The 2026 Tanyigbe Annual Yam Festival of the Chiefs and people of Tanyigbe Traditional Area in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region has ended on a memorable note, with a family paying tribute to a man who carried an injured schoolmate home more than 56 years ago and the community celebrating the 100th birthday of Madam Flora Afua Abro.
The festival, which began with traditional rites to seek blessings for the community, its farmlands and rivers, featured several days of celebrations across the four towns of Tanyigbe before the observance day for the departed.
The opening rites included the ceremonial introduction of harvested yam tubers into the community by the Chief Lands Priest, known as Anyinuor, after which other community members followed suit.
On Saturday, September 26, indigenes gathered at their respective ancestral stool houses to offer traditional tributes to their ancestors and seek blessings for the new year. The festival also featured sports activities and free health screenings for locals.
One of the festival’s notable highlights was a special homage paid by the Ziadzi-Tawiah House of Tanyigbe Anyigbe to the Tatsyi-Gamese Family of the Vovoe Clan in Tanyigbe Etoe.
The gesture was inspired by a long-forgotten act of compassion recalled by the family following the death and burial of their elder, MacMicky Kudzo Hiadzi, also known as Fo Atawia-Kodzo, in July.
According to Hiadzi-Tawiah Dan, a member of the family based in Richmond, California, preparations for his late brother’s life history brought to light an incident from May 1970 involving a football match between pupils associated with Agasco Middle School and Tanyigbe Kpodzi LA Middle School.
During the match, Fo Atawia-Kodzo sustained a severe leg injury. Despite the rivalry between the schools, his schoolmate, Efo Vincent Gamese-Korsi, carried him on his back all the way to his home in Anyigbe.
The injury reportedly left Hiadzi with a permanent leg deformity.
Moved by the act of kindness, Mr Hiadzi-Tawiah Dan and Dziko-Kwame Akumah, a fellow member of the diaspora and friend of the late Hiadzi, proposed that Efo Gamese-Korsi be honoured for his selfless intervention.
The family subsequently travelled to Tanyigbe Etoe with gifts and traditional attire to pay homage to the elderly man, whom they described as a “One-Man Ambulance” for his extraordinary gesture.
The presentation, made in the presence of elders of the Vovoe Clan, reportedly left Mr Gamese-Korsi visibly surprised and touched.
He thanked the family, prayed for God’s abundant blessings upon them and asked that their expenses be replenished. He also encouraged residents of Tanyigbe to shun selfishness and emulate acts of kindness.
The festival concluded with celebrations marking the centenary of Madam Flora Afua Abro, who was born on August 13, 1926.
The celebrations, held from October 2 to 4, brought together her Akumah family, children, members of the Adeblevi, Kodivi and Vleevi clans, the Global Evangelical Church and traditional rulers.
The occasion attracted relatives and well-wishers from Akoefe, Tokokoe, Takla, Hordzo, Lume, Ho Bankoe and Ga Mashie, among other communities.
Madam Abro, also known as Kordzonor and the mother of 11 children, expressed gratitude to everyone who contributed to the celebration and wished them equally long and fulfilling lives.
The two occasions added a strong sense of family history, compassion and intergenerational connection to this year’s Tanyigbe Yam Festival.