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April 2011

The excitement is all in the anticipation...   (published in Ghana)

April 28, 2011 by   Comments (2)

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Akwaaba everybody,

If you have stumbled on to this blog, be forewarned, my excitement will be contagious and slightly annoying by the end of this all. In approximately a month, I will be at the airport about to embark on the trip of a lifetime. Where and why you may wonder? Before I talk about all that, let me rewind for a bit.

My entire life I have always wanted to travel the globe, exploring cuisines and languages and cultures. Living in a city such as Toronto, it has been able to satisfy this appetite but nothing is better than the real thing. This summer I get to start on that path every person bit by the wanderlust bug follows by going to Accra, Ghana for a month and volunteering in a hospital. I don't know all the exact details yet but that's part of the excitement.I've never really left home for a more than a week so this will be a unique experience in my life in more ways than one. No worries - challenge accepted!

I've done all the preparations - the fiscal, the physical, and the research. Now - now its just getting there and living life as a true Ghanaian.

In pursuit of this dream of mine I have already done the following:

  • Had 7 vaccinations - 3 in one arm, 4 in another
  • Applied for my VISA - omg --> taking Passport sized photographs is the worst. No smile or anything - so not natural
  • Read up on Ghana's history and culture. GO SOCCER GO BLACK STARS!!
  • Process of adding more Ghanaian words to my repetoire

I hope by the end of this trip, I have made a positive impact in the lives of the Ghanaians and volunteers I meet. More than anything, I am excited to learn more about medicine, and Ghana!

Follow me on my trip with my triumphs, difficulties, laughter and everything else.  Be a part of it! Comment, question and dare me along the way. ( I just may take you up on them! )

 

Talk soon,

Anjum

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like the Ghanaian say, "sweating like a pregnant fish..."   (published in Ghana)

April 27, 2011 by   Comments (1)

Day 3 

Got my hair braided and a manicure for 10Cedis!!! but while we were sitting there, a girl came in with scars on both sides of her face about 2 inches long...They said she "belonged" to someone and that's how they mark their territory. Although Ghana is a free country and I feel more safe than ever walking the streets, women here face many inequalities. With polygamy approved, they will never achieve any sort of status. Rape is not considered rape if you are married and the Osu orphange near home shut down for investigation of child abuse and it made me feel so lucky to be fortunate enough to be born in a developed country...

I came home to find my bedside table infested with ants.............. ='[ however, people here use them as a good cleaning tool! We travelled around Cant'ment to find the football field where there was a tournament of our volunteers vs ghanaians! Here we met tonss of volunteers around the world, mostly from europe though which probably means they listen to trance!!! They were blasting african hip hop and inside the building all the kids were screaming China!!! Korea!! Japan!! when they saw us. They greeted us with handshakes and plenty of hugs =) After lunch at a cafe above Koalas, we walked down Oxford street in downtown Accra and the traffic was insane! With no traffic lights you could definitely get run over. Wherever we went, people would call us "brunies" meaning white person and wouldn't stop grabbing our arms. Marriage proposals are also very very common here...everyone wants you to be their girlfriend ahahaahaha 

Later at night we went with all the volunteers (15) for a goodbye dinner for Nadeen who was leaving to India and no surprise we went for Indian food! However, after walking for 20mins in the heat (even at night) it was closed and had found ourselves walking for another 20mins...I can literally feel my thighs and calf muscles tearing apart and don't forget my arms also getting ripppppped from carrying heavy buckets of water back and forth to shower, eat, drink, and use the toilet. Because we have no running water still, for showering we are allowed 1 bucket to wash (2 if you wash your hair). the water is cold and you use a small cup to pour the water on yourself. I have now mastered the ability to shower without a full sized bathroom!! 

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AFRICAN MUSIC HAS THE POTENTIAL TO ENTER THE BRITISH MAINSTREAM   (published in Ghana)

April 19, 2011 by   Comments (0)

Here's an interesting article by one of our journalism volunteers placed in Cape Coast at the Central Press Newspaper!! Enjoy :)


Despite the skill and hard work of a numerous number of musicians in Ghana, it appears that many are finding it very difficult to break into the vast and lucrative European and American music market, regardless of their current success in Africa. The American and European market has always been notoriously difficult to penetrate, with often very narrow criteria for what is generally successful. Although African pop music is very popular in Britain among the African disapora, with artists like P-Square, for example, selling out venues to almost exclusively Nigerians living in Britain, it appears that there is a barrier for some artists who wish not only to be recognised by Africans living in Britain, but who also want to be successful among the non-African community.
World Music is extremely successful in Britain, with a huge audience listening to Salif Keita, Baaba Maal, Youssou N’Dour and many others, who instead of playing to the African disapora in Britain, actually play largely to white, middle-class crowds; however, this kind of music bears few similarities with the music that is actually currently popular among Africans in both Africa and Britain, as it is carefully tailored and produced to appeal to white audiences who are looking for what they believe to be more authentic African music, which does not contain influences from Western contemporary pop. This audience is looking for what they perceive to represent a more traditional, ‘real’ form of African music, while those in London’s African communities are listening instead to artists that most world music fans would be completely unaware of, such as Koffi Olomide from the Congo, or King Wasiu Ayinde from Nigeria. As a result it is clear that there is a divide between what is popular among white Europeans, and what is popular among Africans living in Britain and in Africa, despite the former wanting to experience what they perceive to be real African music.
           
As previously mentioned, although many African artists do have a standing in Britain among the African communities, this is not satisfactory for many, as a large number want to branch out from the African population and to appeal to white and non-African people living in Britain and Europe. Many artists reject the marketing used for some African artists coming to England, for example in the case of P-Square, where he is only marketed to the Nigerian community through Nigerian press and radio, without trying to reach out to the mainstream media, as ticket sales are guaranteed from the Nigerian population so those in charge feel it is unnecessary to market more broadly. It appears that this is where the problem lies for many African artists who wish to become popular in Europe: they only receive press and publication from the African community in general, rather than from the rest of Europe’s population.
There are many people in Britain and the rest of Europe who would definitely be interested in hearing modern, contemporary African pop music, especially as many of the songs feature upbeat rhythms and synthesised beats that are great to dance to, which are also all popular elements in most Western pop music. The music scene in Britain is one of the most diverse in the world, and one can find almost any kind of music there: rock, pop, reggae, classical, punk, jazz, the list goes on. The British music and club scene is always on the look out for something new, different and colourful, which are all characteristics of a lot of African pop music. There are without a doubt many people, young and old, who would love to embrace contemporary pop music from Africa, but it would appear that it is more a matter of giving those who are not part of the African community the tools and ability to access this music, as most of it is not advertised to the mainstream media. In Britain, one would not normally see music from most countries in Africa advertised freely and obviously, but one would have to look quite hard to find it. JJC, a Nigerian rapper played the Womad festival in London, and remarked that although the crowd was ‘95% white’, they were still going wild, and the atmosphere was identical to his sell-out shows with a solely Nigerian audience, showing that anyone can enjoy music, no matter where they are from.
As a result, it is the destruction of the barrier preventing contemporary music from Africa from being played on mainstream radio and television, and being advertised in mainstream newspapers and magazines that could be the key to increasing its success and popularity among those who are not members of the African community in Britain and the rest of Europe, as this would surely open many new paths for Africa’s many already established, and up-and-coming artists.

 

Frances Black – Projects Abroad

You can follow CPN at: http://centralpressnewspaper.blogspot.com/

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