Klefe-Demete - Evergreen, clean tree community in Volta
Klefe-Demete in the Ho Municipality of the Volta Region is an evergreen and beautiful community with forests on the slopes of the mountain and both sides of the main street.
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There are also trees around the houses and on the compounds and in many homes. Klefe-Demete remains green even in the dry season because the people revere the environment and do not cut trees without tangible reasons.
A walk from Klefe-Demete to the next sister community, Klefe-Dome is mesmerising with dense green trees, flowering plants and a pleasant breeze which could induce sleep during the walk.
It is all trees everywhere in Klefe-Demete. The fertile soil on the mountain guarantees massive harvests of food crops which are readily sold at the Ho Central Market.
On hot days, the numerous trees always provide shade for relief from the scorching sun. At Klefe-Demete, even the dead rest in joy and dignity as the cemetery is tidied up regularly in an ambience of a variety of flowering trees.
Apart from those natural and captivating features, the greater beauty of Klefe-Demete is in the friendly nature of the people towards visitors. “In our community here, everybody greets everybody,” said one resident.
Sanitation
Further, the people of the community attach great value to sanitation and that is evident in the absence of rubbish in the surroundings. The newly inaugurated GH¢200,000-seater public water closet facility also bears ample testimony to the importance the people of Klefe-Demete place on cleanliness.
The Klefe Technical Institute, the E.P. Church, the Ghana Chapel and the Church of Christ building are among the important features of the community. Another vital infrastructure feature at Klefe-Demete, which also runs through Klefe-Dome and Klefe-Achatime, is the huge pipeline which transports water from Kpeve to other parts of the municipality.
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By its strategic location, there is flowing tap water at Klefe-Demete all the time. There are numerous commuter tricycle taxis between Klefe-Demete and Ho. A few kilometres away from Klefe-Demete is Akrofu, which has a gigantic integrated recycling and composting plant.
Already, there is also a medical waste treatment plant at the site at Akrofu to collect and treat hazardous healthcare waste, COVID-19 waste and waste from vaccination activities.
Ho to Akrofu
The distance from Ho through Klefe-Demete to Akrofu is shorter than the other route from Sokode-Gbogame to Akrofu. That makes the location of Klefe-Demete a strategic one.
Sadly, however, the road between Klefe-Demete and Akrofu is rugged, horrible and inimical to the movement of heavy-duty trucks transporting the waste to the plant site at Akrofu.
The plant is meant to serve not only the Ho Municipality but also South Dayi, Adaklu, Agotime-Zoipe, Central Tongu, Afadjato and North Dayi districts. Further, the plant is expected to generate 1,000 direct and indirect employment for the youth, while boosting the local economy of the Ho Municipality.
Cleanliness
A former Moderator of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana, Very Rev. Japhet Yao Ledo, who is a patriotic native of Klefe-Demete, said cleanliness had always been part of the culture of the people of Klefe since they arrived at their present location some eight centuries ago from Notsie in Togo.
“On weekly basis, the women swept the community, as well as the cemetery,” he said. Rev. Ledo said that tradition had been passed on from generation to generation, and held in a high esteem by the present generation.
Besides, he said, the EPCG came to establish schools in the community with the highest standard of discipline. “Children who walked away from rubbish without picking it and dropping into the bin were punished severely,” he said.