1 Suoma

The Brifo people are believed to have hailed from Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire. With varied backgrounds, the Brifo are sparsely located around the boundaries of Upper West Region and Northern Region of Ghana, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

One of the major settlements of the Brifo tribe is Da-eyiri, also known as Janselee, it was founded by Da-e, a farming settler about three decades ago. Da-eyiri is one of the fastest growing Brifo communities in the Wa West district of the Upper West Region of Ghana. The community is located between Nahaa in the Wa West and Logu in the Wa East districts. Da-eyiri is blessed with excellent architectural designs and earth ware pots which could serve as tourist attractions.

Agriculture is their mainstream economic activity with emphasis on food cropping, piggery, and poultry rearing. Pottery and basket weaving are other economic ventures they engage in, especially the women. While official currency exist in the tribe (Souma is their traditional currency), barter system of trade as well as the use of cowries for customary and business activities is common practices among the Brifos.

The people of Da-Eyiri are hard-working yet they lack a lot of basics in life. They are being confronted by issues like child labor, teenage marriages, high school drop outs – especially among girls –, a rampant rural-urban drift among boys, violations of women rights, and limited access to health and educational facilities. Most of these drawbacks have customary undertones. For instance, girls are married out for cattle, and women are much seen and treated as estates than human beings.

Bougri is a traditional festival celebrated among the Brifo people and it comes of around March-April each year.