Circumspecte

Beautiful sunset in Salim Sarr, Louga Dear Senegal, I don't know how I made it through this one. I really don't. It's kind of hard to imagine you'd be sitting int he waiting lounge at the airport with all one, two, three pieces of excess luggage checked in...at virtually zero cost. Something that should have otherwise been at least $300 came down to a tip of 10,000CFAs, the equivalent of $20. It's at times like this that I re-resolve to continue proclaiming "I'm blessed", or as Nikki Minaj would say, "No, I'm not lucky, I'm blessed." Aside my friend's brush in with your police force - who have apparently (and ironically) decided to use the Holy Islamic Day of Friday to arrest invidivuals who don't have their national ID cards on them, and then consequently exact a bribe of 10,000CFAs (Ha! Come try that one in Ghana!) - everything went as well as can be. Funny what 10,000CFAs can do in one night huh? Anyway, who am I to cal...

The Gist: Adams Apples is a 10-chapter cinema movie series created and directed by Shirley Frimpong Manso, and produced by Ken Attoh. The series follows the lives of the Adams women - four 21st century cosmopolitan Ghanaian women, who undergo the struggles, triumphs and questions that life has to offer. Each scene involving the widowed ex-diplomat's wife, Mrs. Adams (played by Anima Misa Amoah), her 30-something-year-old daughters ('Baaba' played by Yvonne Okoro, 'Jennifer' played by Jocelyn Dumas and 'Kukua' played by Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku), and the leading men (John Dumelo, Kweku Sintim Misa, Ajetey Anang) captures the very essence of a middle-income family living in Accra. The first chapter of their story premiered at the National Theatre on April 21st, and is currently showing at the Silverbird Theatre in Accra. The chapters are projected to be released periodically until February 2012. I'd also suggest keeping tabs on the movie as it could possi...

I just had to put a quick plug in for the amazing Sherifa Gunu, a great singer from Northern Ghana. While she's pretty well known up North, Southern Ghana is just getting a glimpse of all she has to offer. From what I hear, she's been at this for quite a long time and I believe her time has come to shine. I think her flavor and style is different and helps showcase just how diverse Ghanaian culture and music is! Plus, she has a great message in her music usually centered on love, unity and togetherness. So, if you're looking to hear something slightly different from Ghana, in Dagbani rather than mainly Twi, Ga or Ewe, here's someone to check out. Find her latest video "Mbrantie" below as well as a couple others (including collabos). Enjoy! Photo Source:  http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002146927125

The very thought of having to adapt to the place one calls home is quite bizarre. But that’s exactly what I’m going through right now. Before heading back to Ghana I was both excited and apprehensive. Excited because I’d get to really spend time with family and friends and catch up after all these years. Apprehensive cos, well, I’d been away so long and I’d changed. I wondered whether I would (re)find my place. More scary was the thought of whether other people changing would end up being a good thing or not. Would my friends still be my friends? Would they like who I am now? Would we have the same interests? Do they have space for me in their “new” lives? Just your typical five-year-old –goes-to-school-for-the-first-time kinda questions. The verdict? So far so good. While I haven’t met up with all my friends just yet, I have reinstated contact with a good number of them, and thank heavens, so far there’ve been no first-time-in-ages awkward moments on the phone. We seemed to slip rig...

This is my first attempt at a blog since returning to Ghana a week ago. I say first attempt because I'm test driving Airtel's (formerly Zain -- I know, I can barely keep up with the updates myself) internet modem. I'm treading carefully. In my room I was on a 2G network, moved to the dining table and it got really slow before kicking up the gear to 3G. That was such a beautiful zone; totally breezy. We're back to 2G though. Something tells me this will be a bumpy ride. Come to think of it, this net connection is reminiscent of my time here so far. There are high moods and low, happy moments at returning, and sad at leaving Senegal (and the amazing internet there!), same ol' same ol' typical phase one culture shock (or in this case re-immersion) symptoms. But no worries, there'll be time to tell about my Senegal experience. So yeah, this post is mainly to let you know that I am alive and well, Alhamdulilahi, and that Circumspect is back home where it belong...