Adidas Apologizes: Kente Is Our Inspiration

Do you remember the Adidas shoe which was marketed as "Kenta" style misrepresenting the West African Kente cloth that I wrote on here?

Fellow blogger Kwabena/GhanaHype today posted the reply he got from Adidas when complaining of their ignorance. The core of the message is

We regrettably made an error in the copywriting process when describing this shoe.

Read it in full here.

In the pic: A Kente weaver shows how to make Kente.

Ashesi Founder Recieves Prize

Woke up this morning to some very fine news. My employer received the John P. McNulty Prize of USD 100,000 with this wonderful motivation:

"In Patrick Awuah we have found not only immense personal leadership in founding Ashesi, one of the African continent's first liberal arts universities, but in the school's commitment to ethics and civics as a central part of education, he has guaranteed future generations of leaders for Ghana, Africa and the world."

Read the whole press release here.

I am proud to go to work today!

Patrick Awuah and I at a conference in August 2008.

Rebranding Nigeria and Brand Ghana: A Good Idea?

As I was driving home, I came across an interesting program on BBC, Rebranding Nigeria (I'm trying to embed the program above so you can listen). The program was essentially a discussion about the initiative to rethink Nigeria in positive terms. In the journalist Henry Bonsu's own words:

Can the home of 419 internet scams, corruption and voodoo ever transmit a positive image?

Is rebranding Nigeria futile and meaningless? Even possible? Or the light beginning for a country that has just (10 years this year) resurfaced from military rule? The only way forward? You can join a similar discussion on Global Voices Online here.

What to me is the most interesting thing with this debate is that the image of Africa is finally debated, critiqued and possibly recreated - by Africans - in a more representative way. Because really, it doesn't make any sense to say 160 million people are all fraudsters.

But also, after reading about my Nigerian sister Adadze's experiences (I'm thinking of Mama Christina and Police Brutality) in her blog Two Tears in a Bucket the other day, I'm thinking our neighbor Nigeria and its people needs a change.

Of course we are slightly, slightly behind in Ghana, but we are actually also looking into branding ourselves better. Just last month, we had Simon Anhult, (selfproclaimed?) nation branding guru, come talk and then set up our own Brand Ghana office, see this article.

To be continued...

CinemAfrica: African Film in Sweden

Tomorrow, CinemAfrica opens this year's African film festival in Stockholm, Ubuntu! According to the program 14 films will be shown. None of them are unfortunately from Ghana, but one from Senegal (Mother) and one about Liberia's President (Iron Ladies of Liberia). See the trailer on YouTube here.

Tickets for the festival can be bought at BioRio.

Interestingly, the Urban Africa Movement that I blogged about here is showcasing some of its photos during the festival.

Oh, I love all of this. I think I have to arrange a similar event in Tema.

How Big Is Africa?

A silly question prompted a fellow blogger, Texas in Africa, to post this pic, developed by Boston University.

Of course Africa is a sizable continent and not a country (there is even merchandise to prove it here), but how often do we really ponder the size of this great continent?

I knew from before the relative size of Sweden and Ghana (Sweden is almost twice as large with less than half the population), but it never hit me that Africa as a whole is so vast that Europe, US (including Alaska) and China could fit inside.

I must say this overlay of maps intrigues me.

What are your thoughts when you see it?

Chimamanda Adichie: The Problem of A Single Story

A storyteller has as a job to tell stories that are engaging and important. Chimamanda Adichie's account of how single stories have inflicted on her life - and on the African countries we love, is both engaging and important. The single (negative) image of "Africa" that I have been trying to complement in 200+ blog posts here on Rain In Africa, she covers in under 20 minutes.

And luckily, it has been recorded as a TED speech that I can recommend to all of you. For you who are temporarily busy, her powerful conclusion can suffice for now - but when you have time, do listen to her in full.

When we reject the single story, we regain paradise.

Chimamanda Adichie most known works are: Half Of A Yellow Sun (I can't believe I haven't blogged about this book - I adored it) and Purple Hibiscus.

UNDP Photo Contest: "Picture This"

Stumbled upon this photo contest "Picture This: Caring for the Earth".

The rules are as follows :

Photos submitted for the contest should also document people in Africa working to mitigate or prevent the effects of climate change or environmental degradation in general. They should be taken from a journalistic sensibility and tell a human story. They could profile a breaking news story, or an on-going project; they could also profile a particular African and her or his work, or a community and its work.

There are two categories: individual photos (up to 5 entries per person) and photo essay (one photo essay, 4-10 photos per essay, per person). You may only enter one category.

You must enter as either a professional or an amateur.

You musthave lived in a country of Africa for 12 months between August 2007 and August 2009.

There is still 6 weeks to go and I think I will enter. It would be really great to own a professional camera, but even greater having Wangari Maathai glance at something I saw through my viewfinder.

In the pic: The supposedly number one prize.

Ghanablogging Grande! Report from August Meet-Up

Yesterday, at out monthly meet-up we had visitors from Maker Faire Africa, Maneno and some probloggers like WhiteAfrican. All in all about 20 people joined in at Smoothies in Osu.

We learned about Maker Faire Africa which is an initiative to boost African inventions, upscale them or just spread their usability from country to country. They have set up camp at the Kofi Annan IT Center in Accra for the weekend and I'll be heading over there in a bit.

Also Miquel from the African-inspired blogging platform Maneno (meaning ”words” in Kiswahili) told us about how he came up with the idea after visiting the Kongo where internet is slow and expensive. Maneno is tailored for the subsaharan conditions and seek to invite more Africans to become bloggers. He posed some interesting questions to us.

Internet is quite reliable and not too expensive in Ghana. So would SMS posting be interesting here?

Discussion followed where most ghanablogging members seemed to think mobile solutions could catch on in Ghana. Also Internet - even if available - is largely restricted to the elite in Accra.

Miquel also asked:

What do bloggers in Ghana write about?

We had difficulties summarizing the rich and varied blogosphere in Ghana, but compared to the very different Nigerian blogosphere where blogs serve a more political purpose. IN Ghana we mentioned blogs about lifestyle, current affairs and poetry, but there are many other subjects. Coming up soon on ghanablogging.com will be listing blogs in "categories", maybe that will help?

Finally, problogger Eric/WhiteAfrican/Afri Gadget talked about blogging as a job. Eric grew up in Kenya and Sudan and studied in the US. He told us how blogging started as a hobby, just like for most of us, and grew, grew and grew. He stressed producing your own content rather than just writing about others work or reposting it. A blog with new content, could be the only place to go for certain type of information! He writes about technology in Africa and when starting the AfriGadget site recently it quickly surpassed his popular personal blog, WhiteAfrican.

Not anybody can be a blogger, he said. You have to be consistent. After 6 months you have to keep posting, your readers will expect it.

Present were Ghanablogging members David Ajao, Samson Ojo, Toke Olagbaju, Nana Kofi Acquah, Nana Yaw Asiedu, Cornelis Rouloph Otoo, Edward Amartey Tagoe , Gameli Adzaho and Emmanuel K. Bensah jr.

and not yet members, but hopefully soon, Nii Ayertey Aryeh and Lora Akati.

Some of the interesting guests were Miquel Hudin of Maneno, Erik Hersman (WhiteAfrican and AfriGadget), Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, William Kamkwamba (lead name at MFA), 'Tosh' Hamilton Juma, Nigerian entertainment blogger Chika Okafor and Brian Shih.

And me.

It was the biggest number of bloggers so far convened in Ghana! Thanks to everybody for coming and maybe we should try to invite guests a bit more often?

In the pic: David Ajao, Eric Hersman and Klaas Kuitenbrouwer being nerdy.

Don't Confuse Urban Africa, The Blog with...

...The web store Urban Africa

...The book Urban Africa by Simone and Abouhani (2005)

...The Flickr album Urban Africa which has following overlapping raison d'etre with this blog:

Africa has untold vital urban spaces and a rich legacy of a 2.000 years long history of urbanization. However, in the vast majority of flickr groups related to Africa, nature and wildlife photography are predominant. Africa appears as a rural and ‘exotic’ scenery where humans, animals and landscapes build a more ore less harmonious unity.

Pic of a Bead and Wire Ndebele Radio that can be purchased on the Urban Africa store website.

Tropical Contemporary Architecture: How to build a house in Ghana

What is more urban than buildings?

Let me start the born-again blog with posting something on Ghanaian architecture or more precisely things to think about when building your house in the tropics.

Currently, there is a building boom in Ghana and virtually every other person seems to be building a house. Cement prices just hit the roof (see this article) and this coming weekend Ghana's first ever (?) home improvement fair is taking place. Also,this is a topic that just recently has started to interest me, I guess with the opportunity of one day building my own house in Ghana drawing nearer...

First of all, lets think about the property/land you need to acquire. Fortunately, the blog Makola Law has done a checklist on what to think about here.

Second, there are ways to build a house that is environmentally friendly, cost effective and automatically cool. Forget expensive and unhealthy ACs! Check out the inspiring and sometimes surprisingly simple tips for tropical design at Aedhotep Developments. Just to give you an example of something easy to do:

Plant tall trees on the east and west sides of the house to shade walls

Other options include using a new technique to build, such as the one provided by ItalConstruct in Ghana which uses polystyrene sheets and iron mesh to create a house that imitates a cooling box! See a video on the technique here.

Third, when you have a plot and a sustainable structure...what makes a house Ghanaian? Is it Kente style design of the exterior that I wrote on here? Or adinkra symbols like a friend has incorporated in his home exterior? Is it a compound style design like the traditional Ghanaian houses? It is using Ghanaian materials like bamboo and clay bricks? Using African architects? Or is just any house in Ghana a Ghanaian house?

Picture of a, in my view lovely, Ghanaian contemporary designed house courtesy of Aedhotep Developments.

"The Birthplace of Cool" - Bono on Ghana

I had totally missed that U2 singer, cum activist Bono wrote a column on Ghana and Africa in the New York Times just before Obama's visit.

After reading the article I think to myself that something about Bono's efforts is somehow so...arrogant and at the same time wonderfully naive. It talks about important things like the G8 meeting and how Africa is the birthplace of humanity. I guess it can't be summarized, but here is a sneak peak to show you what I mean:

On a visit there (Ghana in May 2006), I met the minister for tourism and pitched the idea of marketing the country as the “birthplace of cool.” Just think, the music of Miles, the conversation of Kofi. He demurred ... too cool, I guess.

Haha, pitched (haha, that word alone!) a marketing idea to a Minister of Tourism after having spent a few days in a country, how arrogant is not that?...but on the other hand, if now Bono says Ghana is cool, then why not take his word for it?! I guess we thought about marketing our chocolate, our gold, but we never really thought of marketing our ability to be cool.

And now three year after Bono's visit, does Ghana even have a tourism marketing strategy?

The column can be found here.

Pic: Bono in Ghana 2006 borrowed from U2station.com

Academic Conference in Ghana: Revisiting Modernization

Today, I visited the official opening of an academic conference, Revisiting Modernization, which is organized as a collaboration between Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana and University of California. I am covering the conference for University World News, will post the article in this space once it is done.

Not only does the conference have a very interesting program - it is open to the public. I am especially recommending their evening programs, the standard was set tonight with a superb dance performance (again a Ghana-US collaboration), tomorrow we can look forward to an art exhibit and on Wednesday a film screening with films such as Baby Ghana, one of the first films recorded in this country!

The conference is the first in a series of three planned in Africa. After this one comes Senegal in 2011 and South Africa in 2013!

Also mentioned in the blogosphere here and here.

The Economist's Analysis of Obama's Visit

See weekly news magazine The Economist's levelheaded article on Obama's visit "How Different is His Policy" here.

They are probably right in principal: the American policy on Africa might not see too many changes even under Obama's administration, but clearly no Economist reporter got the on-the-ground energy from Obama's visit to Ghana - "well received" does not start to cover the euforia!

President Obama made a point to visit Africa within his first year as president and by so doing shared the enormous attention he still carries with the continent. In respectfully and boldly delivering some well-known truths like "development depends on good governance" to an African parliament Obama did something to us living in Africa that cannot be measured in monetary policy.

The "tone shifting a bit" makes the whole difference.

Pic borrowed from the above discussed article in The Economist.

Update: I Saw Obama!

To update you on my three places to spot Obama, this is what happened:

1. Kotoka Airport

Airforce One came in about three hours after leaving Rome and the G8 meeting, we never knew Europe was so close! I was hanging out with some friends in a bar and when we heard he had landed with Michelle, their daughters and Michelle’s mother (I believe the fact that the whole Obama Family visited Ghana might change the image of Africa in some small way, i.e. Africa is suitable for family vacation) and we headed to the airport area...which was completely closed down. Rumors said they were staying in newest hotel in town Holiday Inn, which was in complete darkness exept for the penthouse…hm.

2. La Polyclinic

BINGO! At about 11.20 am the entourage with numerous shining cars in its motorcade swooshed by. My friend and I had been standing in front of the clinic since about 9. Although it was hot, crowded and the opportunity to view the American president very limited it was so worth it when he finally came by and we were in the smiling, waving and roaring crowd.

3. Viewing the speech with AAAG

Due to traffic out of the city we never made it. In stead we listened to the speech with the taxidriver on his radio on a channel that filled every breathing pause of president Obama with a deep voice saying “Peace FM”. Kind of killed the rhetorics.

I am so pleased! Finished my Obama weekend by dancing to MUSIGA's "After Party". I hope your Obama-weekend was fine too!

Pic: Obama family at the Cape Coast Castle, borrowed from lexpress.fr

HOME in Accra

The film "HOME" by photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will be showing in Accra on Friday, June 5th, 8 PM at the Alliance Francaise. Free entrance!

At the same time the film will be showing around the world to promote awareness for the environment, for instance beneath the Eiffel Tower in Paris!

Also the film will be visible online at the same time on the film website, see the link above under "HOME".

Since I saw the exhibit "The Earth from Above" in Stockholm a few years back, I have had one of Arthus-Bertrands photos on my wall. He takes his pictures from a helicopter and this picture he has taken flying close to the ground in Ivory Coast - the smiles, welcoming waving hands and colors of this crowd always make me warm and fuzzy inside.

I will definitely be there to watch his film and marvel at the beauty of the earth, our home.

How to celebrate AU Day, African Union, African Unity?

A Monday chilling at home. That's quite nice, isn't it?

The occation is African Union Day when we celebrate...yeah, what do we celebrate? The Pan-African vision of a united Africa? The African Union? And is it really something to celebrate? Read this sharp article By fellow blogger Ato Kwamina Dadzie on the subject.

Chilling at home, it suddenly dawns on me that every day is a holiday, somewhere on the planet. There is of course a website to inform us of them, see Earth Calendar. There I find out that today is not just AU-day, it is also the day for a local sugar festival in Bolivia, Carpet-day in Turkmenistan and National Tap-Dance-Day in the US.

So I might just celebrate a bit even though the vision of African unity is still just a dream.

In the pic an unrelated African celebration.

Why Is Africa Begging?

Last night, I went to the Goethe Institute in Accra to see their current exhibit open. I go to a lot of these events, being a lover of the arts, but this one was special becuase the artists were school children - well, rather youths - and hence represent the future of Ghanaian art.

There were giraffes, portraits, market scenes and animal sculptures - most notably a beautiful plaster owl made by a young man not much bigger then the owl itself.

But there was also a piece that grabbed my attention because of its clear message. Allison Elisabeth and Pele Vuncujovi had together created the African continent in papier maché - richly decorated in red, green and gold. In the middle of the continent a pair of black hands mysteriously stretch out, as if they were asking for something. As you stand back to look at the installation, you see a question mark circling the hands.

In the picture the artists by their work.

On Ghanaian Internet Cafés

As I returned home from dinner out (my favorite Indian!) I passed by this Internet café in Tema's Community 8.

It is nothing special, probably actually a typical Ghanaian one. After paying 1 GHC (75 cents) for two or three hours you sit on uncomfortable chairs in front of old, thick, unportable screens displaying the internet slowly, slowly with frequent freeze-situations. And power-cuts.

Still people are determined to learn about ICT, the Internet and what is out there.

What we go through just to enter the beautiful world online.



Pics taken minutes ago in my hometown.

Africa Report x 2

Today, I came across two interesting Africa Reports that I wante to share with you.

AR#1. The African Commission's Final Report.

The African Commission , set up by the Danish government last year, is a high level group wanting to bring light to Africa's opportunities and add new strategies to the development cooperation. I wonder if Dembisa Moyo that I wrote about last week thinks they succeeded.

Anyways, the group of really distinguished Africans and others includes Nigerias former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who I wrote about here and the Commission presents its recipy for development as follows: (this is the quick version, the 90-page report can be downloaded in pdf here).

1. The creation of an African Guarantee Fund in partnership with the African Development Bank aimed mobilizing loans for three billion USD and reducing the cost of access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises, SME’s. Africa’s SME’s provide 80 percent of output and jobs in Africa;

2. Ensuring access to energy at the local level by launching a new initiative in partnership with the EU and the African Development Bank. More than three-quarters of Africans lack access to electricity – a major constraint to economic development, doing business and standards of living;

3. Improving the business climate and Africa’s competitive edge by making sure that the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report covers all African countries. More than that, the Commission will work with a range of Africa-based entities to ensure that the findings of this benchmarking process is followed-up by the development of detailed policy responses and concrete reforms;

4. Unleashing the power of African entrepreneurship, both in start-up and existing enterprises, by providing advisory services and access to finance in order to allow young people to translate their good ideas into practical plans. The initiative will be implemented in partnership with the ILO and Youth Employment Network (a partnership between the UN, ILO and World Bank). It is expected that this initiative alone will create 40,000 new jobs and 20,000 new businesses;

5. Supporting higher education and research. Specifically, the initiative will increase the quantity and quality of artisans through apprenticeships, especially in the rural areas. Also, it will link tertiary research and business practices especially to expanding agricultural output.

I like how the Commission acknowledges the lack of electricity and how that is a basic problem in Africa (see what I wrote on it here). Also education is key, of course for development and currently the future for the African academy looks rather bleak. Just as in the north, links with research and businesses need to be improved. So, far I agree.

However, I am more sceptical towards yet another fund, the African Guarantee fund - I think many times it is information and reporting that is scarce - not a complete lack of money. And then sometimes I think the people in those high level meetings overstate the influence of their instruments. I mean, can the "World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report" really improve the business climate in Africa?

What do you think?

AR#2 Magazine The Africa Report.

I picked up a copy of this mag I haven't seen before. I am a huge fan of news magazines like Focus on Africa and The Economist and today I found one that can compete.

In this mag, I liked the topics and the rich ways of describing current issues in Africa. I have studied it now for about 45 minutes, but is nowhere near done. I like that type of publication density.

The current issue of The Africa Report gave a very illuminating report of Mills' first 100 days in power and came with an interesting economic report-booklet of Cote D'Ivoire.

I guess that makes it three Africa reports today...

In the top pic Africa's future on the beach in Kromantse, Central Region, Ghana.

Malaria in Ghana or Bengt You Could've Called Me

I was just reading one of my favorite columnists in Sweden, Bengt Ohlsson. He starts as he often does, to comment on some quite ridiculous trait of the Swedes (this time the extreme dependency on the mobile phone). But then he surprisingly continues with a story about Ghana. He writes:

Men jag vill ändå påstå följande: jag trodde att jag visste vad vanmakt var. Det var innan jag stod på en grusig Medborgar­plats i februarimörkret och min exfru ringde och sa att hon hade pratat med vår son och att han trodde att han hade fått malaria.
Det hade han nu inte. Det spelade ingen roll. Eftersom han var i Ghana hade jag inte ens haft en teoretisk möjlighet att dundra ombord på ett plan och åka dit, eftersom Ghana kräver visum och grejer och gula febern och dessutom har de inte ens någon ambassad i Sverige.

In my translation:

I thought I knew what powerlessness was, that was before I stood on a gravel covered Medborgarplats in the February darkness and my ex-wife called and said that she had spoken to our son and that she thought he had caught malaria.
It turned out he hadn't. It didn't matter. Since he was in Ghana I wouldn't even have had a theoretical possibility to rush aboard a plane and go there, since Ghana demands Visa and things and Yellow Fever and don't even have an embassy in Sweden.

Wait now. Malaria rarely kills, especially not people with funds to get treatment. But yeah, I also freaked out when my siblings caught malaria in Ghana last year. We rushed them to hospital and in just 24 hours they were feeling better. However many Ghanaians cannot afford treatment as highlighted by Swedish Medecins Sans Frontiers in their malaria campaign here.

And not even a theoretical possibility to go? What about the daily flights from Copenhagen, London and Amsterdam? Visa on arrival? Calling the Ghanaian Embassy in Denmark to help out? What about just emailing me or any other Swede in Ghana and ask us to check on your son?

I get the column was about how little you can do on the other end of a satellite phone call, but judgements like these without any facts supporting them do little for building on a truthful image of Africa. In 2006, 8565 Scandinavians ( and about half a million international tourists in total) came to Ghana and many more are discovering Ghana every year and I am pretty sure most of them survived (the only reason I am not saying all is due to dangerous traffic).

Those kids on the beach on the pic above are the ones who risk their life when contracting malaria.