GhanaBlogging.com » January 29, 2010 http://ghanablogging.com/ GhanaBlogging.com » January 29, 2010 Gregarius 0.6.0 en A Fork in the Road: Spare the rod, spoil the child http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YearInAmerica/~3/dEdWWynq4B8/spare-rod-spoil-child.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 16:55:00 -0500 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/YearInAmerica/~3/dEdWWynq4B8/spare-rod-spoil-child.html Fiona Leonard
Corporal punishment came as a rude shock. I began my primary education in a state where the cane had long since been outlawed. In New South Wales, in 1980, however, it was still going strong. Thirty years later, with that memory still vivid, I find it fascinating to listen to arguments in the media here, claiming that corporal punishment should be reintroduced in order to instill a sense of discipline and allow teachers to reassert control over their students.

An editorial in one of today's papers denounces a recent attack on a teacher who was assaulted by a group of men who broke into his house and attacked him for confiscating a student's phone. The rest of the teachers in the school have apparently fled. In decrying this act, the editorial reflected on the glory days of discipline in the 60s and 70s when teachers were revered by parents and educational standards were high.

And yet, those students of the 60s and 70s are now the parents of the undisciplined. The children who were educated in highly disciplined environment are the parents who apparently no longer respect teachers, their children are now insulting teachers, and refusing to behave. What happened along the way? Are the current generation of parents simply rebelling against the structures they suffered through as children?

Alternately, I wonder whether the issues lie in the broader relationship between the school and its environment. Research into bullying in schools suggests that the most effective solutions come when there is a united strategy implemented by the entire school community - teachers, parents and peers. It is not simply enough to enact punishment on the bully. In some cases the schools are intricately connected to their communities, others are not. I was fascinated to hear, during one of our recent school tours that the school had no formal mechanisms for the administration to communicate with the parents. There was no PTA and the senior teacher seemed at a loss as to how parents communicated with the school - "I suppose you could make an appointment..."

Perhaps parents in many schools no longer have the time or inclination to become involved, perhaps schools, for their part ,are happy to keep parents at arms length.

Whatever the underlying factors, I'm still not convinced that beating the children is the way to go about resolving the problem. ]]> Tagoe Blogger: 3 ways goventments can get closer to its citizens http://tagoeblogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/3-ways-goventments-can-get-closer-to.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:17:00 -0500 http://tagoeblogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/3-ways-goventments-can-get-closer-to.html

world wide webImage by alles-schlumpf via Flickr


This week I wrote a post on how Ghana could copy the way US is leveraging on the power of technology and social media to reach out more to the citizens. Obama's state of the Union address was made available live to more people and in more ways than any event hosted since the Obama’s Inauguration. More than 1,300,000 people tuned into to the live video feed of the President’s State of the Union Address provided on the White House blog. After the speech, over 50,000 people stayed on to watch and engage with administration officials during a live Facebook event. Below are three lessons all governments can learn from the US example.

Start a blog, and be sincere about your issues
In this social media era, blogs are a very dependable way of disseminating information of any kind; good and bad. Just as the White House of US has started a blog to discuss happenings in government, I believe other local governments can do similar. The number of Ghanaians online is not as encouraging as it is supposed to be, but there still is a good number of Ghanaians with Internet access who would love to read reliable information presented by a source such as its own government official.

Catch them online via Facebook, twitter youtube
My research shows that there are 277,600 Ghanaians on facebook, some of these people access these platforms (especially Facebook and Twitter) via mobile. I believe very healthy discussions can be organisd on facebook chats and on twitter. Issues can be addressed online and questions answered by authorities in power.

Listen to its citizens online
Many aggrieved citizens vent their frustrations online by stating it in their facebook statuses, commenting on posts or by writing a post on the issue. There are many different smart tools the government can use to keep track of what its citizens are "saying" or discussing online. I believe this will help the authorities make better decisions in most cases.
Related articles by Zemanta Reblog this post [with Zemanta] ]]> Accra by Day & Night: Clean-Up Time Thanks to Ghana's Zoomlion! http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2010/01/clean-up-time-thanks-to-ghanas-zoomlion.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:24:00 -0500 http://accradailyphoto.blogspot.com/2010/01/clean-up-time-thanks-to-ghanas-zoomlion.html

For a country that is reputed by the UN to be the second filthiest in West Africa, a lot of cleaning must needs be done to clean up our image!

Work pressures have naturally inhibited photo blogging, but it will sure pick up in February.

Many thanks for your patronage and visits. Have a constructive and stress-free weekend! ]]> Expression Poesy: Behind the Words... http://expressionandpoesy.blogspot.com/2010/01/behind-words.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 04:31:00 -0500 http://expressionandpoesy.blogspot.com/2010/01/behind-words.html I guess it’s time you got to know the person behind the words.


My name is Nana Takyi Baffour-Awuah. I was named after my father’s aunty who was good to him, and I was born on Wednesday, making me a Kweku also. For the first few weeks of my life, my siblings tried to get my name to be ‘Ricky’ but failed (Thank you Daddy for your resolve!).


Speaking of siblings, I have three of them; a wonderful sister who I thought was my mother for a prolonged period of my infancy, and two great brothers who have always had my back, and still do. Before I forget, all the boys (my brothers and me) were born on the 17th day of our respective months, hence the family joke that Daddy must have planned it; a likely possibility because he was a gynaecologist/ obstetrician/ general practitioner, Mummy is an English Literature teacher (and an author, hopefully sometime soon).


I love music because it provides an avenue to vent and to reflect effectively; it puts things in perspective, and though sometimes, you can’t find the words to say something, there’s always a song that fully captures that elusively inexplicable emotion – I have a special fondness for rock of any kind. I also love poetry because it’s music’s cousin, so I guess its one of those affection by association things. I think my most prized ability is that I can sing. Sometimes when I get sore throats or I wake up all groggy and my voice is messed up, it scares me a little bit; if I found out one day that I’d never be able to sing again, I think the rest of my life would just be one vast expanse of despondency.


I love my family, and the friends that treat me right, and I try (probably not as hard as I should) to love God and appreciate all He does for me everyday. Video games are an experience I think no one should do without (role-playing games are beyond any other kind of electronic entertainment), black- and- white movies are the ambrosia of my soul, and mythology, legend and random esoterica are my guilty pleasure. Thanks to Mummy, I can cook (my grilled chicken is heaven…yes, I can say so myself!) and clean like a seasoned cleaning lady. I’m not very sporty though I enjoy the occasional swim or basketball game; however, thanks to Daddy’s genes, I’m never really out of shape.


I’m not sure of what exactly I want to do in college or what exactly I want to be doing in the next couple of years after it. However, people always seem to trust and rely on me so maybe I’ll end up being a shrink. I do know for sure that by thirty I should be making music with my life and generating income with my investments, so I can retire -if I so please- from my shrinkship by thirty.


Daddy passed away almost exactly three years ago. That was a period of pain, realisation and revelation, but it was also an experience that drew my family together, unified in God’s love. This experience and the rest of my life are responsible for the person I’ve grown into: an extro-introvert, a sympathetic empathiser, a thinker, an assertive achiever, a passionate romantic and a person who tries to make things better when he can.


There’s obviously more to me, but this post is long enough as it is, so I’ll shut up until another day.


Blessings.

]]> ANTI-RHYTHM: Dodo Driving in the city of Accra http://antirhythm.blogspot.com/2010/01/dodo-driving-in-city-of-accra.html Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:51:00 -0500 http://antirhythm.blogspot.com/2010/01/dodo-driving-in-city-of-accra.html Circumspect: The Water Chronicles: Calabash Tears (Part 1) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circumspect/~3/WTdGTjTEXw8/water-chronicles-calabash-tears-part-1.html Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:12:00 -0500 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circumspect/~3/WTdGTjTEXw8/water-chronicles-calabash-tears-part-1.html Jemila [Something I've been working on. I intended to use it for something else, but I feel like I'd rather share it with you guys! Everything in it's own time. Dedicated to YOWLI 08ers! Thoughts appreciated. Enjoy!!]
--

Amsatou detested it. Not the weight of the aluminum bucket on her head after it was filled, or the fact that they’d been walking for hours in search of  water. No. Those she could handle. Those were part of life. 

What she could not tolerate was the feeling of guilt that nibbled at her conscience every time they reached a station, only to be told there was no water available for sale that day. And here it was playing itself out again. 

Amsatou loosened her orange and blue tie-dye cloth from her waist, grabbed a corner of it, and raised it to her sweaty, round face.

“Oh, uncle. Even this small bucket? Won’t you give us water for this small one? Me pa wo kyew.”

Amsatou looked up towards the partly blue, party grey metal gate with peeling oil paint where her aunt was begging a stout, dark man. Like most of the middle-aged men in Accra, the beginnings of a pot belly was protruding beneath his oversized t-shirt.

“Madam, I said we have no water to sell! Are you deaf?” The man shouted over the low gate. “The small water we have too, you people want to take away. Instead of going to work to connect your house to the water system, you lazy, good for nothing…”

He didn’t get a chance to finish.

“Hey! Hey!” Auntie Adiza snapped.

Dropping her wide rimmed basin onto the ground, she advanced towards the gate and began to clap her hands loudly.

“I didn’t come here for you to insult me oo! I’m not your size, do you hear me? If you won’t give us the water, just say so! But don’t you dare call me lazy, have you heard! Mchew!”

With that, she adjusted her faded Dutch print cloth across her chest, picked up the basin that was twice her size,  and said, “Let’s go! Nkwasiasem kwa kwa!”

Amsatou and her cousins trudged behind Auntie Adiza’s retreating back. Auntie Adiza was right about one thing. She was not his size. For someone with such a small structure, Auntie Adiza’s voice and demeanor were quite overbearing. And those eyes; large, round, and expressive. Those eyes could throw daggers at a person when she was especially mad. Like right now.

“Can you imagine him calling me lazy? Ah! The impudence!” Auntie Adiza muttered as they walked past houses with high cement walls topped with multi-colored pieces of glass from broken coke, sprite and fanta bottles.

Amsatou found it amusing how easily Auntie Adiza had taken personal offense to the man’s words even though he’d referred to all four of them. But then again, that was Auntie Adiza for you. She took personal offense to anything that implicated any member of her family. It was her fierce protectiveness that had blinded Amsatou to the fact that this Napoleon character of a woman wasn’t actually her real mother. 

Like many other children across Ghana, Amsatou had been brought to Accra for grooming by her aunt; a successful trader at the Medina market. Never mind the fact that Auntie Adiza had her own children to look after, or that the meager wages she made from selling waakye was barely enough. So long as she was living in the capital city and not the village, she was successful. 

As for Amsatou’s own mother, she'd had no say in the matter. What could a mother say when family members, both far and near, insisted that it was time for her only child to earn her keep and contribute to the family's income? 


When the land hardened itself against the hoes and machetes it was all-too familiar with; a silent rebellion against all the years it had been denied the opportunity to fallow and regain its nutrients? 


When the old-school black and white TV set that Amsatou's father owned showed the apparent wealth and opulence of people living in Accra through Ghanaian films like Beyonce: The President's Daughter and Perfect Picture. 


When, by all indications, it was certain that the grass had to be greener on the other side. 

She'd resisted sending her daughter for two years. She'd used Amsatou's lithe and frail body as an excuse for why the child was unwell and too sick to be subjected to the hard labor her peers had already been introduced to. And for two years that excuse had worked. 


Until last season's harvest. 


The village women had gathered around the large cotton tree in the wee hours of the morning as they normally did on harvest day. They'd chattered amongst themselves about who's husband was about to take on their second, third, or fourth wife, and how the junior wives of the time had no respect, absolutely none, for the first wives. 


Laughing and chattering, arguing and shouting, a thick silence had befallen them when they arrived at the village farm. It was as if doomsday had finally descended upon humanity. 


The leaves of the tomato plants, the corn ears, everything, had a deathly look to it. It was as if someone had decided to take the chilo or khol that the women used to adorn their eyes and spray it all over the farm. 


Black, rotten produce. That's what that harvest day had brought. And even as she joined the other women in salvaging what they could of the deathly farm, Amsatou's mother had known that she would lose her only child.

The morning of Amsatou's departure was a beautiful one with the sun peering playfully over the horizon. For Amsatou's mother, the weather had rubbed in the cruel reality of her situation. 


She'd put on a stoic face and fought the urge to cry as her husband carted their daughter away from the collection of grass-thatched huts they called home. Every step seven-year old Amsatou took in her brand new blue bird chale wotes was like a death grip on her mother's soul; a tightening of iron chains that threatened to squeeze the very life out of her. 


As for Amsatou, she couldn't have been happier. Not because she was going to the big city where everyone had a job and wore western clothes shipped straight from America, but because the blue flip-flops she was wearing had been bought especially for this occasion. 


Because they were her very first.


[Continue to part 2]

--This piece was written by Jemila AbdulaiAll Rights Reserved


Photo
]]> Circumspect: Poem/Prose: Novelty http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circumspect/~3/SKOJJGC0ssg/poemprose-novelty.html Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:36:00 -0500 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Circumspect/~3/SKOJJGC0ssg/poemprose-novelty.html Jemila
Sweat trickling down her browSkin pulsating as blood rushes through her veinsFluorescent light overhead; blinding, but all she can do is stareSomewhere in the distance, voices chattering"Is she okay?" "Breathe" "It won't be long now"This is what death must feel like.
Seconds later, in impressions of eternityThe pain slashes at her heart and her very coreThat portion of her that none but few hath the pleasure of knowingAngel of Death, pray come take me and end this miseryNothing.Huffing and puffing, if only she could blow that house down!
"Almost there" "Keep going" "Almost there"Ah! If almost there, wouldn't she have arrived by nowA scream retches the air. Hers. From whence it came, she knoweth notBlood rushing, skin pulsating and then searing painCorrection, this is what HELL must feel like.
Plastic touching her brow, cold wet cloth offering little respiteEarth shattering. The very core of her hurled back and forthIn resistance to? Or rather in tune with?Why me? What have I done to deserve this? You know I was ever faithful Lord.Nothing
Okay fine, maybe a white lie here and there, but this?"Keep going" "Almost there" "Breathe""Shut up!!"SilenceThank you.
As suddenly, it all stopsBlood stream flowing lazily, breathing no longer laboredCalm, eerie calm.Ah, this is what heaven must feel like
Another scream. Guess I spoke too soonFrom whence cometh that...that...sound!"You did it" "Beautiful" "Absolute Perfection"Eyes open slightly as tired sigh escapes parched lipsSudden weight in arms, head motions forwardBrown eyes barely open, pouting mouth twitchingThe spitting image of his dadGood Lord, this is what love must feel like.
--Photo Source: Photo ]]> Why so serious? Blogs of a MIghTy African: The booming Ghanaian movie industry and its challenges http://mightyafrican.blogspot.com/2010/01/booming-ghanaian-movie-industry-and-its.html Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:40:00 -0500 http://mightyafrican.blogspot.com/2010/01/booming-ghanaian-movie-industry-and-its.html A Sting In a Tale' was a bomb, I had been waiting to see it myself. On the second day of my latest Ghana trip, I saw the movie being sold on the streets of Accra. I was caught in two minds. The movie was premiered in November and VCD copies are already being sold? Well, I really want to see this movie, so it's great that now I could buy a copy. A lot of movies were being sold by different hawkers, in fact those selling ASIAT were everywhere. A few other interesting movies were being sold too. If you doubted whether making movies in Ghana was a 'bad' business, doubt no more. It still may be a home video business, but it pays. For some, it pays handsomely. There are a few things that have to be checked to sustain the industry so it doesn't enter the doldrums again in the near future.

Take Agya Koo for instance. He appeared on the scene a few years ago and is one of the biggest movie stars in Ghana. Do a quick search of Agya Koo on Youtube and you'll see how popular he is. Ghanaian movies have proliferated through different websites and have developed strong followings amongst Ghanaian communities abroad. I hear that before Agya Koo signs on to do any movie, he's paid 3000 Ghanaian Cedis (GhC) upfront, which is about $2100. Sounds like a small amount, but he's only on set for about 3-4 days. Yes, $2100 for 4 days of work. In Ogyakrom (or sikakrom). In Ghana. After the movie is done, he pockets another 1000 GhC. Agya Koo (Kofi Adu) probably appears in one or two movies per month, if you follow Ghanaian movies closely enough, you'll know it's true. Do the math.

The other members of the cast get paid too, albeit small amounts compared to what Kofi Adu takes home. Let's make an educated guess and say it costs Miracle Films or Danfo BA Productions about 50000 GhC to make a single movie. If you've seen the movies, the settings, etc won't cost that much. When the movie is done, it normally goes straight to DVD VCD. Each VCD has two disks for a total price of 5 GhC. If you ask around, those who wholesale and retail the movies, as well as the young men and women selling them on the streets and street corners, would tell you over 12000 copies of each movie is sold. That gives us 60000 GhC and a profit of 10000 GhC. For just one movie! Business opportunity, I tell you.

These Kumasi/Twi/Agya Koo/Kyeiwaa movies hardly do any cinema premieres. Is it that their audience cannot afford the GhC 5/10/15/20 to watch the movies at the Accra International Conference Center, Silverbird Cinema or KNUST auditoriums? I don't know. Let's look at the Accra/Takoradi/English movies. A good number of them are doing premieres and charging 5/10/15/20 GhC. In addition to the VCD sales, they pocket some box office sales. I tell you, this movie business is good. Recently, one movie producer, Socrate Sarfo, said movie premiering is a waste of time, energy and money. Abdul Salam of Venus Productions and Shirley Frimpong-Manso of Sparrow Productions have debunked those claims. Shirley said that if she incurred losses on the premieres, she'd have stopped them.


There are challenges though. The primary challenge is piracy. An aunt argued that ASIAT had to be on VCD soon enough because the pirates may strike first. The pirates do strike. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw a hawker brandishing a VCD called 'The 3 Virgins' in front of me as our car was stuck in traffic. The VCD cover had a picture of Jackie Appiah, Lydia Forson and Naa Ashorkor Mensah Doku. Sound familiar? Yes, the Perfect Picture VCD cover has a similar picture. Some folks in Nigeria (smh) had repackaged the movie with a new title, new production house, etc to sell the movie. And these were being sold right under our noses in Ghana. The hawker told me it's the Part 2 of Perfect Picture. "This is such bullshit". Some other Nigerian production house had done the same for Heart of Men, renaming it 'Forbidden Fruit'. This is what they call 419. But wait, with the Sakawa going on in Ghana, I won't be surprised, if some Ghanaians were behind this and hiding behind some Nigerian names, etc.



Ghanaian movies have been popularised through various internet channels. Today, many African movie fans know different websites with which to watch African movies. For free. At anytime. These websites feature mostly Nigerian and then Ghanaian movies. Youtube has many movies as well, including some from Ethiopia, Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire, etc. If you do some proper research, you'll realise the best African movies come from South Africa and the French-speaking countries. These are the ones gunning for international honours, being shown an international festivals and entering DVD collection in foreign stores and school libraries. Enjoying movie popularity is okay but we should want to be part of the conversation when it comes to winning awards and entering international consideration. The VCD format seems to easy to pirate. There are strong concerns whether the movie houses make any money off their movies being shown for free online or sold internationally.

The trailer for Leila Djansi and Akofa Edjeani Asiedu's I Sing Of A Well (ISOAW) made the rounds late last year. It was premiered in Ghana even before ASIAT but I couldn't find the VCDs or DVDs to buy in Ghana. Why? ISOAW is going to different film festivals and is being premiered around the world to different audiences. That's what I am talking about. Maybe Leila has connections, but yes, that's what the film industry needs - more connections. Access to cutting-edge technology, markets, bloggers and journalists who can promote their movies, critics who can rate them properly so they can gauge their progress. I hope to see Leila make more movies in Ghana and Akofa herself contribute to the industry and bring on board some of the dominant but now dormant Ghanaian actors and actresses from the 90's.

KSM knows the movie business is booming and he released his first feature film in Ghana over the Christmas season. Double, a psychological thriller, was premiered at the National Theatre on Christmas Day, 2009. The cast included Anima Misa Amoah (KSM's sister), Charles Bucknor, JOT Agyeman, Nana Kofi Asante, Doris Ansah, Naa Ashorkor Mensah Doku, etc. Anima and Charles were both in Heritage Africa, a famous Ghanaian movie from the 80's, directed by Kwaw Ansah. I wanted to see the movie so bad but I wasn't sure when and where it was going to be shown in Kumasi. It was eventually shown at the Kumasi Polytechnic Hall sometime in late December. My neighbour saw it but didn't like the movie that much. Will have to watch this one to judge for myself. Watch the trailer. We are making thrillers now eh, sweet. People believe KSM should have made a comedy. Maybe, next time.

I also saw 'Sin of the Soul', a film from the same stable that made 'Heart of Men', Heroes production. It featured Majid Michel, Nadia Buari, Prince David Osei, Ekow Smith Asante, Kalsum Sinare, etc. If you don't believe there is money in acting in Ghana, look at Kalsum Sinare. I couldn't even recognise her, she put on weight papa! The movie was good and I'll review it later. I also saw Silent Scandals, a new Nigerian movie starring Genevieve Nnaji and Majid Erawoc. Yes, his name on the Silverbird Cinema poster was Majid Erawoc. Maybe that's what he's called in Naija. The movie was good too, except the VCD 2 didn't work. And apparently, many people who bought the movie had faulty VCD 2's. Hmmm. The guy selling the movies was kind enough to replace it for us.

These are exciting times for Ghanaian and African movies in general. The movies are popular, the actors are rock stars, there are many showbiz sites peddling rumours and paparazzi news, etc. I just hope we stop called our movie industry Ghallywood. That's a kantenkarous name, for lack of a better word. Long live Ghanaian cinema, long live African cinema, long live Africa. ]]>