Week 4 - the RYSE in Ghana
Updated: 3 days ago
Hello family! We've made it to our fourth and final week of the SANKOFANUNANSA Planet Repairs Action Learning Internationalist Grounding trip 2026!
This week we're back at the MAYCESC in Nsawam, spending time with our siblings and working out what the road ahead looks like, as well as taking trips into Accra and doing a fair bit of digging (stay tuned!)
We’re too busy (and still taking things in) to put out any more detailed reflections right now, so save your questions for our 21st October event (details on our events page :)) and stay tuned for more! We hope autumn has arrived well in the valleys at home❤️
After a long drive on Monday we arrived back, overcoming a minor breakdown and the Accra traffic. Forwards ever!
We’ve been taking the (extensive) time on bus journeys to do study sessions, learn each other’s songs and generally get curious about everything from the Socialist Movement of Ghana, to different kinds of local lizards.
Sharing music has been a very important part of this trip, led by our resident radical musician Teddy. As well as some Teddy originals, we’ve shared and sung a bunch of radical English folk songs together with John Ball (a song about the peasant’s revolt) being the biggest hit! We also had some rousing car-full editions of bella ciao and the internationale!
We’ve also learnt some drumming techniques, songs in Ewe, and heard spirited debates about current popstar beef.
There have been many rich and emotive conversations about the importance of music with purpose, how it links to people’s/oral histories, indigenous sovereignty, resistance and language. Watch this space!
A flavour of our bus study sessions:
Consciencism by Kwame Nkrumah
We make the road by walking - by Myles Horton and Paulo Freire
How George Padmore, Dorothy Pizer and Nancy Cunard modeled genuine anti-imperialist friendship
‘The white man’s duty’, a pamphlet about what it would take for Europeans to genuinely join in the fight against imperialism - by the above 3
The long transition to socialism - by Torkil Lauesen
The use of the death penalty in India against the Adivasi 10
Plus (lively) discussions on Eurocentric beauty standards, the state of gen z in Ghana, Shatta Wale vs Stonebwoy and its implications for decolonisation, public transport and much more.
Once we arrived back in Nsawam we spent the first day doing media work (making videos, sorting footage, writing our blog etc) running errands and planning our final week.
On Wednesday some of the team were up at 5:30am digging a pond for the MAYCESC to house ducks, which will hopefully scare off snakes. The MAYCESC is such a testament to the slow but steady process of building a physical centre and it’s interesting to experience the different considerations for this here in Ghana, compared to at home.
We’ve also been doing skillshares on media creation with PAYSCOG (the Pan Afrikan Youth and Student Council of Ghana). This is a continuation of the Planet Repairs Internationalist Grassroots Media Action learning Training (PRIGMALT) work that we began earlier this year, led by our resident journalist Roma. We’re working on training the trainers at the moment, applying what we’ve all been learning on the trip, adapting to the realities on the ground and the strategies of organisers here!
Friday saw us travelling into Accra, where we first visited Black Star Square. It was built in 1961 to celebrate Ghana’s independence, and is used for many big political events and rallies today. When we arrived we found the Tour de Ghana preparing to set off!
We spent some time just soaking it in - we found it interesting to be somewhere so big and grand that celebrates something positive, as opposed to most big monuments in the UK. It brought to life again the complexities of modern Ghana: looking out to sea from the stands of Black Star Square beside the independence arch, with old enslavement forts on either side (largely unmarked/uncommemorated) down the coast, people - clearly impoverished - asleep beside us on the seats, hawkers insistently trying to sell us sunglasses, the beauty of the monument and sheer size of the square, and the people filming tiktoks.
We then went to visit the George Padmore research library, an unassuming complex not far from Black Star Square that houses a multitude of Panafrican books, (including some that are very rare), research material and even files from the independence government.
It was opened by Nkurmah shortly after Padmore’s death, and it’s claimed to be the only library and research center in Ghana mandated by law to receive a legal deposit.
Tho initially intended as a brief visit , it quickly descended into all of us nose deep in different corners of the room. Teddy read about traditional housing and its village culture in pre colonial/colonial Ghanaian villages, and found a book written in Welsh! Meg examined a book called ‘Education in Africa’ that was wider than their head, found an English lady’s account of 1950s Accra, and a photo album of almost definitely unpublished photos of Padmore and Pizer, and of Padmore’s funeral. Robin looked at a book called A Marxist Analysis of Precolonial Ewe Society and Roma rifled through 1950-80s newspapers!
We also spent time speaking to the staff and the director, talking about the work of the centre, how we can link together, and upcoming events next year.
We also had a few important visits to make around Accra - first, to meet Dr Obaapinin, an academic at the University of Media Arts and Communications in Accra who supported our visa application! She took us on a brief tour of the University and we spent a great afternoon discussing the state of universities in Ghana with her. And finally we paid a visit again to Togbe Afede, which marked our final official engagement of the trip.
And then, with our remaining time we had planning meetings, goodbye drinks of Stroud community juice and finished a few of the practical jobs! We’ll miss our family here a lot, though we are also excited to be home❤️
As we return home, it is not the end of this work - and not the beginning either! This attempt of peoples to peoples internationalist diplomacy, of practical solidarity, co-liberation, and however many pretty (buzz)words we want to put in here - it’s only as meaningful as the work touches down!! As the others pack around me, we’re right in the feels of the privilege and responsibility in undertaking this work. We'll leave you with these beautiful words from Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah:
“The task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge - a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve - to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of [humankind]. Dare we ask for more in life?"
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