Ghana | Kajsa HA

Kantamanto Market Burns Down Again and the Aga Khan Award

May 7, 2013 1 Comment

On Sunday, we were reached by the news that the Kantamanto Market in central Accra was on fire. Horrible pictures of the event on CitiFMonline. Luckily the day had just started and no casualties were reported. While politicians come and walk the now ashen site, market women cry out in grief over lost livelihoods and journalists try to count the number of market fires we have had in recent years, the opportunity here is to think of how we want to build and maintain a market.

I suggest we take a look at Aga Khan Architecture Awards (AKAA) for market construction. Amazing, beautiful and functional markets have been built before!

Central Market in Koudougou, Burkina Faso

market

“Koudougou’s central market combines a covered hall with space for 624 stalls with a further 125 buildings containing 1’195 shop units, the vast majority of them small spaces of only 6.20 square metres. By virtue of its size, the project provided an important training ground for local masons. The market buildings are made almost exclusively of a local material – compressed earth blocks – using traditional Nubian techniques of arch and vault construction. Such self-sufficiency was deemed particularly desirable in light of the increasing costs of imported materials.”

Screen Shot 2013-05-07 at 10.08.08 AM

All pics from AKAA. Read more about the Central Market here

What I love about this market, apart from it being built by fireproof materials, is the beauty and light…Can we not build things that are pleasing to the eye and built to last?

Last week, the finalists for the 2013 Aga Khan Architecture Award were released.

KAJSA HALLBERG ADU @KAJSAHA

Arts and Social Media Marketing Workshop in Accra

April 30, 2013 No Comments

Today, I went to an Arts Marketing Workshop in Accra thinking that I would learn something mainly on the workshop format for maybe a future BloggingGhana social media workshop, but went away having learned a whole lot about marketing!

A great description of the lack of information about the Arts in Ghana cited as reason for workshop. #nubuke pic.twitter.com/rzHhr0kNeekNee

@GanyobiNaa

·

Kwabena Danso Jahwi @i_jahwi

I was not there alone…

is @ the arts marketing workshop at Nubuke Foundation, with @kajsaha @Delasimusic @RodneyQuarcoo @AF_Accra @attukwei

The day’s biggest aha moment for me was UPS:

What is your organization’s unique selling point (UPS)? What do you do best? How are you different? #nubuke

I thought long and hard and with a bit of advise from the competent workshop convener, Nicolette Lorraway, I decided that “my” organization BloggingGhana’s UPS is “We know social media in Ghana!” Simple!

After that, learning continued.

Who is your target market? Age, location, values… #nubuke

“Positioning involves knowing your competition”- Nicolette #nubuke

Wilma Flintstone @surabbie

A cleaver student was fast to respond:

@kajsaha Entrepreneuship class gave a lot of clarity to the concept of positioning and deciding on a target market. Cos it was so relevant

@surabbie I did not really understand why not “everybody” should be targeted before this workshop. I now get it! #nubuke

@surabbie

·

Wilma Flintstone @surabbie

Not “everybody” CAN be targeted and even if that was possible, and “everybody” came to your event, you woudn’t be able to satisfy “everybody” and you want people to leave satisfied with your work, right?

@kajsaha I know! I didn’t get it either but it makes complete sense. You wonder why you didn’t get it before, hahahaha

Exactly.

Then, I found it interesting that fundraising and how you manage your event is also marketing!

“Marketing includes publicity snd social media, flyers, but also branding, events management and fundraising” #nubuke

Discussions on legacy media and social media concluded the workshop.

Discussion on paying for publicity. “Daily Graphic and The Ghanaian Times will publish without gifts” #nubuke

@vilkenMartin

·

Rodney Quarcoo Esq.@RodneyQuarcoo

Some artists started marketing their products while still at the workshop quite efficiently….

Got one too! “@kajsaha: And @i_jahwi just sold me his new album! #multitasking #nubuke with @Delasimusic @RodneyQuarcoo @AF_Accra @attukwei“

@i_jahwi

·

Thanks for a wonderful workshop experience!

Ghana, Places, Promoting

EVENT Adventurers in the Diaspora: Ghana’s Creative Economy

April 22, 2013 2 Comments

Come see me moderate a panel on Ghana’s Creative Economy with some distinguished guests this Thursday.

25 April, 2013

7.30 PM

Golden Tulip Hotel, downstairs in the Branch restaurant

Screen Shot 2013-04-22 at 6.40.00 PM

I am excited about the topic and accepted to moderate the discussion as I feel I have some small understanding of it, as I love culture and creativity! Although I was a little bit worried about discussing ways forward with the deputy minister and some heavy weights in Ghana’s cultural life like Korkor Amartefio and Odile Tevie as my comfort zone is maybe is more in the alternative arts and online part of the creative economy of Ghana. Well, organizer’s AiD (follow them on FAcebook to never mss their events!) seem to still have confidence in me and if for nothing else, I hope to unveil some new directions from the new director of the Ghana National Museum, Zagba Oyortey.

See you Thursday eve!

Bats in Ghana

April 18, 2013 No Comments

Since I was a little girl, I have been interested in bats. I’m not sure exactly why, but it seems they are animals that do everything “the other way” – sleep in the day, fly around at night, snuggle comfortably upside-down, eat either BLOOD or was it fruit? – and that is all interesting, don’t you think?

Fast forward to 2004 when I visited Ghana for the first time and saw something strange in the trees around 37 military hospital, smack in the middle of Accra. Was it not …? I was told about the fruit bat colony that lives there, presumably waiting for a king – with the bat as his symbol – who was rushed to the hospital and never came out again…During the day, trees in the area are clad with what looks like brown fruits, but around sunset those “fruits” come alive and the sky turns grey by all the bats that take to the sky! It is an amazing sight!

A few years back, I met someone working on documenting bats and their life for a tourism project and I though, yes, that would be nice! Bat safari! Learning more about these puzzling creatures! Climbing trees! Hanging upside down with tourists! But alas, nothing has happened and bats are not, as far as I know, contributing to Ghana’s GDP in any significant way.

Last week, bats resurfaced in Ghana’s foremost newspaper the Daily Graphic in a lengthy article by James Agyei-Ohemeng and it was even suggested: Bats are Ghana’s best-kept wildlife secret! Apparently they are also crucial for the health of Ghana’s forests (and timber, so I take back the GDP comment!) and a research project is currently underway in Sunyani!

Pic borrowed from susano.tripod.com.

Ghana, People, Promoting

Prof. Mkandawire to University of Ghana

April 17, 2013 2 Comments

Every year in March (this year April for some reason), the University of Ghana gives all its students a lavish gift: The Aggrey-Fraser-Guggisberg Memorial Lecture Series. A world known scholar will give a lecture, many times on development or similar, and the community comes together and celebrates the best academia has to offer. This year Professor Thandika Mkandawire from the London School of Economics is the speaker.

Mkandewiret_85x119 Earlier speakers have been Dr. Ernesto Zedillo, former president of Mexico (2012), Prof. Wole Soyinka (2007) , but I can’t find a proper list of them all…Anyway, Mkandawire is originally from Malawi, but has lived and worked all over the world, notably for the UN (for its Research Institute on Social Development), CODESRIA (organization for African Universities), and at universities in UK, Zimbabwe and even Sweden! I have come across his work on the past and future of universities in Africa, as it is a topic that interests me. So I am looking forward to this lecture series! As this was not enough, I have gotten interesting reactions to that he is lecturing in Ghana: “he is fun/wild/crazy” is often said, so now my hopes are even higher!

The lectures take place in the Great Hall at the very top of the Legon campus this week and are open to the public:

Wed 17th April, 2013 5 PM ‘From “Recovery” to Development”

Thu 18th April, 2013 5 PM “Bringing Social Equality Back in”

Fri 19th, 2013 2.30 PM “The University and “Catching up”

I believe the last leg will be very interesting for my research and think Prof is referring to a World Bank document “Accelerating Catch-Up: Tertiary Education for Growth in Africa” (2009) where Africa’s universities (should) catch up. I am guessing he thinks “catching up” is not the best image for the process that is ongoing on the continent, maybe it suggests Africa should “follow” the West, maybe he thinks the World Bank should not be trusted when it comes to higher education, maybe he thinks Africa’s leaders should aim higher than just catching up…In addition, I hope he says something about “knowledge societies”, the newest buzz word on the block, but the one who listens will find out!

A funny detail is that Mkandawire was also chosen to be the Distinguished Nyerere Lecturer 2013 in Tanzania and seem to combine the two lectures in one trip!

Photo borrowed from LSU.

Ghana, Photo, Places, Sweden

Travel Destinations: Greater Accra and Gotland

April 11, 2013 1 Comment

I have two homes. One in Ghana and one in Sweden. Having two homes is normal to me, it is my life.

In Ghana my life centers around the Greater Accra area: the capital Accra, my hometown Tema and my workplace roughly an hour north east of Accra. In Sweden, I hail from the island of Gotland, more particularly the village Brissund and then the cosmopolitan city of Malmo in the very south thanks to my siblings who moved there.

This week, I stumbled across tourist information of my two homes provinces and WOW! they look great! I can’t believe how lucky I am to share my time between these two places…

1. Ghana: Greater Accra (as described by Virgin Atlantic)

2. Sweden: Gotland (as described by the campaign GotlandJordenRunt)

So when are you coming to visit?

Ghana, Personal

10 Years Later, Five Years Wiser

March 29, 2013 2 Comments

On the eve of an October night back in 2002, I met a young man in a student pub. We locked eyes, danced and changed phone numbers. 10 years later, he is my best friend, the father of my child and the one person on earth who annoys me the most!

Anyways, you are now thinking, why is Kajsa HA wasting my time with this today? Well, today is the day we have been married for five years. We were married in Ghana in 2008, watched the Perfect Picture in 2009, went to a Kojo Antwi concert in 2010, had our daughter in 2011 (with no connection to the aforementioned concert!) and spent most of 2012 worrying about accomodation. It has not always been easy (see “annoys” above), but for better and worse, we are a team.

Kweku, I want to thank you for challenging and inspiring me to be a nicer and wiser person.

Kajsa and Kweku at 10

Blogging, Ghana

#BlogCamp13: Still Overwhelmed

March 25, 2013 3 Comments

Saturday 23 March 2013, Ghana’s second blogcamp or conference for bloggers took place. In the evening Ghana’s forst Social MEdia awards were held at the same venue. It was amazing and two days later, I am still tired and slightly overwhelmed.

I will not tell you about everything that happened (Kinna did that already very well), neither will I talk about my trip to the venue (far less interesting than Kofi Larbi’s), but just offer some thoughts – as one of the cofounders of BloggingGhana – the organizing body behind the event:

1. Do we really have 400 people plus in Ghana interested in blogging to the point they spend a whole day, and transport costs, learning more? Amazing!

2. BloggingGhana has been about friendships since the very beginning. I have made some of my most important friendships in this group and what made me happy on Saturday was that new friends seemed to be all around. Many people also met their Twitter or Blog friends in person for the first time. I had some experiences like that as well! Kinna wrote:

I wasn’t privy to any such conversation, but I’m sure there were all manners of hooking up going on! Lots of smiling, lots of hugs, some shade and a world of happiness!

That was indeed the feeling!

3. I wasn’t expecting feeling moved by that the US ambassador came by, but his speech contextualized BloggingGhana in ways I haven’t fully before realized. Hearing things like this constituted an aha-moment for me (click on link above for the whole speech):

We applaud Blogging Ghana for its efforts to encourage hundreds of Ghanaians to express themselves on a broad array of topics affecting daily life. …We support events such as this because we know that honing communication and information technology skills will directly be transferable to the expansion of business opportunities between the U.S. and Ghana, one of our highest priorities. We agree with the visionaries who founded Blogging Ghana: In the next five years more and more people are going to find employment utilizing their social media expertise.

4. The glamour of the Social Media awards were also surprising (I should have changed my clothes!) and can be credited to aforementioned diplomat, our own Nana Darkoa of Adventures from winning the Best Blog category and the organizers of the award, Fred and Golda for their attention to detail, for instance to the beautiful physical awards! (bottom left in the collage above)

5. We have already started to plan #BlogCamp14! We started around lunch time on Saturday! It will be better, bigger and more intense. We will also think of a way of making the event more sustainable, likely by roping in some of the attendees as contributing members of our organization. Watch out!

Trust me, I have so much more to say about this day and all the people I met/highfived/laughed with/gave my contacts to/directed to the right session, but talking to so many people, both in mics and face to face is tiring. I still feel exhausted. Thankful. Overwhelmed.

And Inspired.

Ghana, Parenting

How to Carry a Baby Ghana Style: Video

March 21, 2013 1 Comment

I have written on this topic before, here for YouTube tips and on when I met a Ghanaian mother who carried her baby like a European, in front, but I have fogotten to post the video I made myself about a year ago with my daughter and nanny playing the lead roles.

Of course my clip is better edited, music included, and explains this West African wisdom better than all competitors out there on the web, or what say you?