The Tofu & Potatoes

I hope these posts have given you a glowing image of a country that grounds me, while at the same time inspired me to abandon consistent paychecks and health insurance in pursuit of grand schemes of collaborative creation that will enhance the lives of all involved (!) – mine included, admittedly.  I’ve tried to stick to easy reading, but now I’d like to get down to the Tofu & Potatoes of this whole deal that has become Afia.   

I’m not alone in my frustration with the perceptions of the African continent as one homogenous mass, consumed with disease, poverty, and ethnic battles. The fear resulting from these perceptions discourages business investment and balanced partnerships, hindering the continent’s potential and inclusion in the global marketplace. 

Why, as a demographically Midwestern suburban obruni (white person), do I care?  I chose Ghana to source my fabric because the vibrancy and spirit of West African textiles makes me feel like Charlie laying eyes on Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Room.  I am a fool for visual gratification.  I chose an African country to produce the line because, in addition to the technical skill and ambition present, Afia values the craft behind the production - as opposed to the fast fashion manufacturing model that has become commonplace. Every single step of this process involved personal human interaction.  Sourced and Handmade in Ghana, people!

Also, how many places have you been where people greet you with “You are welcome.” ?!?! Ghana is ranked the 11^th friendliest country in the world according to yet another Forbes list.

Consistent with the Trade vs Aid philosophy, Afia is not a charity, it’s a business. The workmanship and professionalism of our textile vendors, pattern makers, and seamstresses is on par with standards anywhere in the world.  The Afia product reflects this.

Clothing design is the most natural way for me to connect Ghana with the American market.  At the risk of ruining a career I am only just beginning, I wouldn’t define the Afia aesthetic as fashionable.  There are aspects of the fashion industry that I can’t relate to: the overwhelming pace of keeping up with seasonal trends, an emphasis on status- enhancing material objects, a hegemonic determination of what beauty is.  I like to think that Afia is about style: an attitude, a mentality, a lifestyle that you express through the way you adorn and carry yourself.  Enjoy your life, enjoy your body.

A Ghanaian priestess told me five years ago that as a career I would be working with women to make them feel more beautiful. I hope to do just that.

On that note, here’s another preview of The Goods: the Afia belly tee.  Also in light blue and aztec red.

I’ve been trying on the Afia clothes for the ladies of the co-op, who have responded with ooh’s and aah’s.  The romper, however, got a full out standing ovation! The romper comes in my favorite fabric of the collection: Easter pastels. 

Wooo warm fuzzies!

Supermoon Rising

Down to just the broski and I. We were living cheaply before, but now we’re reaaally living cheaply (but safe & healthy Grandma!)  We left Accra in search of more budget accommodations, and landed in a small beach town in the Volta called Ada-Foah- a place guidebooks like to call "off-the-beaten-path."   We found a thatched-roof cottage for the equivalent of $10 a night.

Thanks to a modem I got for $35 USD in Accra, we’ve had wi-fi everywhere.   This means I set up my office space anywhere I please.   I’m managing inventory and coordinating the April photoshoot from a bungalow in a remote beach town in West Africa.  If that doesn’t embody Living the Dream, I don't know what does.  

My trips to Ghana have aligned with sweet astronomical happenings.  When I was abroad here in 2006, we got to witness a total solar eclipse.  This vintage photo was taken at 9am, March 29th '06:

Second ridiculously awesome event: Supermoon!  Who saw the moon last night?  La luna made its closest approach to planet Earth in 18 years.

RocketHub donors, your postcards are in the mail.  May take 5 days to reach you, may take a month.  If you don’t receive yours by May, well…

This is a really juicy blog post.

There is a particular phrase that terrifies me:  Eat All.  My SIT study abroad friends can recall how our host families would plop a heeping plate of who-knows-what in front of us and say, “Eat All.”  And you’d better, because they may have just slaughtered their pet goat for you.   The women of the co-op invited me in for lunch -  palm wine with kenke, a maize dish with a fish chili sauce.  I was instructed to Eat All.  Anyone who knows me is aware that I have the stomach of an old man, so adventures with food always end in suffering.  To complicate things further, I’m a vegetarian, and telling Ghanaians you don’t eat meat is like saying you don't take showers or something extremely nonsensical.      No matter…you can add “problem solves on feet” as a bullet point in the skills section of my resume, because I did just that: “Omigosh!  It’s so good that my brother must try some!  I will get him!”  Hehehe.

It was an exciting morning for all at the cooperative: we did video biographies of each of the Dzidefo seamstresses.  They had prepared their lines and dressed all pretty.  Sweet.  The women are rockin and rollin on production so we got out of their way for the afternoon.   

We did a photoshoot.  In the Afia high-waisted shorts.  With a waterfall. 

The way to compensate for being neither chic nor modelesque is to just embrace the cheesiness.  Are these shorts sweet or what?  They also come in a juicy electric green, laaadies.

Literally moments after these pictures were taken a torrential downpour hit.  We found shelter in a tin roof hut.  I had a horribly cliché moment where I had the urge to sing “I saw the raaiins down in aaaafricaaa.”  Toto’s Africa is listed on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com.  

The trek back was out of some humans vs. nature tv show.  Bats, bullfrogs, spiderwebs.  Evan had just bushwacked his way through a tree that had fallen on the trail from a storm when he politely called out: “Hey guys, can you come help me with these ants?"  He was covered head to toe in the largest ants I’ve ever seen, the biting kind.  

The power in the Volta region had been out all day.  As we were walking in the dark back to the orphanage, realigned with our inner-Sacajawea, the electricity came back on.  Magic!

Going to Kpando in a Tro Tro

Afia-in-the-raw:

Back in Accra for a few days.   I intuitively decided on the textiles for the collection on Day 5 - easy.  Finding these patterns in bulk, however, has been quite the treasure hunt.  Purchasing from small vendors is one of Afia's core values, as this venture exists to immediately benefit individuals at the ground level.  The challenge/adventure of this model is that finding 24 yards of a particular pattern requires dodging in and out of the small shops in the chaotic market.

Team Afia did some relaying this week.  Elizabeth left us (tragic) and passed the baton to Evan, photographer/videographer extraordinaire. 

The Hot African Sun pretty much schools the American southern summers Evan is used to.  He has spent much of the time with his shirt off, resulting in a cruel sunburn and an even crueler nickname, Shirtless Joe Jackson.  He is also known in the Accra markets as Mr. White.

Evan’s primary job description: “Just make us look cool, man.”

We are now back in Kpando for week two of production.  We traveled via Tro-Tro, a big van that is Ghana’s form of public transportation.  We made a new friend named Wilson.  Evan, a member of The Gold Magnolias soul band *promotional plug!* was inspired by the situation and wrote us a song:

Going to Kpando

In a Tro Tro

Eating homemade bread

Packed in like sardines

Sweatbeads on my forehead

Shot of Kevino per my mother's request:

Next post will include an **exclusive preview** of the collection...

  

Intense...Like Camping?

Elizabeth has one joke.  If someone describes anything as intense, she responds with “like camping?...as in, in tents.”  Get it?  We always give her a hearty laugh because we like to support our people, but you and I both know this isn’t that funny.  The segue here is that the last few days have been like camping…super intense.

We left the big city and made a 4 hour trek northeast into the Volta region to the small village of Kpando (silent “k”). Our in-road movie on the bus was  “Apostles of Hell.”  We are now in Ewe territory and fewer people speak English and Twi.

The exciting news is that the Dzidefo Women’s Cooperative began production of the Afia line!  I saw the physical product of something I imagined in my head.  Creation…Magic!  The production process is a learning experience for me and pretty grueling at times.  To see what goes into the making of something makes me appreciate the finished product even more.  I am looking forward to getting to know the women and their children.

At the office, doing what Elizabeth calls my "Rain Man."  

The Dzidefo Co-op is in the same complex as the Raybanz Mia orphanage (My Ray Bans?), who took us in for a few days and fed us THE best meals I’ve had in Ghana.  There are 7 orphanages just within miles of this town, with between 20-40 kids in each.  In conclusion, I’ll be adopting someday…

Kevin is thrilled that the orphanage uses handmade clay water filters.  You should see his eyes light up:  “The clay captures the larger particles and bacteria and the colloidal silver kills the smaller bacteria!!  They last for 10 years!!”  He has been our bodyguard, mule, family dog (as in we slip him our unfinished meals), and engineer.  Basically, we wouldn’t survive without him.  To create an accurate mental image of Kevin you must include beans: 

 

Dreamy: handwashing laundry.
Not Dreamy: two days without running water, the bank suspending my debit card despite alerting them of my travel plans, and taking a full day to upload these photos due to spotty internet.

<3 <3 <3

Magic! Come!

After years of scheming, dreaming, plotting, and planning…here we are in Ghana and It’s All Happening.  Three days of no luggage also happened.  Inspired by the juxtaposition of enterprising minds adorned in sordid clothing, Kevin, Elizabeth, and I solidified our identity as Team Fancy.  Sorry, pardon me a moment while I wring my hair out to fry these plantains. 

The luggage situation was really a blessing in disguise because home hunting while lugging luggage would have been physically impossible.  After bouncing around a bit we found a spot we couldn't resist.  We rolled up to the oceanfront Rising Phoenix Magic Beach hotel, greeted by the sign:   “Magic! Come!”   OK, we're in.  Who can resist magic?  Our room is delightfully named Saturn, painted in my favorite colors – marigold on the inside, light turquoise on the outside.   Incredible what a good coat of paint does for my psyche.  Picture us on our pastel-painted balcony, the ocean breeze teasing our locks, drinking a local brew...in really dirty socks.  A day in the life of “emerging entrepreneurs.”  In a word, fancy.

Since we are rooted for a few days I can now focus on the main event: textile shopping for the Afia summer collection.  I perused around Accra today visiting the small vendors that line the streets, attempting to chat with my basic Twi, and absorbing my options.  Sweet heaven!  I live for this ish.  I’ll sleep and dream on it, and return tomorrow to buy.

As of today, Afia is now expanding the line to include…wait for it…fanny packs!  Our new chale (Twi slang equivalent of “dude” “bro” “homes”) Jah B, in a serendipitous moment, flashed me his Ghanaian print fanny pack.  Pure gold.  The fanny pack, after years of scorn, is on the up and up, paralleling the return of terribly awesome 90s club music i.e. Whoomp There It Is and The ScatMan.  I saw many model assistants rocking fannies during NY Fashion Week.  Jah B introduced us to the creator, Christiana, constrained by a disability that limits her to crutches, and I promptly placed a fat order for her incredible fannies to sell on the Afia website.  A disabled artisan gets rewarded for her craft while you look like the freshest cat in town. Everybody wins.

Ended the evening with a drum session and a preview from the headliner of tomorrow night's reggae festival.  Magic!