AFRICA IS NOT FOR SISSIES

Last thursday was a particularly hectic day. Went from one office to the other in meetings that simply left the throat dry from over exertion - too much talking.
By late morning, I was hungry and tired. It didn't help that I was seated in one of the offices of KFC Ghana - my thoughts were centered on spicy juicy chicken.
And then something on the desk caught my attention. It was a carving of the African map and underneath it was the inscription - "Africa is not for sissies".
My host was on the phone but he noticed my fascination with his carving and got off the phone for a few seconds to say " yes, Africa is not for sissies" to which I replied with a nod, a smile and "true" muttered ever so softly.
These words saw me through the day, the week and perhaps will see me through the year.
Africa is indeed not for sissies! Think about it ...
In our part of the world, nothing works as it should. Structures? institutions? - non existent or all over the place, leaving most things to individual discretion and (good) judgement ... which is asking alot of a system which is still aspiring to understand itself. We do not have the discipline needed to exercise discretion and good judgement, we NEED the structures and institutions.
Simple and mundane things like getting on a bus, buying food, going through registration processes (on campuses, at the National Service Secretariat ...) are a struggle - literally! (I'm talking physical fights).
Education - the frustration and confusion in the system (medical school, law school ...) ...
Or perhaps trying to get a job or worse, trying to establish your own "company" ...
It beats my mind that today, in 2014, giving birth (procreation - nature at it's very core) is still a matter of life and death for a sizable number of the population.
The cost of living is high ... salaries are low ...
How does one survive, not to talk of flourish in these parts? Not by complaining, that's for sure.
Survival of the fittest. That could explain the corruption. I refuse to accept that as the only way.
One has to be fit to survive, yes! It's why we have to keep pushing and knocking and learning and teaching and going the extra mile ... that must be the way!
There has to be a way because this our place, our Africa, it aint for sissies!

PROFESSOR KOFI AWOONOR

Professor Kofi Awoonor was a celebrated poet and author, a political activist, Ghana's ambassador to the UN, Cuba, Brazil, the head of the committee against apartheid, president of the pan-African writers association, chairman of the council of state, a Pan-Africanist, a traditionalist, a lecturer of African literature in various universities including the University of Cape Coast where he was the head of the English department ... (I could go on)

My first conversation with Professor Kofi Awoonor was at the University of Ghana. He was my lecturer at the English department. I was about to drive out the car park at "Tingis" after a lecture when I heard him ask for a lift to the department, his driver was late. I quickly offered.  I was in awe of the man and didn't want any other student to have that privilege of driving him. My two friends and course mates who were with me in the car were just as excited as I was.

In the car, he asked us our names. I told him I was Maame Ama, my two friends told him they were Maame Yaa and Dokua. He was happy, we all had indigenous Ghanaian names. The interesting thing is, my friends were Herty and Jane.

That was Professor Kofi Awoonor. A man who asked you your name and had you instantly, unconsciously wanting to own your African identity.

If Professor Awoonor taught you, he was not just your lecturer. He was the man who encouraged you to THINK and express those thoughts regardless how much he disagreed with your thoughts (sometimes his class was one big debate with opinions flying all around). I did not go for his lectures because I had to. I did because I enjoyed them.

This is the man who yesterday, while shopping with his son, was shot dead by "Islamic militants" at WestGate mall in Kenya.
Why? because a group of people want some attention.

The tears in my eyes do not fully express the sadness in my heart. That a GENTLEMAN like Professor Kofi Awoonor, for who he is and all his contributions to this society ...
... this is a moment! one of many moments in recent history that show how utterly inhuman the human race is.

THE BUSINESS OF CHARITY

Prince William's wife had a baby. Subsequently, he's left "his job" with the armed forces and announced a new one - protecting African wild life!

Now before we all break into Zulu dances (as I'm sure is expected of "us") let's take a minute to examine motive. Prince William, his Royal Highness, had the whole world to choose from, all the continents at his feet and he chose Africa. Lucky us!

Interestingly, inspite of all the challenges confronting the continent, he chose to extend his benevolence to our wild life. Is it possible that he cares more about the animals than the people of Africa? Or perhaps this has nothing to do with either but simply, a new father's zeal to have a play ground for his son. Far fetched? The man had this to say at a recent interview about raising his new son (sorry if I seem caught up in the fairy tale of a royal delivery, fairy tales are a general weakness :)) "I'll have toy elephants and rhinos around the room ... we'll cover it in lots of bushes ... make him grow up as if he's in the bush."

To be fair, protecting wild life, anywhere, is a good venture and let's face it, where better to protect wild life than the "jungle"? Besides, he doesn't have to do this (his admirers might say) - which is exactly why I'd prefer for Africans to take up the challenge of protecting our own. If this is about a genuine desire to help, Prince William could very easily have assisted those already on the ground undertaking the venture without making this a fun fair.

I liked Prince William. When I was younger, I liked him because he was a good looking prince, the older me continued to like him because he seemed like a nice warm harmless guy and I refused to blame him for his lineage - he had no control over being born a Prince and he certainly had nothing to do with slavery, colonialism or the exploitation of whole continents for natural resources ...

I am not so sure I like him anymore because now, he has alot to do with all I detest - making Africa a charity case, making charity a business and worse, reducing a whole continent's image to a publicity stunt or gimmick.

Thank you, Prince William for your questionable interest in Africa but no thanks, we already have countless royals of our own looking for ways to justify their privilege. Thanks to INDEPENDENCE, we really don't have to tolerate your "benevolence" no more!

CANDY LIVING

It's been ages! I didn't forget about this space. Actually, I couldn't have, because I had reminders about the neglect and perhaps the most forceful reminder came from Roxanne Sayaka Amihere, who left the sweetest message on facebook "Boo please write more blogs waii. I love the way you engage with your readers, I feel like I'm on the journey with you x" hope you don't mind that I shared boo? :)

So what's new? Pleeeeeeenty (in my typical Ghanaian accent). Rounded up the course in december, did the journey back home, spent Christmas with the family, returned for the paper (graduated), did a wee bit of travelling which was unfortunately cut short rather abruptly because had to rush back home to chase another paper - been back in school, finished the course, trying to get in again (long, I know :( ), met the most awesome people who have affected my life in ways I didn't think possible ... the whole time, spending endless amount of time in hospital because apparently there's an unending battle between the food and the tummy. It's amazing that in all the time I spent away, I was in hospital once but now that I'm back to kenkey and banku and oh! real fufu ... oh well ...!

The great thing about the last six/seven months is that, putting all of the experiences together - chasing dreams, building relationships, battling health ... it's somehow rekindled a zeal for life.

Life is beautiful! You don't realise how much you take it for granted until you're up at 2:00 am on a hospital bed finally not feeling the pain, finally not having to wonder about your life - how you've lived it, regrets and all.

Everyday is a second chance - to make wrongs right, to try to be better, to be the best you can be ... live! really live the "candy living" like it's your last, because it really could be your last.
Maybe we need to remind ourselves of this fact more often :)

MELCOM COLLAPSES !!

The more this Melcom disaster is discussed, the faster sadness gives way to anger.
A six storey departmental store building, built with such alacrity lies on the floor. Collapsed. Caved in. Earthquake? No! Sandy? Isaac? Katrina? No! Just regular air - oxygen! A regular day in a sunny African country.  One of the biggest departmental stores in the capital with God knows how many employees and "visitors" if not shoppers, trapped in the debris of a collapsed building.
Now for two days, a nation sits on tenterhooks, watching images of people being rescued, praying that the others are rescued on time before more lives are lost, nobody certain of the numbers of the people who were in the building.
A shameful preventable calamity.
Thank God for Israel (let nobody tell me about opportunistic foreign aid or any other political talk like that when lives are at stake), private companies like Engineers and planners and the citizenry who are working as volunteers, all assisting with the rescue.
Now between the company, the owner of the building, the architect and the Accra Municipal Authority (AMA), we hear people scuffling about playing the blame game - "it was caused by a structural failure", "they didn't have a permit", "AMA did not assign a building inspector", "we only rented the building", "the concrete mix was not to the specification we require" ...
AMA boss says he'll resign if his outfit is found culpable. A six story building lies on the ground - there's still an "IF" ??
There are reports three people have already been picked up - two from the company and one from the AMA - GOOD!!!
Heads must roll! We chant not because we're just eager for someone to assuage the hurt (even though that is perfectly legitimate), we chant because this must not happen again !!

GHANA LAW SCHOOL ... SAY WHAT ???

This issue is one that lies right under my heart, vertically. Normally, when issues are in that position around my organs, i don't like to write about them because I've learned there's a cord that links directly from my organs (all of them) to the subjective part of my brain which means ofcourse that such write ups may not be objective. I leave you to make that conclusion after you read, which means, from here on, I have procured a license to be as unguarded as I possibly can.

So, legal training in Ghana has changed, I'm told. Among other changes, now, when you have an LLB from outside (the shores of Ghana, that is) and you go back home to do the bar, you have to go through a series of interviews and tests while clutching your hard earned degree under your arm (obviously not enough) and pray that you pass because not passing will mean ...? and when you pass with flying colours - dreamily, you are considered an international student and must pay fees to reflect your status. Never mind that there are people who like me, have schooled their whole life to university level in Ghana and may have only left purposefully for the procurement of an LLB. I wouldn't want to bore anyone right now with details of trying to get into Legon to study law, that is a discussion for a brighter warmer day.

Should you opt to do the bar training here (UK), when before you had to do a three month conversion at the bar school in Ghana to practice, when you have successfully been called to the UK bar, now, you would need to have done pupillage here in the UK after your bar, before that option would be open to you or your bar training from UK is null and void which loosely translates - you have to spend two years doing what you have already done - that is, if you pass the interviews and tests required ofcourse.

Now, pupillage in UK is everybody's dream. Who wouldn't want to be trained on the job in Lincoln's Inn? Go to court and experience first hand, the very place Lord Denning practised his law? Unfortunately, however, pupillage, even though considered part of legal training, is also a full time job which means that one needs a work permit to undertake the prestigious venture. Now, who born dog? where are you "going to pass" to get that permit? Even if you get divinely lucky and get a law firm that is willing to take you on, UK requirements dictate that the firm proves that basically, no one else in the kingdom can do the job apart from you for which reason a work permit should be procured for very special you.

My favourite part, by jove, is the fact that Ghana recognises the state of New York bar training but has all these limitations on recognising UK bar training. Forget colonial masters, forget where we derive our laws from, forget the multiplicity of the legal system in the States ... have I said enough?

All this would be well and good if these changes were given a human touch. It came into being within three months. So one went to bed covered in a quilt as thick as a dozen kente clothes sewn together somewhere in Birmingham as a student almost done with bar training, dreaming of returning home to family, good food, weather ... after a fight well fought and woke up to hear he must go back to his motherland to do the bar training for two years AGAIN.
Equity? Anybody??

HMMM ...

It's a chilly summer morning in Buckingham.
One of those mornings that have me wondering if stepping out to go for class is not a thinly disguised punishment for all my sins.
There's a greater good, a bigger picture, a price to be won ... I repeat the usual pep talk that is now almost a ritual.
Normally, once the discussions start, it is worth any trouble. I love being here. Being surrounded by knowledge. Enjoying the sheer brilliance of the brains in one room - endlessly fascinating.
Today, the class is discussing legal entitlement and beneficiary rights.
I watch my fellow student - the really old African man make faces all through the class. Something is seriously bordering his mind about this area of law.
He shifts in his seat, squints his eyes, scratches his head and then rests his head on his palm ... then he repeats the process ... again, again ...
He has my attention now. I'm watching him like an eagle.
Then I see it - a resolve. It's edged on his forehead, he has come to some conclusion. I see him try to catch the lecturer's attention. He doesn't get the lecturer's attention.
Eventually, he raises a frail finger - I'm giddy with anticipation, cant wait to hear about this brain wave from a wise man's musings ... he speaks ... "Why is the law like that?"
Hmmmm ... is my only reaction.