Pilachi_Sketch [ BLOG ]

Transient is such an interesting word, for a moment in stasis. So much happens in stillness, that silence is often overlooked. So little happens with haste, that quite often there is nothing much to remember once the moment has passed. All in all, this makes no sense to me either.

The real question is, what next? Read more

I have been asked repeatedly, not to put our private and inner-most-selves online for public scrutiny; yet I find myself here again, facing the inner-most-truth, that I am most honest with that inner-most-self, through the expressed word.

We emerge from our greatest collaborative success to date with the sensation of the harmatan… that dense cloud of particulate dust, so fine that you cannot see it permeate your airwaves, so thick that you cannot escape its embrace… so heavy, that it settles upon you with neither forewarning nor recollection in a period of neither reticence nor forgetting. So much for honesty and clarity. Read more

This shall be one of my fond memories of Ghana… Axim Beach.

I should really say that Ghana is a wonderful place; because it is. I should really say that the people are some of the nicest people you will meet in the world; because they are. I should say that Ghana abounds with opportunities that present themselves in very few locales; because it does.

Why should I choose to say so many things and feel the strongest propulsion to leave? Because I do. Through no fault of my own.
Ghana operates on a logic beyond my comprehension; a logic driven almost entirely on money. Friends, family, kin… nothing seems to be more important than money here. It is the strangest thing to see… the lust for it, the yearning, the craving, the scheming, the wheeling, the dealing… for paper with numbers on them.

To what end. I would say that one would sell his brother into slavery for money here, but then, you already knew that.

Travelling to Brussels, Germany, London and throughout Ghana to help in the process of documenting key events and personalities for a very important project that we are just about to wrap up… was a very daring and intrepid explorer… Le Darque himself. It has been a whirlwind adventure and “Jon Pili” as he is now affectionately called, of dogmeat.com and darkies incorporated [names we gave ourselves along the way while interacting with "racialists" as Ali-G says], is our personal hero for the month of “Ma-july.”

[ I will not burst his secret by showing to the world photographs of Jon Pili in a suit ]

“I have been invited on the private planes of Presidents, driven in three presidential convoys with four different European and African presidents and witnessed a community that housed fifty African Presidents in one place… and I met the Big Dads himself on five occasions… Kufurida. [ our emphatic term for new personal hero -- John Kufuor -- President of African Union | President of Ghana]. Nobody would believe the stories I could tell. - Jon Pili

To Jon Pili I say, we owe you a profound debt of gratitude. May le darque shine through all obscurity.

May there be no gutter too dirty nor president too lofty, no subject too difficult and no ass- [too] “-holey”; no prison too dark; nor security barrier too difficult to cross. May you always remember these life changing experiences and the importance of telling a balanced story.

Above all, always ask the most important questions of all… “Why you laugh-ted?” and “Why you did-ed that?” - Ajani [three year old self proclaimed leader of "all the people"]

Until next time

- Akindeleeeeee

p.s. Don’t worry, Ghanaians are just friendly… he is not really trying to grab your ass.

I just have to say, that in the middle of all of this woeful storytelling, some wonderful things have happenned.

Specifically, I had the opportunity to see Hugh Masekela perform, up close and personal a week ago. Not that personal… but really up close.

To capture the moment, in the crowded performance with an ocean of elbow-room-only photographers, I hade to climb up on the outside of a stairwell, wrap my foot in the cast iron railings, and dangle — supported only by my left calf and ankle, over the heads of an audience about ten feet below, as the night began to fall. It really was not as bad as it sounds; so I don’t see what everyone was all worked up about. You have to do what needs to be done to get what needs to be done… done.

I love sentences like that. They seem so poorly constructed… but are so carefully crafted that it is shameful.

Back to the point… Hugh Masekela is an amazing performer with tremendous presence… awe inspiring.

If you thought that was inappropriate… read on.

Today We visited Elmina Castle for the first time. It was a moving experience, for the simple reason that most slaves who left Africa for the Caribbean, left through the hallways I walked through today.

It was not the whirlwind wow… “this is what my ancestors had to endure”… type of day; though, it was a bit surreal.

March 2007 marks the 200 year anniversary of the signing of the “the pre-policy-paper policy paper” that marked the abolition of slavery. On paper.

Today, in addition to an otherwise even keel and unmoved manner, I was a bit overwhelmed by two things… Read more

My sister Daniella asked me to re-post the image of the “Pilachi Boys” that I removed from the blog almost as quickly as I uploaded it.

Here it is again: the boys of Pilachi, representing at the UNICEF sponsored Africa Live! Concert. The CEO is on my shoulders; as for me, I just work here.

Having just been awarded a significant development contract in Ghana, Pilachi will be working exclusively for an undisclosed (contract terms and legalese) international agency for the next few months. It was a landmark achievement from a recent competition; however until we have clearance, that is as much as we can say. Thereafter, a brief shift will take us back to Jamaica to begin working on the schematic design for a project that was awarded there in December. Then, back to Ghana to start the communication contract for another international agency.

There are a few smaller projects also to be thrown into the mix; but having hit the ground so hard, and started running so quickly, I would say that we should not have to take on any new projects until at least November. At which point the consultancy contract for the largest resort / real-estate development in Ghana’s history should begin — I would say that we will be busy enough to really get the hang of life here.

It may also be a good time to refocus the product line and deliver on the demand. Communication Design and Interactive Media have already made a significant dent in the competitive marketplace; once Pilachi has a firm enough foothold in that regard, the development arm and industrial design projects should be ready for launch.
Our collaborative partners are in place, we have the projects to test our mettle over the next 18 months… then we shall see how things shape up.

Later this week we move into our newly constructed offices… in the most coveted building in Accra… and all things considered, I would say…

This should be an interesting year.

Polonius, in advising his son Laertes, in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, uses the following to advise him to — as my sister Daniella often says with clarity — “take a chill pill and be still!” Read more