“I’M QUITTING MY JOB TO MOVE TO GHANA AND SET UP A MUSIC FESTIVAL...”
...during a recession, incidentally. Didn’t see myself explaining that one to my boss a year or so ago. Or to anyone, for that matter. But to my pleasant surprise, telling people has actually been a generally enjoyable experience. It’s always nice when the news you tell people about yourself is greeted with “That’s amazing!”, “What an adventure!” or even “How do I get involved!?”
But, being a cynic at heart, I much prefer the ones who question it. Personal favourites include ”Why the f**k would you want to go to GHANA!?”, ”Do you ACTUALLY know what you’re letting yourself in for!?”, or ”You’re mental”....they’re the ones that keep you on your toes.
One of the best reactions was always going to be from calling mum to give her the good news. Perhaps surprisingly, it was Kofi’s mum, as opposed to mine, who seemed the most unsettled by the idea. You might think that Kofi, a UK Ghanaian, having travelled to Ghana numerous times, spent relatively long periods in the country before and with family and friends there to fall back on, is surely in a good position to fill mum with confidence in the idea...but it didn’t go down too well. “Are you MAD!?”, “When are you going to get married and settle down!?”, and “How are you going to EAT!?” seemed to be the theme of what ensued.
(It’s best when Kofi tells it - in the Ghanaian accent, of course.)
The reaction I received from my mum was a little more subdued...a little confused, maybe, and worried about the potential risks involved. There were the obvious concerns but, on the whole, it at least seemed to go pretty well. Maybe it’s a cultural thing. I get the reserved, timid English show of concern any mother would give - but hey, we’re British – let’s not get too carried away. Kofi, on the other hand, receives the full blown emotion of a Ghanaian mum’s thoughts of letting her boy (of 29 years of age) go off to Africa without her, “to see how it goes”.
Either way, it’s all love. But it’s these cultural differences that intrigue me the most about this whole little escapade. I really don’t know what to expect or how I’m going to react to it – there’s only so much you can get from reading or hearing about it. One of my favourites is the concept of what’s apparently known as GMT, or “Ghana Maybe Time”. It refers to Ghana’s geographical positioning of being on the exact same time zone as the UK, yet somehow seemingly managing to live in a whole different world of time altogether. The amount of people who have looked me in the eye and told me with full sincerity that, what can take 5 minutes in the UK can take a week in Ghana, is a little concerning - particularly when trying to set up a MUSIC FESTIVAL. I’ve been advised to look forward to being told that EVERYTHING will take “20 minutes” (“how can it STILL be 20 minutes!??”), and that arranging a meeting for, say, 4pm, essentially means arranging a meeting for anytime after 4:30pm. Should provide me with ample blog-writing time...
Part of the reason Kofi’s mum was a little unenthusiastic by her son’s decision to move to Ghana to embark on this project, was because of the reasons she left the country herself to come to the UK over 30 years ago. In her eyes, the UK is the land of opportunity. People move away from Ghana to seek success, to move onto big things. In reality, times have changed. Ghana’s economy is one which is now beginning to fulfil the kind of potential which, for a number of reasons, it has failed to do over the years. The country’s economic growth, one of the few success stories throughout the global recession, is one which has attracted a number of Ghanaian descendents from around the world to relocate to Ghana, just like Kofi, to take the experience and qualifications they’ve picked up in the countries to which their parents or grandparents moved, to find success themselves years ago, and use them to help further push Ghana forward as an emerging nation.
How I got roped into all of this....well, it’s funny where an inebriated chat at a warehouse party in Stoke Newington can lead. But it’s looking promising. We’ve made some exciting links, undertaken some thorough research, received some really encouraging feedback, and are now ready to put our balls on the line and give it a go. I’ll tell you all about it over the next few weeks. But for me personally, I couldn’t be attempting to do anything more than I want to be doing with my life. As we sit here on our flight from the UK, a few hours from landing in Gambia to begin our trek through West Africa on the way to Ghana - Kofi next to me reading “Africa Rising”, an economic breakdown of how opportunity in Africa is as rife as that in many of the world’s leading emerging nations - I know his mind is already one step ahead of where this festival idea is going. For me, I’ve had visions in my head for the past few months of stepping off the plane, the heat and humidity of the African air hitting me with a full body blow, and the harsh realisation of what we’re attempting kicking in.....as I write this, that moment is fast approaching, by the minute. I’ll let you know how it goes...
Over the next few weeks our travels will take us on a research (yes, it IS research!) trip from Gambia to Senegal’s notoriously vibrant music scene in Dakar, a testing (to say the least) trip across the Sahara for a Malian Christmas, a few hours outside of Timbuktu to the “Festival in the Desert”, before finally heading down through Burkina Faso to Ghana, where the real work begins. So far, our flight has been rescheduled, we’ve had to depart from Manchester to fly 2 days later than planned (allowing for an impromptu road trip up north to begin the adventure), and we haven’t even got to Africa yet. So, on the whole, I’m feeling pretty good about it.
To all our friends and anyone else who might be interested, check back every week or two and we’ll keep you all updated on how it works out....(I wrote this on the plane but have only just had a chance to post it up, which could be indicative of how things will work out....so please be patient!)
Peace and Love to everyone....wish us luck!X
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