'Obroni' means 'white man' and I'm the only one around. Is he referring to my clothes? My haircut? The fact I haven't shaved yet? Is it because I'm walking a bit lost through the pickpocketing centre of Ghana? Or does he know that I'm about to get on one of many other rusty minibuses - 'Tro-Tros' - and head to James Town, Accra's poorest district?
I don't stop to ask. I'm already late for my first visit to the Community Theatre Centre, have already missed one bus and (as I suspect) am about to get lost for the second time. The new tro-tro takes me miles away from where I want to be and, when I find out, everyone on board laughs ... but in a friendly way.
A week into my time in Ghana and it feels, predictably perhaps, like I've been here for months. I've learnt to avoid the gaping drains on either side of every road, I've become used to drinking cool water out of a plastic packet. I've eaten more plaintain in the last seven days than I've encountered in my whole life and I've very nearly - very very nearly - mastered the Ghanaian handshake - a limp squeeze followed by a powerful snap of the index fingers.
And I've started to discover the work of Theatre for a Change - started here in 2003 by Patrick Young and now expanding into other countries in Africa.
As with any new job, it's been difficult to make a mark straight away: I've been impatient to get involved in everything but have arrived at a time when everyone is busy. There are projects everywhere: teacher training initiatives in colleges in and around Accra, a new community theatre project in Amasaman - a district in the North West of the capital. And a new term at the Community Theatre Centre in James Town, where I spent virtually my entire weekend.
In the last few days I've started to get a real insight into the company and how it works. I hope that this blog will be a record of my time here and my thoughts as the work develops and, more importantly, as a personal overview of TfaC's methodology and projects across Accra and beyond.
I also hope to set up a couple of projects while I'm in Accra - looking perhaps to create links between the facilitators and young people working here and theatre makers in London and the UK.
Suggestions, feedback, questions and ideas are all really welcome.
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