Christmas is a joyous occasion. When the phone rings you anticipate far-flung family and friends calling to wish you a Merry Christmas. You do not expect to be told that a relative has met death. Unfortunately, that was Christmas 2019 for us. I had travelled to my sister’s place where our mother has been staying […]
Boys Will Be Boys & Girls Just Have To Deal With It
Growing up in the 1980s in communist East Berlin our filmography came from decades past. Joy came from actors such as Terence Hill & Bud Spencer and Louis de Funès who my sisters and I affectionately called Big Nose. Inger Nilsson’s Pippi Langstrumpf showed us spunk, strength, and common sense. But then there was the […]
A Chance Encounter with Professor Ablade Glover
Professor Ablade Glover is probably one of Ghana’s national treasures. A painter and educator, he trained in Ghana, Britain, and the United States. Born in 1934, this octogenarian’s art can be found in galleries worldwide. He is a recipient of the FLAGSTAR Award (the top award for Arts in Ghana), is a Life Fellow […]
Tasting Notes – Niche Chocolate
One of the delights from my recent trip to Ghana was the discovery of a new chocolate brand, Niche Chocolate. I probably would have ignored it at the store were it not for the ginger on the wrapping calling my name. Why not, right? So I bought a single bar of the ginger flavour and […]
Rubber Plantations in Ghana Replacing Food Crops
The last time I visited my father’s farm in Nzema I was twelve or thirteen years old. I don’t remember any mention of rubber plantations. Back then my parents would go to Nzema for the weekend leaving us in Accra and would return with the pickup bed loaded with palmnut, plantain, cassava, yam, snails, and […]
Nzulezo – The Ghanaian Village On Stilts
Nzulezo or Nzulezu literally translates to “on the water” in Nzema. This potential UNESCO World Heritage site is famously known as “the village on stilts”. My maternal great-great grandfather Kpole is from this village. In fact, when my parents took my sisters there last autumn, they met a relative. Now I’m in Ghana and it’s […]
A Whirlwind Visit to Ghana Ten Years Later
Oh my! Where did time go? I remember leaving Ghana in 2008, thinking that the next time I came it would be with my husband. I was tired of the constant references to my being in my late twenties and unmarried. I did not want to give anyone reason to try to set me up. […]
School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Christmas weekend saw me in Greenwich Village for “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play”, an off-Broadway show. It was well worth the bus trip from Washington D.C. We are transported to 1986 to Aburi Girls Boarding School in Ghana where we meet six senior class-girls competing for the crown of Miss Ghana 1986. […]
Women’s March on Washington 2017
So I just got home from the Women’s March on Washington D.C. Wow! Let me just start by saying that the atmosphere in D.C. today was energetic, boisterous, busy, and squished, as compared to yesterday (Trump’s inauguration). I’m so proud of women around the world, the thousands who gathered as far away as Antarctica, and […]
How to Make Ghanaian Doughnut (Bofrot)
I’m soon to head to New Orleans for a conference but I could not wait to dig into beignets. So here I am making bofrot. I served them at a recent dinner party where my East African friends had the nerve to call them mandazi in my own house. Nigerians call them puff-puff and I […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.