Thursday, March 15, 2007

from the "dramged liver and green beer" dept.

Thursday, Takoradi.

There is certainly no rest for the wicked. Immediately upon my return home, my nose has been firmly placed against the grindstone.

The first priority, of course, is making something out of the 12 hours of Flame footage. 12 hours sounds like a lot but much of it looks the same. There isn't much difference between a regional minister in Bolgatanga carrying the flame and a regional minister in Ho doing the same thing. This will be the biggest challenge in creating an interesting and watchable story.

I'm spending the remainder of the week shotlisting and putting together a rough script. Asamoah, the reporter, will do most of the writing once I put a framework together. Plus, he still has his daily duties to fulfill with no extra time alloted for Flame work. It's easier for me to do the grunt work so that he can do most of the writing.

The second thing on my "to do" list is a series of stories on the Liberian refugee camp at Krisan, not too far from Takoradi. Finding time to concentrate on that has been a challenge.

I also have to renew my one-year multiple entry visa. It's valid for 60 days only. Go figure.

It doesn't end there: I am being pressured to start holding workshops in the station -- which I intend to do the moment I have some time to prepare them. The Flame has taken up so much of my time here -- and once it is put to bed, I can get moving on other, more important, projects.

I'm also considering a return tomorrow to Accra for St. Patrick's Day celebrations that are taking place at Ryan's Pub on Saturday. I've got the green shirt and the damaged liver -- I'm good to go!

If I don't report before then, "Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Slainte!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I experienced similar visa problems. Try the Immigration Office in Takoradi Harbour. Leaving Ghana for 10 minutes (overseas) has never been so easy. They are friendly, but don't forget to have small and big money in separated pockets as they might ask for some cedi for the slush fund. Having the same name as the officer's son saved me some money getting a new stamp. Have fun!