Thursday, June 9, 2016

Canopy Walk and Boat Rides

Sunday, on our way home from Cape Coast, we stopped at Kakum National Park to cross the legendary canopy walks.


It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. It was built 20 years ago and is just an extended metal ladder with planks of wood on top. 

Tuesday, we visited the Daily Graphic, Ghana's main newspaper. They emphasized the popularity of radio and their movement into the online platform, as well as their state obligation. The editor explained that they do the best they can, but the government is essentially their boss, and so a certain censorship comes along with that.

Yesterday, I met with one of the founding members of the Occupy Ghana movement. It started a couple years ago by a group of middle class professionals, who's businesses were being disrupted by the ongoing and rolling blackouts in Ghana. They organized demonstrations by city hall, and recruited celebrities to attend. Their main objective is holding the government accountable and diluting corruption. They are currently in the middle of a lawsuit with the government for the "bus branding scandal." Ghana is in debt, poverty is widespread, and President Mahama painted all the city buses with his face, enlarged and in color, as well as past presidents in black and white for over 3 million dollars. Occupy Ghana has used social media and TV and radio to communicate their message, but it's has remained strictly a middle class movement. These are lawyers and doctors and engineers, and there is not much connection or engagement with the truly marginalized and poor communities.

Today, we took a day trip with our other professor Audrey Gadzekpo to Radio Ada, a community radio station by the people, for the people and about the people. They translate news into local languages, they have programming for children and they broadcast local, national and some international news. They also train other community radio professionals. 

After touring the radio station, we also went through the town of Ada, before stopping at a beautiful hotel for lunch. A DJ played the tunes, as we sipped cokes and ate cheeseburgers on the river side. We finished the day by taking a boat ride and visited various islands in the radius.

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