Thursday, September 20, 2012

African Inside

I have been trying to think of something to blog about, but being in England currently I do not get myself involved in many interesting story telling opportunities. Whilst here, I live with my parents in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees, fields and the occasional cow. The only notable event in the area is when 40,000 Ahmadiyya muslims congregate for a summer weekend in the farm next door for their annual Jalsa Salana.  (They don't cause too much trouble, just a little noise!) (It is also interesting because i get to stare at my own house on their TV coverage! Essentially stalking myself!)


However, last weekend, I was able to do something Ghanaian orientated. It was Ghana party in the park in south London. (It was supposed to be in North London, but they changed the venue less than a week before it was to take place) So, I drove my way up to Morden Hall Park to help a good friend, (the world(ish) famous PM) with his new venture. He had a stall for the new 'African Inside' t shirts! I was fairly fortunate that when I turned up, most of the setting up had been taken care of. The t shirts neatly arranged, the DJ Decks up and running and ice kenkey ready to be devoured. (well almost ready) My only task to begin with was to collect the ice, for the ice kenkey! A critical ingredient!

The event started pretty slowly, the mainstage was quiet, so thankfully PM fired up the decks and entertained the slowly increasing number of people. Before we knew it we had a fully functioning Azonto competition going on in front of us. (The winner of course got an African Inside t shirts.) Swiftly everyone inside the park was rammed around our stall watching the competition unfold. The mainstage had initially failed. All they could do was offer their own dance competition to entice the crowds.

It was in the on stage dance competition/battle that I saw one of the best azonto battle moves I have seen. It will be hard to explain this to create a picture but I will try. After one young man had finished his part of the battle his opponent started his attack. He danced over to the guy, in an Azonto fashion, and proceeded to pretend to cut the other guys penis off (in an Azonto fashion) dice it up in his palm (in an Azonto fashion) and feed it to his opponent(in....an Azonto fashion) What a fantastic move, I can hardly even twist my leg (in an Azonto Fashion!)

All, in all it was a successful day for the African Inside team! Ghana party in the park got a lot busier (people turned up very late of course!) and seemed to have a good time.

So this was pretty much my only taste of Ghana since I have been back. Apart from spending some time at the Rainbow Radio studios.

Buy African Inside t-shirts at www.theonlypm.com
There has been something I have been meaning to blog. But it does not take up enough space to be a whole blog. A while ago I wrote a blog entitled 'How to pick up a white woman in Ghana (The instruction Manual)'. This has been by far the most searched blog I have written. I am able to keep track of what people read and where people are reading from. I am also able to see some of the google searches that lead people to the blog.

'Mandingo' used to be one of the main searches that lead people to my blog. Obviously, 'Ghana' and 'Projects Abroad' searches have also given me some traffic. Rather disturbingly, there have been quite a few 'Crying prostitute' or 'have you made a prostitute cry' searches! Recently, there have been so many 'white women in ghana' searches of so many varieties. It seems like every day someone is searching 'where do I find white woman in ghana?' or 'how do i get a white woman in Ghana?' or 'rasta words white women tourists'!

I think I underestimated the amount of guys in Ghana trying to procure their own white woman! I wonder if they saw it as a tongue in cheek expose´ or an actual  guide book!