Charlie Peprah at Lambeau Field (flickr image: Mike Steele)

So, what West African nation are we looking for?

Peprah’s family roots are in Ghana. His dad flew in from Ghana to attend the Super Bowl yesterday. Happily for both father and son, the Packers won. By the way, Charlie Peprah isn’t the first “Texas-born NFL player with Ghanean roots” to win the Super Bowl. He was preceded by Indianapolis Colts’ running back, Josep Addai.

from 'The Canoe's Story' by Meshack Asare

That wasn’t so for Meshack Asare. He grew up in Ghana in the 1950s and ’60s.

“When I was growing up, though I liked books, all the books that were in the house belonged to my father,” Asare says. “There weren’t any books for children.”

When Asare started school, he was excited to see textbooks, but they turned out to be pretty boring. Later on, when he was studying at a university in one of Ghana’s larger cities, he wondered whether any kids in Ghana had grown up with books written for them.

The only ones he found were imported, mostly from Europe. The children in the pictures didn’t look like him. The scenery certainly wasn’t familiar. There was snow and weird animals that didn’t recognize.

“This made it a priority somehow, that somebody had to make sure that there were books in which the African child would be able to recognize himself and herself in a familiar environment,” Asare says.

At age 23, Asare published his first children’s book, an illustrated easy reader, called simply: “I am Kofi.” Kofi is a popular boy’s name in Ghana and Asare says the book had to do with the basic notion of identity.

“That I am somebody like this, that I look like this,” Asare says. “This is my house. My house looks like this. This is how I live!”

Two years later, in 1970, he wrote and illustrated another picture book, “Taiwa Goes to Sea”. The main character is a 10-year-old boy who lives in a Ghanaian fishing village.

Taiwa is desperate to go fishing with the men. But they think he’s too young. Eventually, like many a children’s book character, Taiwa proves the adults wrong.

The book was a turning point for Asare. It won a UNESCO citation for “Best picture book from Africa” and was translated into Japanese and several European languages.

But critical acclaim, as all artists know, doesn’t put food on the table and Asare had a family to raise. For the next ten years, he was a teacher by day and worked on his drawing and writing on the side.

In the 1970s and ’80s Ghana’s economy crumbled around him. Even paper became a rare commodity. His next book, “The Brassman’s Secret”, was published on pink cardboard-like paper provided by a friend.

It tells the story of Kwajo, an Ashanti boy in Central Ghana, who helps his father make brass figures to measure gold dust. One day, Kwajo stares at a brass figure and it comes alive.

“‘Will you tell me your secret?” Kwajo asked in a whisper. “Will you?” The tiny lips seemed to part and move. Kwajo shook all over with excitement when he heard the gentle voice. “Yes, my young friend. I will show you my secret. Come with me. Close your eyes and come.’”

Meshack is both a writer and an illustrator. He describes his visual style as imperfect, which he believes African children can better relate to.

Another way his books are tailored to his African audience is their location and subject matter. He’s done a series of stories set all over Ghana. The idea is to show children, in say, the capital Accra, what it’s like to live in what he calls the hinterlands of the country.

Asare has also published stories set in other parts of Africa. Some are whimsical, others are quite serious.

In his first book for young adults, published in 1992, Asare tells the story of a girl whose parents are duped into letting their daughter become an indentured servant to a family friend.

He hopes that his various stories will give African children the chance to look at things with open eyes and open minds and the courage to challenge what is not good and what needs to be changed.

Asare has written 20 books and more are on the way. He doesn’t live in Ghana anymore but goes back regularly. Right now his home is a tiny village in Germany. And his next book is based on the songbirds he’s been observing out his window.
Download MP3

Selected Bibliography:
The Cross Drums (Children’s Literature, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2008)
Ighewi’s return ((Children’s Literature, Macmillan, 2004)
Kwajo and the Brassman’s Secret (Children’s Literature, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2002)
Noma’s Sand: A Tale from Lesotho (Children’s Literature, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 2002)
Meliga’s Day (Children’s Literature, Sub Saharan Publishers, 2000)
Nana’s Son (Children’s Literature, Sub Saharan Publishers, 2000)
Sosu’s Call (Children’s Literature, Sub-Saharan Publishers, 1997)
The Magic Goat (Children’s Literature, Sub Saharan Publishers, 1997)
Halima (Children’s Literature, Macmillan, 1992)
The Children of the Omumborombonga Tree (Bremen/Windhoek:Centre for African
Studies/Namibia Project, 1990)
Cat in search of a friend (Kane/Miller, 1986)
*The Canoe’s Story (Miracle Bookhouse Limited, Ghana, 1982)
Chipo and the bird on the hill: A tale of ancient Zimbabwe (Children’s Literature, Zimbabwe
Publishing house, 1984)
The Brassman’s secret (Children’s Literature, Education Press, 1981)
Tawia goes to Sea (Children’s Literature, Ghana Publishers, 1970)
Mansa helps at home (Children’s Literature, Ghana Publishers, 1969)
I am Kofi (Children’s Literature, Ghana Publishers, 1968)

*updated version of The Canoe’s Story to be published in 2010

Online sources for Meshack Asare’s books
Many of Meshack Asare’s books can be found online, a number of them on book sites devoted to used and rare book sites. Here a few links to help you locate them:

• Amazon.com
• Alibris
• African Books Collective page on Meshack Asare
• Ghana book review

Malkia Brantuo first visited Ghana in the 1970's. (Photo: Laura Lynch)

“I am the 1st grandchild of the woman who built the school in Cape Coast, Ghana. My grandmother name is Malkia Brantuo, unfortunatly Big Mama as Everyone called her has passed, 11-8-10. She would have invited you with open arms. The school will continue to operate, also she opened a school in the states as well. Thanks for the interest. If any information is needed please fee free to contact me through my email. Asante’ Peace”

-Ericka Pace

Brantuo was an actively involved in the US civil rights marches of the 1960′s and had been jailed a couple of times. She first visited Ghana in the 1970′s and after a few trips finally settled there in 1989. (Audio available after 5PM Eastern) (Photo: Laura Lynch)

Malkia Brantuo’s interview from last year

• The Sweet Talks on Soundway Recordings
• The Sweet Talks biography by Jon Lusk
• The World’s Global Hit podcasts and more

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: We leave you today back in the 1970s in Ghana, in West Africa, and with one band in particular, The Sweet Talks. But first a bit of background. In every country, in every culture’s pop music, there’s always a style and a scene that dominates for awhile. In the ‘50s in the US, it was rock and roll. In the ‘60s in France, it was yeye music, their version of go-go. In the ‘60s and ‘70s in Ghana it was highlife. In the early ‘70s in Ghana, the old brass traditional highlife music had morphed into mellow guitar band jams. Highlife groups like these guys, the City Boys Band, were hugely popular in Ghanaian nightclubs, and on record. At some point though, with every scene, a new band comes along that changes all the rules, and the shape of the whole style, forever. In Ghana, the musical casserole had been filling up with big chunky bits. Musicians were feeling the need to make a more authentically African sound. At the same time, influences were pouring in from the west, electric guitar and experimental rock were shaping the outcome of Ghanaian music. So was funk. So artists in Ghana were feeling the freedom to innovate. And the talented ones were finding each other. That’s essentially how the ground-breaking group The Sweet Talks got started. And, they had a nightclub owner outside Accra who was happy to give them a residency and let them grow. The Sweet Talks lasted until the end of the ‘70s. At that point, they had become the feeder band for other cutting edge Ghanaian ensembles, most notably the band Osibisa. But that’s another story. Today though, we give you the smoking sounds of The Sweet Talks, one of Ghana’s most successful and innovative groups. And we get to play them for you because one of their seminal recordings, The Kusum Beat, has recently become available on CD. Good thing The Kusum Beat has come out on CD. The original edition on vinyl could put you in triple digit dollars if you can find it in good condition on eBay. Plus, The Kusum Beat is just a super-groovy album. This track, “Kyekye pe Aware” taps into an Ashanti expression that talks of the marriage between the North Star and the Moon. Normally, that would fall into Ashanti folklore tradition in Ghana. But musically, The Sweet Talks interpret it cosmically, layering Ghana’s well-known polyrhythmic percussion under a stabbing organ. We leave you with The Sweet Talks today. Eric Goldberg composed The World’s theme music. From the Nan and Bill Harris studios, I’m Marco Werman. We’ll be back next week, and so will Lisa Mullins. Welcome back Lisa. And you listeners, have a great weekend.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

• Jhpiego

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN:  Preparing for childbirth in rural Ghana can be a frightening prospect.  Clinics are scarce and ill equipped and roads are often pot holed mud paths.  Mary Issaka should know, she’s a midwife in northeast Ghana, near the town of Bolatanga.  Issaka has received the midwife of the year award from the Johns Hopkins affiliated group Jpiego.  It cites the innovative ways in which Issaka helps women.  Issaka came to the U.S. to accept the award.  She says in northeast Ghana getting pregnant women to a clinic or hospital is no easy feat.

MARY ISSAKA:  There are some areas where there is no car for referral.  You have to ring the hospital for them to bring an ambulance.  Now the ambulance is even down.  Or you have to ring the national ambulance which is only one for the region.  So if somebody has already called the national ambulance and you are also calling the national ambulance, it means you are not going to get access to that service.  So it is also a challenge, means of transport.  It is a challenge for us.

WERMAN: And you’re going to visit these women and getting them on a motorcycle to get them to a place where they can deliver safely.  How safe is that getting these pregnant women who are already to term on a motorcycle?

ISSAKA: It’s safe.  Where a lorrie cannot go, that is where we use motorbikes.  At times we will even use the motorbikes, you still have to pack the motorbikes because there are certain areas the motorbikes cannot even go.  That is during rainy season, you have to pack the moto and then walk by foot to the community where you can bring the woman to where the motorbike is and then bring her to the health facility to deliver.

WERMAN: What are the factors that prevent women in rural areas from getting to those clinics at the key moment of childbirth?

ISSAKA: The problems is their distance to the health facility and then there may be the family members also making decision for the woman before she goes to the health facility.  You know we have our family heads, no woman cannot just get up and say I’m going to the health facility to deliver unless she seeks permission from the opinion leader and it is given for her to go.  So we met with the opinion leaders and made them understand that it is good, immediately a woman is pregnant you make the decision that anytime the woman is in labor and I’m not even around, the woman should be sent to the health facility.

WERMAN: Why would the elders not want to let the pregnant woman go to a safe clinic at their own speed?

ISSAKA: Just as I was saying, you know its ignorance.  In the – - areas they have TV’s they give- – they see everything.  But in the rural areas they don’t see these things and then they also believe that if you also deliver by yourself in the house it means you are brave.  And they are happy about it.  You see?  So we need them to understand that it is not good for you to say you are brave and then at the end of the day you lose your life or your lose your baby.

WERMAN: As you’ve described it seems surely one of the big challenges you face is just dealing with the roads in northern Ghana and the time it takes to get pregnant women to clinics and to get to them in the first place.  Compare the roads here in the United States, this is your first visit here, with those you regularly travel in Ghana.

ISSAKA: We cannot compare our roads to these roads at all.

WERMAN: How many paved roads do you have in northeast Ghana?

ISSAKA: About two roads.  Just two.  Here you have so many roads.  If you don’t take care you can even get lost.

WERMAN: Mary, what was your most difficult delivery ever?

ISSAKA: So there was a day this woman called me from a community telling me she was in labor.  So we went there with the car, picked up this woman from the community, brought her to the health facility and this woman, she was pushing.  I said no, she would wait, no she will not understand.  She was pushing because maybe the first delivery, she doesn’t know how to maybe hold on.  So she delivered through an undilated cervix and had a cervical tear.

WERMAN: A cervical tear?  Yeah.

ISSAKA: Yes, she had a cervical tear, we just had to set up an I.V. line, put this woman in the lorrie and she was bleeding.  I mobilized doing this.  I rang the Bolatanga Regional Hospital and told them about the woman.  She has cervical tear, I’m bringing her.  We rang the laboratory, we took her blood for grouping and cross matching and then we got there, they just sent the blood.  While we were doing the suturing, the blood was brought up, it was set up on the woman and then we also finished with the suturing of the cervix and they were able to save the woman’s life.  Because such – - she had delivered in the house, she would have lost her life because the way she was bleeding, it was not easy at all.  So if we have enough midwives and they are able to send them to all the communities and they are nearer to the community members, we can actually help to save so many lives.

WERMAN: Well, I surely see why you were named Midwife of the Year.  Thank you very much for speaking with us Mary.

ISSAKA: Thank you very much.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

The plane was carrying President Gnassingbe Eyadema when it crashed in 1974. Eyadema was the only survivor. He continued to rule this nation until his death in 2005.

His son is now president. And he’s trying to lure American tourists. We’ll follow some visitors who had a special interest in touring this African nation…

In fact, its government recently placed an ad in the New York Times. The ad said the country is open for tourists. That country — and today’s Geo Answer — is Togo.

View Larger Map

And now let’s go to Togo…along with the family of producer Anna Boiko-Weyrach.

Listen:

Download MP3

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: A similar spirit has moved people in another African capital to raise money for Haiti.  Reporter David Amenor attended a musical fundraiser in Ghana’s capital, Acra.

DAVID AMENOR: A host of popular musicians tuned up and turned up for this concert under the Banner Haiti Ghana Responds.  The role call included veteran artists like Kojo Enteree and Reggie Rockstone.  And while this was certainly a party to enjoy, a picture slide show of the devastation was replayed on big screens reminding us all of the reasons we came.

MALE VOICE 1:  The scale of the disaster has blown my mind personally, you know?  It has made me feel so humble, especially learning that two million people are homeless.  That is half the population of Acra.  It’s just unbelievable.

DAVID AMENOR: I’ve got someone here from?

FEMALE VOICE 1:  Guyana, South America.  Actually I’ve lost two of my very close friends in Haiti.  One of them, they were living with their mother and their house collapsed and she died.

DAVID AMENOR: The organizers, Friends of Haiti, believe they can raise two million U.S. dollars from direct donations and the SMS campaign.  In Ghana you simply text the word Haiti to a short code, 1962, and one Ghana cedi, that’s approximately seventy U.S. cents, is deducted from your mobile phone balance each time.  Kufi Blanksen Orcansee started the group with a blog and a social network utility Facebook.  He’s confident Ghanans will continue to respond in the month long campaign.

KUFI BLANKSEN ORCANSEE:  We have a great deal of affection for the Haitians.  The Haitians were the first black republic.  Ghana is the first black sub-Saharan African republic.  So clearly, we took some inspiration from the Haitians.  It makes all the sense in the world that – - down today. We should do something to help them.

DAVID AMENOR: Let’s hear from some late-comers.  Why did you come late?

MALE VOICE 2:  Okay so the issue is this, I’m not supposed to be on stage, so definitely I come on a time I want to come and enjoy myself and contribute my – - to eighty people.

MALE VOICE 3: The performers, the musicians, have to bring people together.  So I think, what do you think?

DAVID AMENOR: I think that’s nice.

MARCO WERMAN: That report from freelance reporter David Amenor in Acra, Ghana.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

• BBC: Africa
• Berklee College of Music

Ghanaian drummer Victor Dogah. He's currently studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

Victor Dogah and Berklee Professor Mark Walker. Walker teaches a course on Brazilian Percussion and Rhythms.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

KATY CLARK: Back in June 2008, the BBC’s David Amanor introduced us to several musicians from the West African Nation of Ghana.

MUSICIAN #1: What will you be playing when you go into the audition?

MUSICIAN #2: I’d like to play a [SOUNDS LIKE]  Bahta.

MUSICIAN #1: Which is a Volta Region drum.

MUSICIAN #2: Yeah, from there.

MUSICIAN #1: Here’s a little taste.

CLARK: The men were attending an audition in the capital Accra. They were vying for scholarships to the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Berklee has long had contacts with musicians in Ghana.  One of the percussionists we didn’t hear from that day was another extremely talented young drummer named Victor Dogah.  Dogah ended up winning a scholarship to Berklee. He’s been in Boston now for about six months.  I caught ups with him recently during one of his classes, a course on Brazilian Percussion and Rhythms led by Berklee Professor, Mark Walker.

MARK WALKER: So this is the real final.  Let’s see if we can sound good for the radio, right?

CLARK: For nearly two hours, Dogah and his classmates take turns jamming with different percussion instruments.  After class, the 25-year-old Dogah sat down with Professor Walker and me to talk about the music he grew up with. It’s Ewe, which is also the name of one of the languages spoken in Ghana.  Dogah describes Ewe as music and language rolled into one.

DOGAH: You communicate from the drums, you know.  That’s how you play.  Whatever we say, we make sure we play it on the drum.

CLARK: What are you going to play?

DOGAH: Let me see.  I will sing a song and I will translate it on the drum.

WALKER: Do you want me to play a support part?  Just tell me what to play.

DOGAH: Yeah.

WALKER: What do you need, bells?

DOGAH: Yeah, bells.

WALKER: Okay.

DOGAH: Yeah.

WALKER: Two?

DOGAH: Just one bell.   Yeah. [Singing and playing drum.]

CLARK: What was that about?  What were you singing?

DOGAH: It’s war music.  Indigenous music.  That’s what we play back home. Everywhere you go you have to give tongues. You can be blessed for any type of your music. And the old people will come and use money and put it on your forehead and that means that is a good way they appreciate you.  You are counted to be a good musician.

CLARK: Dogah was recognized as a good musician early on by his uncle, the late Ewe drumming master, Godwin Agbelleh [PH].  Agbelleh gave Dogah his nickname, Danger Blue or Blue for short meaning he’s so good, he’s dangerous. Given his rich musical heritage, I wondered what Dogah hopes to learn at Berklee.

DOGAH: When you go back to Africa now, you have a really good musician that you like accepting things like they can’t read music or they can’t compose their own music. We learn by ear.  So by doing so we have great, great past musicians and they don’t have any recorder.  So I still don’t know.  I have to come to Berklee because Berklee is like the best music school in the world.  And I teach a lot of students who came to Berklee and they come to my house in Africa and I teach them. So they are really good students. So I say no I want to come here to fulfill my dream.

CLARK: So students from Berklee come and take lessons from you.  Have they taken lessons from you back in Ghana?

DOGAH: Yeah.

CLARK: And you wanted to know what they know.

DOGAH: Yeah, and I can be able to read and write.  Yeah, that’s right.

CLARK: I’d like to just get a little bit more music from you if I could.

DOGAH: Okay.  I will play Fumi, Fumi [PH].

CLARK: And what kind of song is this?

DOGAH: This is the music for fishermen when they go to sea. So drummers have to be able to show and play music for them so that they can have enough energy to draw the net.  Yes.  [Playing drums].

CLARK: The Ghanaian musician and Berklee College of Music student, Victor Dogah ends today’s show.  From the Nan and Bill Harris Studios at WGBH, I’m Katy Clark.  Thanks for tuning in.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Watch the Snow Leopard in action:

• Ghana Ski Team

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: This is The World. I’m Marco Werman. Every time the Olympic Games roll around there’s usually one or two competitors who are just a bit surprising – fish out of water. Take the famous Jamaican bobsled team who took part in the 1988 winter Olympics in Calgary. Well the next winter games get underway 101 days from now in Vancouver and there will be another unusual participant but he won’t be there just to make up the numbers as The World’s Alex Gallafent reports.

ALEX GALLAFENT: Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong is a slalom skier. He happens to be from Ghana. Not a lot of snow there. But he happens to love throwing himself down snow-covered mountains at high speed.

KWAME NKRUMAH-ACHEAMPONG: Unless you’ve been at the top of a giant slalom or super [PH] G course looking down and looking at the slick slope, all the gates, and everybody looking in your face, waiting to see what you can do, it’s really hard to understand why people go into ski races when they know they can break their legs, their necks, their back. It’s just a wonderful sport.

GALLAFENT: And Acheampong is good at it. He’s just qualified to represent Ghana at next year’s Olympics – the country’s first representative at the winter games. Oh and he only started skiing six years ago.

ACHEAMPONG: I got a job at the indoor ski center, picked up a pair of snowblades and had a go.

GALLAFENT: That indoor ski center was in the UK, the country where Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong lives today. He’d left Ghana to pursue a master’s degree in tourism management but school was expensive. He had to get a job. Working as a receptionist at a sport’s center seemed a good fit. Free indoor skiing was a bonus.

ACHEAMPONG: I just did it for the fun of doing it. [INDISCERNIBLE] every staff member who worked there. So I just had a go. And it’s kind of snowballed and I find myself heading to Vancouver.

EDDIE EDWARDS: I just think he should go there and enjoy every minute of it.

GALLAFENT: That’s Eddie Edwards also in the UK. Over two decades ago he captured the world’s attention at the Calgary games. Eddie Edwards was known as the Eagle. In regular life Edwards worked as a plasterer. He still does in fact. But at the Olympics his quixotic mission was to excel at the ski jump. He didn’t. Eddie the Eagle Edwards was depending on your perspective a hero of amateurs everywhere of simply the worst ski jumper ever to appear at the Olympics.

EDWARDS: There were those who thought this is great and that was exemplifying the whole Olympic spirit. And there were those who felt I wasn’t an athlete and shouldn’t have been there.

GALLAFENT: Eddie Edwards expects Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong will get the same kinds of reaction in Vancouver.

EDWARDS: I think he knows and everybody else knows that I don’t think he’s going to win a medal or go even close. But he should go out there and enjoy the whole experience of being in the Olympics and do the best he can. That’s all everybody can expect of him and just enjoy it really.

GALLAFENT: But hold on says the Ghanaian skier who has a nickname of his own – the snow leopard.

ACHEAMPONG: I think Eddie the Eagle let the whole fun side of what he was doing take over you know what he was trying to achieve and instead of being looked upon as a professional sports person he became a joke.

GALLAFENT: Ouch. The snow leopard isn’t messing around here. When he has the funding he trains in the Italian Alps and he’s far from the worst Olympic level skier around. Still Kwame Nkrumah Acheampong is realistic about his Olympic chances.

ACHEAMPONG: I can’t win the races I go into. [INDISCERNIBLE] tough. So skiing is a sport which just has an endless challenge for me. And I don’t want to look at the final table of athletes and see myself at the bottom. I’d want at least five other athletes to be behind me.

GALLAFENT: You wouldn’t bet against him. For The World I’m Alex Gallafent.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. The globalized economy has created a world in which you can watch an Indian cricket match on TV in a Budapest bar and where you can send your mother-in-law in Iowa flowers picked fresh in Columbia. But some aspects of globalization aren’t so nice. Documentary film maker Tim Samuels has been investigating the globalization of pornography. The results of his reporting will be seen on BBC TV in the series “Hardcore Profits.” Samuels says porn producers may not realize what affect their films are having in places as far away as Western Africa.

TIM SAMUELS: In Ghana you see the most extraordinary impact of the mainstream western pornography which is predominantly made in Los Angeles and is predominantly condom free. That pornography somehow makes it way to even the most remote and obscure parts of Ghana in Africa. There are villages which don’t even have electricity; where people live in mud huts; where generators get wheeled into the village and mud huts get turned into impromptu pornographic cinemas. And those films from Los Angeles get shown and the impact is chilling. The films, as I said, don’t have condoms. People copy what they see and they say to me they’ve contracted HIV as a direct result of copying the films they’ve seen. And there are also outbreaks of sexual violence after the films are shown where the young men are so excited by what they’ve seen that women in the village, I’m told, have been raped straight after the films have been shown. So an extraordinary consequence of globalization from an industry in Los Angeles having an impact in Africa.

WERMAN: It sounds like what you’re saying here is that what’s happening in Los Angeles is actually causing sexual crimes in Ghana. Is there nay other evidence aside from that?

SAMUELS: I mean there is. I mean beyond Ghana we try to procure some other evidence and spoke to health professionals in other developing countries. In Tanzania a similar case came up where the videos were also shown in remote areas and women were assaulted there after. In India cases where kids have dropped out of school because they became addicted to this mainstream and hardcore pornography, again coming from America. And even Papua, New Guinea there were doctors who said that they’ve had to deal with cases of young men putting ball bearings down their penises to try and keep up with the impressive nature of the porn stars they’ve been watching in films. So it’s anecdotal but there is a sense that these films, which are so much more easily available now through the internet and through pirated DVDs, are having an impact in the countries where you really don’t want them to.

WERMAN: Are there anti-porn activists in rural Ghana and what do those detractors say about what’s going on?

SAMUELS: I mean there aren’t. The places we were filming at, as I said, some of them didn’t have electricity let alone lobbying groups to worry about pornography. Any health care which is being doled out there is primary health care and you know feminism hasn’t really quite kicked in in a big way in rural Ghana. But the powers that be over there are worried about this. You know some of the people I met said the only sex education they’ve ever had is from watching these films. So you know it might be old news for us that the [INDISCERNIBLE]. You might go back to the ‘80s in Britain and America. But it’s not old news in the areas of the world where that message is most critical. So when you have young men in their 20s saying to me, well no one ever told me anything. I had no sex education as a kid. And the only education I got was from these videos from Los Angeles without condoms. That’s what I saw. That’s what I copied. That’s how I got HIV.

WERMAN: Is there a porn industry at all in West Africa or anywhere in Africa?

SAMUELS: There is a porn industry which comes out of Nigeria and when you walk around the streets of Accra, capital in Ghana, you can buy the African porn and you can also buy the bootlegged American porn, the pirated copies. Interestingly enough for some reason the American porn is slightly cheaper which again is another reason why it’s more prevalent. So there is and the African porn also has a much higher use of condoms than the American porn.

WERMAN: We have a clip from this documentary. We’re going to hear Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, the head of the National Aids Commission in Ghana arguing that the American pornography industry, mainly based in Los Angeles, should take responsibilities it’s helping to create. Here’s Mr. Amoa.

SAKYI AWUKU AMOA: Africans, because of colonization and because of westernization, have more or less their minds tuned to believe that anything coming from the west is the best. Anything that is done by the west is the standard. And therefore they look at these pornographic films and they think, ah if this can be done why can’t we try it here?

WERMAN: What do you think Los Angeles and the porn industry should be doing in terms of this problem in Ghana? Do you think that there is a responsibility that lies there?

SAMUELS: I think so. Given the amounts of money that is made in the industry and the amounts of money through pornography it really could be an idea for them to say look there is this extraordinary consequence as a result of the business that we’re running. And just to say look you know you guys maybe there’s something you could do. Maybe you could set up a fund to promote sex education in some of these countries. Maybe even make bespoke porn for these countries which has a safe sex them to it you know.

WERMAN: Bespoke in other words kind of custom made porn.

SAMUELS: Custom made porn. You know if the porn’s going to end up in these countries at least make sure it’s porn which promotes safe sex.

WERMAN: Did you speak with anybody in the porn industry in Los Angeles and present them with some of your findings from Ghana and how did they react?

SAMUELS: There was a company who we spoke to who do quite seriously hardcore stuff. They were getting fan mail every week from Ghana. They were getting two to three letters a week from obscure places in Ghana from people saying we love your films or can we star in your films. And the guy that runs the company is a very decent bloke. He’d actually spent some time in Ghana himself as a young guy. And I gave him a call when I was in Ghana and he was very concerned by it. I think maybe there needs to be an industry-level response just to say you know maybe step up to the plate. Take some responsibility for the products which you’re making and you’re making very healthy profits from and do something to try and offset some of the really quite shocking consequences which could be in store.

WERMAN: Tim Samuels is the producer of a new series for BBC Television called “Hardcore Profits.” Thank you very much for speaking with us.

SAMUELS: Thank you.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: It was 40 years ago this week that the technology that instantly makes porn from L.A. available in Ghana was invented. The internet was the brainchild of UCLA computer scientist Len Kleinrock. The Pentagon had asked Kleinrock to help devise a networked computer system. The goal was to allow researchers to access computers regardless of where they were. About 20 people entered Len Kleinrock’s UCLA computer lab on September 2^nd 1969. The initial tests worked. They weren’t all that impressive though. Two big boxy computers passed meaningless data between them through a 15-foot cable. It’s safe to say that no one in that room was thinking about social networking, file sharing, or YouTube. Of course these became the big hits of today’s internet and porn one of its big money makers.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.

>>>Start the cartoon slideshow

It’s divided into three branches — named Red, White and Black. These winding waters converge in the nation of Ghana. They run smack into the massive Akosombo Dam.

The hydro-electric dam creates a huge lake that shares its name with the river. It’s one of the world’s largest man-made lakes. From there the river we want you to name flows south to the Gulf of Guinea.

Can you name it?

Think quick ’cause this is a fast-flowing quiz.

Alright — the river we’re looking for has as many twists and turns as a good mystery novel. So, who better to help us with the answer than a good mystery writer. Kwei Quartey is his name.

His first novel is called Wife Of The Gods. Wife of the Gods is a whodunnit detective story that takes place in Ghana. Now let’s clear up one mystery…what’s the answer to our Geo Quiz?

The Volta River is the answer to our Geo Quiz. Listen to the interview