UK teacher made tribal chief of Gonjas & Mamprusi

A woman from Norfolk has been made an African Tribal Chief for the second time. Ten years ago Lynne Symonds, a schoolteacher from Norfolk, set up the Wulugu Project to promote education in developing countries.

In April 1996, Ms Symonds was made chief of the Mamprusi tribe in Northern Ghana in recognition for her contribution to education in the country.

Now she has been made Chief of the Gonja Tribe, also in Northern Ghana.

Ms Symonds said: "I do it because of the children - they deserve a better life.

"There's no reason for them to have distended bellies, there's no reason for them to have rickets and skin diseases or for the death rate to be as high as it is."

The ceremony to make her Chief lasted for five hours in temperatures of 40C.

She is now the ruler of 1.5 million people.

She said: "This is a very symbolic occasion.

"I just hope that in another ten years I don't have another chieftaincy to keep up with because the heat is far too much.

"I don't think I could cope."

Norfolk tribal Chief returns to Ghana

BBC, July 7 2003 -- It's difficult to imagine that Norfolk could have any links with Ghana in West Africa - but it does! We have our very own African chief right here in the county, writes Victoria Holden.

Norfolk's African tribal chief, Lynne Symonds, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of a project assisting people in northern Ghana. I will be there with her in Ghana on behalf of BBC Radio Norfolk to mark the event

Norfolk's Lynne Symonds was made African Chief of the Mampreusi tribe, a tribe in northern Ghana in honour of the work she has done to help the community in Wulugu.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of The Wulugu Project, I will join Lynne in Ghana to see how much an impact the organisation has made.

Day One At the moment I'm in a place in central Ghana called Kumasi. Lynne and I travelled up from the capital, Accra, today and we have about another 300 miles to go.

That doesn't sound very far, but by Ghana standards it's a very long way. The roads here aren't that great - they've got pot holes and there is a lot of traffic in the towns.

When you get out of the towns, you are in dense forest and the roads aren't very well surfaced.

When we arrived in Accra, found Lynne had three of her four bags missing. All her chief robes, letters from schools that were being exchanged and lots of other things for the project were gone.

So unfortunately we had to spend a day in Accra just sorting it out. Luckily we stayed put because we have actually retrieved the bags and we're now on our way and will be in Wulugu later this evening.

Culture shock It has been quite an interesting journey so far as I've seen some remarkable sights. The street sellers that walk by the side of the road are quite incredible.

They are selling a whole range of different things, from fruit such as pineapples, papayas, oranges and bananas and selling pairs of shoes and toothbrushes.

The weather today is absolutely beautiful and it is very hot. It is quite cloudy and I'd say it is about 29 degrees centigrade. It's cloudy but very very hot and very very humid

It's supposed to be the rainy season but as yet I haven't seen a drop of rain. But our guide travelling with us said that up in Wulugu, the north of Ghana, it has been raining quite a lot which is good because it means that things are very green and luscious and it's very helpful for people who are trying to grow crops.

In terms of the local food, so far I've had an awful lot of yam to eat. This is similar to potato but it has quite a distinct taste and you either like it or you don't. Fortunately I don't mind it too much - it's not too bad!

But the delicacy over here that we've seen lots of street sellers offering is giant snails and I've yet to try one. I have had a good look at one and they don't look too tempting! They're about the size of a fist and very slimy.

The Wulugu project Lynne has told me that 40% of hospital beds in northern Ghana are taken up by people with HIV and Aids. It is a really big problem in northern Ghana and one that hasn't really been recognised, so the project is aiming to tackle to tackle the problem.

The Wulugu project is also doing lots of things with regards to helping the community help themselves. Farmers are given ploughs and bullocks so that they are able to progress and use their own skills and own labour to produce crops in a much more effective way.

Once we get to Wulugu I will be able to experience first hand and see the kinds of benefits the project is giving to the local community.