the man who “puts the ‘fun’ back into funeral”. With Kane Kwei now laid to rest (no doubt in one of his own elaborate designs) a whole host of apprentice workshops can be found in Teshie.
As a result of what I can only describe as a classic case of morbid curiosity, on the second day of my visit to Accra I found myself sitting in the workshop of one of these very apprentices. While I gather that afterlife conversations are not usually the preferred vacation activity of the average tourist, I soon found myself engrossed in deep conversation on the finer points of coffin design, interior coffin linings and cost estimates (international clients like myself apparently pay more because they generally request higher quality materials). But my visit to Teshie, it
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Old Town Crier
