I was up pretty early this morning. Annoying, considering I am
on leave and should be getting maximum sleep. Failing to get back to sleep, I reached
under the pillow for my phone and went through my daily morning routine of
checking my facebook, twitter, whatsapp ad email accounts. It seemed like I was
the only one up at stupid o’clock. I laid in the darkness for a bit fiddling
with my phone. Then I remembered someone mentioned a Discovery Channel
documentary about illegal mining in Ghana
the other day. So I ended on Youtube.
My immediate reactions minutes into the documentary were the
usual fury whenever I see something embarrassing on Ghana.
But as it went on, it became apparent how overly scripted this documentary is. Many
of the scenes have obviously been staged for dramatic effects. It felt like
something copied from a re-enactment scene in Crime Watch. Their stay in the “jungle”
would not have been complete without the shots of the leech conveniently lodged
on the ankle of one of the crew members and a cameo appearance by the highly poisonous
green mamba. Funny how there were no mozzies in the “jungle”, with all the pools
of murky water these clowns created with their illegal mining. And the subtle
play on the old colonial hierarchical system. At the top is the greedy white
explorer/exploiter, then the Indian middleman operating the excavator and at
the bottom, my people!
Many scenes in this documentary may have been scripted, but
we cannot ignore the message in there. That a section of Ghanaians can be so
poor whilst the land they live on abounds in gold is a shame on every Ghanaian.
That two debts-ridden yanks can come into a village in Ghana,
have a hearing with the CHIEF and his ELDERS and have little school children
take the day off school to perform at the gathering is just unbelievable. Surprising
how this issue of illegal mining was not a major debate topic during the
election period. I guess this is just an indication of how much these politicians
care about the people.
For those two greedy yanks, it was a win/win situation whatever
the outcome. If they find the gold, they make money and if they did not find
the gold, they would still make money from the screening of the documentary. But
for us, all we get from this as a nation is bad press and death traps.
Last year I spent some time in a part of south central Asia.
I would hesitate to call these people racists but they do have a pretty down
trodden view of a dark skin tone. Everyone in the TV adverts is
fair-skinned. They even have skin products that block out the darkening effects
of the sun and make the skin much fairer. And it’s a thriving business. All the
big western cosmetic companies that make millions from selling tanning lotions
in the west make just as much money, if not more, selling products that do the
exact opposite on this side of the globe.
I was not sure who was more surprised at this; me or these white
Europeans I was with. They would not pass up an opportunity to lay in the sun
to top up their tan. The locals however found it absurd that people in the west
would even pay to go on the sunbeds. And their concern was not because of the
health risk related to the constant exposure to UV rays; rather, they
found a pale skin colour to be much more desirable than a tan.
Apart from Alek Wek, I am struggling to think of any other
very dark skinned female fashion icon. I think our standard of beauty as
Africans and black people, has a leaning towards a fair skin tone. It is what
we see on TV and in the lads’ magazines that shapes this view. Beyonce, Nikki Minaj
and Rihanna look whiter with each new music video. I checked the colour
settings on my TV twice this week already, so it cannot be that. And I have had my eyes checked too-well that is only because I wanted an excuse to buy
myself one of those cool Ray Ban glasses- but it turns out my sight is
impeccable.
So Hollywood
favours a tan, Bollywood a pale skin but what does Nollywood say? Is it Alek or
Bey, licorice or caramel? Personally, I like a bag of M&Ms.
This is inspired by Afua Hirsch’s article for The Guardian:
Our Parents Left Africa- Now We Are Coming Home (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/26/ghana-returnees-afua-hirsch-africa
). This article is not meant to be a direct response to the one named above but
to merely offer a different perspective on the issue of the economic migration of
Africans to the west and the return home- from the perspective of one born and
raised in Africa but living in the west.
I was born and raised in Ghana,
but I have been in and out of the UK
since I was about 17 years old. I therefore did not have to go through the
topsy-turvy period of trying to discover my cultural identity as do many
children of African descent growing up in the west. Though I am embarrassed by
stories like the one that appeared on the cover of the Economist in 2000, I am
not affected as much as my cousins who have been born and raised in the UK and
whose knowledge of Africa is largely shaped by what they see in the media.
Unlike them, I know of a different Africa- an African
where the roads are just as good as those in the west and people drive around
in Range Rovers. Consequently, I did not go through that excruciating
experience of denying ones own roots and disassociating oneself from Africa
and anything African. Many like me, who relocate to the west at an older age,
have different kinds of issues to deal with; you get white Europeans looking at
us like we all speak in clicks and have come from war ravaged countries where
we walked 10miles every morning just to fetch water from the same river our
livestock drink from. I remember I was once sat in a predominantly white church
where the vicar had just returned from an evangelism trip to Uganda.
Before his sermon that morning, he decided to show the congregation photos from
his trip on the projector screen. He had visited a church branch in one of the
shanty towns. The flick showed images of living accommodations constructed from
scrap metal, plywood and plastic sheets-one on top of the other and situated
right in next to a massive refuse site. As I sat there lost in my thought
wondering what becomes of children born in such an environment, I had a gentle tap
on my shoulder. It was the vicar’s wife and her words were; “Does this remind
you of home?” I was dumbstruck and could not utter a word, so she obviously
took my silence to mean a “yes” in response to her question. I could not help
but think the whole congregation had the same question on their minds. The
vicar had no other photos of Uganda
other than that of the shanty town. So a congregation of about 20 went home
that Sunday with one image of Africa in their heads.
This is our battle; constantly battling the stereotypical image of the African.
And we battle these stories and images not because we deny Africa faces issues of
the poverty, famine and senseless wars, we do so because we know there is
another Africa whose story never makes the headlines. Because we are aware that the
constant reproduction this negative image does nothing but rob us of our
dignity as a people.
Though it may still be true that life abroad means “access to
a stable income, reliable healthcare and a credible education”, unlike the
Africans from Afua’s mother’s era, leaving for this breed of African migrants
is not permanent. Not only are flights home more frequent and comparatively
cheaper, we are starkly aware of the changing fortunes of Africa
and the many economic opportunities its offering. So when we have had the
education, the work experience and managed to pull enough resources together,
we find our way back home. And we do go back with good experience, having travelled
the world and observed and engaged with many other cultures. That is why whenever
I go back to Ghana to see the family, I scream if I have to queue up for hours
and be played like a ping pong between different customer service desks just to
get my own money from a bank; because I have lived in a society where customer
service is excellent most of the time. And in the same vain, whenever I visit Ghana,
my heart warms with pride when I see my neighbour admonishing my niece and nephews
when they are being mischievous because I have lived in a society that has a
broken family and societal system and experienced the consequences.
I do not hold our experiences to be richer and better than
those who have lived on the continent all their lives, but our experience however
offers a different perspective which can be harnessed for our common good. The
African migrant of today has the ability to negotiate both worlds with relative
ease. We can put on a British or an American accent if the need arises or switch
to our local African languages so we do not get swindled by people back home
who may mistake us to be foreigners.
Year after year, several Africans resident in Europe
and America
make that final journey back home. It was several years ago they begun that
sojourn- they carried not just their luggage and passports bearing a much sort
after visa, they also carried within them a dream. A dream that some day they can
come back home and build economic empires so big that their children would not
have to make this journey ever again. But as one group gets off the plane at the
KotokaInternationalAirport, another jumps on, back to Europe
and America
beginning their sojourn. It has become something of a cycle. But this cycle is
losing its momentum. For a long time bad press has sucked away belief in us as
a people and in the continent. But somehow there is a new sense of optimism within
Africans- on and off the continent, returnees and “stayees”. Africa
is on the surge and it is no longer so uncool to be African or to be associated
with anything African. I tune the radio to Kiss Fm in London
and I hear D’banj singing Oliver Twist, I go to a club in Dortmund
and I see people dancing azonto, I drive through Brussels
and I see someone in African prints. Africa is on the
rise.
On my last visit to Ghana
in April 2012, I sat watching telly with my mother. It was a children’s rap
competition and what struck me was the fact that none of these children performed lines by Drake or J. Cole, they were spitting the lyrics of Sarkodie,
Kwaw Kesse and EL. I sat with a grin across my face. The change has finally
begun. When I was growing up our rap icons were all American. We wanted to
speak and dress like them, so we longed to be American. Now this generation of
Ghanaian children have their heroes in Ghana.
Just like their icons, these children now believe they can live in Ghana
and be whatever they wish to be.
Ghana’s first appearance at the Olympics was in 1952 at the Helsinki Games, where we were represented by a seven-man team. Our first medal did not come until the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, where Clement Quartey boxed his way onto the podium to receive a silver medal. Eddie Blay followed with a bronze medal in boxing at the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games and at the Munich 1972 Olympic Games, Prince Amartey also took bronze in the middleweight division. We did not go near the medals podium until some 20 years later when the Black Meteors reached the semi finals at the Barcelona 1992 Olympic Games where they lost to the host nation Spain. They however beat Australia in the play-off for bronze.
That is our Olympics record as a nation, not very glamorous. So we came to the London Olympics not expecting to go back home with bags of medals. But every Ghanaian was hoping we would at least make a good impression. The games have ended and not very much was heard about Team GH. And frankly, this was not surprising. Lack of funding had forced the team to break camp months before the games. The nation’s economic woes would not allow for much funding to be pumped into sports. It’s a tricky balancing act for the government and various sports authorities. How to achieve the best possible results with the meagre funds available?
It does not take much research to notice our successes as a nation- at the Olympics and all other sporting competitions have come from two disciplines- boxing and football. Our greatest sports men and women are footballers and boxers. Those are the two things we are naturally good at and have infrastructure already in place to train and nurture our young talents. It will therefore be the sensible option to concentrate our resources and attention on these two sports if we are to make any headlines in Rio.
One of the most impressive nations at the games apart from the host nation, for me, was Jamaica. They bagged 4 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze medals and their athletes grab the big headlines. And all of these medals came from athletics- 3 of the gold medals were from Bolt and 2 of the silver medals from Blake. They have found a sport they are naturally good at as a nation and perfected their act! Now there is surely a lesson in there for us as Ghanaians if we are to win any medals at the next Olympics. So like the Jamaicans who are well known for their sprinters, Kenyans for their long distance runners, lets be known for our footballers and boxers. We are not China or the USA, who do not just have the financial resources to back their sports men and women, but also have large populations to choose from. Let’s start preparing our boxers and footballers now if the former Gold Coast is to win any gold in R
In a survey done for UK’s Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), 60% of teachers said their pupils most aspired to be David Beckham. More than a third said pupils wanted to be famous for the sake of being famous and 32% of the 304 teachers quizzed said their pupils modelled themselves on heiress Paris Hilton. And in America, about two dozen young people camped outside a shop just to buy the highly anticipated Nike Air Yeezy II for four times the retail price. It is therefore not very surprising when a survey showed most Americans know more about Kim Kadarshian than they do about the Federal Reserve. It goes without saying that this woman has deservedly earned her place in the celebrity world. She is famed for a sex tape and a marriage that lasted a very long time- 72 days!
My first reaction whenever I read such facts is that the western world is morally inept and superficial. Obsession with celebrities is hardly an issue in our Ghanaian society. We are too busy finding solutions to the problem of cholera- which claimed more than 80 lives last year than to waste our time discussing why a movie star or a musician is wearing a watch that does not match her earrings! We have our priorities straight! Or maybe I’m wrong.
For quite a long time I have been trying to convince myself the Ghanaian society has not blindly descended into the vanity of the Western world. What first got me thinking was what happened at the last Vodafone Ghana Music Awards. On the red carpet, “celebrities” were stopped for a little chat and each was asked what designer clothes they had on. The reviews of who-wore-what and who had the best combination of designer labels that followed on the radios and online is what is disturbing. That what celebrity X wore should grab more attention than the little boy that died of cholera is a big shame on us as a people. How can these “celebrities” appear on live TV and flaunt their expensive designer labels to the whole nation while WaterAidappeals for £4 a month from people in the West to fund the construction of hand dug wells in places like Ghana?! Since when did we as a society become fixated with the everyday lives of our musicians, movie stars and sportsmen and women-if there are any. (I’m struggling to think of any famous Ghanaian sports women)
Slowly we are being sucked into this celebrity obsession culture. Glorifying the flamboyant lifestyles of these “celebrities” is just an indication of how materialistic our society is becoming. We are throwing away our values in exchange for pure nonsense. And with this new generation of Ghanaian children spending more and more time behind the computer and TV screens, it is only a matter of time before we hear them say they do not need education to be successful; all they need is a pretty face and big, fake bum and boobs. It is only a matter of time our children will say they do not need a profession; all they need is to get into a reality TV show and be famous just for the sake of being famous.
There is nothing wrong with having admiration for talented entertainers, but what is wrong is to put these people on a very high pedestal, follow their every move and treat them like gods. We have mouths to feed, lives to save and children who need to be given hope. Let’s get to work!
My little nephew once sketched a pretty impressive image of himself. A young artist in the making I thought to myself. But something else caught my attention on his drawing. He had drawn himself with a mop top hairstyle. I asked him why he had a Mohawk hairstyle while his picture had a mop top. I already knew what his answer would be, but I just wanted to hear it from him. “Because I want to look like Ben 10” he said. He grew up watching Ben 10 all the time. He would not watch anything else. On his birthdays, he would not appreciate anything more than a Ben 10 watch or pyjamas. Anything that did not have a Ben 10 picture on it would not have much of his attention. He once asked his dad to call him Ben!
This sort of behaviour is admittedly common in growing children. This is when they begin to develop concepts and ideas of what is right and what is wrong, that which is acceptable and that which is not, what is beautiful and what is not. And they do so by watching and observing what they see other people do. They also learn from the books they read, the things they see on TV and the toys they play with. These are the things that influence the way our children see themselves and the world they find themselves in. Children between the ages of 5 and 8 have been found to have a concept of beauty based on the kind of dolls they play with. Beauty for them is the tall, slender, long straight hair, icy blue eye doll mummy and daddy bought for them. That is what they play with day and night. And that is how they want to look! That little girl will have no other hair style but the ponytail her doll has. And can you blame her?! She spends hours caring for her precious little doll. She bathes it, styles its hair and clothes it. She sleeps with it and would carry it everywhere if mummy lets her. She loves it and loves the look of it. That for her is the pinnacle of beauty!
This issue is even more complex with black children. They are caught up in a perplexity of how their skin and eye colour and their hair look so different to that of their elegant dolls. In 2006, Kiri Davies, a black teenage girl recreated the famous Clarke’s doll experiment and documented it in a film called “A Girl Like Me”. This experiment sort to explore black children’s idea of beauty in relation to the colour of the skin. The children were presented with two dolls. Both dolls were identical except for the skin and hair colour. One was brown with black hair while the other was white with yellow hair. These children were asked questions like- which doll they would want to play with, which one they thought was nicer and which one looked bad. 15 out of the 21 black children questioned in this experiment preferred the white doll.
The result from this experiment is quite surprising. But why is this the case? This is why- Children turn to stick to what they are used to and have grown to like. If daddy teaches him to tie his shoe laces in a double knot, that is how he will do it, and he would not have it any other way! If uncle tries to tie it in a different way, he will let uncle know that is not the way to do it! If a child grows up watching Ben 10, that is what he will choose if he is asked to make a to choice between that and SpongeBob SquarePants. Likewise, if a black child grows up playing with a white skin doll, that is going to be her of standard of beauty. And if asked to tell which one is prettier, a white doll or a black one, she will inadvertently choose the white one! So how do we as a people try to get our children to appreciate the beauty of their own skin colour? How do we make sure at an early age they appreciate and become comfortable in their skin?
Now will you please step forward Rooti Dolls! Created by Mr. Chris Chidi Ngoforo, these dolls are the answer to our problem. They are created as a real image and identity of us as black people- African, African Caribbean and African American. They have wider noses, fuller lips, long curly hair and they come in various shades of black. And these Rooti Creations Ltd dolls also come dressed in a mix of elegant African fabric and western fashion styles. So from an early age, we are getting our children to appreciate the beauty of African products and fashion trends as opposed to all the negative images we see in the media about Africa.
The genius of this product, however, lies in the fact that it speaks, and it does not just speak. It speaks a wide range of African languages! Its interactive! This doll is like Siri and Barbie moulded in a black skin. The children of many African parents are growing up with very little or no knowledge of their parents’ mother tongue. This is even more horrifying in cases where children grow up in Africa but do not speak any local dialect! They can only speak English! This product is the potential solution to the danger of the demise of Africa’s ethnic languages. Children can pick up words and phrases from playing with these dolls and this will serve as a building block to learn to speak and preserve our rich and beautiful African languages.
Rooti Creations Ltd have a range of dolls for every African country and can teach your children words and phrases in the ethnic languages of each particular country. So Ama, the Ghanaian doll can speak words and phrases in Twi, Ga, Danmgbe, Ewe, Hausa and many other dialects. If they demand is high enough, they may make one that can azonto! And the Afro Caribbean dolls can also interact and teach your child Spanish, Portuguese, German, Dutch and other European languages. Eastern European parent can also have dolls that can teach and interact with their children in Polish, Romanian, Russian and a host of other languages.
Now the solution is before us, so let’s start putting things right! Let us as a people save and preserve our identity as well as our rich and diverse languages. Let’s all root for Rooti Dolls!!
If you read my last blog and your jaw dropped from the kind of service I got from that restaurant, then brace yourself for something even more absurd! If we were to give awards for the worse service providers in Ghana, the banks would be right on top of the list. And Barclays Ghana would be miles ahead on the banking list. They are unbelievably shocking!
I walked into a Barclays bank branch once and saw about four people crowded around one person, so I moved closer to find out what was going on. The poor man was not in any kind of trouble, the other customers were just waiting for him to finish filling out his deposit slip so they can use the pen! I looked round and was surprised to see there were only 2 pens available for customers to use! I did not need to use a pen, but I went over to one of the guys sitting behind the desk to ask to borrow a pen. Now this guy is sitting there with an air of importance about him like he’s the governor of the Bank of Ghana! He offers me no smiles, so I offer none back. And he looks at me like I'm disturbing his otherwise perfect day. He had a pen on his table but it had been securely taped to his desk with a note on the pen saying “do not remove this pen from this desk”! At this point I start laughing. It’s so pathetic I cannot help but laugh. Well the man would not let his very expensive Bic Ballpoint pen leave his sight so the queue for the pen on the other side of the banking hall only grew bigger.
Well, I left that and went off to another desk to try and get my own issue sorted. I had an issue I expected to be resolved within days if not hours. I had an account with Barclays Bank Ghana I had not touched in about 3 years. The lady at the desk said the account would have been made dormant, but she would have to call another department to confirm if the money was still there! I left my money with a bank not a susu man so if I left it there for 3 years, I would expect it to be there untouched. As calm as a cucumber I sat and waited for about 10 minutes whiles she talked on the phone. When she came off the phone she informed me the dormant department would ring her back in a couple of minute to confirm they had knowledge of my defunct account. 30 minutes and a few tweets later, I'm still sat there, waiting! I go back to her to ask for an answer and she tells me the dormant department has not phoned back yet. Now she senses I'm not very happy so she rings back the dormant department only to be told their “system is down” so they cannot confirm anything for me! At this point I’m fuming, so she suggests I leave my number with her and she will ring me as soon as she gets an answer.
She called after a day to tell me my money was with them but I would have to come and fill some forms to be able to claim it back. So I go fill out these forms, get my ID photocopied then I’m told it would take 2 weeks for them to carry out all their checks! And I would have to pick up the cheque in person, but I had less than 2 weeks in Ghana. How hard is it to compare my photo ID with the photo they already have and check if my signatures match?! At this point I’m absolutely livid, but this guy in front of me just sits and listens and all he can say is its out of his hands, its company policy- the process takes 2 weeks and I have to come pick up the cheque in person. Now my only option is to go up the hierarchy. So I get on my phone to the Barclays Ghana headquarters. A few harsh words later, they agree the cheque can be collected by proxy. With all done, I’m told I have to ring back in 2 weeks to find out if my cheque had come through to them! I could only laugh! It’s just unbelievable! I’m sure I would not have to go through so much hustle to get money off the tax man!
Fast forward 3 weeks and I’m still trying to get hold of anyone from Barclays Bank! It’s either the phone rings or no one answers or someone answers only to be told the gentleman who signed my forms is in some meeting! So now I’m left with no choice than to send someone to that Barclays Bank branch and also boycott all Barclays ATMs worldwide! I think I’d spit at any Barclays ATM I come across. LOL!
The beautiful Ghanaian sun is pretty energy-draining so I
try to stay indoors during the day and go out after sun set. That works well
for me since most of the mates I’d hang with would have closed from work by
sunset. But when I do make it out during the day I try and stay at one spot for
as much as possible as long as the food and service is good.
So I’m at one such hangout somewhere in Labone with
Kobi and Ruth. The food and services are pretty much standard at this place.
But that’s not why I come here. I because I have fallen in love…with the
paintings in the restaurant! Any time I walk in there I feel like coming back in
the middle of the night and nicking every single one of them.
The service today had been great up until Ruth ordered a
Four Cheese pizza. I’m a home-made pizza expert and Ruth is crazy about cheese,
so with our combined knowledge we knew at the first site what turned up on
our table was not a Four Cheese Pizza. It was more like a four cheat pizza, it
only had a thin layer of mozzarella cheese on it.
Two unhappy customers went up to the waiter to ask if he
thought that looked like a four cheese pizza. It wasn’t surprising when he
answered yes! But I got a bit worried when the chefs also insisted what we have
been served was a four cheese pizza. So we went up to the manager and he was
swift to apologise but he had already lost a customer in Ruth and maybe Kobi.
I still do go there, but that’s only because I go there for
some other reason other than the food. It’s clear to me the manager understands
the importance of keeping his customers happy but his workers on the other hand
do not quite appreciate this fact. I know customer service in Ghana
is ridiculously appalling but its way better than what it used to be years ago
and there is definitely loads of room for improvement! It’s no use if the head
of a service provider knows how to treat his customers but the workers- who are
constantly interacting with customers- do not appreciate the power of the
customer. Service providers in Ghana
need to improve customer service relations, but it looks like they need a bit
of encouragement- Ghanaian customers need to start making a scene if the
service they pay for is below standard! It seems to be the only language these
service providers understand.
In the movie 300, 300 Spartans along with 700 Thespians led by King Leonidas took on the “god-king” Xerxes and his 100 000 strong army. The battle lasted for about 3 days, after which all 300 Spartans were killed. They fought well, they fought for the freedom of their people and paid the ultimate price. In return they made a very simple request. Dilios was sent from the battlefield to convey this request to the congress: “Remember us. As simple an order as a king can give. Remember why we died. For he didn't wish tribute or song. No monuments, no poems of war and valour. His wish was simple: “Remember us,” he said to me. That was his hope. Should any free soul come across that place, in all the countless centuries yet to be, may all our voices whisper to you from the ageless stones: Go tell the Spartans, passer-by, that here, by Spartan law, we lie."
Many more people have made similar sacrifices for the preservation of free society down the centuries. It is only right and appropriate that we recognise and remember those who have at various times throughout history given up their lives that we may have a free and fair society. So let us remember Sergeant Adjetey, Corporal Attipoe and Private Odartey Lamptey. All members of the Gold Coast Regiment of the Royal West African Frontier Force that fought alongside the allied forces during the Second World War. Upon their return from the war, they were refused the many benefits promised by the colonial government. On 28th February 1948, a number of ex-servicemen were marching from Accra to Christianborg Castle to present a petition to the British Colonial Governor on their unpaid war benefits when they were intercepted at the Osu crossroads by a contingent of armed policemen. The policemen led by Superintendent Colin Imray, a British police officer ordered that they dispersed and when they refused to obey, he gave an order to the police to open fire and the three ex-servicemen were killed.
Not only have these brave men fought to stop Hitler and the Nazi from murdering all non-Aryans. Their death provoked anti colonial protest all around the country which was a real shot in the arm for the independence struggle. These three have made the ultimate sacrifice, they could not have given any more than that. So as simple as a request can be, Let us remember them! 64 years down the ages, let us continue to remember them and honour their memory for the sacrifice they made to every free man and women everywhere in the world.
In the ‘90s when the airwaves was liberalised in Ghana, scores of private radio stations sprung up. With talk shows everywhere, people who had been unable to publicly express their views now had an avenue to make their thoughts known. Peoples’ views on the radio were raw and unchecked. But we could allow that to pass- only for a period of time. People had just been given that freedom, so it was understandable people would initially abuse it.
Fast forward to 2012 and politicians and “social commentators” (whatever the hell that job title means!), have not improved on their decorum on radio one single bit. Apart from parading themselves as experts on every issue under the sun, their choice of words shows very little respect for each other, their listeners, and the issues they discuss are petty. They are constantly on radio, at each other’s throat, and they tend to speak in a combination of English and Twi. Now that’s a very deadly combination when you think of the dangers of improper translation of words and phrases and the consequences it brings.
Not long ago a politician made pronouncements on radio that the law enforcement authorities deemed treasonable and was charged as such. Various supporters of this politician thronged the HQ of the Ghana Police and got in a scuffle with the law enforcers. This is not an issue you would expect people to be fighting over. It’s one for the law to decide if he’s guilty or not. I tried to understand why the supporters would go fight the police like it would cause them to release this politician.
I used a method I’ve found quite effective. I engaged a couple of taxi drivers in conversation over a period. Three different taxi drivers from Osu to Ofankor Barrier. They all had their radios on and this particular issue was under discussion. I asked all three the same question. So why was this politician arrested? The first and third drivers shocked me with their answers. They told me the politician had said if people keep beating up supporters of the opposition parties it would cause a civil war in Ghana! They argued many other politicians had said words to this effect and had not been arrested, so why has this man been held up in custody? This was what had infuriated supporters to rebel against the law enforcement authorities.
But that was hardly the charge against this politician. Do I blame the supporters? Yes, but only a little! I however blame these “social commentators” even more. They have unwittingly incited people into violence. They had translated “I declare war”- the alleged words of this politician to mean “there would be war” in Twi!! These people on radio have created a very volatile situation for violence to occur with their loose translation. It’s like Chinese whispers, as the news passes from one person to the other, the meaning of the alleged treasonable words uttered has been entirely changed. This is dangerous, especially in an election year. I would hate to wake up one morning see Ghana appear on BBC or Sky News for all the wrong reasons. Let’s watch how we translate words in-between the languages we speak.
I’m always excited going back to Ghana.
Love the weather, seeing old school mates, mama and the rest of the family. But
somehow I always dread the first meeting with mama. She would look at me and
say-“Ato you haven’t been eating well, you’ve lost weight”. Because of this, I
always put myself on a fattening diet about a week before I go to Ghana.
But this plan has never really worked. Most of the time, its either I’m too
lazy or too busy to stick to this eating routine. I’ve been to Iceland
to stock up on the junkiest 2 minutes microwave meals I could lay my hands on.
But they are still sat in the freezer and I’ve got only a few days before I see
her.
I think I should point out I have not got a small physique.
I have got pretty toned up muscles and I would want keep it that way. So why
does she want me to put on some weight? For most in the Ghanaian society,
putting on excessive weight is a sign of good living. As bizarre as it
sounds I do not think this is far from the truth. It is the one with a fat
wallet that can afford to buy and consume more than what his body requires. The
not-so-well-off on the other hand will eat just about enough to sustain them.
But this notion of fatness as a sign of good living seems to be waning away.
People have become conscious of what they eat. But this has not saved the
well-off from obesity.
With the growth in the economy and all that, more Ghanaians
are at risk of obesity and its associate diseases more than ever. People are
spending more time at work than ever before and so are turning to fast food
establishments for their lunch and dinner. This is made even worse by the fact
that for most Ghanaians the word “exercise” does not feature anywhere in their
daily routine. So whiles obesity might be a sign of good living in Ghana,
it’s also a sign of poor health. So let’s start taking a good look at what we
eat. The greatest wealth, they say, is health.
I miss being at home for Christmas. A week before Christmas day, mama and I would put up the Christmas decorations all around the house. The plastic Christmas tree with the fake snow, the fanciful lights, the blow up Santa, the balloons! We had the whole lot. Without the decorations it would not feel like Christmas. Those were the little things that I have come to associate with Christmas and this is no different in most Ghanaian households, and I guess it’s the same for most parts of Africa. Households, offices and streets are decorated accordingly. However, I have been thinking about this over the years and it all seems well out of place. Why the tree with white dots all over it? Why Santa on a sleigh? Why was the stereo playing “I’m dreaming of a white Christmas…” on a bright sunny day in December? Santa would be drenched in sweat in that red and white suit and poor Rudolph, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and Blitzen, I don’t think they can survive the heat and we do not even have any chimneys in Ghana for Santa to come sliding through. Most houses in Ghana have big fob off walls around them. On top of the walls are spikes of broken bottles and barb wire and behind the massive metal front gates lies one angry growling dog. Now I wonder how Santa is going to make it through to deliver his goodies.
It’s clear our idea of Christmas has been hugely influenced by the many Hollywood movies we watch and songs we hear. Snow, the Christmas tree, Santa Clause, the reindeers – all these are Western branding of Christmas. It goes without saying that these things bear no relevance to the true essence of Christmas – the birth of Christ. And it does not snow every Christmas as the movies would have us believe! Surely we should be putting our own Ghanaian/African imprint on Christmas- what we associate with it and how we celebrate it. I think we should swap the plastic trees for coconut trees and the snow for our white sands. Let’s associate Christmas with our beautiful beaches. Christ himself was a bit of a fisherman so I guess he would quite like this idea and most Ghanaians spend their Christmas holidays at the beach anyway. We can make the Christmas season a big sales season for our magnificent beaches.
So how do we start this change? Well it’s a bit too late to do anything this year but I will make it a point to be in Ghana next Christmas. I will suggest to mama to bin her fake Christmas tree and replace it with a miniature coconut tree grounded in a pot of sand with all the lights and other décor. She will think I have gone bonkers and so will anyone else who comes to the house but I will explain my idea to them and hopefully it will catch on. I think it also a good idea to write to the television stations to get them to do the same in their studios. They may or may not but at least it will get them thinking. It will be a big step to rebranding Christmas in our own unique way. Well, I will stop rambling on now, hope you all enjoy the Christmas season and to the good people in Ghana I wish you not just a happy Christmas but a Happy Sunny Christmas!
