MY TRAVELOGUE; TOURING WITH THE TOURIST

QUEEN OF PEACE PARISH YOUTH COUNCIL

YOUTH EXCURSION 2025

DESTINATION: DAMONGO.

DATE: FRIDAY, 23RD TO SATURDAY, 24TH MAY, 2025

The just-ended excursion to Damongo was joyfully anticipated by many young parishioners. The thought of it was always as inspiring as it was exciting. To see the newly built St. Anne’s Cathedral of Damongo Diocese, to visit the game and to behold the wild animals not in pictures and videos but really and physically, to see the historic Mystic Stone of Larabanga, and to freely and closely interact with the soldiers right in the barracks have always been the desire of most youngsters if not all.

But is that all? No! This tour has also been a great avenue for learning, especially for these young and inquisitive minds hungry for knowledge and experience. For them, tourism is not only a noble exploration but also a divine adventure. This explains why the theme was chosen, “Exploring God’s wonders through divine adventures”.

The long-awaited day came – a sunny day in Nadowli – amid thrills of excitement and exhilarating eagerness. Schoolchildren went to school, but their minds came right to the parish to wait for the long red tour bus. How wonderful its arrival would be!

Then the bus – red, long, and beautiful – drove slowly into the parish premises. And those who beheld it yelled out, “wowww”! The participants came, approaching from every direction of the compass, carrying their travel bags, and many wearing their beautifully designed and well-printed excursion T-shirts: some white, some blue, some wine, and others blue-black. The moment was exciting.

The day’s meals were ready already – kenkey with shito, fresh tomatoes, and sardines for lunch with banku and okra stew for supper – parcelled and parked in blue ice chest containers. Then came the seminarian who said, “Let’s get on board”. Participants queued into the bus and comfortably took their seats.

Then our chaplain came to implore God’s protection upon us. So fervently and articulately he besought the Lord, concluding with the priestly blessing in the Name of the Divine Trinity. And he wished us a safe trip. “May God send you and bring you back safely” was the message of parents, guardians, and friends who had come to see us off. It was 1:00 pm, and off we went!

Excitement permitted no kid to blink the eye. Indeed, to discover, one must travel around; and to explore, one must tour the world. This was the beginning of exploration and discovery for many. Participants stood up to get a good view of towns and settlements as we drove on. Soon we passed Wa, the region’s capital town.

Then we stopped at Poyentanga to have lunch. It was time to enjoy our kenkey. With a giant ball of hot kenkey everyone was served, together with delicious shito, fresh tomatoes blended with natural spices, and a sardine each. That moment was startling; the quantity and quality of the food were beyond our expectations. It was just superb! Everyone spoke well of the meal and praised the chefs who did the cooking.

 Reboarding the bus after enjoying our meal, we sped off, passing towns and villages. The excitement and satisfaction from the delightful meal found expression in the bus, exciting songs of joyful praise to the Lord of all goodness.  Soon, we were in Sawla; and turning our faces like flint towards Damongo, we zipped off into the deep forests of the Savannah Region.

Shortly after, the clouds became pregnant, and there ensued a heavy downpour. We drove on regardless. The downpour was heavy and prolonged, making us unable to stop over at Larabanga as planned. Driving into the Savannah Regional Capital, we went straight to the St. Anne’s Catholic Cathedral, the mother Church of the Catholic Diocese of Damongo currently shepherded by the Most Reverend Peter Paul Yelezuome Angkyier.

It was a rainy evening, and the rainstorms had caused a power outage in the section where the cathedral was located. Not only that, but the rain had also scattered our lovely counterparts, the St. Anne’s Cathedral youth, who had gathered to anticipate our arrival. A good number however remained.

It continued drizzling as we alighted and were led into the well-furnished Cathedral School Library. Though a bit late, we decided to hold the interaction session as planned. Neither prolonged rainfall nor the darkness of ‘dumsor’ could stop us! Genuine enthusiasm cannot be bottled up by external circumstances.

We received a heartwarming welcome from the abled Chairman of the St. Anne’s Cathedral Youth Council, Mr. Zacchaeus Tieruzie, on behalf of the Cathedral Administrator, Very Rev. Fr. Felix Kuulaare.

What followed was an inburst of talents, a display of prowess and dexterity in areas such as poetry recitals, choreography dances, tolleys, and storytelling, just to mention but a few. The moment was lovely.

Soon, it was time for us to take our supper and retire to bed since we had a tiresome journey. We were served _banku_ and okra stew. After enjoying that, we bathed and retired to bed.

On Saturday morning, we joined the Cathedral parish community for the celebration of the most holy Eucharist (presided over by Rev. Fr. Francis Xavier Kanzong) after which we immediately had a tour of both the interior and exterior of the Cathedral. It was lovely being in that gigantic and magnificent edifice. Batch by batch we were taken down to the underground rooms behind the sanctuary. Coming out from there, we took some group pictures and left for the bishop’s residence. Unfortunately, the bishop was not around.

Going back to the Cathedral from the bishop’s residence, we stopped over at Radio for Peace and Development (PAD FM), a radio station owned by the Catholic Diocese of Damongo, which is said to be the oldest FM station in Damongo. There, the radio presenter on duty, Mr. Edwin Guogu, took us into the studio in batches and showed us the things therein and their functions. That was another beautiful experience.

Leaving there, we went for breakfast, followed by an interaction with the Cathedral Administrator, Very Rev. Fr. Felix Kuulaare, who expressed his pleasure to host us, and encouraged us to be active and vibrant in the Church even while we are young. With him, we also took some pictures after which we left for Mole.

We arrived at Mole National Park seven minutes past eleven in the morning. While still approaching the Park’s information center, we were greeted with the scene of a memory of elephants that were just about to cross the road. At that, there was a unanimous resounding yell in the bus “See elephants”. The joy in the bus was palpable, literally. Alighting from our bus at the center, we met right away, some of the forest’s most agile primates, the Cercopithecoidea, what is commonly referred to as Old World Monkeys, playing around like children. They were not afraid of human beings.

Unfortunately for us, so many tourists had arrived before us. As a result, all the safari cars and tour guards were occupied, and several groups were still waiting. So, we had to occupy ourselves with photography as we waited. We only got a tour guard at 12:55 pm while the safari vehicles were still occupied. So we settled for a walking tour which took us a little over an hour.

Again, at the beginning of the tour, we first met the biggest locomotive terrestrial creatures feasting on the trees of the forest. These elephants were enormously huge but calm and majestic. We had the chance to get close to them and to take pictures with them in smaller groups. Next, we met the Potamochoerus, which is commonly known as the red river hog or the bushpig. We also saw different breeds of antelopes including the impala (Aepyceros melampus) and the bushbuck (Tragelaphus scriptus).

Our tour guard was not only knowledgeable, but also a great speaker, and very passionate about his job. He taught us the history and botanical names of so many plants and animals.

When it was about 2:10 pm, we left for the 155 Armoured Regiment Camp in Damongo and arrived there at exactly 2:46 pm. Fr. Kanzong, the Cathedral Youth Chaplain, joined us at the barracks and left for Busunu midway into the interaction. While we expected to spend a short time of about 45 minutes with the soldiers, it turned out otherwise. The officers, having received earlier notification of our visit, had prepared themselves to teach us a lot of things. After taking us around the camp and showing us what was there, we ended at the gunnery and armoured vehicles zone, a place they called “Square”.

At the Square, they showed us different types of guns and their functions including the 7.62 General Purpose Machine Gun (abbreviated as GPMG), a fully automatic, air-cooled, gas-operated, belt-fed machine gun. Then they did the same with the armoured vehicles. As part of the exposé, they gave all of us a ride in the armoured cars. After everything, they gave us some mineral drinks and water for the journey. We eventually left the camp at 5:29 pm after spending over two and a half hours there. The soldiers were impressed by our cooperation and comportment and thanked us for our inquisitiveness and good composure. We, in turn, thanked them for the wonderful exposé and left.

Upon leaving there, we immediately shared our lunch which, for want of time, we could not take in the afternoon. It was hot delicious jollof with boiled eggs. Then we stopped over at Larabanga by the Mystic Stone. While the stopover was meant to allow the driver some time to eat, we utilized the time to visit the Mystic Stone. The children were so excited to see and touch the legendary stone which they had heard and read about so often in classrooms. For want of time, we skipped the Ancient Mosque.

We finally left the stone site at 6:40 pm and headed homewards. It was a long journey, but the joy of it overshadowed the tiredness. Parents anticipated the arrival of their kids, tracking the journey with call-ins and messages. At every given moment, the seminarian never failed to update the Parish Youth Council WhatsApp platform about where and where we had reached. Eventually, at about 11:40 pm, we arrived at the Queen of Peace Parish premises here in Nadowli _ad majorem Dei gloriam_.

As we thank the Almighty God for his grace that made the trip a successful one, we also say a very big ‘thank you’ to our parish priest and his team for allowing us to embark on this wonderful adventure. We appreciate the organizers for their hard work as well as the parents and guardians of the participants for sponsoring them. We are grateful to the Administrator and team of St. Anne’s Catholic Cathedral Parish, Damongo, and our sister Council, the St. Anne’s Youth Council for their warm reception and immense support. May God Almighty richly bless them all.

Catholic Youth, Action in Christ!

Wilfred.