Bissa across the world have been urged to grab a copy of a newly-published book that tells a lot about Bissa history.
It comes just a month after the author Samuel Dubinyale Braimah released the read-worthy book into both the local and international market, making it possible for everyone to own a copy.
Titled the “GOLDEN FOOTPRINTS: Memoirs of an African Development worker”, the book documents Dubinyale’s background and childhood experiences as well as memoirs of his work at the top level in the NGO community across Africa.
With an exciting story to read and traditions to remember, the publication includes narratives of divine interventions in author’s life as the he takes the all the opportunities available to document a lot on Bissa culture.
In gaining an informational advantage and achieving self-admiration for one’s ethnicity, Mr Braimah believes his book has a lot to offer to Bissas and the world at large.
He said he felt alarmed by the distortion of facts about Bissa history, urging other Bissa writers to come onboard.
“It is about time Bissa authors found some place among authors in general,” he said.
“The culture of passing down historical information via the oral tradition has hurt us Bissas as a community.
“There is a saying that ‘if the lion could write history, the hunter would never emerge as a hero all the time’.
“The more we allow other people to write about our tradition for us the more our tradition gets distorted. The more we continue to hand down our culture and traditional practices orally to succeeding generations without anything written down by our people the more our culture and traditions get distorted.”
About the Book
The most valuable aspect of the book is the background and childhood experiences that are rooted in Bissa culture and tradition. It is a huge opportunity for the Bissa community to have this book as resource material for ourselves, our children, grandchildren and future generations. Specific areas that focus on Bissa culture and traditions can be found in Chapters 1, 6, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14.
Chapter 1 talks about the concept of seasons in northern Ghana but specifically developed around Bissa tradition. Should Bissas just allow visitors from outside our community to tell is that there are only two seasons in our hometown when in reality our narratives specify 5 clear seasons? What are the names of our seasons? No matter how climate change affects the beginning and end of each of our seasons there is always a planting season, a season for managing weeds, a harvesting season, a cold dry season and a warm dry season and these have distinct names in Bissa. This documentation will remain in your bookshelf for several generations and when the terms seem to disappear particularly in urban communities, somebody can refer to them in 50 to 100 years time and tell the Bissa story.
Chapter 6 describes the process of weaving the cloth used to make the smock. It includes the Bissa names of the tools used in the whole process including photos. Why are we not documenting and owning these things?
Chapters 4, 5, 7 and 8 are narratives of the authors evolution in education. This narrative goes beyond Dubinyale’s experiences and is actually representative of what people of northern dissent went through in trying to get educated. It provides an interesting narrative from which current and future generations can learn.
Chapter 9 describes the Normal village life of a Bissa child that teaches him to imbibe the principles of service and purposeful living. A lot of this narrative is still real in rural communities. We need to give children growing up in the cities and future generations an opportunity to read these things. It may give our children and future generations the motivation to aim higher, knowing that earlier generations have accomplished big targets with less opportunities more difficult hindrances and obstacles.
Chapter 11 Describes how the author evolved from using Bissa musical instruments to the use of modern instruments such as the keyboard.
Chapter 12 describe the various grains used by the Bissa such as Millet, and the different varieties of sorghum, et cetera and the challenge posed by the disappearance of these grains that are being replaced by maize. It also describes research work by scientists of the Savannah Agricultural Research Institute who are working to ensure the improvement and preservation of these grains. The same chapter describes a plethora of Bissa Foods.
Chapter 13 is about valuable fruit trees such as the baobab, the shea, the dawadawa the tamarind trees including details of their Bissa and botanical names and what the fruits and various components of the tree are used for by our people.
Part 2 of the book is about the author’s work experiences in economic and social development narrated from four different countries including Ghana, the Republic of Niger, Burundi and South Africa. Specific areas include responses to HIV and AIDS, carrying out development in the context of conflict, the climate change debate, governance, strategic planning, food security and emergency response.
Part 3 documents what the author calls divine interventions. This includes accidents and dramatic situations of survival including the last chapter entitled ‘alive to tell a story’.
At the end of the book, all the Bissa words that were used in it are collected into Bissa-English glossary. This is most likely the only published book where one can find such a glossary.
How to get copies
Vidya Bookstore on Oxford Street, Osu. In ACCRA.
Booknook.store, an online bookshop that distributes books worldwide.
Assemblies of God Bookshop in Accra, Koforidua, Kumasi, Takoradi, Sunyani, Ho and Tamale.
Directly from the author by sending a message or calling Telephone +233 24196 9111 or sending an email to sdbraimah@gmail.com
The eBook is available online on Amazon and smashwords. The links for access to the e-book are given below.
https://www.amazon.com/GOLDEN-FOOTPRINTS-Memoirs-African-Development-ebook/dp/B09T3QQC6J
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