Pilachi_Sketch [ BLOG ]

Ghana is changing. Again.

For the better part of the last two years, the common excuse given for the “ordinary frustrations” was invariaby “this is Ghana;” as though this common complacency made unacceptable business practices more tolerable. I am happy to report… that Ghana is changing. Again.

This is not a scathing rant about why Ghana is deplorable; in fact to the contrary Ghana is an amazing, burgeoning population and the veritable “gateway to Africa [all things considered].” I am here because it is my objective to play a significant role in the positive reinforcement of the image of this society in the eyes of the international community. So why am I so obsessed with this oncoming, or rather ongoing change?

With growth rates in excess of 7% per annum, more than 65 corporations moving their headquarters to Ghana in this year alone and a plethroa of Nigerian banks changing the economic landscape in Ghana; trunk roads and feeder roads (highways) connecting the farthest reaches of the society with the furthest reaches of the world… the gateways to international trade are wide open (well, almost). This place is bursting at the seams. Read more

Once upon a decade ago, a young lady who I was simultaneously courting–with the weighted hands [and baited breath] of a profligate few–thought she said to me:

“Hello?”

Then she thought she hung up.

Instead her inner musings were revealed in the dead space of a telephone conversation, incorrectly disconnected and conveyed with neither guise nor pretense, to the non-discriminating audience of voicemail.

It is the tragedy of our technologically driven times. Read more

Among other things, this is working out to be a particularly useful trip to Ghana in terms of Architectural Student Exchange possibilities.

By quite fortuitous means, the Dean of the Faculty of the Built Environment, the Head of the Building School and the Head of the Architecture School [where I did undergrad and now teach Architectural Design Studio, in Jamaica] came to Ghana [with some gentle encouragement] and began to pursue the idea of faculty, student and information exchange programs with the University of Ghana.

On the trip, we visited the Vice Chancellor of the Kumasi campus, the Provost of the Architecture School; thereafter I made a segue to visit with the Provost of the Art School, the Head of the Communication Design School and the Rural Arts School. It was a glorious series of opportunities. There is so much to be done; and both campuses can facilitate the growth and development of both regions in ways that currently defy comprehension.

Back in Accra, we visited with the Dean of the International Studies Dept. and a few others on the Legon Campus.

By all accounts, these visits were fruitful; see article on the homepage of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) website.

It has been almost two months since I last wrote on the blog; partially because I returned to Ghana, partially because my son accidentally broke my powerbook screen after watching his favorite movie “Cars” and partially because I never actually remember the password to log in.

It has been a whirlwind of a time… being in Ghana again has been incredible. From one revelation to another… there have been so many moments of divine confluence, that I really have to say wow… this is really… wow.

Have you ever had that kind of moment? They type that makes a sentence unintelligible?

It has been that type of experience.

wow.

Download Complete Book (26mb)

On the request of the Delegation of the European Commission in Ghana the print publication “Collaboration in Action” and the companion DVD, that Pilachi was commissioned to put together last year, have been re-purposed for digital distribution.

“Re-purpose” is a misnomer if you really think about it: because Pilachi is a digital design studio, so the files all started out digital[ly].

The brief of the project was to prepare a 50 page book and interactive disc celebrating three things:

1. 50 Years of independent Ghana: the first black ruled nation in Sub-Saharan Africa
2. 50 Years of the unification of Europe
3. 30 Years of European Commission and Ghana Collaboration [...hence the catchy title... "Collaboration in Action"]

As you can imagine, this was a tall order; so we flipped the script a bit. Read more

Introduction: Borne Out of Conflict

“As the country strives to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, Ghana’s foremost priority is to sustain its growth and translate national gains into poverty reduction for the most vulnerable. The EU, through the European Commission and the bilateral programmes of the member states, is a dedicated partner to the Government of Ghana in this effort…”

Each of these chapters is available for download by clicking on the image or on the highlighted text. Read more

One of the basic concepts that drive the success or failure of a city is migration; this is one of the things I learnt from playing the video game SimCity, as an adolescent… then as an early adult. Not that an education in Urban Design had anything to do with it.

Migration, based on the programming of SimCity, is a very bad thing as it relates to the success of your city, and is usually driven by factors pertaining to and limited by opportunity and development. duh!

So why do people leave? According to SimCity [now in its fourth iteration] if there is no water or electricity provided, the growth of the city will be very slow; however people will not necessarily leave… they just won’t move in as readily.

This is the clincher:

- if there is no work: people leave.
- if there is inadequate/insufficient accommodation: people leave.
- if there is too much traffic: people leave.

Each of these situations is a threat to the success of the city; however each of these situations is also an opportunity to drive growth. Read more

Twenty two minutes ago, I awoke from a dream in which I learnt that it is incumbent for me to produce a documentary called “inside the central hotel.” In this dream, I learnt that the film was critically acclaimed and was a bit of an underdog in the runnings for high honors in film circles. This is of little interest to me, as was demontrated by my even keeled responces in the dream. What is important to me, is that my images of the subject being depicted, was a shell shocked society, marked primarily by decimated buildings. Read more

Everything is pointing us in the right direction; for the most part. I could continue to write a diatribe on maladies or I could open my eyes to the prospects and opportunities that present themselves.

A glorious series of events [like spicy food on the way in and on the way out... not so glorious when you are going through it... if you have not yet developed the appreciation for such things] have lead to our realization that life happens to you until you choose to happen back. So we have rubbed on the metaphorical lube, and shall become a bit more surgical in our approach. Read more

Tonight I wrote a letter that I cannot send. Last week, I wrote the same letter, with more words and a few more recipients; which also learnt that it would neither see light, nor day.

It is hard to write these days; because I know that my audience is larger than the breadth of my comfort zone; it is even harder, because I do not know where my erstwhile comfort-zone can be found again; especially now that comfort costs $80 a night [water not included]. Don’t worry, we got a discount. Read more