(CNN) -- Fashion Week in New York, London, Milan and Paris have ended in a flash of ruby-reds, turtlenecks and thigh-high boots. But what about Charleston, Nashville, Austin or Cleveland?
Granted, these aren't cities where editors, buyers and bloggers from around the world flock to discover next season's trends. But, regardless of what the Onion thinks of Iowa's style sense, regional fashion weeks matter to the communities that host them -- and they're starting to catch the attention of big-city fashion folk, too.
After all, "not all designers are born and bred in New York, Paris and Milan," said Fern Mallis, who's credited with creating New York Fashion Week as we currently know it. After her success there, she helped launch and guide fashion weeks in Sydney, Shanghai, Miami and Cleveland as senior vice president of IMG Fashion in the 2000s.
Each year seems to herald the launch of a fashion week in a smaller, regional U.S. city and, unlike their famous counterparts, runway shows aren't always the main event. Cleveland's schedule in May includes pop-up boutiques, wine and cheese parties and a screening of "Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel," a documentary about the influential fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar and editor-in-chief of Vogue. In April, Nashville Fashion Week will offer a day of industry panels and several nights of runway shows featuring a mix of hometown heroes and established brands such as Tracy Reese and Nonoo.
Yes, in some cities, the weeks are basically glorified business-boosting happy hours where flavored vodka drinks and rose flow liberally from local boutiques. There's a bit of navel-gazing, to be sure.
But, as Mallis put it, what's the harm in trying?
"Regional fashion weeks are aspirational. I find something very refreshing and honest about them," Mallis said. "If the sidebar is that restaurants and hotels get a lot of business, even better.
"The fashion industry is always looking for the next hot talent and you never know where you'll find it. It's a funny industry, where you need to be seen, and the best way for designers' work to be seen is on the runway, wherever it is."
Aspiring designer Afriyie Poku rarely left his Atlanta home as he prepared for Charleston Fashion Week.
"Project Runway" Season 11 contestant Amanda Valentine credits her participation in Nashville Fashion Week for the boost she needed to make the cut on the reality TV show.
She earns a living as a stylist in Music City's entertainment industry while still cultivating her brand from a studio in the basement of her Nashville home. But during fashion week, local organizers tend to provide models, hair and makeup services, saving designers like her thousands of dollars.
Valentine auditioned for "Project Runway" in 2009 but didn't make the final cut. After participating in Nashville Fashion Week, she returned for auditions in 2012 with a portfolio of professional runway images and press clips lauding her work.
"The exposure and press helps because it gives you an outside opinion that you can point to," Valentine said. "Having the professional images and the ability to say 'I participated in a show' also adds to your credibility."
Usually, runway shows distinguish the boozy shopping parties from events with the potential to propel young designers. A show in Nashville, Tennessee, or Austin, Texas, can give designers a chance to shine or stumble -- without the intensely critical media eye that looms over London or Paris. It just takes some time for a regional fashion week to grow from one to the other.
Charleston Fashion Week in South Carolina started out as a "chic party" in Marion Square and along King Street, where fashionistas hobnobbed over cocktails. In seven years, it has grown into an event that draws promising talent, industry heavyweights and thousands of attendees. Last year, the event's economic impact was $2.4 million, according to figures from the Charleston Area Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The emerging designer competition is the event's centerpiece. The nightly showdown began Tuesday, whittling down a roster of 20 aspiring designers to five finalists, who sent their collections down the runway Saturday night in a bid for the grand prize.
The winner takes home $5,000 in cash, $10,000 in online marketing and promotional services, a book of professional runway images of the winning collection, and a sewing machine. Prizes like that would certainly help semifinalist Afriyie Poku, who makes a living doing custom alterations on a secondhand sewing machine in his Atlanta apartment. He's also on call for tailoring jobs at a hotel he quit last month to free up time to work on his menswear collection.
The tall-haired, Ghana-born Atlantan transformed the living room of his Midtown apartment into a workshop after being selected in December to participate in the contest.
Poku learned everything he knows by altering his clothes to his liking.
His design idol is Ralph Lauren, so naturally his collection is based on traditional menswear silhouettes with what he calls an "attention to detail that brings it into the modern era." Poku takes pride in his fashion-forward embellishments, such as high-waisted riding pants with reverse pleats, a side zipper or leather inseam patches, and a double-breasted morning coat lined to be warm enough on its own.
The self-taught tailor says he has a character or archetype in mind for each piece -- the hunter, the gentleman -- but he acknowledges that he's designing for himself. That's how he learned to sew, by altering clothes to his liking, in a fitted, tailored style inspired by his uncles, businessmen in Ghana, even if his first creation was a pair of pants made from a bedsheet.
"My view was, 'Everything you wear has to fit well,'" Poku said. "But when I went to Macy's, things were not made to fit as I wanted, so I'd buy clothes and made them to fit like I wanted them to fit."
In the month before the competition, he stayed awake for days at a time to finish the collection. In the home he shares with his girlfriend, an aspiring opera singer, he pieced together 12 fall menswear runway looks -- eight for the semifinal and four more in case he advanced to Saturday night's final.
Poku said he doesn't want to start his own label or become a "Project Runway"-style celeb just yet. For now, his goal is to find an apprenticeship with an established menswear designer or contract sewer.
"I just want to give it a try and see what happens," he said in an interview last week in a home studio littered with spools of thread and bags of fabric. "Even if I don't win, I feel like just being there will help me find what I need to advance to the next level."
In Charleston, he knew he'd have the eyes of an appreciative local community, as well as some established designers from the upper echelons of high fashion.
Christian Siriano already has a foothold in the industry. Celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna and Heidi Klum wear his gowns on the red carpet. He has a flagship store in New York and an eponymous line sold in Neiman Marcus and boutiques around the world. Still, he had a full schedule this week in Charleston.
"We look at it as a business opportunity to find new customers and form new relationships with retailers," said Siriano, the youngest designer to win "Project Runway" or land on Crain's 40 Under 40 list. "Who wants to alienate a customer who's ready to shop?"
Siriano already showed his ballet-inspired Fall 2013 collection in New York and Paris, but he brought it to Charleston for a show Saturday. On Friday he participated in a trunk show hosted by a family-owned department store, Gwynn's of Mount Pleasant, where he would like to see his clothes sold, he said. He also judged the emerging designer competition, along with Mallis and other industry insiders and entertainers: singer-songwriter Ashanti, designers Brandon Sun and Antonio Azzuolo and Hannah Goff, winner of the 2012 Charleston emerging designer competition.
Cynthia Rowley judged the emerging designer competition in 2009, when swimwear designer Marysia Reeves won. Since then, Reeves' swimwear has been featured in publications including Vogue and WWD, and her collections have been picked up by Barneys New York, Anthropologie and other high-end boutiques around the world.
"Charleston has a sophisticated, fashion-savvy audience, so it's just a matter of making my products more accessible to them," said Rowley, who was in the city this week to visit her King Street store and promote her latest collection for Belk department stores. "It's also a great way for me to learn more about what's happening in fashion in that part of the country."
The emerging designer competition final drew hundreds of people Saturday. The competition was tight, but ultimately the panel chose Poku as the winner, with Mallis describing his collection as "something special." He also won the audience favorite award, another $250 prize.
Dozens of fans swarmed around him, making it hard for his sisters and girlfriend to reach him. As far as he was concerned, the win vindicated his efforts.
"It's shown me I am meant for this," he said of his win. "This is my way in life. Any impact I'll be able to make on the human race will be in this field."
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: I’ve been afraid to publically confess this …but I’m slowly
going off sooo called ‘Black’ churches ---and I’m now visiting a local COE –with
a small congregation in northwest London…
I miss African gospel music and the colours of said
churches and often visit my own church in Wood Green at times… but I don’t like
entering a church and being made to sit right at the front- when I’m with my
son and he might want to truly relax at the back and also enjoy the sermon before
going to Sunday school.
Also unlike COE churches where you can sit anywhere you
like, I don’t like being ushered and packed like sardines in an overcrowded
church –where an individual walks around counting the amount of people in
attendance ---and many walk about with walkie-talkies… When did churches become
businesses????
Paying tithes is also not a problem to me especially as I
believe in the wonderful concept of store rooms/houses –see Malachi 3:10 ESV
“Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may
be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if
I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing
until there is no more need.”
The only thing is ----many of these churches don’t
understand what a storehouse is ---thus don’t use it to feed their poor!!! May
God have mercy on all of us….
I also don’t mind giving an offering (I am very aware of
the cost of lighting, water, cleaners in churches etc) but can’t quiet work out
why –when I have given an offering, and say ---there is a visiting pastor
---why I have to offer again and again….and again…
The following Text is written by pastor Conrad Mbewe of Kabwata
Baptist Church (http://www.conradmbewe.com/) in Lusaka, Zambia and makes for very insightful
reading..I pray that this message was
and is received in the spirit and manner that it was intended ---as the truth
to set us all free!!!
Note, he might be talking about [some] Nigerian priests/prophets/whatevers
---but I don’t think Ghanaian soooo called MEN OF GOD should read this and
think it doesn’t concern them –because it does.
Whilst there are some true servants of our Lord and
Saviour Christ Jesus in Ghana, –there are also many demon possessed individuals
masquerading as prophets –stealing from their poor congregation and heading
towards HELL…
*******
Title: Nigerian Religious Junk!
Sunday, February 20, 2011
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but
inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits... So,
every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit…Thus
you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20).
I begin this blog by
apologising to all my Nigerian brothers and sisters for its title. At first
sight it is rather offensive, but I hope that as you read on you will see why I
elected to still use it as a title. As nations or tribes or social groupings we
take on a certain characteristic that is not true about each person in the group
but which we come to be identified with. Hence, Paul could write, “One of the
Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,
lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they
may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:12-13). In the same way, we tend to (rightly
or wrongly) identify Americans with arrogance, Kenyans with marathon running
prowess, West Africans with fraudulent activities, Afrikaners with racism,
etc.
I have just returned from a
consultative meeting in South Africa where the first day was spent surveying the
spiritual state of the countries in the southern African sub-region. Central to
all this was the state of evangelicalism in all these countries. Nation after
nation reported on the arrival of “Nigerian religious junk” that was changing
the landscape of what there once was of evangelicalism. One or two of the
countries were blessed exceptions. Evidently, this junk originated from
mega-churches in the USA and then found ready soil in West Africa, and
especially in Nigeria. Having given it an African flavour, it is now being
exported across Africa at a phenomenal rate.
I feel very sad to write about
this, but by “Nigerian religious junk” I mean the phenomenon of churches that
are personal-to-holder. They exalt the personality of their founding father, who
is still alive somewhere in Nigeria (or elsewhere) and is treated with the aura
of a state president or paramount chief. It does not matter which country you go
to, the bill boards of these churches do not have the faces of the local pastors
of the congregations in those towns but of the founding father in Nigeria—or
wherever he has since relocated. It is all about image and power. This “man of
God” claims to hear the voice of God and proceeds to minister to you
accordingly. If you do not obey him you are resisting the ministry of God into
your life. So, the churches are often called “ministries” rather than churches.
And to make them even more impressive, the term “international” is often added
to their name.
The Africanisation of
this religious junk is primarily in the way it has been made to appeal to
African spirituality. The pastor is the modern witchdoctor calling all and
sundry to come to him for “deliverance”. Just as the witchdoctor appealed to us
by inviting us to see him for spiritual protection or when we were struggling
with bad luck, childlessness, joblessness, illness, failure to attract a suitor
for marriage or to rise in a job or get a contract, etc., these pastors do
precisely the same thing. So-called prophetic utterances are made which explain
why all this is happening, holy water or oil is prayed over and dispensed, and
some money is extracted from the persons seeking help. Thus their churches
attract thousands of people who are there for purely selfish reasons. The
motivating factor is not reconciliation with God through Christ but rather
“deliverance” from perceived evil and to be blessed through the supernatural
powers that “the man of God” possesses. Let’s face it: this is our African
traditional religions coming into the church through the back door.
The self-centredness of all
this is seen in the worship. Churches are being turned into entertainment
centres instead of edification centres. People come to church to be entertained,
healed and blessed. The fact that professionals, who engage their brains when
working with their hands five to six days a week, stop thinking and just dance
and laugh in worship is extremely sad, in the light of the demand of God that we
are to love him with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength. It has
been the failure of Christians to think through the implications of their
Christian faith on the whole of life that has left Africa filled with Christian
churches and lack of development at the same time. Surely, if these
professionals were thinking they would have added up one-plus-one by now and
seen why their pastors have become stinking rich. It is not their faith but the
money of their congregants, whom they cheat with promises, that makes them buy
expensive cars and clothes and put up mansions. If one thousand individuals are
“sowing the seed” every week to be blessed by the man of God, of course the man
of God will get very rich while they will get poorer. That is simple common
sense.
The result of this
phenomenon of personal-to-holder churches has been the selective nature of
church discipline. You do not discipline a Sangoma (i.e. witchdoctor)—or
a chief! It is a known fact, even among the church members, that a number of
these pastors have serious moral problems. However, “you do not touch the Lord’s
anointed” and so they are not disciplined, even when they have impregnated girls
in the church. One such anointed one in Zambia changed wives three times through
divorce in less than six months and still remains the apostle of his church. To
be fair, this man is a Zambian, but he has imbibed this personal-to-holder
phenomenon from Nigeria. There must be accountability from everyone in the
church—including the church pastor.
Yet another characteristic of
this phenomenon which is particularly African is the craze for titles. We
Africans love titles! Once upon a time, evangelical pastors were content to
simply be called pastors. Terms like “bishop” were left to those who had an
Episcopalian system of church government, which was a formal structure that rose
to national and global level. Alas, that has now changed! With the advent of
this Nigerian religious junk, it is titles galore! You now have bishops,
arch-bishops, prophets, apostles, chief apostles, etc. Some are not even content
with that and so have combinations like, “chief apostle prophet doctor
so-and-so.” This is certainly very different from the teaching and personal
lifestyle of the Lord Jesus Christ whom they claim to serve.
Many of these churches have
since been discovered to be nothing more than fund-raising outfits, with sole
proprietorship maintained by the pastor and his wife. The pattern seems to be:
start a church and then milk the congregation. The pastors basically prey on the
vulnerable and gullible. They are crooks and conmen. In a number of the southern
African countries represented at the consultation, governments have sent these
pastors packing upon finding undeniable proof that large stashes of money were
being milked out of their citizens and being shipped to West Africa. This has
made these governments very suspicious of anyone coming from any other African
country as a missionary into their country. They now think that all African
missionaries are just mercenaries.
Yet, the saddest part of all
this has been the loss of the gospel. Once upon a time, you could go to any
church that purported to be evangelical and once you survived what was called
worship, you would hear a sermon that finally pointed you to Christ and him
crucified for pardon from sin. That is now largely an exception, and is as rare
as my great grandfather’s teeth. What you hear now are calls for “deliverance”,
and you experience this by coming forward to be prayed for. Inevitably, once you
lose the gospel, you lose true spirituality and morality. Christianity becomes a
thin veneer of respectability but inside there is total corruption and decay.
The church becomes a wardrobe full of skeletons. Or, to borrow a more biblical
expression, the church is filled with white-washed tombs.
This explains why, although
Nigeria is packed with such mega-churches (and is now exporting them across the
continent), it is still the most corrupt nation on the continent. If church
leaders are milking the people like this, what hope is there to correct things
among the politicians and the civil servants? It is impossible! You cannot grow
true spirituality where the cross of Christ and the Christ of the cross is
absent. We must insist that the Spirit of God is the Holy Spirit. Where
holiness is conspicuous by its absence, we should never attribute what is
happening there to God’s Spirit because he is a spirit of holiness. Crowds and
people falling backwards upon being touched prove nothing if holiness of life is
missing. Jesus said, “You will recognise them by their fruits.”
In this
blog I have avoided naming names. This is because the consultation I have just
come from did not name names. However, all I can say is, “If the hat fits you,
put it on!” Anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear knows what I am talking
about. Let me end by once again apologising to any genuine and sincere Nigerian
pastors who distance themselves from all this junk. Just as I know a number of
sweet American folks who are very humble, Kenyans who cannot run halfway around
a football ground, and Afrikaners who are colour blind, I am sure there must be
many West African pastors—and Nigerians for that matter—who will have nothing to
do with this spiritual corruption. I only wish they were more vocal in
condemning this religious junk being exported from their country!
****Paulina says: Please visit the above link and read the comments…. They are
truly heartfelt ---as we all want the truth in all nations….
More info:
Conrad Mbewe
[Updated October 2011] I worked as a Mining Engineer in
Zambia before answering God's call into the pastoral ministry. I have been the
pastor of Kabwata Baptist Church (KBC) in Lusaka, Zambia, Africa, since 1987.
KBC is presently overseeing the establishment of about twenty new Reformed
Baptist churches in Zambia and its neighbouring countries. I also maintain a
full itinerant preaching ministry in different countries around the world. I
love writing. Hence, I am the editor of Reformation Zambia magazine and
presently write a column in one weekly national newspaper. I have written many
booklets in my own country and have two books on the international
market—Maintaining Sexual Purity (RSA, 2009), and Foundations for the Flock
(USA, 2011). I have also contributed to a number of books, including Dear
Timothy—Letters on Pastoral Ministry (USA, 2004). I was until recently the
principal of the Reformed Baptist Preachers College in Zambia. I volunteer with
the YMCA, providing vocational training to the many unemployed youths in our
community. I am married to Felistas, and we have been wonderfully blessed with
three children plus two foster daughters.
2 Corinthians 9:7 English Standard Version (ESV)
“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not
reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Ghana Rising fave, Ghanaian-Swedish rapper Mawuli Kulego aka Lazee, who has been heating up the airways since his, "breakthrough hit single “Rock Away“ in 2008" and been "supporting act for notable American artists such as Lady Gaga, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Wyclef Jean, Rick Ross and Musiq Soulchild" et al, -just posted the above photo
of him and Trina at a video shoot and I just had to share… All sorts of sexy…
You can keep with Lazee via:
P.s Such a coincidence that I’m talking about Trina
today, because I was talking to my
cousin Lala (not her real name but she’s been calling herself that forever) and
she looks just like Trina, thus I’ve always been convinced that Trina (and
family) originated from Ghana….
Paulina Opoku Gyimah says: If all goes to plan, rapper Sarkodie is set to represent Ghana in this year’s Big Brother Africa –alongside the like of, “ former Big Brother UK entrant Makosi together with Uganda’s Desire Luzinda and Jackie (Obessions), South Africa’s controversial socialite Kanyi Mbau, Nigeria’s Iyanya and Dammy Krane, Kenya’s Shaffie Weru and Oj Oballa and Kenyan model Vera Sidika.”
“Americans are just scared of the world. I mean, really
scared. Maybe even petrified. In this post-9/11 world, Americans have been
taught that the world is a big, frightening place. There are terrorists outside
every hotel waiting to kidnap you. People don’t like you because you are
American. The world is violent. It’s poor. It’s dirty. It’s savage. Canada and
Europe are O.K., but, if you go there, they will still be rude to you because
you are American. No one likes us.” http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-americans-dont-travel-overseas/
“In 2011, the official poverty rate was 15.0 percent.
There were 46.2 million people in poverty.” United States Census Bureau
“The poverty rate in 2011 for children under age 18 was
21.9 per-cent. The poverty rate for people aged 18 to 64 was 13.7 percent,
while the rate for people aged 65 and older was 8.7 percent.” United States
Census Bureau
“In 2011, 50.1 million Americans lived in food insecure
households, 33.5 million adults and 16.7 million children.” Feeding America
“In 2011, 57.2 percent of food-insecure households
participated in at least one of the three major Federal food assistance
programs –Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (formerly Food Stamp
Program), The National School Lunch Program, and the Special Supplemental
Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children.” Feeding America
“While an international law recognizes the human right to
water, unfortunately there is no binding enforcement and in the US there are no
laws guaranteeing that you'll have clean water or that you'll be protected from
water shut-offs if you can't afford it. One of the areas that has been hardest
hit is Detroit, a city that is majority African American. The unemployment rate
is 1 in 6 and in some neighborhoods as high as 50 percent. As a result, water
use went down too -- Detroit's water utility supplied 20 percent less water in
2009 than it did in 2003…………
In 2006, the number of people who had their water shut
off reached 45,000. Unpaid water bills were added to property taxes, meaning
that people who couldn't pay risked losing not just access to clean water and
sanitation, but their homes as well.
Elsewhere in the US there are similar issues. An
estimated 13 percent of Native Americans lack access to safe water and/or
wastewater disposal, compared to less than 1 percent of non-native American
households.
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: I was minding my own business
when the following text flagged up on my Facebook page and I was perplexed
---and as you can tell, --disappointed!!!
It’s not that I think Ghana is perfect (hell no) or that
there’s no truth in what was written,-only that as an emerging economy, said
text was sooo grossly exaggerated in the most negative, misleading way, thus, I don’t know if photographer (???) Karen
Curley has ever travelled outside of America before her trip to Ghana, ---apparently
only 15% of Americans own passports (http://www.nomadicmatt.com/travel-blogs/why-americans-dont-travel-overseas/)
!!!
Also, l can’t quite work out ----especially as she is
calling herself a photographer (???) ……–if she has visit other African countries
before, as most photographers tend to be
very open, worldly and well-travelled… Only, and I’m only guessing here,…. by
the tone of the following text, ---one submitted to much-read Huffington Post
under one of the most contentious titles I’ve ever read –which makes for very
sober reading, --- Karen Curley’s views are very narrow!!!
I wonder, what did Karen Curley think Ghana was going to
be like, Hollywood??? Because if that is the case, Karen Curley might be
shocked to discover that very few neighbourhoods in her very own ‘America’ resemble
Hollywood!!!!
The thing is….. I’m trying desperately to put myself in her
shoes –and can only come up with …my first ever trip to New York, ---when I
went to stay with some family members in Mosholu Parkway, Bronx ---and dared to
venture into South Bronx on my own with my camera!!! Needless to say, I was beyond
shocked by what greeted me.
I guess I too would have, if I was that way inclined, written
a piece for the Huffington Post ---telling folk not to venture into South Bronx,
well, certainly not on your own; because like Karen Curley, the men wouldn’t
leave me alone and many stunk something awful!!!!
But I’m a very deep and Spiritual and well-travelled person,
–and believe that every ‘picture’ tells a story’ thus, I had to dig deeper,
because …..why on earth should South Bronx differ soooo much from say—the Upper
East-side of Manhattan!!!
I learnt a lot, mainly that ‘Crack’ cocaine had
devastated this once good neighbourhood, thus many parts were now ‘no-go-areas’
for the likes of me!!!
I don’t know if Karen Curley has ever visited certain
corners of South Bronx (I know that things have changed some since my last
visit) or even as some of my stateside cousins are saying, --ever visited some
corners of Detroit… Because I think Karen Curley needs to know that there many
problems resulting from poverty in her very own America –and that like most
educated, caring, well-travelled individuals –I take no pleasure in the sad
fact that there are at least the “100 million “poor” or “near poor” Americans
in 2013!!!!
The following text was written 2011, thus, I’m hoping Karen
Curley has grown up, maybe taken a much-needed good old fashion trip around her
very own country America – and might want to revisit Ghana –right now in 2013 as
a more educated worldly traveller… Then we can ……right now in 2013 –talk: poverty,
dirtiness, overzealous men, sanitation systems, Kantamanto, burning trash and
faeces et al in Ghana!!!!
******
Title: Why Ghana Is Not A Tourist Friendly Place To Visit By: Karen Curley / Dated: 09/14/11
I think travel makes you a well-rounded person and can help us appreciate what we have in America. As an American, I'm used to having a certain comfort level. I like having a hot shower, food and, yes, even air conditioning. If you are traveling to Ghana don't expect any of these things. I went to Ghana on assignment for a newspaper and stayed in Accra, the capitol city. Even though it's a developing nation you would expect that the capital would have some amenities. It did and it didn't.
Only twenty percent of Ghanaians have flush toilets in their homes. People have no choice but to urinate right in the middle of the street -- a real eye opener. I was riding in a taxi with my roommate and all of a sudden we stopped and our driver got out. I thought for sure we were going to be kidnapped and sold off to the highest bidder. (I have seen way too many horror movies.) I looked out the back window and our driver was peeing on the side of the road like it was nothing. He got back in the car and off we went. I will never get that picture out of my head. There is no sanitation system there. Sometimes the smell knocked me back ten feet.
The poverty over there is heartbreaking. One day I was walking around the city and happened upon an abandoned railroad station called Kantamanto. Over four thousand homeless people were living there. All around, people were wandering around half-dressed begging for food or money. There was burning trash and feces everywhere. It was one of the saddest things I've ever seen. The people over there do not know how to react to white people. When I was walking around the market I was constantly poked and prodded like a lab rat. I think some wanted to touch me because they had never seen a white person. Just trying to look in one of the outdoor markets proved an impossible task. I couldn't even walk a foot without getting my clothes pulled on, my butt poked at, or my back hit. And forget about taking pictures. No one likes having their pictures taken. If the police catch you taking pictures, which they call snapping. Even if it's just a building, they pull you to the side and tell you to stop. I was told that sometimes they even take you in to their police station for interrogation.
If you want to go to the beach forget it. The beaches there are disgusting. The water is filled with trash and it's not even clean enough to go swimming. I witnessed a waterfall of trash going right into the ocean and no one seemed to care. You can't even take a nice walk on the beach because everyone is poking you or trying to be your so called "friend."
To be honest, I did go over there to work. I had a lot of great work experiences and some of the things I saw really changed my world perspective. I'm glad I went over there. But I would definitely not go over there on vacation.
Credit: Karen Curley / Huffington Post
"I have been to Ghana on four different occasions and as you say there is poverty. That said I have also visited neighborhoods there that in their splendor equal, and in some cases, exceed some neighborhoods here. As you say there is poverty and lack of sanitation but there is also wealth and progress. Finally if one is in the habit of using western standards for comparison there will be disappointment. On the other hand there are basic standards and decent sanitation is one of them. So you do have a point. The blame in such cases lies with the populace and those that govern it. The solution? I wish I knew." linmarco
Paulina
Opoku-Gyimah says: It has never been sooo fashionable to be a fashionable man –if
you know what I mean!!!Peacocks
about town, dapper ‘It’ boys and colo school teachers and soooo forth have another must have fashion garb to rave about --- the Abrantie trouser or pants as they call them across the pond...
Bodacious, bright and sexy, the Abrantie pants are loved by Ghana's most fashionable men (and beyound)-and makes forfabulous
gifts (a good gift idea for your man’s upcoming birthday)
The Abrantie Movement is celebrating the Ghanaian man –the most
stylish of all men, ---what’s not to love??
More Info: About: A
social Lifestyle and unique fashion brand empowering the African man to be well
cultured and classic."Abrantie" is a local word literally meaning
"GENTLEMAN".
Description
A
social Lifestyle and unique fashion brand empowering the African man to be well
cultured and classic."Abrantie" is a local word literally meaning
"GENTLEMAN".
CALL
TO ORDERS :Weekdays : Mon- fri 9am - 12midnight-
"Celebrating the events of life in style. +233 206300755,
+233 263179624 ....Stylish and unique wedding supplies - wedding invitation
cards, wedding favors/souvenirs, guest books, table accessories, decorating
supplies, gifts etc. For all enquiries, please call +233 206300755, +233
263179624"Enaq's Touch
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: With all those shopping malls due for completion within the next couple of years, things are about to drastically
change, but right now in Ghana, --there are no big luxury department stores
with luxury wedding list services –thus, for elegant ‘original’ wedding gifts (weddings
are second only to funerals –as must-go-to-events on Saturdays in Ghana) –you really
have to shop around; unless you are flying in with your gift (s)…. But who wants to pay all that excess?
Thankfully, Enaq's
Touch has a choice of really cute and quirky, funky on-trend gifts for your
best friend’s up-coming nuptials including: Eiffel Tower and shoe bottle opener, trendy manicure
sets, Bride and Groom salt and pepper shaker –to name a few. They also offer a wedding
stationeries service and a host of fashionable favours including: soap favors, candle
favors and favor packaging
Note, they are also stockists for much loved wedding
magazine, ‘Dream Wedding’ –which can be bought at their store in community 8
Tema…
“X Grill Catering and Party Services We offer grill
services for Parties Engagement Wedding Reception Corporate Events Funerals
*jerk chicken *jerk lamb *jerk pork *Chicken Kebab *Shish Kebabs *Beef Kebab
*spit roast *Lamb Spit Roast *gigot Grils X Grill menu item, made with premium
ingredients freshly prepared in the X-Grill kitchen Email: xgrill45@gmail..com
call +233243132337 X Grill professional hospitality team.”X Grill Catering and Party Services
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: I don’t know Nii Nortei
personally, only that like Ghana Rising Blog, he’s all about promoting Ghana, –see
his tourist website at: http://www.viewghana.com/---and is also famed for his barbecues…
His much feted X Grill Catering and Party Services, “offers
grill services for parties’, engagement, wedding receptions, corporate events and
funerals et al….
I like Nii Nortei’s promotional verve and collaborations
with Ghana Rising faves, high-end services including: Ohemaa LXI, --Ghana’s premier private yacht and
Busua Beach Resort, and “Ghana Tourism Authority, the Traditional council and other
big brands in Ghana to have events at the location of festivals.”
I love professional barbecues and think that they are ----with
regards to weddings, ideal for really laidback, trendy and elegant (laidback
can still be elegant) beach weddings… For
more info about X Grill Barbecue Gh visit: https://www.facebook.com/XGrillBarbecueGh
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: When fashion and real charity collide it’s a beautiful thing
-no? By buying one of Serengetee’s Accra white t-shirts with Kente pocket
details –you are also helping the good people at City of Refuge Outreach Ministries
not only to “rescue [Ghanaian] children out of child slavery but also to
prevent children from being sold. We are doing this by empowering single
mothers who are vulnerable to selling their children.”
Serengetee offer a range of “pocket tees and tanks made
with fabrics from around the World.” And was started and run by College
Students to, “to connect people to the globe through fabric while giving back
to the communities that inspire and create our designs. When you wear Serengetee,
you 'Wear the World'.”
With “every fabric is connected to a charity within the
region where it was purchased at 13% goes directly back to the corresponding
charity” –its finally paying to fashionable. For more info or to order your Accra
t-shirt by Serengetee visit: http://www.serengetee.com/accra/
Paulina Opoku-Gyimah says: I love Bolga baskets –don’t you? I was looking for ways
to display Easter eggs when I stumbled across that now iconic photograph of ‘First
Lady’ Michelle Obama with said basket –and thought why not!!!
For those wanting the same, Basket Basket UK have a
fabulous collection of lovely baskets from Ghana, Madagascar and Morocco –and all
make for lovely displays…
The above photos come courtesy of Basket Basket UK and
are from some of their satisfied customers –showing us how they use their Bolga
basket….
I love all the above display ideas ---especially the eggs
and cat (tooo cute) and must confess that my [uber worn-out] Bolga is full of what
can only be described as odds ’n’ ends (laughter)… So …how do you use yours???
I begin this blog by
apologising to all my Nigerian brothers and sisters for its title. At first
sight it is rather offensive, but I hope that as you read on you will see why I
elected to still use it as a title. As nations or tribes or social groupings we
take on a certain characteristic that is not true about each person in the group
but which we come to be identified with. Hence, Paul could write, “One of the
Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, ‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts,
lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they
may be sound in the faith” (Titus 1:12-13). In the same way, we tend to (rightly
or wrongly) identify Americans with arrogance, Kenyans with marathon running
prowess, West Africans with fraudulent activities, Afrikaners with racism,
etc.
