13 Things Not to Miss When in Ghana

An acquaintance who is going to Ghana for the first time in December writes to me:

What should I not miss when in Ghana?

And even though I wrote about Ghana Highlights not long ago, I can't help but to craft a list as an answer to her very open question. Here are the 13 things you must not miss when in Ghana.

1. Fufu- Ghana's national dish of a spicy soup with fish and meat and a delicious gooey ball of fufu.
2. A funeral (!)
3. A cold Star at sunset.
4. Omo tuo with Groundnut soup - Northern Ghana's national dish.
5. Ripe mango and sweet green "Fanti" pineapple.
6. High life music (some of the big hotels in Accra have live bands) and contemporary music ( such as the one performed at Bless the Mic on Thursday's at Cinderella's in Accra)
7. Cape Coast or Elmina castles for an insight into West Africa's history.
8. Kakum rainforest, see WikiTravel page here
9. Grilled tilapia - this ginger and chili infused sweet water fish smells so good my vegetarian friend recently crossed sides...
10. Blue Skies ginger and pinapple smoothie
11. Buying colorful wax print or tie-n-dye cloth and getting clothes sown for you.
12. Chasing crabs on the beach. Mission impossible?
13. Braiding your hair. The best souvenir!

As I live to eat, this list is in hindsight a bit biased towards food and drink (1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10 and possibly also 12). Which Ghana musts have I forgotten?

Pic: Bon appetit!

Ghana Highlights

Had some friends staying over and spending a lovely day with me. They had just arrived from the cold north and were extremely content with the weather, the food, the lodging - well, everything!

Their fresh and foreign outlook made me see that some things that have become ordinary to me, actually are quite extraordinary. Of course, as their one-day host I also tried to show Ghana from her best side. And what a day I had! Here are today's highlights.

5. Cruising in my car seeing the vivacious street life pass by.
4. Swimming in a nearby hotel pool (I could really do this every day, if I only weren't so "morning challenged").
3. Visiting with my Ghanaian family, they are wonderful and fun!
2. Fruit for breakfast: Pineapple, papaya and perfectly ripen mango.
1. Talking about Ghanaian culture - names, funerals, political history, everyday life. All so rich!

As I watched them get into a taxi towards the beach, I somehow knew I had been able to give them a taste of the traditional Ghanaian welcoming - Akwaaba!

Ghana Guide on the Web

The Bradt Travel Guide to Ghana (most recent edition is 2007) by Philip Briggs is now available on the web with Google books! See link here.

This guide is positively personable, amazingly accurate and dot on detailed (including great maps of places before Google Maps even existed!). I recommend it to anyone coming this way!

In the pic: Me and my husband being tourists in our country, I think around xmas 2007.

"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

Does Gin Tonic Prevent Malaria?

Have a couple of times come across the statement that the drink 'Gin and Tonic' prevents malaria since it contains quinine which is an antidote to malaria. That sounds so good. How fun is it not to cure yourself with alcohol?

But maybe it sounds too good to be true? Today, I decided to google the whole thing and came up with the following.

1. The quinine is part of the bitter tonic.
2. The drink came about as the early colonialists tried to mask the bitter quinine taste with gin.
3. To prevent malaria one needs to drink the equivalent of 67 liters of GTs per day according to the travel doctor here.

So the answer to my question is unfortunately NO, Gin and Tonics' do not prevent malaria. Well, that is if you consume less than 67 liters a day.

Pic from cafepress.

Tourist in Ghana

The canoe safari was a success. Flocks of birds flew amongst the lush vegetation lining the shore, and a group of seven hippos floated and bellowed in the river.

We should have stopped there.

The quote above is from this excellent short guide to Ghana by Marlene Smith I found in the latest issue of International Travel News. I enjoyed the truthful description of the friendly and sometimes un-cooperative Ghana.

To me, the most useful part was the description of the wildlife viewing opportunites up north, including Mole national Park (elephants, baboons and birds) and Black Volta (hippos) since I intend to go there myself later this year. However, there were also good reviews of hotels and lodges and advice on interesting cultural sites to visit.


Pic: Elephant in Mole National park borrowed from projects-abroad.dk

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.

Hugh Hefner in Ghana

So, lately the debate has been all about Ghana's Ex-President Kuffuor who has been awarded with some huge retirement benefits.

* Lump-sum (thought to be worth $400,000)
* Six fully maintained comprehensively insured, fuelled and chauffeured-driven cars to be replaced every four years. The fleet comprise of three salon cars, two cross country cars and one all-purpose vehicle.
* Two Fully furnished residences that befit a former president at place of his choice
* 65 day overseas travel with 3 assistants each year
* 18 months consolidated salary
* Million-dollar seed money for the setting up a foundation,
* Security - 24 hours security services
* Budget for entertaining each year

Blogger Que has made an interesting comparison to the benefits of the US ex-president Bush here and an expose of possible feelings towards this here.

While parliament has agreed to again "review" the benefits after the public outcry, I have thought about the benefits intruiging me the most. They are the entertainment money and the 65 travelling days a year with three assistants...Isn't that just too similar to Mr Hugh Hefner of the Playboy mansion?

And when the laughter stops, this is real - not just reality-show, is this the image we want to portray of Africa? and should a developing country really pay for this kind of lifestyle?

Friendly Faces

Stumbled across the blog The Face of Afrika (FA) and liked their approach, to "report various constructive initiatives by African people". The blog does that, and much more like linking to a bunch of interesting African websites. However, who is behind this initiative? Are you writing from Africa or elsewhere? The faces of the four writers of the blog remain invisible. On the right hand bar of the blog the writers names mysteriously link to other African web pages without explanation.

Still, whoever you are I especially liked the FA vision, a webpage that is almost like a collage, filled with inspirational quotes and friendly, highly visible, African faces. Ayekoo! (Well done!)

Just as Toke, I also ran into Chioma who has the blog Celebrate Africa. I acctually read about her blog one day on Toke's blog and was introduced to her by a friend the same evening! A small world, to say the least. From an 'on the ground' perspective Chioma explores a very similar topic by traveling around this fascinating continent. Right now, she should be in Burkina Faso is she still on schedule. Loved what she wrote on Accra, "Africa's melting pot?" and the link she gave to the intresting essential oil producer here in Ghana.

I get really happy when I get to know about things like these as I am myself trying to write about the positive aspects of life in Africa and Ghana. But maybe one should ask oneself - is there inflation in the subject?

I'd say no, we are not there yet. To balance out all the singlehandedly negative reports from this lush and vivid continent, even a lot more accounts written here and now are needed.

What do you think?

In the pic some friendly faces from an unrelated event.

Inspiring People

An inspiring person, just one, can change your whole outlook on life. When you see someone talk with that sparkle in their eye, work hard and deliver the most amazing outcomes and move around life as if the situation was custom made for him or her - then I want to do the same. My interest in my surroundings, work morale and heck - even joy of being alive - gets a boost.

Some inspiring people that has crossed my lucky path recently here in Ghana are June Arunga, a young Kenyan woman who works in the IT industry here in Ghana, gives globalization speeches and have traveled the continent in the TV program The Devil's Footpath. She is fast and fun and a person I am just getting to know (including her inspiring book shelf, thanks June!).

Michael Baompong is youth activist and founder of the NGO Young People We Care and one of the 40 most active in Taking IT Global, an online community which seeks to inspire, involve and inform young people. I have not had the opportunity to meet with him yet, but through Internet I know of him and maybe he soon knows of me as well! (all this also inspiring, isn't it?)

I sat down with Nii Mantse just last week who is the editor of Jive, a magazine covering entertainment in Ghana. He has also worked in TV production, for instance with Studio 53 which covers Africas 53 nations, but also with Ghanaian television. We spoke about what matters at work, what young people like to do in Accra and an hour flew by.

All these three people have that energy/drive/sparkle in their eye that inspires me.

Migration Research Update: June has also done a documentary on why the educated youth leaves the continent called "Africa's Ultimate Resource" and Michel wants to be a "migration expert" in the future. I think I need to talk to both of them in preparation for my upcoming migration studies.

In the pic the Ghanaian fertility symbol Akuaba to illustrate the mind fertilization and inspiration in this post.

Travelling News

Today the "NEWS" about our wedding reached my hometown Visby on the island Gotland in Sweden. See it here.

Panafricaism in Ghana

Check out my article (only in Swedish) in the latest edition of the Swedish Travelling Exhibition/ Riksutställningars Newsletter Spana!.

After visiting the cool national museum in Accra, I wrote about its history, organization and visitors and in do doing managed to combine my two top interests art and politics in one project! Additionally, when interviewing the management of the museum I found that migration/brain-drain is a problem also in the museum sector. As a result this post has the most "tags" I have ever given to a text on the blog.

Enjoy!

Picture taken by me of two young museum visitors, and beutifully reddened by Spana!'s editor Mårten Jansson.

Back and Front: How to Carry Your Baby

Yesterday, I share a taxi with a mother my own age. Her chubby three months old is strapped to her in a Baby Bjorn carrier, something becoming increasingly common here in carry-your-baby-with-a-cloth Ghana (more info on that here and here).

I turn to ask her who she is choosing the (western) front-carrying alternative instead of the (African) wrap with the baby on the back. She tells me she uses both types, but when traveling it is more practical to have the baby in front. Here in Ghana it is probably also more "fashionable" to wear a Baby Bjorn to town and the traditional style is reserved for around the house, that is for those who can afford both.

Interestingly, it seems to be almost the opposite in Sweden. Different scarves for carrying babies have become very popular and the Swedish invention Baby Bjorn is not as common anymore.

- Oh, I see, I say to the mother in the taxi, he does look comfortable. With a smile I wave at the adorable little man strapped to her front.

- You love babies, eh? His mother asks with the big question mark.

I do. But that’s a different story.

Picture borrowed from mscoaching.com

Whats Up, Ghana?

Being a curious cultural consumer, I have spent my first year in Ghana trying to experience as much entertainment as is only possible. There are lots of cultural events going on in Accra and its surroundings, many of them free or very cheap, but I have found one major problem. Getting to know about the events - before they take place - is often a mission impossible!

Many institutions rely heavily on placing a banner outside their premises as their only form of marketing (!) The University of Ghana, the British Council and the National Theatre are a few examples. Others place ads in the newspapers, unfortunately these ads easily get overlooked if missing to buy the paper one day. However I have found that some institutions have e-newsletters, which is more visitor friendly in my opinion.

If you want to know what goes on in Accra, sign up for the newsletters of
Goethe Institute,
Alliance Francaise (send an email to info@alliancefrancaiseghana.com) and
Foundation for Contemporary Art
to get a few hints.

The Goethe Institute often have events including exhibits and concerts on Tuesday nights, while Mercredis de la Paillote (Wednesdays in the pavillion) have become the trademark for Alliance Francaise. The FCA arrange contemporary art exhibits and exciting, but unfortunately not very well known Meet-the-Artist sessions.

The events page of the Ghana Tourism Council will tell you about the big events, but unfortunately the Ghana Web events page seems sadly nonfunctioning.

The information gap is a big problem not just for the entertainment business, but basically for all sectors in Ghana. I have had similar problems when I wanted to buy furniture, for example. Maybe there is something we bloggers in Ghana could do about this problem? For starters, please let me know if there is more information to be had about events in Greater Accra. I still have some nights open this week!

In the picture Ivorienne artist Dobet Gnahore at Alliance Francaise the 20th of February this year in one of the best concerts I have ever seen (thanks to their newsletter).

Centipost

I blame my poor posting lately on, ehrm, that I am between jobs and have too many fun things to do. Although, over the last two years I have been posting quite a lot, to be precise 100 times!

When I started blogging, the idea was to write about my relocation to France and the inevitable culture shocks. I started off with some inspiration from fellow bloggers and my favorite Piaf song "Non, je ne regrette rien". The blog has since then been about travels, also since I left Paris, but furthermore about similarities and differences between places on this planet and the people I have met. Writing here has allowed me to process and refine some of my thoughts on experiences I have had. Over my 100 posts I have visited four continents and a peninsula, moved to Ghana, discovered the amazing possibilities a blog can offer, and worried about that you people out there can know a lot about me before I know anything about you... Well, that is just a risk I take, and I have plenty of evidence it has been worth it.

To conclude this jubilee post I want to thank all my readers and especially the new ones that I have met through my blog!

Everchanging

Having a philosphical day. Everything is moving, floating and life will never again be the same.

Oh, no! Noone died - except for Pavarotti, may he RIP - it is just that this week is my last as an intern with the organization I have been working on now for a few months. I will not come here daily anymore or spend time with the same people. I will not work on the same projects or post my blogposts from this computer.

I acknowledge that there is a sadness to leaving something behind and to remedy it, I have already started to plan my life outside the office gates and I am looking forward to it. It will be a lot of reading, now mainly academic stuff and hopefully some long distance travelling and more time for being creative, business-minded and maybe even sporty (on Monday...).

Of course everyday is a possibility for a fresh start, but it would be exhausting to think about that daily. But today, I am embracing the idea that after tomorrow life will be different.

Onomatopoeic

Since I came back from Sweden to Ghana I have gotten to hear, more than once, that I have become obolo. I think you can hear what it means. But if not, this is what I've been told:

My coworker: Kajsa, you have become fat!
Me: Eh, what?
Coworker: You must have eaten a lot when you travelled...(Laughs)
Me: Well...
Coworker: Obolo! (Mimics a person so fat the arms stand out from the body)

Yesterday, at the third reminder of my apparently new body size i couldn't hold it back.

Me: Did you know that saying someone is fat is an insult in Sweden? Coworker2: Oh, really? (looks ashamed) No no, here it is a good thing...
Me: I kind of thought so.
Coworker2: (cheers up) Now we can call you Mama Obolo! (laughs)

Judge for yourselves, in the picture me eating a goat khebab. Photo taken by Isaac Kweku Adu.

Web humiliation

Currently, I am looking for a job. When that is the case I today thought to myself, what is better than expanding my network?
That is the reasoning behind giving my particulars to the network Linked In. So I filled in my email address, turned down the offer to invite everybody in my address book and happily started exploring the features. Suddenly this message covers my screen.

Invitations: Sent 344 (21 Bounced)

What? Does that indicate the mean application LinkedIn just went ahead and, against my will, invited ALL PEOPLE in my addressbook to join my "professional network"? According to all the replies I have gotten from puzzled people asking what this thing is, unfortunately that seems to be the case. So yes EVERYBODY, including my doctor, my boss, a friend's friend who also got her travel pics and baby updates, an aquaintance from a project last year, the administrator for the union I belong to got invitations and I do not dare tho think about who else. So now, I try to go to my happy place, the Monet gardens outside of paris in May when everything blossoms...

You are who you befriend

If that is true, I am a loud voice in the blogosphere, a many times published journalist and writer, a reseacher, a traveller and a radio host. Let's start with Nadja, she is a lawyer and a writer, mostly commenting on foreign issues from a Swedish perspective or issues a pluralistic Sweden has to deal with immediately like religious schools.

My fair trade heroine Emilie is constructing Bombay as we write during an summer course at the univerity there. Peter I believe is writing a book on pension reforms in Sweden. Mattias is writing about the process of learning ICT at university level when he is not busy writing articles and media strategies as the head of PhD students in Sweden. Laila is in Paris writing her dissertation on the organizational culture of the OECD concerning development and gender.

My sister Freja is a radio host with the national radio channel P3. My friend Matthew is writing excellent stuff all the time, sometimes it gets published in the Dothan Cronicle.Katrine works with newspaper expressen , but also publish her sharp comments in other publications and on the web, Marta works, except for the Almighty also with magazine Efter Arbetet, Joel with Folkbladet in Norrkoping and Ida, last time I checked worked for Jamtlandstidningen.

Today, Anna a freelance writer together with Petra a poet and academic writer, are launching the first ever queer club in our hometown, Visby as "entertainment, business idea and political statement".

I am so proud of you all and this is not even an exhaustive list!

In the picture me with some of the above mentioned friends.

Click!

Those of you who know me well have maybe come to know I love taking pictures. I also love showing them to people...unfortunately everyone seems to be really tired after like 10 pictures. Why is that? Anyways, there are a few exceptions to the rule. The most prominent exeption being that when you are travelling people have more patience for watching my pics. That is also why I now have decided to again share with you (ungrateful) people.
The collage was made with picasa and the pictures are also presented - side by side - on my homepage. Click on "photos" and "Tema".