Circumspecte

Source: Komla Dumor's Facebook Page "There's so much more to tell about Africa than the usual stories about war, famine and disease." Komla Dumor. Son, husband, father, Ghana's "Boss Player", Africa's storyteller, BBC World News broadcaster, inspiration - courage personified. If anyone had told me that Komla Dumor's Black Star would burst out into eternity on January 18, 2014, I would have called them a liar and then some. His 41 years of life might seem "short" to many of us, but from all indications, this amazing soul found it more than enough for doing what he set out to do: to be a journalist of the highest order and to contribute towards telling Africa's stories. His awards, accolades and  accomplishments  are well recorded - perhaps more so after his untimely demise yesterday from a cardiac arrest in London - and numerous people are sharing their condolences and tributes on social media with variations of the hash...

“Boldness  has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” – Johann Wolfgang Von  Goethe When ever I get to talking about Ghana and why there’s still hope for our continent and motherland, Ashesi  eventually comes up. Why? It’s the epitome of what Ghana is, could become and will become — if more of us follow that strong conviction to do something more than live our lives; even if it means leaving a US job with Microsoft on nothing but that conviction. I got introduced to Ashesi University during its early days and while I was in high school. My father was a computer science lecturer at the university and during vacation I’d usually tag along with him to “do research”. When I started applying to universities, Ashesi was my top Ghanaian school – even though they didn’t have an IR or economics program. Why? The liberal arts curriculum, the questioning, the critical thinking, the novelty of it all. The Ashesi  students I knew then had at least two years on ...

It's my great honor to introduce this young lady to those of you who might not have heard of her, and for those of you who have, to hopefully share one or two things that you probably didn't know about Deborah Ahenkorah and her journey so far. The Visionnaire Series begins. -- Privilege Vs Responsibility At 24 years, Deborah Ahenkorah is living proof of the heights a person can reach just by trying. A native of the Eastern Region, Deborah grew up with her parents in Ghana’s capital Accra. She attended North Ridge Lyceum, and later enrolled at Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast. Consequently, she proceeded on scholarship to Bryn Mawr College in the USA, for her university degree. “I had no reason to want to come back to Ghana. I’m going to America, why would I want to come back to Ghana? But in the four years that I was in school various experiences, you know, switched my mind 180 degrees,” Deborah recounted. According to the self-proclaimed adventur...

Finally, the first interview of the Visionnaire Series with Deborah Ahenkorah of the Golden Baobab Prize is all set! Stay tuned for the full showcase right here on Circumspect! In the meantime, here's a small teaser/preview, what I call the "Visionnaire Development Minute", on Debbie's thoughts on, well, development in Africa. Agree, disagree, have something to add? Please do share! Enjoy! Circumspect: How do you think the advent of e-reading will influence Africa’s literary landscape? Deborah Ahenkorah: I think the discourse around e-reading everywhere in the world is so fascinating, because without a doubt, e-reading is the future. No matter how you spin it, it is the future. But what’s interesting about it is how is it going to become the future? What is the process and what path is it going to take for it to get to the future? The western world is far, far ahead of us in that discourse, or in that journey of e-reading from a concept to the reality, like the ...

[Here's an interview that has been long overdue, but which, I guarantee, will have been worth the wait. This interview, I found to be particularly inspiring, especially for African youth, and I knew that no amount of literary craft could communicate the passion and enthusiasm relayed during the interview. So, we're going to let Peter F. La-Anyane Yobo and Pichon Duplan of iStandAbove  tell you all about their amazing initiative themselves! The motivations behind it, why self-esteem is important for youth, their thoughts on development in Ghana and Africa through our first Circumspecte podcast!  Enjoy!] Pioneering Pals     In addition to having similar backgrounds and first names starting with ‘P’, Peter F. La-Anyane Yobo and Pichon Duplan have another thing in common: South Africa. “ Class four, that’s when I pretty much met Peter coming back from South Africa. Well, in fact class two I went to South Africa for a year and a half. I didn’t meet ...

I stumbled across this great initiative on early education in Ghana through good ol' facebook. Titagya Schools is a new project started by Fatawu Abukari, Andrew Garza, and Habib Manzah and aims to provide high quality early education for children in Northern Ghana. What's interesting about this project is the fact that it's a partnership between Ghanaians and an American who never thought they'd be working on early education. As someone who's from northern Ghana and who believes that Ghana's educational system needs some fresh ideas, this was quite a happy find. Hope you guys are as inspired by Titagya (pronounced Ti-tahi-ya). -- Circumspect: Tell us about yourself. Andrew Garza (A.G.): I graduated from Haverford College in 2008, majoring in sociology and minoring in economics. After that I worked for another organization that consults with small and medium enterprises in Ghana. Throughout college I’d done a number of internships with similar organi...