And We're Back! Theatre Review: Terms of Divorce

My apologies for the blogging hiatus... I know my absence has thoroughly disappointed millions.

And November has been such an eventful month! So I will slowly catch everyone up on the action packed Accra adventures, or “accraventures” as I like to call them... or rather, as I will call them from this point on.

Alas, the accraventures have been carried out at an increasingly slower pace this month as the heat and the sun become much more intense. The HEAT - it’s all expats can talk about these days. I hardly have anything else to say to people other than “geeze, it’s getting a lot hotter these days, huh?” To which they eagerly agree and we then enter our awkward quest for something else to talk about. If the conversation turns to sports, I plan my escape route - “is that an injured goat I hear in the distance?” - Otherwise, I generally welcome any other topic quite happily.

Commentary about the heat is not limited to expats, though. Ghanaians share their two cents about the weather. 

Example 1: “This African sun, it is too hot! How can we do anything? Ah!”

- My host mother on a scorcher of a day during a blackout.

Example 2: “It is raaiiiining today! Can you imagine what it will be like during the rainy season?!"

- My soaked coworker, upon entering the office during a rain storm that caused floods all over Accra.

So those may be the only two interesting comments that come to mind right now but I swear I hear more complaints! It’s the equivalent of hearing Canadians complain about the winter year after year after year as though every time November rolls around we’re surprised that fall still turns into winter. Every year. Leaves to snow... I don’t understand.  

Okay, enough about the cold, I can delay having to think about it for another month. Back to our eventful November!

Well the most important event of November was of course, my birthday. Birthday celebrations were slightly muted by the impending deadlines for the funding proposals I was working on. However, I did manage to celebrate the occasion with a visit to the theatre... which I choose to pronounce “TheATAH” for no particular reason other than it simply feels right.

I was accompanied by two lovely gents - one Neil, from England, and one Hafen, from the US. We stopped briefly at Koala, one of the few grocery stores where westerns can pay insulting prices for their comfort foods. We dished out the equivalent of the mean household income of an American middle class family for a bag of Doritos and a can of Pringles. What a steal!

We hopped in a taxi and made our way to the National Theatre to watch the hit theatrical romantic comedy “Terms of Divorce” by renowned Ghanaian playwright James Ebo Whyte. 

The house was packed! This was pretty shocking as the play wasn’t cheap... 25 Cedis a ticket. However, after having seen a few Ghanaian plays, I knew that the audience reactions alone are worth the price of admission. The best part about the audiences? No dirty looks whilst rustling our chip bags and crunching away on our snacks.

Terms of Divorce tells the story of Ralph and Ethel, a couple in the final stages of a messy divorce. At the opening of the play, we learn that Ralph and Ethel have been in a vicious tug-of-war over the divorce settlement for close to two years now. The process has been made that much more difficult because the couple have enlisted lawyers Michael and Baaba, who are themselves, bitter divorcees! 

We quickly learn that a court date is soon approaching where Ralph and Ethel will be able to sign off a final agreement, once and for all - authorizing their divorce before a judge. But before they do this, they must visit some kind of marriage counsellor who will rubber stamp the agreement.

The counsellor is an older, cheerful man married to a mad woman whom he adores passionately. He warns Ralph, Ethel and their lawyers that his wife will frequently interrupt their proceedings with odd hallucinations. He tells them that his wife becomes very upset at the mere suggestion that she is mad, so if everyone could be so kind as to accommodate her hallucinations and play along with her madness, that would be greatly appreciated. So as the counseling proceeds, we are met with bizarre and often hilarious intervals where the counsellor’s cooky wife serves invisible tea and snacks or alerts everyone about murderers surrounding the house. In an effort to appease both the counsellor and his wife, the group plays along and drinks from their make believe tea cups and kills the murderers with their pretend guns.

The counsellor’s devotion and love for his wife, who proves to be quite a handful, eventually inspires Ralph to re-consider the divorce with Ethel. And after about 10 more argument scenes between the couple. they finally decide that they shouldn’t throw away their 20 year relationship over a couple of mishaps. I must say it was a bit of a shock to hear the couple had been married 20 years as the actors looked like they were in their early thirties... but who am I to deny two 12 year olds from making a lifelong commitment to each other?

Eventually, Baaba and Michael, follow suit, clarify the misunderstanding that let to their marriage’s dissolution and decide to re-marry.

The moral of the story: divorce is for quitters. 

The play was definitely entertaining but went in some strange directions. For example, about two-thirds of the way through, the play suddenly turned into musical and introduced fantastical theatrical elements like smoke machines and angels (who doubled as backup dancers). Some of the numbers performed would be familiar to anyone who has seen a movie trailer for a romantic comedy in the last century like James Blunt’s “Goodbye My Lover” or Shania Twain’s “You’re Still the One I Want.” Just a WEEE bit cliché.

Another drawback, and a complaint I have about most Ghanaian theatre I’ve seen thus far, is the length of the play - nearly 3 hours. I mean, if I were watching a staged rendition of War and Peace translated into Twi, this length might be acceptable. But the play was marred with repetition and redundancies that lengthened scenes unnecessarily. The pace of the play also could have been tightened by eliminating actions and dialogue that detracted from the narrative train. 

Other than these details, (oh, and the audio levels for the mics... let’s refrain from using max volume when your actors are screaming at each other for the majority of the play, thanks)  I was quite pleased with the show! And as expected, the audience played their role just as well as the actors - contributing their “oh!”s and “ah!”s with conviction and enthusiasm. One moment in particular sparked roaring laughter and heckling from the audience. Ralph and Ethel, now googly-eyed and lusting after each other, are dressed in their “make-up sex” costumes - towels. They flirt with each other, indicating that they are ready for another round in the bedroom and eagerly ascend the stairs to their love chamber. Just as they reach the final step, Ralph’s towel falls off!! Fortunately for Ralph, he was wearing boxers under his towel. But believe me, the presence of underpants did not hinder the audience’s riotous reaction.

The best part about that moment? I GOT IT ON VIDEO!! Too bad the internet just ain't strong enough for me to upload it.

All in all, a great night at the theATAH topped off by pizza and wine at my favourite joint. Yay birthday in Ghana! 

The Black Gold: The Mixed Blessing of Oil and Gas in Ghana

In 2007, UK's Tullow Oil discovered about 600 million barrels of light oil off Ghana's shores. Since then, Ghanaians have been teetering between optimism and fear - cautiously awaiting what will result from the extraction of this much sought-after resource.

Yesterday, I attended a meeting at NETRIGHT (a member-based umbrella organization of women's organizations in Ghana) on "Gender Issues in Oil and Gas Exploration." NETRIGHT has organized a committee to address issues that have emerged from the oil and gas extraction from a gender-based perspective. This committee, comprised of a small number of national & local NGOs including ABANTU, is seeking to establish itself as a lobbying group and a mouthpiece for those communities most affected by the oil and gas extraction - communities whose voices are often neglected.

Much of the media buzz on Ghana's oil has remained optimistic. Many are anticipating widespread job creation and a hefty new revenue stream that will help fund all sorts of national programmes in health and education and ideally improve infrastructure. However, amidst the widespread giddiness over the potential boost to the economy, apprehension and fear are just as strong as many are all too familiar with oil's nasty reputation for destruction. Ghanaians need not look any further but to their (almost) neighbour Nigeria - a country where the oil industry has caused one nightmare after another.

Environmental degradation, the illegal usurping of land and subsequent destruction of farmers and fishermans' livelihoods have plagued Nigerians surrounding the oil regions. In addition to these issues, Nigerians have witnessed widespread human rights abuses, terrible corruption and an increase in violence (including the murder of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa) all due to the oil industry in the country. Needless to say, the majority of Nigerians have yet to see the benefits of their country's valuable natural resource. For more information on oil issues in Nigeria, take a look at this link: http://www.globalissues.org/article/86/nigeria-and-oil.

The purpose of yesterday's meeting was to brief committee members on the socioeconomic issues that we can anticipate from the oil extraction in Ghana, using countries like Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea as examples. Through awareness campaigns, activism and lobbying, members of this committee hope to get policies in place that will prevent oil's destructive patterns.

Dr. Akosua, one of the committee members, initiated the meeting with a thorough literature review on the impacts of oil and gas on local communities. She also reviewed a recent study conducted by Dr. Rudith Kings on the impact of oil on the livelihood of citizens in Ghana. It was a fascinating albeit frightening introduction to the issues that we can anticipate in the communities where oil and gas extraction will occur. In some cases, we can already see the impacts taking place on local environments and economies. I'd like to summarize some of the key issues that Dr. Akosua touched upon.

For many African countries, Dr. Akosua reminded us, natural resources are a curse rather than a blessing. Take, for example, the mining of gold or diamonds. History has shown us a solid link between countries rich in resources and conflict - particularly with oil. Dr. Akosua sited a UNEP 2009 study that reported "since 1990, 18 violent conflicts around the world were fuelled by exploration of natural resources." Conflicts arise for a number of reasons - control over the resource itself, the depleted economy that results from the destruction of land, the displacement of indigenous people, the lack of transparency in government spending, human rights abuses, child labour, exploitation... am I depressing anyone yet?

Whereas one would expect that a country lucky enough to house such valuable natural resource would be just as lucky as to reap the rewards of said resource, unfortunately this is rarely the case - even for countries outside of Africa. As it turns out, most oil producing countries see a decline in their living standards even as their GDP sky rockets. What is more, countries sitting on oil rarely see a decline in their country's oil and gas based products like fuel for cars and cooking. This is because these countries often do not have the technological or financial capacity to refine the oil themselves in which case they must outsource this job to foreign corporation. Once the oil is refined by a third party, it is subject to the prices set by the global market.

Unfortunately the financial rewards of oil and other commodities are usually seen only by corrupt government officials and the foreign corporations contracted to extract the oil. Rarely does the general population see the oft-promised increase in spending on health and education or the influx of jobs on the labour market.

One of the tenets of oil optimists here in Ghana that Dr. Akosua was quick to refute was that of mass job creation. Sure a ton of jobs will open up, but who exactly will be filling these positions? If other African countries are any example, many of the jobs created will be filled by foreigners as they will be the only ones with the necessary qualifications and credentials.

Okay, so Ghanaians may not get the higher-paying positions and may not get as many jobs as initially thought - but what about the surrounding economy in the oil and gas towns? Surely the local markets, restaurants and other enterprises will benefit from an influx of foreigners and newly-employed Ghanaians? Well, perhaps. But Dr. Akosua warns that the influx of foreigners (particularly western foreigners) often leads to gentrification of the area. European expats, homesick for their creature comforts, tend to forgo the wooden stand at the side of the road for a drive to the nearest western-style grocery store where they can load up on overpriced imports from home (I found a box of Corn Flakes the other day for 8$ Can.!!). When the demand for these shopping centres becomes high enough, a savvy entrepreneur will eventually takes the leap and open a "Shoprite" or "Max Mart" in the mining or oil town whose economy was once fuelled solely by agriculture.

Dr. Akosua also reminded us that the jobs created are almost exclusively filled by men, thus turning oil towns into a haven for lonely single men (or married men who left their families to take up a job). This often leads to an increase in commercial sex work, rape and violence against women which then leads to increased rates of HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

The list of potential problems that oil can bring is quite numerous and daunting. Too numerous to go through all of them here. The committee at NETRIGHT was adamant about educating and preparing the communities that will be the most impacted by the extraction of oil for the potential problems coming their way. Many of these communities are already quite poor with low levels of education and poorer health as compared to the rest of Ghana. Their livelihoods are inextricably linked to the land and sea - many of them are farmers and fisherman. Oil and gas extraction will have grave consequences on the ecosystem in these areas if the government does not do everything in its power to perform the extraction carefully.

The meeting left us with a better sense of what Ghana will have to deal with, and there are definitely many likeminded groups lobbying the government to do this oil thing right. However, upon leaving the meeting, my supervisor gave voice to what I believe was the general consensus in the room: "I wish they would just leave that stuff in the ground."