The concept of a poetry slam was completely new to the students from four Senior High Schools in the Western Region who attended a workshop on the topic on March 23 at the Regional Library.
This year's World Poetry Day was the impetus for the day's workshop. Although they were familiar with poetry and the general dynamics of it through English Literature classes, the students were unaware of the concept.
The students took a plunge into that exciting world of words on March 24 after sessions that introduced them to the global and Ghanaian slam frontiers, the rules that govern slams, and how to generate appreciable ideas as slammers. There were three rounds of presentations from each school, and Saint John's School came out on top, receiving GHC1000, a plaque, and T-shirts at the conclusion of the proceedings. Takoradi Senior High School, Fijai Senior High School, and Archbishop Porter Girl's Secondary School came in third and fourth, respectively.
The Verse Hammer Contest for SHS in the Western Locale fell off through a coordinated effort between the Ehalakasa expressed word development and the Goethe-Institut in organization with the Ghana Library Board's Western Provincial Library and the Ghana Schooling Administration (GES).
The Ehalakasa movement has collaborated with the Goethe-Institut Library on an annual slam competition for senior high schools for the past six years to commemorate World Poetry Day.
The whole idea is to educate students about poetry slams and how they can become part of the ever-expanding slam community after school. The Goethe-Institut quickly accepted our pitch for the idea.
Sir Black, a prominent Ehalakasa member, stated, "So the Goethe-Institut Library gets in touch with the regional libraries and partners with them to bring GES on board to get the schools for us to work with." He was the primary instructor at the Western Region workshop, assisted by two spoken word artists from Takoradi: Matthew Mawuenyegah Komi Sabah, also known as SabWay, and Marian Debrah, also known as Poetra Debrah, say, "We have so far been to the Volta, Northern, Ashanti, Upper West, and Western regions, and we have also held sessions at the premises of the Goethe-Institute in Accra." Everybody in question acknowledges it is a decent endeavor as it is assisting youngsters with improving their imaginative capacities," Sir Dark added.
As part of the German cultural institute's Moving Ghana Project, which provides travel grants to artists and cultural workers traveling within Africa for conferences, workshops, and festivals, the Goethe-Institute supported Ehalakasa for the Poetry Slam Competition for SHS in the Western Region.