Puberty Statue.

The last two days in Kumasi have amount to a shopping frenzy. We went to the largest open-air market in West Africa, side-street vendors, and the cultural center of the city to shop.

It was at this cultural center that one of the other scholars got a massive statue. It almost goes to my chest, but is made of a lightwood and easy to carry. It costs $40 US, a steal considering it was first said to be $250...now that’s what you call a bargain! (Remember, that as a foreigner in Ghana you are always quoted a price that is maybe 2/3s more than the item is worth...so bargaining is allowed, and a useful skill!)

It is of a woman. She is naked with a necklace that extends her neck, exposed breasts, and a beaded belt carved into her waist. We all thought she was a fertility statue. Here in Ghana they sell statues of women that are supposed to get you pregnant. Being a bunch of woman living together, our cycles have synced. We collectively enter a baby craze around ovulation, which started today. However, the logical non-hormonal part of my brain was pretty freaked out by sleeping with a large statue that wanted to get me pregnant staring at me from the end of the bed…

Luckily, the woman statue that has now become a fixture in my roommates and my room isn’t for fertility. When I say that “we” thought she was a fertility statue, I meant the scholars, not the Ghanaians…they always knew she was a puberty statue.

Which begs the question…what is a puberty statue? With her staring at me will my voice get deeper? Maybe I’ll grow a few inches?

We asked our Ghanaian friends, who informed us that she was a tool used in a puberty ceremony. Traditionally, Ghanaians wouldn’t allow sex before puberty. If you had it, your family was fined a large sum…so parents would educate their kids about sex using these statues and other ritualistic maneuvers that kept early pregnancy rates down. But now the culture is changing, and a lot of the traditional values are being lost. So puberty statues are just for tourists…and the teen pregnancy rates are as high as 60%.

Maybe I’ll get a puberty statue too…she might just be the best form of sexual education for my own children…after a fertility statue finds me.