 I just want to say it's just a miracle that I even met you because I was talking about you the whole trip like I've been away since Friday and my whole goal was to go to places that you have been to. You were the reason I actually came so. How many places have you been to? Okay so I went to Adafo. Adafo? Who was the name of the place? No no no Adafo is a D. Oh Safari Aqua Safari. Yes I went there I went to Aqua Safari I went to Kumasi I went to Ice Cafe. Ice Cafe because of you. Whoa. I'm not kidding and I did the point and kill. I had to do it. I had to do it we pointed I made them kill it but it was awesome oh my god and then I came here but I came to Kewu to do to go to um the hotel the big hotel. Rock City. Rocks and it's because of you I'm not kidding. This is my second time coming in here. Wow. Are you born and raised in Kewu? Yes born and raised in Kewu and also I'm going to die here you know because here it's like they're feeling it's so great. It's so great. The weather everything. You guys are living in heaven man. Of course. Look at the view in front of us. Yeah very beautiful. Very beautiful. Very interesting. All this here in Kewu. Sure. Tell me one thing that makes you proud as someone from Kewu. Okay one thing that makes me proud is uh here the weather the weather itself is very unique because it's a cold weather like people come here all the time Europeans like people from all walks of life they come here to I mean just feel the weather and you know here is the highest habitable point in Ghana so people come here all the time to experience this weather like this beautiful serene you can see and like beautiful houses all over here you know we used to say that people from Kewu are the richest and it is very true. Yeah as you came here one of my can confirm that yes people from here you can see beautiful buildings beautiful serenes like and why why is it that you guys don't show us how beautiful Kewu is. Sure and and that is very true like we have a little of bloggers and bloggers who are making videos. Do you want to do that? Sure. Do you want to do that? Sure. You know what I met this guy he's a fan of what Amaya I think he's over excited talking to me. Sure. I'm going to create a YouTube channel for this guy today. Wow. I'm blessed. See one thing is that I'm blessed to meet Wanda Mayer like I saw him and it was like is this the guy I used to see all the time. Way back from China like I follow you a lot. I follow you a lot. I'm going to create a YouTube channel for you so that you'll be able to tell us how beautiful Kewu is. Sure. So I have a lot of audience watching us right now. I'm going to make sure you get 5000 YouTube subscribers today. Oh God. I'm blessed. I'm blessed. I'm blessed man. This is Wanda Mayer for you. Yes. I believe in you. I trust in you. You know why I'm here. No. They call this place Apetifi Stone Age Park. Sure. You're born and raised here. Sure. Very true. This place used to be what? A refuse dam. A refuse dam. Sure. Here excuse me to say we used to shed here. Like if someone I am my brothers everybody. Yeah. Why are you doing that? Because like we you know how here is that it was not organized. People don't visit here and it was like an isolated place. People don't come here. So here is somewhere like no one would disturb you. And also like if you are down and you are doing like free air. Free air. Yes. Free air. Yes. You know. So it's very fun. It's very fun. And you know 10 years ago a man who was born and raised in Apetifi here went to Germany come back here and decided to convert the refuse dam to this beautiful Stone Age Park. Sure. Sure. Sure. I need to meet him. Don't you think so? Yeah. That's very true. You need to meet a man. Yes. And that man one thing about that man is he's very unique. We all know him through this town like he have done a lot. My first time I met him I was a young boy and I met this man and it was so fantastic. Wow. I met him with one of his daughters who is from Germany and I was blessed to meet them. You need to meet me there to meet that man. Sure. I want to speak to him. Yes. You have to. You have to. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. This is Ramamot. Wow. Finally. Good to see you. Yeah. Good to see you too. The whole Ghana is talking about you. Do you know that? No. You are the man who converted a refuse dam into a beautiful park that everyone is coming in here to take pictures. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. My name is Wada Maya. Yeah. I'm Ben Ado. 59 years. Ben Ado. Yes. How proud are you for this achievement in this country? Yeah. I should be because the way mosquitoes were here, the way this place was stinking and I mean it was unbearable. It was unbearable. Yeah. So I talked to the Abitifi chief and decided to make the place a nice park so that we can use it. We are in Kowu. Abitifi. Yeah. I'm here once. Okay. Okay. That's nice. It's good to be back again. And you didn't come here. I didn't come here because I didn't know but I saw pictures on Instagram around like I've been to this place but where is this Stone Age park? I need to come and find out. Yeah. I still don't have it online or anywhere. It's people who have been coming here. They have been sending it online, Facebook and all that. Yeah. Mr. Ben Ado. Yeah. Please let me know. Were you born and raised in Kowu? Yes. Yes. I went to school here in Abitifi and then somewhere along the line I went to Germany. For how long did you stay in Germany? 25 years. And what were you doing in Germany? Yeah. I was teaching art. Yeah. That tells it all because I'm working around like everywhere. I'm an artist yourself. I am. I am. I am. I am an artist. Yes. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Wood carving is my inspiration. Yeah. I've been doing everything myself. Yeah. I've been doing everything myself. Let me understand. Yeah. Your house is really beautiful. Thank you. Like you built this after moving from Germany to Ghana? No. When I was in Germany I was building it. So it took me seven years to build. Seven? So anytime I come back on holidays I work on it and then left. So when 2010 I finished everything so I moved in. Yeah. 2010. Yes. So like after 2010 you moved from other way from Germany to here. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm 10 years now in Ghana. You're living in a paradise. Yeah. Thank you. We need to because we have such a beautiful view that they are from that is the Brooklyn and we have this beautiful mountain I used to call Pantum. It's like the one in Italy. Italy. Yes. This place you come by all over anywhere. I want to say that Garnians are so proud of you. We are lucky. We are lucky. You know what I came here? No. I came here because of what? The Stone Beach Park. But I think your story is more inspirational than even the Stone Beach Park. Let me know. What really inspired the Stone Beach Park? That is that big tree you see over there. The big tree over there? Yes. There is a cave under and in front of the cave Tendicus that belonged to my mother. Whoa. So when we were children we used to go there and farm and these people will come with pythons. You see when they come there to weed. Python snakes. Yes. Snakes and then they will come and stretch it in the cave and so it was something which impacted my life. So all along I was thinking of coming to do something in the cave. So when I came back 2010 to Ghana and the archaeology department they came here and they said there was one testing show who came 1940 to the cave and realized that people were staying there. But at that time as you know they couldn't date. But nowadays they have something they call carbon data. So they are going to date it. There I had contact with the head of department and he sent me the message that 13,000 years people were staying there. Whoa. Yes. But now I realize that it's 12,500. So I mean it doesn't make any difference. So the 12,500 years ago cave actually inspired you to start the park. Yeah and also the whole thing is I want to depict the life at that time 12,500 years in the cave. You see it's so wonderful. Just imagine 10,500 years before Jesus Christ. Yeah. Before Jesus Christ came and people were staying here in Abitifi. Which means that mankind started in Africa. Yes. I guess the immigration from East Africa. Yeah. You know the man came three million years ago in East Africa. And anywhere you go in Europe and America the stone age places they have is between 6,000 and 8,000 years and we have 12,500 years. So it's something unique. We need to develop it and show it to the world. So it was for me like wow this is something you have to work on. As an art teacher it was something on my way. So I needed to grab it. You know what I'm saying in here? No. Is this are you trying to depict the life in the cave? Yeah. With these images over there? Yeah. All these they are going to the cave. You carved this yourself? I made everything myself. Anything you see here I've been doing it barely myself. Yes. I've been doing almost everything myself. Everything? Yeah. I mean with the blocks laying and all that I let people do it. Your work? But there was of course I didn't do it myself. Okay. But I've been instructing them what to do, how I want to have it. So all the time I was always around checking. But the figures and like anything you see would here I've been doing it myself. Can I see how you make this? Is there any place that you make this or you make it just? Yeah we can go to my workshop and have a look. Oh my goodness. Let me go with you. All right. Yeah this is my workshop. This is what I'm trying to do here. I'm trying to depict the life at that time in the cave. And from my researches I realized that those people used to have very small head, bigger hands and bigger feet. Because they used their hands so much and walked so much. Nowadays we use our head too much. Yeah. That side of our head is so big. So we have to take a lot. Bigger heads nowadays and smaller feet. Yeah. We're using our feet for walking too much. Yeah. Your hands for doing stuff. But you know I feel like we're using your hands to go bigger. Yeah. You see, what is this? That is an original artifact. You found this in the cave. Yeah. That is Nyamyokma. That is what we used to call Nyamyokma. And they would tell us that when it rains it comes from the skies. Yes. But our people were doing it at that time. Yeah. This is how even a white man got to know that we need to know how to produce knives. You know, those days our ancestors knew how to do all these things out of stones. My goodness. I feel like this is a place that every young African needs to be saying. They were also very short. I mean, you can see from the pose that we're very short. They were not that tall. And it's why they are so short. So where are you going to take this thing to? I'm going to send them all to the cave to depict the life there in the cave. How it was 12,500 years ago. Now they're making me unsure that I really want to see the cave. Can you take me there? Yes. So come with me. Okay. Maya, before I show you the cave, I want to show you this. This thing is all the water which comes from the kitchen passes through the stones here and then through the charcoal and then goes down to become waterfalls. You created your own waterfall in here? Yes. We try to recycle all the things, I mean water and everything we can to make use of it because we don't have enough water here. And is this the restaurant? This is the restaurant. And all that you see, I made them myself by my own hands. How? I mean, that is how I don't have the money. So I have to do it. You don't have the money, but you're genius. Yeah. And so I try to use my energy, my strength. And as an artist, I try to do everything myself. So I was sampling, doing arranging, putting everything by myself. Is this where they acted the movie The Lion King? Kind of. I would say kind of. Why are you here? That's right. I wish. But all these stones were here? No. I would say no because this is where the whole Christian quarters were through India, rubbish. So here was a refuse stamp. While we are standing, it was like about a meter high. I had to use the ten wheeler track to clear everything and it went through 22 times before they could take away all the rubbish from here. All these rocks you couldn't see. I could trace the rocks from behind there. So I knew that the rocks were here, but I didn't know actually what was down here. So this is our viewing point. From here, you can see almost part of the park, the whole park, including the waterfalls there. You can have a look. Let me understand something. Yeah. This was what? Trying to trace back the stone age? Yes. The park was not there? No, no. The idea was that actually the whole place had been sold already to people. Okay. So when I got the report from the archaeology department that it was 13,000 years, I went to the chief, a bit of chief, and talked to him about it that now this is what is happening and it's something unique which doesn't exist anywhere. So we need to develop it and I'm capable of doing that. So before I do that, I invest my energy and money inside. He has to give me the whole land here. He has to retrieve it from the people to give me back because it's a valley where we have the cave. If we leave the people there to build their houses, then in future they are going to throw their refuse in the cave and also their water from the bathrooms and all that. They are going to let it come down there. So he should reclaim the whole land for me so that I develop it into a park so that when people come, they go to the cave, they have a place to rest, to have something to drink and to have fun. That is the idea that you had for the park. For the park. So how many acres have you claimed so far? So far it's about six acres. Six acres, yeah. By the entire project that you want to build this, how many acres? It's 52. 52, yes. But I'm six acres now. Yeah, I'm not going to, I want to leave most of it natural to be a natural forest. Yeah. The idea what I'm trying even to speak with the chief and the stakeholders is that you see every year people are putting bushfires in the forest. So they are spoiling the whole forest. My forests which I preserved for the past 35 years, now everything is gone because the farmers, they put fire in it, the hunters, they put fire in it. So almost every year there is bushfire. So I'm trying to convince the chief and the people to give me the whole valley so that we do it as a forest reserve so that we can maintain the nature that we don't spoil it. Your waterfall looks beautiful. That is what I'm trying to do. I mean this is impressive. Yeah. So from here that's why we walk to the cave, yeah? Yes. So you want to take me to the cave? Yes, I want to take you to the cave. I forgot to also show you this is the writings on the wall. That is a bitiffy stone age park. I did everything by myself and I used broken bottles to write. The green you see is broken bottles. I got them from Ghana Guinness. You know what? I thought it's just fancy. No, no. It's broken bottles. So the color is not going to fade and you don't need to do anything on it and when the sun shines it reflects and it looks always beautiful. The space I've left of the writings is if I have support from people then I'm going to write your names over there. Yes. You don't have to stop talking. Stop talking. I don't even know what to say right now knowing that everything in here was done by you, invested your own money to do whatever you're doing in here. I think I have a team of people that can support you. Do you want us to support you? Please, please. We need to fence the whole area so that if over the Easter, for instance, we can let Shatawale, Stone Boy, Stone Boy in Stone Park, we can have Sao Kordie and all these people here and the place is so big that we can contain 3000 people and it wouldn't affect us. You know what I want to do to help you? I'm going to start a crowdfunding for you. Each and everyone watching this video is your favorite village boy Mr. Ghana Baby and I'm here at the Stone Age Park here in Abitifi, Kowu to be precise. You know what? What this man has done is beyond me. This is impressive. Like I never knew that this is what I'm going to expect. So what I'm going to do today is I'm going to create a crowd, go find me paid. Please, it's going to be transparent, donate and let's give it to this man to continue his vision. You need to achieve it before anything. You know what? Do me a favor. A dollar is enough. I have about 500,000 people. If each and everyone of you can donate a dollar, I think you can give me 500,000 dollars. That would be wonderful. That would be wonderful. Oh, do that. Yeah. Take me to the cave and we're going to come with me. Thank you. So Maya, that is the tree I was talking about and it's standing direct on top of a rock. That's the cave, eh? Yes. And as it is, it's not easy to cut the tree. That is why it's still standing. It might have gone already. If you want to see God, you have to come to Africa and you don't understand. The whole tree is growing on the rock and you still think that God has God lives in Africa. Yeah. This is a beautiful cave. This is the cave. How does it feel when you come in here? Do you still get your childhood memories back? Yes. And I also see how the people are sitting and doing their own things. So all the figures I took measurements from here. So I know I have special places where they are going to be. All the 17 figures. This place is going to be their sleeping room, like a bed. There, the other side too. And this is where they are going to make their fire, like the kitchen. And there is also a place here where they, when it rains, then you have like a stream of spring. So there's one girl in the statues who will be looking into the mirror. So you'll be using that as a mirror. And are you going to cover this? Are you going to cover it? Are they going to be in there? Yeah, I have these pillars. I'm going to put a rope through so that people will not cross to touch the figures. I'm going to have bones and all the rubbish as we have in our houses that will throw things around us. So I'm going to throw bones. I think these people were so smart living in here because the view in here is heavenly, you know. They didn't know anything about beer those days. I've sat in here and enjoyed beers themselves. I think so. I think so. I think so. You know, they needed places like this where it was not too deep and not too dark because they couldn't light the places. So they needed a shed where when it rains they will not be wet. And also they can see afar. So that was a perfect place for them. And can you imagine when I was a child this place used to be a canopy. You can't see anything. You couldn't see anything. So down was all thick and there were big snails and snakes and all what not. And now there's no water anymore. Nowadays not because of the fire. But here there is a picture in Kubase Palace. There when the British came they killed a leopard here. So they made a picture with the leopard here. Yes. So there were animals, big animals. So if we are able to preserve this forest then we can also have such animals here. And nowadays it's easy to do that. You just need a drone for instance and you can be patrolling the whole area and nobody will go inside. So it's very easy to do that. Like I said your vision is big and each and everyone watching this video please I'm going to create like a GoFundMe page for him. Make sure you donate a dollar 500,000 people. Let's each and everyone forgive him a dollar. It's going to be transparent. I'm going to show you guys that this is how much you guys are donating. And I'm going to hand over the whole money to him and you all are going to see what I'm talking about because I feel like six years he has been able to achieve that together I think you can do better. By all means. By all means. There are so many Africans watching us right now. What message do you have for Africans watching us? Yeah I would tell my fellow diasporans to come back home and help build Ghana. We have so many opportunities here and they all need somebody to help manage the things. Since I'm here I've employed so many people. Yes because of my talent I'm also trying to manage and people are having work to do. So I would advise everybody to come back home and try and do something. At least start something here and not that everybody goes to Accra in the capitals but also go to the villages. Yeah you are living in the village. Yes you live your best life because your house alone is somebody's five bedroom apartment in the UK. This is where you can have space you can make noise you can do everything. With my work I most of the time have to use chainsaw. All these wooden things I need to use chainsaws. So these chainsaws they make noise and I can't do that in Accra. So I was so happy to come from Abitifi to do something like this. I just want to say thank you so much for sharing your story with me and from today a lot of people are going to come so get ready they're going to drive all the way from Accra to Accra to come and say what the man who wants to what bring the stone age back to 21st century as done here in Abitifi. Thank you so much for talking to me.