Best Time to Visit Ghana

Sorry for my absence, I am traveling and have not forgotten about my blog, just been too busy to post. Plus, I am having technical problems with photos that I hope to solve very soon. I want to share my pics with you!

Anyways, while traveling in Sweden I am spreading the word about Ghana. I think I have talked four friends into coming to visit, and maybe sown a seed in a few more minds...

Swedish people want to know what it is like in Ghana (hot and different), what the food is like (spicy and yummy) and when the best time is to visit (any time, our seasons are not that pronounced).

Two more weeks here and I am enjoying being able to take long walks in the crisp climate, talk about Swedish stuff with my lovely Swedish friends and visiting my big family. And of course volunteering for the Ghanaian tourism board.

Ghanaian Comedian in Sweden

Kodjo Akolor is a rising star in Sweden, this year on radio and as a presenter in a popular TV-program. Performing in Swedish and "African English", I really enjoyed his politically themed stand-up you can view above, making fun of African elections, Nelson Mandela(!) and Swedish problems that needs to experience Africa

"I have a job, money, food and an apartment...and it is so extremely difficult"!

Remember where you heard about him first!

Ghana High Quality Film Production!

I am truly looking forward to see the film The Perfect Picture, premiering on Friday here in Accra. Correction: Premiers 3rd of April 2009.

The movie features the famous Ghanaian comedian KSM and some other faces also look vaguely familiar.

From the trailer, which you can see here, it looks like a high quality movie (!) recorded here in Ghana by Sparrow Productions (also the organizers of Miss Ghana). And it will apparantly be showing henceforth (correction: 17th of April 2009) in the new Silverbird cinema in the Accra mall (which I wrote about here).

I am surprised and happy, since I thought the film industry in Ghana had permanently settled for Nollywood-quality and distribution, which even though it can be interesting lacks the "fantasy element" of good, expensively-produced cinema. Also, the Nollywood movies - though enourmously popular - tend to paint a stereotyped picture of Africa, in my opinion. A film like this can paint that other picture of Africa that I am interested in. What do you think?

Just like for the play "Romantic Nonsense" I saw recently by Nii Commey, the topic of the film is the love lives of the "getting-married-generation" people about to turn 30, having to make some important desicions and getting to know the difficulties of first year married life.

Chale, I don't know why, but that seems interesting to me!

Pic from the official website from the movie.

Independence Day: A view out of Ghana

Mango for yellow, canteloupe for green, papaya for red. A star fruit for the star. Happy 52nd birthday Ghana!

This is a communal post for ghanablogging.com

Ghana Map Online

The disappointment of Google Maps (top pic) and others to cover the Afrian continent has been unaddressed for some time, but now there is Africa on Map (second pic). I have played around with it and it seems to have mapped Accra quite well, there is the possibility of getting (not fully accurate) directions and opportunity to list real estate.

Interesting indeed. Since information, about basically everything is scarce here, I belive good online maps could be of good use. Currently, directions are given in the style of "adjacent to..." or "opposite of..." using land marks rather than road names which makes the threshold of understanding directions quite high. For starters being able to easily print/email maps of locations would make it much, much easier to drive around town and find clubs, stores and friends' houses!


In the maps above I have asked for Kotoka Airport in Accra.

Book of the Month: Reading the Ceiling

I came across an interesting-looking book in the Silverbird Bookstore in the Accra mall last week and now that I have finished it, I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

The book "Reading the Celiling" is written by the Gambian author Dayo Foster. It is Foster's first novel, and it is an excellent first attempt, producing a lovely main character in reasoning young woman Ayodele and other believable characters like her strict mother, warm Auntie K, annoying Moira, desirable Yuan and kind priest Foday Sillah.

Her description of everyday life in West Africa is also spot on with descriptions of beach outings complete with ice-chests and bbq, a daunty rented two-room house, an altruistic choice of career in Mali and the profitable Mercedes business in the Gambia.

But it is not an "African novel" per se, it is a successful literary examination of choices we ahvein life which made me revisit some of the choices I have made thinking about their possible alternatives.

I enjoy books which take you to another world in which you look around and find the familiar faces and locations as described in the book. Crafting that kind of "real" world in a novel is likely very difficult since just a choice of a few words, saying too much or too little can distort the picture in my head.

The first few pages about Ayodele's choice that will come to determine her life can be read here, in a website constructed for the book. The site also has more information about the young author and some extras for us who have read her book already. I say, join the club!