Kajsa Hallberg Adu, Ph.D, Personal Blog
“Asa” means “dance” in Twi. Manifest is one of the most interesting artists in Ghana (and the grandson of acclaimed Africanist Prof. Nketsia, I recently found out from the grandfather himself at a book launch last month!). Efya is a lovely vocalist and the two compliment each other very well.
Really, art is what makes life worth living! After a heavy week, I am welcoming this trip into the world of clapping, rhythms and Ghanaian dance. Medawoase!
My parental leave is over and I am back to work at Ashesi University College.
This semester, I am teaching the freshman class Social Theory. It is an introductory course to political and societal philosophy and focuses on the question “how can we build a good society?” Really, I can’t believe it already will be the third time that I teach it! The news for this semester is that we are on Twitter. Follow us on @SocThe or follow this link twitter.com/socthe
This week is also Ashesi’s 10 year anniversary. On Monday, the anniversary was kicked off with a festive event for students, staff, faculty and executives of Ashesi along with invited guests such as the chiefs of the Akuapim area with the Berekusohene leading the group draped in the most beautiful and colorful kente.
The new campus – well for me it is new since I was away when Ashesi moved in in July – is purpose built and quite majestic as it is situated on one of the green Akuapim hills. Walking the broad, shaded walkways around the beautifully landscaped campus is definitely a motivating factor to strive for excellence!
So with drumming, smiling students and a campus in a festive mood – I was welcomed back to work!
As an adfree and *ahem* somewhat popular blogger you sometimes get emails from people hoping to do business with you. However when the email starts like this, I feel like they haven’t really read my work…
Hi Kajsa,
I just finished reading your post , ‘Bus Mass Rape in Kintampo Never Happened’ and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Or what say you?
Yesterday, I got the question:
– But what do you do with your baby all day?
The short answer is sleep, eat (her mostly, me in the space between) and play.
The long answer is this:
02.00 She wakes up with a wiggle and a yawn. I manage to give her my left breast before she screams or even opens her eyes.
05.30 She wakes up with a smile. I give her my right breast and when she has eaten (drunk?) decide it is time for a diaper change. After playing in the baby gym and saying some nursery rhymes, putting on a new outfit we go back to bed.
08.32 Grandma comes to take her before dashing off to work. I go back to sleep.
09.00 Grandpa brings her back. She is hungry.
11-ish We wake up and do the diaper-thing. I decide to dress her in an outfit that matches mine.
11.30 I have breakfast and read a wonderful blogpost about tossing the hunt for productivity out while grandpa tries to get her to sleep.
15.15 We go out for a walk after she has slept and ate. During the walk she sleeps.
16.12 We enter a café. She wakes up. She looks around the place in amazement. I hurry to order coffee and gulp it down before feeding her again.
17.14 We visit my brother. She screams until I pick her up and then she burps. I need to remember that babies (almost) always cry for a reason.
18.40 Back home. We play for a while. She looks at things, that is I say “What are you looking at? A flower? The sun rays?” Then she is suddenly hungry and after that needs a diaper change. I optimistically put on her pajama. She is all smiles at the changing table.
19.30 Still trying to get her to sleep. As soon as I sit down she cries. I put her in the BabyBjörn and start to sing. When she is asleep, I have dinner.
20.55 She is up again. Can she really be hungry? She sits with my parents and “talks” to them before coming back to me. I feed her to sleep.
23.00 Time to blog!
The second question I got was,
– Is it fun?
Well, it is a different tempo, a changed way of life, an exhausting and at the same time relaxing task, many times it is scary, but also exciting and yes, maybe even fun!
At the same time as I am waiting for my life to change here in Sweden, creative friends of mine in Accra under the umbrella “ACCRAdotAlt” (find them here on Facebook) have organized the “Chale Wote Street Festival“.
Chale Wote is the Ghanaian name for the cheap flip-flop that clad many Ghanaian feet. However, the festival was all other than cheap. From the pictures I have seen so far – the best ones you find with Nana Kofi Acquah (like the smashing pic above), the festival was a meeting opportunity for creative souls like musicians, designers, artists and the local community of James Town in Accra with a beautiful and rich result.
I love events like these as they bring meaning, activity and fun to peoples’ lives where there before was just business as usual.
UPDATE: See also the festival covered by fellow bloggers Graham, Jemila and Holli.
I had such a lovely time in Marseille, in the south of France!
Top left at a visit in a vineyard in 
Cassis, a small town outside Marseille, a sign at the vineyard which translates to “a meal without wines is like a day without sunshine“…then the lovely local fish soup Bouillabaisse (not too different from a good light soup with fresh fish, I must say…read all about it in the Bouillabaisse charter here) and last but not least with friend since 10 years, Cris, who lives in Marseille and hosted me.
The next collage is showing the time working – which was the lion share of my stay, I promise! Here you see Mary Gentile and symposium/workshop organizer Antony Bueno of Bentley University conversing, the Euromed Management campus, a workshop group session and a presentation by the hilarious Aaron Nurick.
I felt like this trip connected me to the wide world of teaching (Australia, Taiwan, Uganda, US), opened my eyes to new academic opportunities and at the same time reminded me of how small the world is…
…like this was not enough, French food was of course great, living in a nice hotel was amazing and getting to also see an old friend was a big plus…
…that is a pretty fabulous week, in my opinion!
I hope you have heard about Asabaako, Ghana’s new music festival taking place on Busua beach on the 5-6 of March 2011 ( yep, also called the independence weekend, and yep, I really said BEACH).
It all seems so lovely! Party on one of the most beautiful beaches of Ghana, friends coming together, creativity and arts, rooftop DJs, concerts with Ghana’s freshest acts and in between quick dips in the sea. Did I say I was going?
On the stylish and informative Asabaako website you can find more info, including accommodation and transport. They also have an Asabaako Facebook page and an Asabaako behind the scenes blog!
And what does Asabaako mean? Well, you just have to go to their website to find out!
Someone I recently met here in Ghana said she missed some berries from home. I was surprised:
How can you miss any berry or fruit when there is sun ripe mangoes ?, I asked.
This time of year in Ghana might be dusty and “cold” (as low as… brrr… 25 degrees celsius), but it does bring something invaluable…
…Mango season!
I love the small ones, the big ones, the reddish ones and the still green. I like the ones that smell like pine sap and sunshine. With time you learn how to predict how the stone stands in the middle of the lovely fruit. You cut close to it and have a big chunck of sweet fruit. I like cutting thin wedges, but sometimes I do diagonal squares and gently push the half inside out. The sun colored fruit begs to be eaten! The consistency of a perfectly ripen mango is velvety and smooth. The feeling when you dig into a mango half and the juice drips along your hands, arms towards your elbows…
The big ones are 50 pesewas a pop at the fruit stand opposite my house. You want one?
Pic borrowed from YKWYA.
The group I co-founded with fellow Swedish-Ghanaian Blogger Maya’s Earth, GhanaBlogging, is in the habit of meeting monthly. Today at 3pm at Café dez Amis (former Afrikiko) it is time again.
Right now we have some interesting and positive developments and thinking about formalizing ourselves 
into something more than a group of friends, into some kind of organization. This is for two main reasons.
First, we are getting more and more invitations for collaborations from companies and other organizations (Google Ghana, Nokia, British High Commission etc.). This is wonderful, but it is becoming unclear who to contact and how to spread information properly. I am also proud to say we are a very critical group who feel strongly about being independent, so this is another issue when market forces knock on your door.
Second, we are growing like crazy! Before Christmas, more than 70 bloggers wanted to join us! At the last meeting we were more than 15 bloggers present! ( If you also want to join us, fill this GhanaBlogging form and we will get back to you!) This means we need to streamline the application process further – and just welcoming double the amount of members we have is a great task that requires organization.
Despite these changes the group is still very much a group of friends, meeting, discussing and laughing.
See you later!
3. Kokrobite. (Big Milly’s)
2. Anomabo. (Anomabo Beach Resort)
1. Axim. (Lou Moon Lodge)
Which is your favorite Ghana beach?
In the name of research, I am sharing this email I just found in my inbox with you!
Subject: Do you know caves with bats?
Dear All,
If you know locations of bat caves you could help a research team in Kumasi
and earn some money, see file attached.BAT CAVES
REWARD FOR INFORMATION
An interdisciplinary team of scientists from Ghana and Germany
have established a research program into bat ecology and human
health. We will be happy if you could provide us with information
about caves with bats in high numbers in Ghana.
A reward of GH¢30 will be provided for new information on cave
locations that we then decide we can use in our study.
We require information on:
• location
• size of cave
• whether bats use the caves and their number if known
Please contact Prof. Samuel Oppong on 0322 060 381 or 0244
535 692 or email heather.baldwin@uni-ulm.de.Thank you for
your assistance!
The annual Swedish book fair in Gothenburg this year has an Africa theme!
With the name Afrika2010, some 50(?) writers from 36 countries, a couple of hundred seminars and probably thousands and again thousands of book titles, the fair is opening on the 23rd September and lasting until the 26th.
“There is a strong interest in Africa right now, not at least thanks to the World Cup in South Africa in June. With the Africa focus of this year’s Book Fair, we will put the African literary scene in the lime light. Many new and already established writers and cultural workers will provide a more complex picture of this exciting continent”, says Carin Norberg, head of the Nordic Africa Institute which together with SIDA is supporting the thematic focus on Africa at the Bok&Bibliotek book fair.
Participants from Ghana includes: Akoss Ofori-Mensah (Sub-Saharan Publishers) and writers Yaba Badoe (True Murder came out last year) and Meshack Asare (many childrens’ books including Children of the Tree).
I will very sadly not be able to make it to Afrika2010, but will be following this glorious event bringing together the African continent and its literature, likely reporting in this space. Oh, and I just saw one of my favorite artists, Dobet Gnahore is opening the fair!
The only comfort I have is that it seems Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Half of a Yellow Sun) is , just like me, too busy around this time to come to the Afrika2010 book fair in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Which African writer would have made you reschedule your plans and go to Gothenburg?
More info on Afrika 2010 here: http://www.afrika2010.se/english or download the full program or follow on twitter.com/bokmassan2010