Ghana

Blogwalk or PhotoWalkGh in Airport Residential, Accra

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Photowalk

On Saturday, I joined the group of early risers at 7 am. Armed with smartphones, cameras and red t-shirts (with one exception, see group photo above!), we aimed to take a closer look at the Airport Residential Area of Accra. The event was one in a series and also meant to highlight the upcoming BlogCamp14 in April!

I had fun, talked to new people and got a few decent shots, mostly with my iPhone, but also with my Canon G9. I did NOT however, get much exercise as my group moved by taking one step, then one shot, then tweeting/instagramming/facebooking a photo – then ready for a next step and photo…

Follow BloggingGhana on Facebook or PhotoWalkGhana on Twitter if you want to come along next time.

Here are some of my highlights! (the photo above belong to the organisers, the ones below are all me!)

Blog Walk collage

 

 

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Ghana, Photo

One Wedding and One Funeral: Ichafu or Gele and Kente

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In the last month, I have been both to a wedding and a funeral. 

The wedding was a Nigerian one, so I invested in a headgear for the occasion, through Chimamanda I know now it is called ichafu – but here it is called gele  (for a fantastic experience, picture-Google any of these two terms). The wedding was held at a beautiful venue with full attention to detail!

The funeral was an Indian/Ghanaian funeral and though it was very sad, I also found comfort in being there and in the beautiful details such as the kente strip the ISAG community was wearing and the flower that was pinned to my dress as I walked into the chapel.

I wanted to share some photos from these beautiful events, getting an ichafu/gele tied, the wedding and the funeral.My gele collage

Wedding collage  Funeral collage

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Ghana, Places, Political

Did President Mahama Go Too Far? State of the Nation 2014 #SOTNGhana

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Screenshot 2014-02-28 11.30.30This week, the Ghanaian mediascape was cluttered with comments about the state of the nation address, held on Tuesday. All well and good. The problem was, most commentators were upset about the light tone of the speech, at a time that is hard for the wo/man on the street.

See for instance CitiFM or InformGhana‘s storify-summaries of the discussions on Twitter.

Read the whole State of the Nation address here on the presidency website.

Interestingly, my last post here on the blog was on Ghanaian political humor and I personally felt the president just “joined the grammar” (“Mr. Speaker, who said ‘Tweaa’?”) and spoke about politics in the most Ghanaian way possible, with some jokes and a hearty laughter.

But clearly, I was in minority. Most commentators sighed (or even booed) and said that our politicians have lost touch with the reality on ground. What do you think?

 

Pic borrowed from InformGhana, BloggingGhana’s new project.

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Blogging, BloggingGhana

YesiYesi, Falling Cedi and Laughter: Ghanaians and their Political Humor

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Screenshot 2014-02-18 10.29.06Probably I should not put this in a blogpost, but rather write an abstract together for an academic paper with my inspiring colleague who writes about Ghanaian politics in just this way.

Anyways, I am thrilled that YesiYesi now provides almost daily, online satire with “the onion”-like twists of Ghanaian daily news. It is the first time someone (who?) has put together online versions of the very typical Ghanaian, political humour online in such a consistent manner. In a blog! (Please join BloggingGhana!) In the last few days we have read about …Justin Bieber moving to Ghana, Ghanaian women refusing Valentine’s gifts if the Cedi can stabilise, Ghanaians soon being able to go to UK without a Visa, and my favorite, KNUST charging  toll for walking on the pavement, the rate based on your foot wear…chale wote was cheapest…haha, I have to laugh just by thinking about it!

Finally, Ghana has its own news satire, and, YesiYesi, it is on point!

 

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Ghana, Political

University of Ghana Road Toll

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 The road toll has been in effect for two weeks and as a graduate student, I am of course not happy that in addition to fees that almost double from year to year, I now have to pay just to get on campus!

However, after the first weeks of confusion and queues that stretched long (my first day to enter, I waited for 25 minutes just to pay my 1 GHC (0,30 USD), some efficiency measures have been taken, including many more attendants in reflective vests to collect fees from motorists, a new entry point into the campus, and this morning the queue was negligible.

There has been much debate whether or not the university has the right to charge Ghanaians to drive on a public road without asking the parliament for permission (they grant all taxes and fees), but as I do not speak lawyerish, I am not sure what to think. They way I see the toll is that it is a very serious statement from the university telling Ghanaians:

“we are on our own now. The government does not support us and we must do cost recovery to survive!”.

Increased tuition fees is one measure, a road toll another.

Sadly, that message seems to have been lost between reflective vests, 1 GHC tickets and first page squabbles.

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Ghana, People, Places, Political, USA

Shirley Temple: Actress and Ambassador in Ghana

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Shirley Temple Black Americans have for long understood the potential of a face known from film. Not just President Ronald Regan or Governor Arnold Schwartsenegger  made the transition from white screen to colorful politics, actress Shirley Temple did too.

In 1974 she landed in Ghana as the American ambassador. The country was 18 years out of colonialism, but head-deep into dependency, especially due to the American oil crisis at the time. Temple stayed in Ghana for two years.

When I first heard about this interesting career change and Temple’s time in Ghana, I marveled. I became almost obsessed with finding photos of Temple in Ghana and my eyes widened as I saw her coiffed hair bobbing around in the Ghanaian sun surrounded by traditional leaders and welcoming parades.

 It would be interesting to know more about what her everyday life in Ghana was like, maybe now that she is gone, some writings might appear? Some interviews will be done? but never the less, her life reminds us that no matter where you start in life, you might end up in Ghana, smiling in the sun.

Photo borrowed from The Guardian from a worthwhile biography.

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Ghana

What is Ghana’s Tourism Policy?

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Is it “Akwaaba, it’s an expression you will hear several times daily…it means ‘Welcome!’ and you will be” or is it “Visa requirements are subject to change…” ? Both quotes are from Ghana’s official tourism page, touringghana.com. The whole discussion started with a German acquaintance writing me an email to say she was coming to Ghana as a tourist. She was looking forward to the weather, the beaches and the cultural sites. Could we catch up for a drink? A while later she emailed again, now for “an invitation letter”.
I was shocked, why would a tourist to a country that calls itself “the gateway to Africa” need an invitation letter? Then, what is a tourist? and what does Ghana want with tourism? Why are we spending good money on advertising Ghana on CNN for instance, if we later make it so cumbersome to just get a Visa to enter?

I took my questions to Twitter and the rest is history. The highlights included the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Hanna Tetteh, getting heavily involved in the debate!

kajsaha

Kajsa Hallberg Adu@kajsaha
BTW @HannaTetteh I just wrote an “invite” for a German acquaintance who wants to come to Ghana as a tourist. Why does she need an invite?

·

4 YEARS AGO

sondy

AlessondraSpringmann@sondy
@kajsaha @HannaTetteh the system is inefficient and makes Ghana look bad. I wanted to spend cedis there! Ghana made it hard.

·

4 YEARS AGO

kobbrown

Boss Playa@kobbrown
@MissEDCofie @BlueBirdTail @kajsaha @RoisKiDGh@I_am_Kophy @Gondu because of some few dollars, you gonna turn people away? No big picture?

4 YEARS AGO

The first part of the debate was the “reciprocity/retailation” argument, that frankly surprises me and makes me think of Binyavanga Wainaina’s recent discussion about Africa’s middle class wanting to become Europe. Why are we comparing Visa schemes with Europe and not with other African countries such as Kenya or the Gambia.
HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@sondy @kajsaha when Ghanaians have to apply for visa’s to enter your countries to spend their own money does it make your country look bad?

·

4 YEARS AGO

 

BlueBirdTail

Nii Ayikwei Parkes@BlueBirdTail
@kajsaha @visafreeghana don’t tourists from #Ghana have to have invitation letters going the other way? #justasking

·

4 YEARS AGO

HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@kajsaha do you have any idea what Ghanaian citizens have to go through to get visa’s to travel to any country outside of Africa?

4 YEARS AGO

Kofismo

Ksmo@Kofismo
@kajsaha @kobbrown @Gondu @visafreeghana the day European,American n Canadian visa are free then we will do same.till then 2 only W africans

4 YEARS AGO

HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@sondy @kajsaha giving Ghanaians an opportunity to enter your countries without paying visa fees, showing bank statements etc would be great

4 YEARS AGO

HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@kajsaha as you retweet my responses kindly retweet the one on bilateral agreements. Reciprocity is an indication of mutual respect.

4 YEARS AGO

HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@kajsaha I’m sure you know that issues of visa’s are not just a matter of tourism policy. For now your friend requires an invitation letter

4 YEARS AGO

HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@sondy we can have visa free travel when there are bilateral agreements between our countries giving Ghanaians the same treatment you want

4 YEARS AGO

sondy

AlessondraSpringmann@sondy
@osarpong @OsabuANNY @kinnareads @HannaTetteh @kajsaha I’m all up for reciprocity! I don’t have elected representatives but I’ll write!

·

4 YEARS AGO

Secondly,  there was the issue of tourism management in general, how it was lacking… (but can we not start with cleaning up Visas?)
MissEDCofie

ethelcofie@MissEDCofie
@kajsaha @RoisKiDGh valid points there is a lot to do but abolishing visa wont solve much

·

4 YEARS AGO

kinnareads

Kinna@kinnareads
@kajsaha Kenya requires visas of Westerners. It does have a better tourism infrastructure which is essential. @HannaTetteh

·

4 YEARS AGO

msmartei

msmartei@msmartei
@HannaTetteh @kajsaha I question the “losing to Kenya” statement. We don’t have 30% of the tourism infrastructure Kenya has.

4 YEARS AGO

RoisKiDGh

Sena Quashie@RoisKiDGh
@kajsaha exactly my point. Even with free entry, mismanagement will drive all tourists away. @MissEDCofie

4 YEARS AGO

kajsaha

Kajsa Hallberg Adu@kajsaha
Ghana is not worth coming to, so we should make it hard to enter? Sorry @RoisKiDGh but that does not make sense. @kobbrown@angelgooner

·

4 YEARS AGO

 
Then there were some personal issues…
HannaTetteh

Hanna Tetteh@HannaTetteh
@kajsaha have you read anything on Ghana & Tourism Development/ Tourism Policy or is your comment only based on the issue of visa’s?

4 YEARS AGO

kajsaha

Kajsa Hallberg Adu@kajsaha
It is based on public info from Min of Tourisms website, the budget and the email I got to invite a tourist. Still learning! @HannaTetteh

·

4 YEARS AGO

Gondu

felix ayisi-yeboah@Gondu
@kajsaha @kobbrown @visafreeghana You know some of the Chinese who were in illegal mining were on tourist visas?

4 YEARS AGO

In the end, we kind of all agreed. 
BlueBirdTail

Nii Ayikwei Parkes@BlueBirdTail
@kajsaha @visafreeghana However, I agree that the system is outdated and needs to be reviewed.

4 YEARS AGO

kinnareads

Kinna@kinnareads
@kajsaha What a country can do is make visa processes more friendly, less cumbersome. @HannaTetteh

4 YEARS AGO

sondy

AlessondraSpringmann@sondy
@kinnareads @kajsaha @HannaTetteh visas may not be a right, but why make the processes harder than it needs to be, and lose passports?

4 YEARS AGO

  
I guess the debate continues.  

I found out that that rules are different depending on what countries the tourist comes from. For instance Ghana’s embassy in Germany demands one letter of invitation, in Canada it is two. Form my recent experience, Scandinavian tourists do not need an invite, only an address and contact in Ghana (which might also stop some tourists).

Lisa from Canada shared her story on the Scrap Tourism Visas for Ghana FB page:

“My parents had big problems. Again needed 2 letters of invitation. The consulate in Toronto (CAN) wanted addresses with complete street address and house #, not simply PO box. As we were simultaneously trying to get visas for my parents + my boyfriend from 2 consulates, it was bad. Toronto rejected the letters & demanded new ones while the consulate in Ottawa accepted them. Why the difference? & how many people in Accra have a full street address? Its not the same as in Canada.

Throughout my extensive travels a common theme. Foreigners mainly come to visit family members/friends working in Gh, infrequently as visitors. Partly because the visas. The expense plus needing the letter of invitation. I understand the government can’t “lose” people within their borders but there must be a better system. The visas r too expensive. We spend a lot of $ in the country anyways.”

Here is also an article by a campaigner to “scrap” tourism visas for Ghana, although I personally think “scrapping Visas” is going too far, I found the examples highlighting other African experiences interesting.

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Ghana, Personal, Places

We have a parrot!

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Yesterday, I was told a parrot had been seen in a tree in our backyard. The announcement came at a time I felt tired and flustered, but now my whole body shaped up – a parrot?

After sneaking around for a while we saw it (and possibly its partner) in all its green and orange glory. It moved on the branches with the help of its beak, sang in a chirpy way, hid in the greenery and finally – like in a flash-  sailed away in a quick orange streak.

My daughter was also excited and called it “a carrot” as she is in the process of learning vegetables and fruits in school.

I went inside and googled that parrot’s ass. Green+parrot+West Africa and there it was.

The Senegalese parrot, or Poicephalus Senagalus Versteri in our backyard. Isn’t it beautiful?

Screenshot 2014-01-29 14.28.09

Photo from parrot.org

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Blogging, BloggingGhana, Ghana, Places, Promoting

BloggingGhana in 2014: #MoreStories

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This year, my organisation BloggingGhana is taking a giant leap forward by getting our own physical space: Ghana’s first social media hub. But we need help to create opportunities for #morestories to be told. Over the next month and a few more days, we are trying to crowd-source USD 10 000 for our new office. You can be a part of our success!

See our video (featuring my colleague Edward and myself!)

Donate on Indiegogo!

 

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Personal

I Did Not Know Komla

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BBC anchor and celebrated Ghanaian journalist Komla Dumor passed away on Saturday only 41 years old. A terrible tragedy, but what I would like to focus my blogpost on is the reaction of Ghanaians, that I find overwhelming. 

I have followed the reporting – around the clock memories on radio, plenty admiration blogposts, a Facebook page for celebrating his life (currently with 16 400 likes), statements from big people like Kofi Annan and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and endearing BBC collages (I even shed a tear too). However, the magnitude of media space provided in Ghana reminded me only of when Ghana’s sitting president passed away in July 2012, and actually a radio host remarked that “last time we did this kind of all day broadcast was for President Mills”. I even heard rumours of a state funeral being prepared!

I would just like to stop for a minute here and ask, when Ghanaians are celebrating Komla Dumor’s life, what exactly is celebrated?

  • Excellent, investigative journalism?
  • Fame?
  • Alpha male-ness?
  • A good rep of Ghana?
  • A desirable lifestyle far away from the regular Ghanaians?
  • All of the above?

Yes, he was known to many Ghanaians as a radio journalist from the end of the 1990s. Yes, he was journalist of the year in the mid 2000s. Yes, he was well-known, handsome, tall and wore great suits. Yes, he represented Ghana well (but so do BBC journalists Akwesi Sarpong and David Amanor and other media folks around the globe). I feel that maybe it is his lifestyle (that now some people speculate killed him) with travelling the world, being where the action is, standing in front of the camera smiling…that secretly is the dream of the modern human being.

My Ghanaian friends write on social media: “I did not know Komla, but…” and paradoxically use his first name like he was an old friend. It is clear that Ghanaians are in shock at this man’s death. I find it sad, but I did not know him or his work. I do not have a TV with BBC on it (like most in Ghana) so did not watch his programs. I was not around when he was the first host of the SuperMorningShow. Well, maybe at times I have to accept that I still am a foreigner to Ghana and might never really understand where I have landed…

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Blogging

End of the Word?

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In December, my blog had some database problems, that lost me 6 months of blog posts. I wrote about this whole wahala here last week, but today my blog is mysteriously(?) back – completely! I am thrilled and will be back here with weekly updates. Thanks for staying tuned.

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