Avatime, Sideme in Ghana

People Name:	Avatime, Sideme
Country:	Ghana
10/40 Window:	No
Population:	34,000
World Population:	34,000
Primary Language:	Avatime
Primary Religion:	Christianity
Christian Adherents:	90.00 %
Evangelicals:	21.00 %
Scripture:	New Testament
Online Audio NT:	Yes
Jesus Film:	No
Audio Recordings:	Yes
People Cluster:	Guinean
Affinity Bloc:	Sub-Saharan Peoples
Progress Level:

Introduction / History

The Kedeane people (called Avatime by outsiders) are a hard working group who take great pride in their houses and gardens. Their neat gardens are enclosed by bamboo fences and their houses are rectangular in shape, built from clay bricks and covered with zinc roofs. The area is hilly and the towns are surrounded by luscious rain-forests. Vegetation is abundant and annual rainfall high.

Despite the abundant greenness of the area, farming is not easy, especially in Amedzofe, where the soil is subject to erosion and the fields may be located at a great distance from town. The people grow a variety of crops and are always ready to experiment with new cultures. The main crops include cassava, yams, beans, cocoyams, rice and plantains. Tea, coffee and cocoa are also being cultivated. The gardens yield various fruits and vegetables, such as ocra, tomatoes, avocados, bananas, papaya, palm nut and green leaves, which all contribute to a varied and healthy diet.

Amedzofe developed at the foot of Mt. Gemi (800m), a bald hill crowned by the metal cross, which was erected in 1939 in commemoration of the 50th jubilee of the Bremen Mission's involvement in the area. Amedzofe and the other eight Kedeane towns can look back on more than a century of missionary involvement. The labor of pioneer missionaries with the ready collaboration of the local population has yielded various educational institutions and a clinic, both of which the town is known for in the whole region and even internationally. Amedzofe and the Kedeane area have a rich cultural life in which Christian as well as traditional factors take their place.

In the 14th century, the Kedeane people lived in an area in today's Benin and later became part of the Ahanta ethnic group in today's Ghana, only to migrate back west again, to ultimately settle in their present location in the Volta Region. During these various migrations they shifted their subsistence from hunting to fishing and ultimately to agriculture.