The streets of Accra got busier than usual last Saturday, despite an early morning rain, as the French Embassy embarked on a walk as part of the annual La Francophonie celebrations held in March every year.

This year, the French Embassy took the celebrations up a notch higher, with the introduction of several activities, starting with a walk last Saturday, March 18, 2023.

The early morning rains would not deter participants of the much-anticipated walk, majority of whom were clad in beautifully branded white La Francophonie T-shirts.

The walk begun at about 8:30 am from Kwame Nkrumah Circle through the Ako Adjei interchange, Ridge, Osu Oxford Street, Danquah Circle, 37 and eventually ended at Alliance Française d’Accra.

The organizers were joined on the walk, amidst loud music, dance, cheer and lots of excitement by members of La Francophonie from other countries – Congo Brazaville, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Lebanon, France, Canada, Togo, Rwanda and Ghana.

It is worthy to mention that even though Ghana is not a Francophone country, a good number of Ghanaians joined the walk due to the country’s membership status with the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie. Ghanaian youth were well represented during the walk, with appearances by students from Legon – PRESEC, St. Mary’s SHS, Mount Mary College of Education, Accra High SHS, and Achimota SHS.

Policy Officer for French Language and Francophonie, Lou Alma Jacob-Duvernet, revealed to Joy FM why the French Embassy is excited about the maiden edition of the Francophonie walk through the streets of Accra.

She reiterated that members of the organization meet every year to celebrate the French language and culture, stressing that the introduction of the walk this year was aimed at creating awareness of the organization and the French language.

“This year what is different is that we were aiming to talk directly to Ghanaians and [Anglophones], and the Francophonie walk was the best idea to do it – to go to the streets to show who we are and why it is beneficial for Ghanaians to learn the French”, Lou revealed.

The walk, as mentioned earlier, was only the beginning to, and a part of a much bigger celebration of La Francophonie, with activities lined up till March 25, including a youth concert at Alliance Française, football tournament at the Elwak Stadium, a movie festival, educational and professional workshops, among others in the subsequent days.

The French community in Ghana wishes to extend an invitation to all in making it a priority to learn the French language.

“We really want to tell Ghanaians that, we know it [takes a lot of effort] to learn French, but [La Francophonie] is a huge community and it’s very beneficial to learn the language,” she said.

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The Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, is an international organization representing countries and regions where French is a lingua franca or customary language, where a significant proportion of the population are francophone, or where there is a notable affiliation with French culture.