Starring …

Last Monday (September 28) Sam called me to tell me he was coming back to Lawra that evening just for one day. My birthday! Well, he wasn’t coming back for my birthday specifically … Metro TV (or maybe TV Africa, I’m not really sure) is currently working with the Ghanaian Cultural Ministry (or whatever they are officially called) putting together a documentary showcasing artisans and cultural programs around Ghana. They would be stopping by the Xylophone Learning Centre to film some brief footage there, and Sam wanted me to be there. Unfortunately, I was scheduled to start my week of meetings and travel Tuesday morning, but, as African fate would have it, just after Sam called I received another call saying my Tuesday meeting would have to be postponed.

Thus, first thing Tuesday morning I headed over the workshop with birthday Bo Froote (in lieu of cake) and pineapple juice to start the day off right. The TV people were scheduled to arrive at 1pm, so after a short visit I headed home and to do some work while Sam got the workshop ready. At 1pm, I headed back over, only to then have the TV people call and say they weren’t going to be there until 4pm. Oh Africa…

Instead of heading home again, I stayed and we made birthday fu-fu. If Sam’s chicken had been around he wanted to kill it so we could have birthday chicken too. It’s kind of funny to hear someone say “if the chicken wanders back in the next 20 minutes we still have time to kill it so we can eat it for dinner”. At 4:30 pm we called the TV people since they had not yet arrived; they were still en route. Thus, filming was going to be delayed until Wednesday morning.

After they had taken footage of xylophone production and completed an interview with Sam, the director decided they should also interview me. I hesitated, unsure what I what to offer, but they were insistent.

A paraphrased version of my interview looks something like this:

Q: Can you tell us your name and why you are in Africa?

A: … Elizabeth Logan … Engineers Without Borders …

Q: How did you become involved with the Xylophone Centre?

A: … opportunity to learn about the community I am living in … Centre is an important cultural focal point …

Q: As an engineer, what do you think of the processes used to build the xylophones?

A: … something about organic materials and natural processes … sustainability … traditional techniques which are often undervalued in today’s fabrication processes …

Q: As an engineer (he loved this phrase), do you think there is room for mechanization to improve productivity?

A: I’m sure there is a way, but by doing so you would loose your market, especially any potential international ones. The value of these xylophones is that each one is hand crafted and unique, but still of high quality. If they were mass-produced, the cultural significance of the xylophones would decrease.

Q: What sort of market opportunities do you see in Canada?

A: Canada is a country that is based on the coming together of many nations … Canadians are interested in a broader global community … all major cities have many cultural organizations and cultural festivals …

The director loved the interview that I gave, hopefully I didn’t make too much of a fool of myself. I hope to get my hands on a copy of the final cut, or at least see be able to watch it when it airs in Ghana.

After filming was complete we travelled to Wa, where we met briefly with some of the cultural coordinators there, and then the film crew drove me to Damongo for retreat (yay for no bus!).