Circum-Flash: GH State of Mind

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 belongs. No, not the internet (told you the connection is suspect).... Ghana, West Africa!

Also, if you didn't already hear from Facebook or Twitter, Circumspect won the "Best Ghana Blog 2011" Tripbase Award! Got the email on March 31st, but unfortunately - with packing and all - didn't have a chance to commemorate the occasion. In addition to Circumspect, some other amazing GH blogs were recognized with travel blog awards. Its quite an honor to be featured as a Tripbase Award Winner, in such great company! You can find a full list of the GH winners (and those for other countries and categories) on the Tripbase Awards Site.

Bon, its past midnight here and we're still riding 2G. Hopefully I'll find at least one spot around the house where its 3G all day every day and then we can get more of this blog-living going! Until then, a la prochaine!

Review of 'The Perfect Picture' & the Ghanaian Movie Industry

The Ghana-Naija movie industry saga. That's always a tough one where I'm concerned. On the one hand is my allegiance to Ghana - my motherland, homeland and basically where most of my formative years were spent. On the other hand is my undeniable connection to Nigeria - my birthland and the land of my ancestors. Even though I barely remember that much about Nigeria, I do joke about when I will "finally return to my birthland." Maybe it's this umbilical connection, that makes me slightly biased towards Nollywood when it comes to the Ghana-Naija movie saga. Truth be told, I barely paid Ghanaian movies enough mind when I was growing up. I was more likely to watch a Nigerian movie instead, and even then, I was picky. Ramsey Noah or Genevive Nnaji had to be part of the cast. Why this bias towards Naija movies? It's simple really; their acting was generally better. These days, I'm more willing to watch anything Ghana-related. For one thing, the surges of homesi...

Lifestylz GH Interview: Sangu Delle

As part of Lifestylz GH’s interview series, we bring you our premier interview with Sangu Delle. Profile: Sangu Delle Sangu Delle is a senior at Harvard University. He was born and raised in Ghana, and is the youngest of five children in a bi-religious family (his father is Catholic while his mum is Muslim). He attended Christ the King Catholic School (CTK) and went on to study at the Ghana International School (GIS) until his O-Levels when he transferred to the Peddie School (a college preparatory school in NJ) on scholarship. His areas of concentration in academics are Economics and African studies, with a particular focus on development. Aspirations To be involved in the development of Ghana and Africa at large in some capacity. In the past, he was more involved in non-profit and development work, but has increasingly become active in entrepreneurial and business ventures; a testament to his belief that there should be “less foundations and more entrepreneurs” in Africa. In his own ...

Interview: Maame Sampah, Emmanuel Lamptey, REACH Ghana

Circumspect interviews Maame Sampah and Emmanuel Lamptey, Executive Board Members of the Representatives for Equal Access to Community Healthcare (REACH) Ghana to find out how they got started, what projects they're currently working on, and what they're looking forward to. -- Circumspect: Tell us about yourselves. Maame Sampah (M.S.): I’m currently a graduate student. I’m with an HIV group right now, and so I basically do HIV research. Before then, I did undergrad in biochemistry and French at Grinnell College. I’m doing grad school at [Johns] Hopkins now. I went through the Ghana education system - Wesley Girls, Bishop Bowers before then. I can give you the name of my nursery school. And yeah, so here I am. I’m going to be in school for a while, and basically I’m going to end up in a career in clinical and research medicine. I have a huge family, I have four siblings. My parents both live in Ghana. My siblings however are kind of scattered in the U.K and here [U.S.] an...

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