OWARE TOURNAMENT REGISTRATION
Playing Oware on Break. Bolgatanga N/R Ghana
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Oware Canada Website Launch October 23, 2010
October 14, 2010
One more step has been made for Oware to become a resource used regularly in our classrooms within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Kwabena and I met with representatives of the TDSB's Models Schools on Tuesday October 12. We did a 15 minutes presentation of our product and 8 of the 15 principals in attendance showed significant interest. We are now waiting on the follow up.
I have also completed a short instructive Play Oware Video that complements the rules brochure and the Teaching aid information kit. This video can now be viewed on You Tube. In addition to this video the Toronto Catholic District School has a video of their March 2010 Oware Tournament produced by the Toronto Insider also on You Tube. Mello Ayo was the first to feature me talking about this great product in his You Tube Video.
Another great milestone is that the Toronto District Public Library has initiated their own Play Oware program at York Woods. Interested teen can go to the Library's website and sign up to play.
On Saturday October 23, 2010 MACPRI will officially launch the Oware Canada website and registration for the October 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament. Participants have arlready started to register and pay their $10.00 fee. The Tournament is only open to Canadian residents. Participants much be at least 12 years old. $3000 in cash and prizes will be awarded with the top prize being $1000.00.
For Tournament registration information email owarecanada@gmail.com.
One more step has been made for Oware to become a resource used regularly in our classrooms within the Toronto District School Board (TDSB). Kwabena and I met with representatives of the TDSB's Models Schools on Tuesday October 12. We did a 15 minutes presentation of our product and 8 of the 15 principals in attendance showed significant interest. We are now waiting on the follow up.
I have also completed a short instructive Play Oware Video that complements the rules brochure and the Teaching aid information kit. This video can now be viewed on You Tube. In addition to this video the Toronto Catholic District School has a video of their March 2010 Oware Tournament produced by the Toronto Insider also on You Tube. Mello Ayo was the first to feature me talking about this great product in his You Tube Video.
Another great milestone is that the Toronto District Public Library has initiated their own Play Oware program at York Woods. Interested teen can go to the Library's website and sign up to play.
On Saturday October 23, 2010 MACPRI will officially launch the Oware Canada website and registration for the October 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament. Participants have arlready started to register and pay their $10.00 fee. The Tournament is only open to Canadian residents. Participants much be at least 12 years old. $3000 in cash and prizes will be awarded with the top prize being $1000.00.
For Tournament registration information email owarecanada@gmail.com.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Oware Tournament Update September 7, 2010
Oware Tournament Update September 7, 2010
For those of you who come to this blog occassional to find out updates for the 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament, please note that all posted information are subject to change as MACPRI is still in discussion on such issues as venue, date and sponsors. The tournament will however take place at the end of the 2011 summer season and 3 to 4 weeks into the new school year. If you have any direct questions please feel free to email owarecanada@gmail.com and I will respond as soon as possible.
MACPRI Chief
For those of you who come to this blog occassional to find out updates for the 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament, please note that all posted information are subject to change as MACPRI is still in discussion on such issues as venue, date and sponsors. The tournament will however take place at the end of the 2011 summer season and 3 to 4 weeks into the new school year. If you have any direct questions please feel free to email owarecanada@gmail.com and I will respond as soon as possible.
MACPRI Chief
REGISTER NOW!
FOR THE FIRST
MACPRI TORONTO INTERNATIONAL
OWARE TOURNAMENTSummer/Fall 2011
DATE & VENUE TBD
Sign up early to avoid disappointment!
Maximum 256 players can register
Registrants should be a minimum 12 years old on July 29th, 2011
No more than 20 players from a single organization can register to ensured fairness of access to al
Registration Fee: $10
$3000 in cash & prizes will be awarded
Interested participants can register and pay their fee at any event that MACPRI will be at throughout the summer.Registration fees made payable by cheque should be made out to:MACPRI- ASO Services International
(An Ontario Registered Educational Art Business)
A receipt and registration confirmation with be provided.
For Oware playing rules and tournament planning updates log on to www.owarecanada.blogspot.com
Prizes, awards & event sponsors welcomed
The 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament is a presentation of
MACPRI African Image Revolution
Monday, July 5, 2010
OWARE RULES by Adisa S. Oji
OWARE RULES
MACPRI
Abapa Version (Ghana)
Adisa S, Oji copyright 2009
The game is designed for 2 players. It is played with 48 seeds, stones or marbles. To begin the game, 4 seeds are placed in each of the 12 holes (also referred to as “cups or pits,” depending on which culture the game originates). Each player has 6 holes on his/her side.
Each player takes turns collecting all the seeds from any of the 6 holes on his side and sows one seed in each hole going around the board in a counter-clockwise manner, ensuring not to place any seeds in the hole started from. Each player can only play from one of the 6 holes on his/her side.
When the last seed in the player’s hand is placed in a hole on the opponent’s side, when after placing that seed, the seeds in the hole add up to 2 or 3, the player wins the seeds in that hole. The player then scoops up the seeds from that hole and starts a winning pile in front of him/her. A player can only win seeds on the opponent’s side.
If the hole(s) immediately behind the hole your last seed landed in also has 2 or 3 seeds, you also win those seeds as well. The player can win the seeds in up to 4 more holes BEHIND the one the last seed is placed in provided there is an unbroken sequence of 2 or 3 seeds in all the holes.
You are not permitted at anytime to win the seeds in all six holes on the opponent’s side. If a play results in you placing your last seed in the 6th or far most hole on your opponent’s side and there are 2 or 3 seeds in all six holes, the player must forfeit this play so that the opponent can stay in the game.
If one of the players no longer has any seeds on her/his side and it is the opponent’s turn, if possible the opponent must make a play to feed seeds to the other side so the opponent can stay in the game.
When it is no longer possible to feed any more seeds to any side, the game is over; the player with the most seeds wins the game. Having 25 or more seeds wins the game.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Oware at Afro-Fest July 10 - 11, 2010
July 4, 2010
On July 1st, I participated in the Amesbury Canada Day Festival for the first time. I was not too sure I was going to make any art sales as most of the other 70 vendors who participated were selling items for $5 and $10 and used clothing items for as low as $0.50. While I did not sell even one Oware game board, I did have time to teach 10 new players the game. The event was surely not a waste as I did see and purchased a very nice African Shirt from Kenya. I loved the shirt so much that I convinced my mother to buy two for her people in Jamaica. I also told the seller that I would sell the remaining 9 shirts he has left at Afro-Fest the upcoming weekend (July 10-11). I also bought a second hand Tickle me Elmo toy as a mascot (in some fashion) for my Oware campaign. I still remember how Elmo was intrigued by the game when I presented it at the annual Driftwood Festival and this memory triggered a pleasant vibe so I bought the toy. I will clean it up and give him to my son.
Business wise the day was not a wash as many of the vendors, festival staff and shoppers liked my "made in Africa" art and left with some pieces. Overall this was a good event and MACPRI will return next year.
As for now I am doing the final preparations for the big Afro-Fest weekend.
Be sure to visit MACPRI and purchase some of our "made in Africa" art at the Knowledge Bookstore tent behind the statue of the black horse in Queen's Park, Toronto. We will also be selling and teaching the great African board game from Ghana called Oware. For more info on Afro-Fest log on to: http://www.musicafrica.org
See you there.
BO
On July 1st, I participated in the Amesbury Canada Day Festival for the first time. I was not too sure I was going to make any art sales as most of the other 70 vendors who participated were selling items for $5 and $10 and used clothing items for as low as $0.50. While I did not sell even one Oware game board, I did have time to teach 10 new players the game. The event was surely not a waste as I did see and purchased a very nice African Shirt from Kenya. I loved the shirt so much that I convinced my mother to buy two for her people in Jamaica. I also told the seller that I would sell the remaining 9 shirts he has left at Afro-Fest the upcoming weekend (July 10-11). I also bought a second hand Tickle me Elmo toy as a mascot (in some fashion) for my Oware campaign. I still remember how Elmo was intrigued by the game when I presented it at the annual Driftwood Festival and this memory triggered a pleasant vibe so I bought the toy. I will clean it up and give him to my son.
Business wise the day was not a wash as many of the vendors, festival staff and shoppers liked my "made in Africa" art and left with some pieces. Overall this was a good event and MACPRI will return next year.
As for now I am doing the final preparations for the big Afro-Fest weekend.
Be sure to visit MACPRI and purchase some of our "made in Africa" art at the Knowledge Bookstore tent behind the statue of the black horse in Queen's Park, Toronto. We will also be selling and teaching the great African board game from Ghana called Oware. For more info on Afro-Fest log on to: http://www.musicafrica.org
See you there.
BO
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Ian Mcrea joins the Oware Canada Team
June 27, 2010
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Ian Mcrea aka Kwabena to the Oware Canada and Oware Africa in the Classroom team. Just last week Kwabena took the initiative to set up a hastily planned meeting at Driftwood Public School in the City of Toronto. In his excitement around the possibility of getting Oware into this school he had me doing a one hour presentation in the space of 7 minutes - during recess time. For those of you who are teachers in the classroom I know how you crave those few minutes break from your students to pull yourself together before going back to class. To have an unexpected presenter was not the most welcomed thing even though the few teachers present in the staff room were very pleasant. Just before the first bell rang for the teachers to return to their duty they got up and apologized as they walked out on me. Two teachers however stayed behind a little longer as they did not have a class to go to right away. They listened attentively as I continued to present the merits of my product. After leaving them we proceeded to the office to meet with the principal. At the time the principal was walking with someone I recognized and know for more than 25 years. I invited her to join in on our meeting. She was familiar with the game and even obtained an Oware board when she had travelled to Ghana. She did not know how to play and neither did the principal. The opportunity could not have been more perfect for me to teach and old friend, the school's vice principal and the principal at the same time. So Kwabena and I got down to the business of delivering the rules of the game. We spent more than half an hour together with commitments being made on both sides. The Principal has committed to setting up a meeting in September where Kwabena would be able to introduce the game to a larger group of principals. Kwabena, on behalf of MACPRI , has offered to do some in school sessions to train the teacher how to use the game and apply it to their lesson planning. While I was unable to lock in a sale with the principal the meeting turned out to be very positive and promising...
Saturday June 26, I attended the 3rd Annual Knowledge Fest at Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton Ontario. As usually it was my job to teach and entertain young and old alike with Oware. It was a very raining day and many people did not come out, so in addition to poor sales I did not have a lot of people to teach. Melissa and Stacey were my first two plays. I had them sit across from each other and I taught them as they played. Stacey caught on to the game a little quicker than Melissa. I did not believe that Melissa was unable to understand the concepts of the game but she appeared to have approached the game as being more difficult to understand that it was. Once she understood the basic concept she became very comfortable in her zone and the competition began. You could only imagine the intensity on Stacey's face once she saw that Melissa was now ready to give her a serious challenge. Yes, I was happy to walk away and go and look at the Ghana verses USA games as two more people were now able to play Oware with out me. (Ghana won 2:1).
The second group I played with was a mother and son - another Melissa and her son Tarhik. Tarhik had learned the game before from one of my colleagues and has come out to my event to get a refresher before teaching his friends. I played a couples of games with Tarhik, Oware (Abapa) and Mancala and then Oware again. After finishing the third game with Tarhik (15), I asked him to teach a 7 year old boy how to play. Before leaving the Bookstore Tarhik challenged his mother to a game and bet her. It was a sweet ending to the day for me when Tarhik told his mother "I will play you again when I get home." This is just one example of how the great game, a socially engaging activities can help to increase the bonding time between family members. The game is not only got for schools and classrooms, but great for homes and communities as well.
On Saturday June 19 I attended the Annual Driftwood Festival. On this day I thought Oware to children from many cultural backgrounds. I remember the little Chinese girl called Eva who sat in her mother's embrace as she heard the instruction from me in English and the mother translated to her in Chinese. They decided on the moves together before playing. They played the game from start to finished and then politely got up thanked me and walked away. I had 3 Somali children who came back every 20 or so minutes to play and every time they came the brought a new friend. I thought so many different people at the Driftwood Festival including MP Judy Sgro. But the most exciting memory for me of this day's Oware session was that even Elmo - you know the children's cartoon character Tickle Me Elmo? Yes even he was fascinated by the game and instead of doing his job playing with the children, he was rather watching them play Oware. I am not kidding, I have the picture to prove it.
I will be going to the Canada Day Celebration at Amesbury Park on Thursday to continue the Oware Canada Campaign and to sell my "Made in Africa"art. I will update you.
That all for now.
I want to take this opportunity to welcome Ian Mcrea aka Kwabena to the Oware Canada and Oware Africa in the Classroom team. Just last week Kwabena took the initiative to set up a hastily planned meeting at Driftwood Public School in the City of Toronto. In his excitement around the possibility of getting Oware into this school he had me doing a one hour presentation in the space of 7 minutes - during recess time. For those of you who are teachers in the classroom I know how you crave those few minutes break from your students to pull yourself together before going back to class. To have an unexpected presenter was not the most welcomed thing even though the few teachers present in the staff room were very pleasant. Just before the first bell rang for the teachers to return to their duty they got up and apologized as they walked out on me. Two teachers however stayed behind a little longer as they did not have a class to go to right away. They listened attentively as I continued to present the merits of my product. After leaving them we proceeded to the office to meet with the principal. At the time the principal was walking with someone I recognized and know for more than 25 years. I invited her to join in on our meeting. She was familiar with the game and even obtained an Oware board when she had travelled to Ghana. She did not know how to play and neither did the principal. The opportunity could not have been more perfect for me to teach and old friend, the school's vice principal and the principal at the same time. So Kwabena and I got down to the business of delivering the rules of the game. We spent more than half an hour together with commitments being made on both sides. The Principal has committed to setting up a meeting in September where Kwabena would be able to introduce the game to a larger group of principals. Kwabena, on behalf of MACPRI , has offered to do some in school sessions to train the teacher how to use the game and apply it to their lesson planning. While I was unable to lock in a sale with the principal the meeting turned out to be very positive and promising...
Saturday June 26, I attended the 3rd Annual Knowledge Fest at Knowledge Bookstore in Brampton Ontario. As usually it was my job to teach and entertain young and old alike with Oware. It was a very raining day and many people did not come out, so in addition to poor sales I did not have a lot of people to teach. Melissa and Stacey were my first two plays. I had them sit across from each other and I taught them as they played. Stacey caught on to the game a little quicker than Melissa. I did not believe that Melissa was unable to understand the concepts of the game but she appeared to have approached the game as being more difficult to understand that it was. Once she understood the basic concept she became very comfortable in her zone and the competition began. You could only imagine the intensity on Stacey's face once she saw that Melissa was now ready to give her a serious challenge. Yes, I was happy to walk away and go and look at the Ghana verses USA games as two more people were now able to play Oware with out me. (Ghana won 2:1).
The second group I played with was a mother and son - another Melissa and her son Tarhik. Tarhik had learned the game before from one of my colleagues and has come out to my event to get a refresher before teaching his friends. I played a couples of games with Tarhik, Oware (Abapa) and Mancala and then Oware again. After finishing the third game with Tarhik (15), I asked him to teach a 7 year old boy how to play. Before leaving the Bookstore Tarhik challenged his mother to a game and bet her. It was a sweet ending to the day for me when Tarhik told his mother "I will play you again when I get home." This is just one example of how the great game, a socially engaging activities can help to increase the bonding time between family members. The game is not only got for schools and classrooms, but great for homes and communities as well.
On Saturday June 19 I attended the Annual Driftwood Festival. On this day I thought Oware to children from many cultural backgrounds. I remember the little Chinese girl called Eva who sat in her mother's embrace as she heard the instruction from me in English and the mother translated to her in Chinese. They decided on the moves together before playing. They played the game from start to finished and then politely got up thanked me and walked away. I had 3 Somali children who came back every 20 or so minutes to play and every time they came the brought a new friend. I thought so many different people at the Driftwood Festival including MP Judy Sgro. But the most exciting memory for me of this day's Oware session was that even Elmo - you know the children's cartoon character Tickle Me Elmo? Yes even he was fascinated by the game and instead of doing his job playing with the children, he was rather watching them play Oware. I am not kidding, I have the picture to prove it.
I will be going to the Canada Day Celebration at Amesbury Park on Thursday to continue the Oware Canada Campaign and to sell my "Made in Africa"art. I will update you.
That all for now.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
OWARE INTRODUCTION BY MACPRI FOUNDER
June 20, 2010
OWARE INTRODUCTION BY MACPRI FOUNDER
As the founder and chief of MACPRI – ASO Services International, an educational art enterprise, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our product to you. Please see attachment for our teaching resource package.
OWARE: is a “A MATH TEACHING TOOL & ORIGINAL AFRICAN ‘PIT & PEBBLES’ BOARD GAME”
MACPRI is presently working on contracts with carvers in Ghana, West Africa that can see us becoming the main distributor of this product in the country. We presently have a modest 2300 units left in stock. While we have omitted the optional extra hole at each end of the board, this basic board is cost effective and adoptable for playing numerous pit and pebbles games including Mancala. Our retail outlets sell the board (playing pieces included) for $35.00 each plus tax. MACPRI’s direct purchase retail price is $25.00 each plus GST. Special rates are available for quantity orders while supply last. The MACPRI team also conducts demonstrations at affordable rates for schools and community organizations based on the number of games purchased per order.
Oware as you may have learned from our marketing representative is not just a game; it is an educational tool, hand made art and a living history artifact.
A Brief Description of the Oware Math Tool
Oware and approximately 300 other "pit and pebbles" board games incorporate agriculture principles, a math base (counting and strategy) and technology (ancient board used in accounting - debts and credits.) into its playing rules. Online you can find a vast storehouse of cultural and historical information about this under publicized original African concept. As an advocate of Africa in an inclusive classroom, MACPRI continues to seek all opportunities to expand the knowledge and use of one of Africa's gems - the "pit and pebbles" class of game which has been played in Africa for thousands of years. The "pit and pebbles" class of games of which Oware (Ghana), Mancala (Egypt), Ware (Antigua), Caye (Haiti), Awale (Togo) and Ayo (Nigeria) belong has been proven by James Masters and other scholars to be ‘the world's oldest board game’. It is therefore the prototype of such games as chess and checkers. It also makes sense that the most complicated, most sophisticated and most strategic versions of the game come from East and East-Central Africa: Uganda (Omweso), Ethiopia/Eritrea (Gabeta), Tanzania (Bao) and so on. While some 'experts' trace the game's origin to Egypt and refer to it and all other ‘pit and pebbles’ games with the Arab word "Mancala" meaning to count, we are yet to uncover the Ancient Egyptian epistemology of Mancala. Needless to say the ancient game played today all over the world and in such countries as: Germany, France, England, Haiti, The Philippines and India has its origin in Africa
The game has been incorporated into school curriculum in Antigua, Australia, Great Britain, France and Sweden based on the reports from England’s Oware Society. The game as a math tool is applicable at all grade levels: at the primary level as a basic counting device; at the primary/junior level to develop the skills required in the mathematics process; at the junior/intermediate/senior level the games can be applied in developing thinking skills and strategic planning. In extra curricula activities and newcomer educational development the game board is an excellent tool as well.
This teaching tool has already been adopted in some TDSB/TCDSB schools and is used in community organizations across the GTA. Most GTA students who know the game have been introduced to the Mancala (Egyptian) version of the game.
While MACPRI presently teaches three different games (Oware-Abapa, Rounders/Namnam and Mancala) in our demonstrations we are particular about Oware-Abapa because it is very popular globally; it is used for international competition and is much more strategic than Mancala.
MACPRI presently teaches the game to anyone interested in preparation for our First International Oware Tournament to be held in Toronto in the Summer/Fall of 2011. Schools interested in ordering our product, booking a demonstration or receiving additional information can call Andrew Martin, Deputy Chief of MACPRI at 416-230-8301 or email macpri@gmail.com. All emails should be cc to deputyofmacpri@gmail.com.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
VOS Oware Math & Africa in the Classroom
May 18, 2010
Toronto, Canada
Indeed the summer 2010 Toronto Oware season has begun and I have my work cut out for me to maximize the possibilities until I travel again in October.
My first presentation took place at the annual Visions of Science Symposium (VOS)www.vosnl.org May 8th at Ryerson University. The symposium featured presentations and activities in the area of math, science and technology. MACPRI's presentation was entitled: Oware Math and Africa in the Classroom. This was MACPRI'S first time as a feature at the symposium and we will definitely participate again next year. A small but appreciative group came out for my workshop and I was not disappointed because 10 more people left my presence knowing how to play a new game with more history than the age of all the people in the room put together. I am grateful to Francis Jeffers, the Symposium organizer, for having the vision for science and for allowing me to participate. I look forward to next year's symposium and wish VOS much success. For anyone interested, VOS runs science clubs all over the GTA.
May 28th - 30th, the MACPRI team will be at the Carassauga Festival Africa Pavilion for the second year conducting the Pavilion's Oware/Aware/Awale tournament, signing up participants for the 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament and selling African Art.
Last year's Africa Pavilion Oware tournament was well received and prices were given to the tournament winners by People of Motherland Culture, organizers of the Africa Pavilion. As a part of the Annual Carassauga Festival, the Africa Pavilion is well attended and Olga and Georgette (organizers) do a great job to give the 1000s of people who pass through a little taste of various aspects of Africa. For more information on the Africa Pavilion and the Carassauga Festival log on to: www.carassuaga.com.
If any other events and opportunities come where you can come out to play or learn to play Oware prior to the Carassauga Festival I will be sure to share it.
Peace,
Brother Oji
Toronto, Canada
Indeed the summer 2010 Toronto Oware season has begun and I have my work cut out for me to maximize the possibilities until I travel again in October.
My first presentation took place at the annual Visions of Science Symposium (VOS)www.vosnl.org May 8th at Ryerson University. The symposium featured presentations and activities in the area of math, science and technology. MACPRI's presentation was entitled: Oware Math and Africa in the Classroom. This was MACPRI'S first time as a feature at the symposium and we will definitely participate again next year. A small but appreciative group came out for my workshop and I was not disappointed because 10 more people left my presence knowing how to play a new game with more history than the age of all the people in the room put together. I am grateful to Francis Jeffers, the Symposium organizer, for having the vision for science and for allowing me to participate. I look forward to next year's symposium and wish VOS much success. For anyone interested, VOS runs science clubs all over the GTA.
May 28th - 30th, the MACPRI team will be at the Carassauga Festival Africa Pavilion for the second year conducting the Pavilion's Oware/Aware/Awale tournament, signing up participants for the 2011 Toronto International Oware Tournament and selling African Art.
Last year's Africa Pavilion Oware tournament was well received and prices were given to the tournament winners by People of Motherland Culture, organizers of the Africa Pavilion. As a part of the Annual Carassauga Festival, the Africa Pavilion is well attended and Olga and Georgette (organizers) do a great job to give the 1000s of people who pass through a little taste of various aspects of Africa. For more information on the Africa Pavilion and the Carassauga Festival log on to: www.carassuaga.com.
If any other events and opportunities come where you can come out to play or learn to play Oware prior to the Carassauga Festival I will be sure to share it.
Peace,
Brother Oji
Friday, January 22, 2010
Friday January 22, 2010
Yesterday my first born turned 4 years old. I am so blessed and am reminded of the challenges that face our people all around the world and in Haiti especially at this time. May our Ancestors anchor the ships in our harbour of life always.
Talking about Ancestors whom I praise everyday, my senior brother Roy T. Anderson, a well known Hollywood stunt performer recently left Ghana. He was in Ghana for his second visit. The first visit was for my marriage January 21, 2007, where he attended with his wife Alison. She accompanied him on his second trip - a journey more historic, significant and bigger than the first one.
Roy T. Anderson who is working on his first feature length documentary came to Ghana to complete shooting for his film entitled Akwantu - The Journey. The documentary looks at our family lineage and our connection to the legendary fighting Maroons of Accompong, St. Elizabeth Jamaica.
While the primary shooting look place in the four major Maroon communities of Jamaica and in the home district of the producer (Ridge Pen St. Elizabeth). The Journey also includes amazing never before seen footage at the slave river in Assin Manso where many of our Ancestors took their last bath before being loaded on the ships for the unforgetable journey across the Atlantic.
Many things are memorable for me on the Ghana leg of the Akwantu shoot, however the one incident that sticks out most in my mind is the time the little fishing boat nearly tipped over while we were filming on the Ocean near Cape Coast dungeon. The water at that point was 8 miles deep and we were less than a mile from the shore. Incredible! The waves were so powerful that we could have tipped anytime but the director continued to shoot. And I as his able photographer continued to do the same as we imagined and experienced some of the fears our Ancestors felt as they journeyed to the moving dungeon they would be on for up to 3 months. Many did not even survive the first day on the 'slave' ship.
At this same place at the Gulf of Guinea which flows into the Atlantic Ocean , I shared my most celebrated ode to our Ancestors and we all remembered that the Journey of who we are as Rowe began in Africa with our original names, culture and tradition. I am also pleased that the director did not focus so much on the slave history but shot footage in Cape Coast, Kormantse, Ejisu and Kumasi to show aspects of our life on The Journey before enslavement.
As enslaved Africans, our Ancestors blessed enough to survive the middle passage became the property of their slave master, no different than their animals. They were branded with the master's name and therefore from our mother's lineage where we trace our links through Alfred Rowe, to the Maroons of Accompong back to Africa, Ghana, Kormantse, Akan: this is Akwantu - The Journey.
The Director is presently working on a facebook presence for Akwantu and I understand that it will be launched very soon. The documentary is scheduled for submission to the Toronto International Film Festival 2011. This is around the same time that I will be staging the First Toronto International Oware Tournament.
MACPRI was the principle and official photographer for the documentary. My next exhibit is scheduled for 2012, but in light of Akwantu please look out for the companion Akwantu photo-exhit for September 2011.
Yesterday my first born turned 4 years old. I am so blessed and am reminded of the challenges that face our people all around the world and in Haiti especially at this time. May our Ancestors anchor the ships in our harbour of life always.
Talking about Ancestors whom I praise everyday, my senior brother Roy T. Anderson, a well known Hollywood stunt performer recently left Ghana. He was in Ghana for his second visit. The first visit was for my marriage January 21, 2007, where he attended with his wife Alison. She accompanied him on his second trip - a journey more historic, significant and bigger than the first one.
Roy T. Anderson who is working on his first feature length documentary came to Ghana to complete shooting for his film entitled Akwantu - The Journey. The documentary looks at our family lineage and our connection to the legendary fighting Maroons of Accompong, St. Elizabeth Jamaica.
While the primary shooting look place in the four major Maroon communities of Jamaica and in the home district of the producer (Ridge Pen St. Elizabeth). The Journey also includes amazing never before seen footage at the slave river in Assin Manso where many of our Ancestors took their last bath before being loaded on the ships for the unforgetable journey across the Atlantic.
Many things are memorable for me on the Ghana leg of the Akwantu shoot, however the one incident that sticks out most in my mind is the time the little fishing boat nearly tipped over while we were filming on the Ocean near Cape Coast dungeon. The water at that point was 8 miles deep and we were less than a mile from the shore. Incredible! The waves were so powerful that we could have tipped anytime but the director continued to shoot. And I as his able photographer continued to do the same as we imagined and experienced some of the fears our Ancestors felt as they journeyed to the moving dungeon they would be on for up to 3 months. Many did not even survive the first day on the 'slave' ship.
At this same place at the Gulf of Guinea which flows into the Atlantic Ocean , I shared my most celebrated ode to our Ancestors and we all remembered that the Journey of who we are as Rowe began in Africa with our original names, culture and tradition. I am also pleased that the director did not focus so much on the slave history but shot footage in Cape Coast, Kormantse, Ejisu and Kumasi to show aspects of our life on The Journey before enslavement.
As enslaved Africans, our Ancestors blessed enough to survive the middle passage became the property of their slave master, no different than their animals. They were branded with the master's name and therefore from our mother's lineage where we trace our links through Alfred Rowe, to the Maroons of Accompong back to Africa, Ghana, Kormantse, Akan: this is Akwantu - The Journey.
The Director is presently working on a facebook presence for Akwantu and I understand that it will be launched very soon. The documentary is scheduled for submission to the Toronto International Film Festival 2011. This is around the same time that I will be staging the First Toronto International Oware Tournament.
MACPRI was the principle and official photographer for the documentary. My next exhibit is scheduled for 2012, but in light of Akwantu please look out for the companion Akwantu photo-exhit for September 2011.
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