Beautiful, serene, healing Tanyigbe

Tanyigbe in the Ho Municipality is, by all standards, a charming enclave.

The mountains and valleys, with the thick dense green vegetative cover hold first-time visitors in awe.

The people initially lived behind the mountains at what is now known as Gboxome. 

More than a century ago they decided to live by the roadside and so they moved over the mountains to their present location.

Tanyigbe has four main divisions – Anyigbe, Etoe, Atidze and Dzafe, all of which are kept spotlessly clean.

As a result of the strong influence of the German missionaries who established the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, the people of Tanyigbe were highly educated.

Tanyigbe has over the decades, produced lawyers, doctors, teachers, engineers, army officers, pharmacists, court registrars and many men and women of substance for the country.

The clean road running through the various divisions and the meeting squares with shades from trees with wide-spreading branches are among the delightful features of Tanyigbe, likewise the unpolluted air emanating from the trees.

Driving up the mountains towards the Atidze direction, one is held captive by the thrilling landscape and panoramic view of the other communities.
A police station is absent in Tanyigbe, and so is crime.

“Anyone who comes to Tanyigbe with a criminal motive will incur the wrath of the ancestors of the land,” the Clan Chief of Tanyigbe-Anyigbe, Togbe Eblu Ketteh I, said.

He told the Daily Graphic during a tour of Tanyigbe on Friday, November 15, that the people of Tanyigbe live in peace and also live in peace with their neighbours from time immemorial; because many years ago, one of the powerful chiefs made it clear he preferred peace to war.

The landmark features in today’s Tanyigbe include a big chapel of the E.P. Church, Ghana, the Tanyigbe Senior High School, a clinic, the Roman Catholic Church, A.M.E Zion Church and other churches.

Tanyigbe also has four primary schools and junior high schools.

Some natural endowments in Tanyigbe are the several clean streams, including Droga, Nuzi and Agbi, which make up for the erratic pipe-borne water supply. The streams never dry up in the lean season.

Bountiful harvest

Meanwhile, no one goes hungry in Tanyigbe, as the rich soils ensure bountiful yields of cassava, yam, maize and vegetables.

Togbe Kodi Adiko VI, Fiaga of Tanyigbe

The excess foodstuffs are sold in the nearby Ho market.

It is striking to realise that the people of Tanyigbe are all friendly, and the women are all exceptionally beautiful.

Remarkably, almost everyone in Tanyigbe is educated.

Currently, the Fiaga of Tanyigbe, Togbe Kodi Adiko VI, is the Chairman of the Norvisi Development Union (NorDu), a unification of 10 communities in the Ho Municipality, with a common purpose to promote peace and development in their domains.

Tanyigbe hosted this year’s NorDu festival, which was rounded off with a grand durbar on Saturday, November 30, at the main compound, known as Kpodzi.

As a prelude to the durbar, a leadership seminar was held by the NorDu communities in Ho.

There, Togbe Adiko reiterated that greater zeal and enthusiasm would be committed to the development of digital skills training for the youth.

The NorDu communities include Nyive, Avee, Hodzo, Shia and Lume.

The rest are Tanyigbe, Tokokoe, Atikpui, Klave and Hoe.

For now, driving, walking or jogging through Tanyigbe is a healing experience, and so is hiking in the mountains.

One visitor observed: A hospitality venture here will definitely yield quick and massive returns.