Project week 4

And so we moved into the final week of the project.  Time on the project had gone so fast with so much to do and so many new experiences.

We knew the final week of the project was going to be majorly full-on, so on Sunday Kasia and I went to the Labadi Beach hotel for the day to relax by the pool and chill a little in preparation for the ensuing mayhem.  We had a delicious lunch (with cheese!  And coconut juice!) and had a lovely time swimming, sketching, listening to music and watching the lizards run around.

The epic editing task had started by the beginning of the week, which as expected ran massively over time with lots of technical glitches.  Everyone worked really hard and in the end the films were edited, rendered and burned on to DVD in time (just!) for the final show on Friday.

At the beginning of the week, we had promotional posters printed advertising the final show, and Elliot, Daniel and Setri went out in the wee small hours of the morning and flyposted them all around town.

This week Frank on the team had pulled off the coup of getting Accra’s only multiplex cinema to put a free showing of a film on for all of the children on the project.  This was a big deal as many of them head never been to the mall, let alone a big cinema before, and as we were all working on a film-making project we felt like this would be a great reward for all of their hard work.  So, early on Tuesday morning, the children were ferried from the school to the cinema (in the Accra Mall) in shifts in our Trotro, and when they got into the mall were really awed and so well-behaved.  They loved the film (Despicable Me 2) – giving a running commentary and clapping at key moments throughout .  Even more exciting than the film though were the toilet facilities.  This was the first experience for some of the children of soap dispensers and hand dryers, and when they worked out how to use them they were mesmerised. 

 Humu and Benedicta in the Mall

On Wednesday we started working on the stage design for the final show - Gonzo had come up with a great idea for a circus-type feel, with lots of bright African fabric and big animals.  To make the animals, first we needed lots of cardboard:

Isaac carrying lots of very heavy cardboard the Ghanaian way

Then we worked out with the children which animals they would like to draw on a large scale to decorate the set.  Some choices were a surprise!

 Prince cutting out a dragon drawn by Joseph

The week flew past, and suddenly it was Friday.  We were still battling against the clock to get the films ready for burning onto DVD, and Gonzo, Setri and Isaac spent all day at the show venue setting up the stage, chairs, lighting, sound and decorations.  Meanwhile Kyekyeku and I went on the GBC national radio breakfast show, to talk about the project and Akosia, which was a really fun experience.

The last session of the project at the Street Academy finished with us giving all of the children a school pack, containing all sorts of goodies like books, pencils and pens, to use in the next school year. 

Suddenly we were leaving the school for the last time, hot-footing it across town to get changed and pick up equipment to take to the venue to finish setting up before the final show actually began. The stage looked amazing and the space gradually started filling up with the audience as darkness fell.

The programme started with some performances from the children and some of the volunteers.  The children are amazingly talented dancers, singers, comedians and acrobats, and they performed some amazing acts.  Kyekyeku, the children and I also performed the song 'Madamfo' (Ga for 'my friend') which was the theme song Kyekyeku had written for the two films.

 After all the performances were over, it was time for the main event and the screening of the two films that the children had made over the course of the project.  The lights were dimmed and the children sat and watched themselves on the big screen, cheering and clapping at what they had achieved.  For most of the volunteers, this was the first time we had seen both films in their entirety, and it was a very proud and emotional moment.

Emotions continued to run high for the rest of the night, with a certificate-giving ceremony after the films followed by an impromptu dance party with all of the children until our time ran out and we had to vacate the venue.  It was so sad to have to finally leave all of the children, but at the same time we were all so happy to have had such a great show and to have had such an awesome experience with the children on the project.