Events (since 2003)

The “Events" will comprise all available events in the Bulsa District, about the Bulsa in Ghana and abroad etc. that have not yet been published in Buluk 3 (sources: Danlardy Leander Amoak, Ghana Homepage [GHP] and other websites, personal communication).

2003

(no date) 2003: A Jesus film in Buli was launched as part of a mission program of the CMRF (Christian Missions Resource Foundation). (www.africachristianmission.com/commdev.htm)

(no date) A new well in Sandema-Kalijiisa was dedicated by Pam Moon (SIL, US). Before this, women had to walk several miles in the dry season. "Now our wives will no longer leave us" exclaimed some Kalijiisa men.

February: Public holiday for workers and school children to enjoy the Muslim Idin Ida festival.

April 20th: Wiaga (Easter Sunday): Begin of the Seven Day Diamond Jubilee activities at the Catholic church of Wiaga (see also paper by Melanie Akankyalabey and others)

May 11th: Film show in Wiaga (Goansa) to inform people about Family Planning

June 17th: The World Desertification and Drought Day was held in Sandema (national level). Theme: "Protect your your water basins - time to act". Speakers were the U.E. Reg. Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, The Bulsa District Chief Executive (DCE), Rev. James Agalic and Naab Ayieta Azantinlo, the Paramount Chief of the Bulsa Traditional Area.

July 7th: Marathon Athletic Competition from Kasiesa to Wiaga for Bulsa boys and girls (under 14).

September 30th: (GHP) Two teachers from the Sandema Senior Secondary / Technical School were placed in police custody over the death of a student of the school.

October: A new book with several chapters on the Bulsa (migration, ancestors, death in Bulsa Folktales) appeared on the book-market: Ghana's North. Research on Culture, Religion, and Politics of Societies in Transition (ed. Franz Kröger and Barbara Meier), Frankfurt et al.: Peter Lang Verlag. -- Seventeen Ghanaian, American, British and German authors contributed articles on various subjects and ethnic groups (reviewed in this issue by Andrea Herbert).

October 11th: Margaret Lariba Arnheim (from Gbedema) is handed medicine worth about 6000 Euro. It was donated and collected by the Social Democrats of Burgsteinfurt (Germany). In January 2004 she transported it to Ghana and handed it over to a representative of the Christian Medical Missions Resource Foundation (CMMRF), an NGO that helps needy people in villages including the Bulsa District.

November 30th: Dedication of the new chapel of "Restoration Power", a protestant church, in Wiaga

December 8th: (GHP) Inauguration of a 768-line telephone exchange at Navrongo. ..."Kanjaga in the Bulsa District would be connected to the system by radio".

2004

January - March: Jay Moon (USA) spent 8 weeks in the Bulsa area (mainly in Fumbisi)...

January According to an article in the Daily Graphic (January 17) Mrs Margaret Lariba Arnheim presented three sewing machines to Madam Anbaganya of the Ministry for Employment and Manpower Development. The machines are a donation from Women Helping Women, an NGO within the Catholic Diocese of MÜnster. This German Diocese cherishes a partnership with the Tamale Ecclesiastical Province, comprising the Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions. The sewing machines have been given to the Sandema Secondary Technical School, Sandema Youth Leadership Institute and Fumbisi Secondary School.

January 21st: (GHP) The Bulsa District Assembly last year collected a total of 250 million cedis from its local revenue sources, exceeding the target by 81 million cedis. Part of this was spent on social infrastructure in the areas of health, education and local government. Rev. James Agalic, the District Chief Executive, said... in addition to the renovation of some schools 45 additional classrooms were built in selected schools providing 2,250 pupils with decent classrooms.... Rev. Agalik expressed concern at the poor state of telephone services in the district and appealed to Ghana Telecom (GT) to give some attention to the district.

January 30th: (GHP) UNICEF presented learning materials and 10 million cedis to 50 brilliant but needy girls at Sandema to continue their education. The beneficiaries, who were selected from some junior secondary schools in the district, received books, a mathematical set, pens, a school uniform, footwear, a school bag and 60,000 cedis each.

May 21st: (GHP) Sandema. The Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mahami Salifu, on Wednesday advised the youth of Builsa to emulate the shining examples of their forefathers by being disciplined and hardworking. Mr Salifu gave the advice at the 92nd memorial service of the late Nab Ayieta Apoeteba, father of Nab Ayieta Azantilow, Paramount Chief of the Builsa Traditional area at Sandema.

May 24th: (GHP) Bolgatanga. Payment of school fees at the basic level has been abolished in forty deprived districts throughout the country... Mr Nayembil [the acting Bolgatanga Municipal Director of Education] said most of the beneficiary districts are in the three Northern Regions, including the Bolgatanga, Bong, and Builsa Districts in the Upper East Regions...

June 4th: On the occasion of a flea-market organised by the Social Democrats of Burgsteinfurt (Germany) Margaret Arnheim was handed again four cartons of medicine and glasses worth several thousands of Euros. Also the net profits of the flea-market were donated for the Ghana project (see October 11, 2003 and the corresponding article).

June 6th (GHP) Fumbisi. Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama at the weekend announced 3.9 billion cedis credit facility to be sourced by farmers in The Builsa and Kassena-Nankana Districts to improve food production. Other incentives accompanying the facility are the construction of four irrigation dams and the rehabilitation of existing ones in the Builsa District to encourage dry-season farming and also check the migration of the youth to southern Ghana in search of menial jobs. The road networks in the area would also be rehabilitated to ensure smooth transportation of food crops from the farms to the market centres...

He [the Vice President] charged the DCE to ensure the speedy completion of the Traditional Council buildings and also pledged to “call to order” the contractor working on the Chuchuliga-Wiaga road to speed up work. Vice President Mahama said the Government was considering the upgrading of the Sandema Health Centre into a District Hospital status, adding that the Sandema Secondary Technical School would be among the next batch of schools to be upgrade to a well-endowed status, which would have a computer resource laboratory.

June 6th Bulsa teachers demonstrated with placards and in red T-shirts against regulations of the pension scheme.

June 14th (GHP) Fumbisi. The Fumbisi Senior Secondary School... is saddled by numerous problems and requires immediate government support. The school, which is agricultural science bias in view of the high agricultural potentials of the area, has been recording low enrolment in recent years because of inadequate qualified teachers, low morale of staff and the lack of infrastructure.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Roger Regis Abapol said this in an interview with the GNA at Fumbisi atm the weekend. He said the science laboratory that was awarded on contract for furnishing to Benburto Enterprise Limited, an Accra-based construction, has come to a standstill.

He also said work on two staff quarters that had reached roofing level have also been abandoned since 1999, which the school lacked a reliable means of transport...

July 1st (GHP) Ghana Telecom (GT) is to expand its services to cover Gongo, Sandema and Bawku West Districts in the Upper East Region. By December this year, the three Districts would be hooked to a Broad Band Access Network (BBAN) with 256 lines each. Alhaji Musah Awudu, Upper East Region Head of GT... announced this... at a press conference in Bolgatanga.

August 21st: The Muslim group of Wiaga broke down the mud walls of their mosque and began building a new one. Joined to the mosque will be an Islamic School with three classrooms. (See also article on the Bulsa Muslim Community in this issue of BULUK).

September - December: Exhibition of “Rituals of Health” in Bremen, Germany (see short article in this issue of BULUK).

October - November: As part of the election campaign for the December 7th parliamentary and presidential election several politicians of high rank visited the Bulsa area (see article on the election)

December 7th: Parliamentary and Presidential Elections in the whole of Ghana (candidates and results see special article)

December 18th: Fiok-Festival at Sandema

2005

January 14th - March 8th: Franz Kröger (University of Münster, Germany) spent two months among the Bulsa (Anyenangdu Yeri, Wiaga-Sinyangsa) doing research on various subjects (earth-cult, funerals, history). On February 27 he was joined by Miriam Grabenheinrich (University of Münster and WDR-Television Bielefeld) and Oliver Kampann (WDR-Television Bielefeld) who shoot several films on Bulsa life and culture (see article in this issue of Buluk).

February 26th: A communication centre (with a telephone connection) was established in Wiaga-Goansa. Mobile telephone connections were possible before this date, but a good reception was only possible at certain spots of the village. After Sandema the Wiaga Communication Centre is the second within the Bulsa area.

May 4th: A film on the Bulsa (Kulturwandel in Afrika - Die Bulsa in Ghana; Cultural Change in Africa - The Bulsa of Ghana) was shown on the German TV (Hessischer Rundfunk). Producers were Miriam Grabenheinrich (author) and Oliver Kampmann (camera). A second film on the Bulsa (also as an introduction to the Bulsa exhibition) was shown on June 29 (see also “January 14th”, “June 30th” and the article in this issue of BULUK).

June 30th: An exhibition of Bulsa culture was opened at Münster (Naturkunde Museum). It can be visited until December 31, 2005 (see article in this issue of BULUK).