LDG: Link The Deaf Ghana – Sign Language Video

It was in April that the story started. My colleagues, Daniel and Lansah, invited me for a sign language class held in Tamale. When I arrived at the place with them, I saw parents of our deaf children sitting on benches under a tree. This story started with the warm hearts of the colleagues.

I make a habit of seeing off students at the end of term. On the last day of term, students go home by twos and threes from morning to evening and students who come from far towns hire a bus and leave school in a group. And it was 2 years ago that I was really shocked by the words of students. When I said to some students “You’re happy now to go home!”, they answered “No”. They explained that their family didn’t know sign language and they couldn’t communicate with their family. Imagine that you live in a family without communication and that are isolated in your sweet home. Nevertheless I realized that I was regrettably helpless for this matter because it’s a family business.

When I was talking with Lansah and Daniel about the sign language class for parents, I suggested making a sign language video and distributing it to parents for their self-learning at home, which would help deaf children and parents to communicate each other. And I asked my colleagues if they wanted to work on it. And since they did agree to the idea of the project, I declared that I would be an assistant and all responsibilities for the sign language video belonged to them. I’m a temporally volunteer at school and leave the country when time comes, but the sign language video is supposed to have several volumes to cover necessary vocabularies and expressions for fluent communicate with the deaf. Therefore I thought that they needed to start and carry out the project by themselves and I ought to help them as less as possible, otherwise they wouldn’t acquire sufficient skills and knowledge to complete the project by themselves after I leave Ghana. Yet the story wasn’t that easy.

After we agreed in May, I suggested firstly listing the vocabularies we had taught by then, which were just as many as 20 or 30, and writing them on a piece of paper, but to my great surprise, it took them to list them up for 2 months. In the meanwhile, what I did was to advice what they should do and to threaten them what would happen if they didn’t do it. For this is “their” project and result is theirs; if they complete it by themselves, it’ll be their confidence and experience, but if I lead the project, they’ll NOT be able to make video by themselves and keep being dependent. In Ghana people are in general dependent; they always expect that someone helps them in both funding and doing. That’s why I didn’t help them unless they started. As a result, they did nothing for 2 months and just before the end of the term they started. Anyway I was happy that we could shoot some video clips before students went back home, otherwise we would’ve lost the time of whole vacation.

It was a battle to teach them making video anyway. They didn’t come; they never accepted their mistakes; they couldn’t understand some concepts in computing; they easily forgot and so on. We had quarrels sometimes and they even boycotted the job, yet in October they finally finished editing and made copies of DVD. It was a long way which took them for 6 months, but anyway they made it. And at my last day of sign language class, some parents told me that they started communicating with their children thanks to the sign language DVD. I can’t express my feeling in words when I saw their smile. May deaf children find a paradise at home. And the project continues by the hands of Lansah and Daniel to save all the deaf children living in Ghana at last as they put their wishes in the project name LDG: make a like between all the deaf and all the hearing people living in Ghana.

 

LDG (Link the Deaf Ghana): Sign Language Video: http://youtu.be/QhIUHSIwbgs 

 

 

Sheeda The Angel

I am still in my dream of Ghana so I want you to be with me to share my dream for the time being. In the last term, JHS-2 (currently JHS-3) students worked on making video, which is the final destination of my activities and helped us make the film “Walk Together”, and their performances were very good in making video. And the current JHS-2 class tried the same job in this term, however since the academic performance of this class was pretty low, I’d been worried about their performance. And there’re some students who misbehaved in everyday life like cheating, stealing, braking school rules, so as a result 11 students (out of 18) could participate in making video in this term. Firstly students must pass the 50-Computer Terminology exam at the beginning of term to join my class, otherwise they have to continue to work on it until they pass it. This is my rule. Then students must behave properly in everyday life, following school rules because school is a place to learn right behavior in real society. This is education. Lastly students can harvest fruits of pleasure; “No pain, no gain”, without your efforts and decency, you wouldn’t be able to get anything in life.

And in the process of making video, there are 3 steps done by students: planning, shooting and editing. In the first step, students must discuss about contents of video such as story, action, location, actors, caption etc. and bring all the ideas to me. And the second step, shooting, is the most enjoyable for most students, except those who can’t memorize lines and act well. And in the last phase, students complete video by editing original clips, however there are a couple of students living in daydream with fairies in this class, who don’t need to play with such a metaphysical matter, so those students couldn’t handle the first and third steps, strictly speaking they didn’t “make video” but just “acted”; as a matter of fact, only 2 students could understand how to edit video, so we should’ve relied on the leaders. Making video is not such an easy job for some students.

And one of the leaders, called Sheeda, brought a story that first of all “dance”, then “dance”, and lastly “dance”. Well, I understand that it’s not easy for them to bring a story, but it’s not good enough to work on it, because they should be aware of feeling of audience. Even if actors and dancers enjoy it, if audience can’t enjoy it, it’s meaningless. Therefore I had to give them some ideas to make it interesting, which is a kind of cheating as a teacher, though. Based on their idea, I advised to add some trick to enhance fun. When some problem happens, an angel suddenly appears and gives a candy and starts dancing. And other people also follow her dancing, and when the angel thinks enough, she disappears and the problems are solved. It’s a magical fantasy of daydream. And fortunately some of members, Rafiatu, Amoabil, and Moidib, who can’t understand editing video, are daydreamers and the leader “Sheeda The Angel” is very good at computer and has her devotion. Thanks to the efforts of students and help of fairies, they could create an interesting original video. I think you can enjoy it, please take a look! “Show People for Fun”: http://youtu.be/iFWw83AAPKs

By the way, in Ghana, at least in our school, there is neither an event nor album for graduation; students keep memories of school days only in their mind. Ghanaians may have different mentality for such a thing, but I feel a little bit sad for the situation, so I make a graduation video for JHS-3 students. And I always carry a camera with me and take photos and videos for graduation video whenever I have a chance. There’re lots of cute and adorable scenes in the graduation videos that you would enjoyJ Anyway I also uploaded the videos on YouTube, so why don’t you give it a try!!

  

<< Graduation Video >>

A Seed of Tampopo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_LVnBDyWWM

Collaborate The all action Together:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IoKQC0-Mjfc

Live and Let Live:
http://youtu.be/NPXDyAJp3aE

 

<< Students' Video >>

 A friend in need is a friend indeed:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q08EPSKAHCY

Peace as Deaf:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7lfo80SIbA

Patience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEMGF9AUdGk

Show Dance Azonto:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9I0aZ2Vsdfw

 Show People For Fun:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFWw83AAPKs
 

<< School Demo Video >>

 

Savelugu School For the Deaf Demo2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3d2f_TmxyJQ

 

Who Makes War?

This is a conversation with a German guy at a birthday party in Berlin, Germany. When I entered the kitchen, he was making a cake and said, “You know, German men know how to make not only war but cake”. It was self-torture, but is that true? Do you know how to make a war? And in Czech, I had a conversation with German men in a bar that local people talked in whispers when they talked in German at a bus stop. The Germans said that they didn’t know exactly what the people talked about but they could perceive negative atmosphere. Is it bad to talk in German in Czech Republic?

Another conversation. When one of my German friends, a historian in Jewish studies, introduced herself, she said “I’m from Germany.” And I said “Oh, you’re GermanJ” but she continued, “I’m from Germany.” She didn’t want to identify herself as a German. Do you know why? It is because of historical matters by the Nazi. However I’m wondering if the Germans living today are guilty for that? Do you wish that Germans living today should live with some sort of negative feeling in life? And should they inherit responsibilities for different generations, due to the fact that they’re just born in the same country? It is obvious that they have nothing to do with the Nazi but they shoulder burdens of the Nazi unwillingly and unconsciously. Some might say that Hitler was elected by votes of Germans then so Germans are guilty. But can election reflect all the wills of citizen in a country? We should logically and rationally consider it. In my opinion, this is an elaborate trick to brainwash Germans and it would be a well-planned conspiracy to suppress and control them by “white people”.

These conversations reminded me of the WGIP(War Guilt Information) program conspired by GHQ (General Headquarter) in Japan after the World War II. America wanted to smash the confidence of Japanese, thinking of the post-war, so they set the program to plant the mentality of self-torture in the mind of Japanese during the course of occupation in Japan. In this program, they brainwashed Japanese as Japan was wrong and Japanese were bad people by all means. And Ooe Kenzaburou received the Nobel Prize in literature because he wrote novels with the perspective of self-torture, namely the Nobel Prize worked as a tool to brainwash Japanese and assist this program. “Thank to” the program, Japanese are not proud of the brave deeds of fathers during the WW II, which smashed imperialism and colonization of the West and led people in colonies all over the world to the emancipation. By the way, I must apologize to you about the link; as you know, although normally I put a link in Wikipedia when needed, as for this WGI program, there is no page in English nor any foreign languages, other than in Japanese. Is it a taboo or something behind it?

In the Cold War, both sides, America and Soviet Union made so many nuclear warheads, and what happened after the War is that they’re dismantled and dumped. Be sure that there’re some people who made money in the process of both “making” and “destroying” the weapons. Do you remember the Narcotic Business Model? Imagine that both sides are friends, pretending that they are fighting. Isn’t it an example of the model? Even if it’s impossible in the scale you have, it’s possible for those who have a different scale. Joseph Goebbels once said, “The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed.”

So who makes wars? Can German men make a war? No way! Do you really think that ordinary people have the power to make a war? A president? No. Even the most powerful president in the world can be assassinated by a single bullet of gun. Why ordinary people need to feel guilty for wars in the past? My answer is those who are behind administration of countries, namely “white people”.

 

Conspiracy Hypothesis

 

There is a book in Japanese called “Man who did the truth of Kennedy in 2039” by Nobuhiko OCHIAI. The author talks about the assassination of John F. Kennedy that had taken place on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, America. The president of America was assassinated before people’s very eyes in the parade, and according to the official investigation done by the President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy known unofficially as the Warren Commission, which was established by President Lyndon B. Johnson on November 29, 1963 to investigate the assassination of United States President John F. Kennedy, the president seems to be shot by a man called “Lee Harvey Oswald” alone. However we can’t prove it today because this man was also assassinated before police’s very eyes by “Jack Ruby”, who died in a jail 4 years later by cancer. If you have a chance to study about the assassination, you’ll encounter many strange “facts”.

And it is obvious that this assassination was well planned and executed by some group of people and without the power (or help) of FBI and police, it wouldn’t have been completed. Although I don’t know about the truth of this case, when I red that book, I realized that the president of the United States doesn’t have the supreme authority in America and the existence of people who have the power to murder a president of USA in front of citizens. Isn’t that surprising facts that the president of the United States of America is not the head of the country and rather can be killed so easily? And the Commission records, which were transferred to the National Archives, were partially published and some portion of the records was sealed for 75 years (to 2039) under a general National Archive policy in order to protect innocent people who could be damaged by their relationship with participants in the case (though 98% of the records had been released by 1992). It’s very sure to me that a conspiracy exists behind it, so you might say, “It’s a conspiracy theory.”

It you speak out an idea that is NOT broadcasted on TV and printed on newspaper or textbooks, some people criticize the idea by labeling as “a conspiracy theory” and ordinary people believe it without thinking. As for me, I don’t want to believe subjective and selective information from mass media and textbooks used at schools straightaway, because I’ve ever found many inconsistencies and contradictions in it. I always try to examine any information with objective views and never throw away any slight possibilities unless they are completely denied with objective perspective and without political intensions. Isn’t that too easy to say “Oh, it’s a conspiracy theory” and finish it?

By the way, what’s the difference between Theory and Hypothesis? According to the Collins COBUILD dictionary, a Theory is “1. a formal idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain something, 2. If you have a theory about something, you have your own opinion about it which you cannot prove but which you think is true”, and a Hypothesis is “an idea which is suggested as a possible explanation for a particular situation or condition, but which has not yet been proved to be correct”. As you can see, what’s in common is that both are not necessarily telling the truth, in other words a hypothesis can be true and a theory can be true. Yet to avoid such a criticism, I call it “Conspiracy Hypothesis”. The thing is, people finalize it without thinking and even checking it. Please be sure that all theories proved by great scientists used to be hypotheses at the beginning.  

According to some people or group of people called “Revisionists” like Bishop Richard Williamson, the Holocaust, the genocide of Jews, can be interpreted in a completely different manner. I don’t know the truth, but I don’t deny any possibilities unless it is proved. Both can be possible. And in America today, a lot of people have started claiming that the September11 attacks (so-called 9/11) was an internal job done by those who control the administration of the United States of America, which is called “9/11 Truth movement”. And there is another one called “Moon landing conspiracy theories”, which claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes made by NASA and members of other organizations. As far as I listen to its explanations, I think it’s convincing and believable enough to examine and study further. But people don’t study, even just look at some page on the Internet and judge it as a conspiracy theory.  

On the other hand, as a matter of fact, the copyright for Mickey Mouse was supposed to expire in 2003, but the Walt Disney Company lobbied extensively and they’ve got the extension of 20 years for it, which is called “Copyright Term Extension Act”. And the Federal Reserve Act, which granted FRB, which is a private company, the legal authority to issue National Reserve Note, namely U.S. dollar, was supposed to expire, but it still exists. As I mentioned before, “white people” change rules for their profit; in other words rules does exist to satisfy “white people”. My question is why those who criticize Revisionism, 9/11 Truth movement, or other “conspiracy theories” that they call, don’t criticize the Copyright Term Extension Act and the Federal Reserve Act? Because these Acts are not “theories” but real conspiracies? If so, my insistence wouldn’t be criticized because I call it “Conspiracy Hypothesis”. Why do they criticize it? For it’s the truth? Or to hide real conspiracies? Anyway I believe that the Roots of conspiracy and “International Development” would be the same.

Reference in YouTube:

Bishop Richard Williamson - Gas Chambers, Anti-Semitism and the Truth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6C9BuXe2RM

911 Truth Loose change 2nd edition 9/11 Documentary Full length:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z__4ZhF36Mc

THE Moon Landing Hoax (Full documentary):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VW4_5kAPzb0

Monopoly Men (1999) The Fed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biCbUFrbLv8

Presidency in Africa

Why are there many presidents in Africa? This is the question I want to ask today. I’m not talking about academic matters, but more conspiratorial perspective here. There’d be explanations and theories for it, but why presidency? My answer is simple, “Because a president can have more power on affairs of country”. So why should it be more powerful than other political forms? My answer is simple, “Because it’s easy to control a country from outside. Namely all you need to do is to control a president in order to control a country”. Presidency in Africa is the symbol of neo-imperialism to my eyes. Independence, president, development, democracy, they’re all beautiful words but in reality “they” exploit Africa in the name of independent; “they” rob Africa in the name of president; “they” destroy Africa in the name of development, and “they” trick Africa in the name of democracy.  

Nigeria is the biggest country of producing oil in Africa, but unbelievably there is no oil refinery in the country so they must buy petrol from “them”. Why the president of Nigeria doesn’t make a refinery? My answer is simple because he’s an agent sent by “them”. Or why western countries don’t help Nigeria make a refinery? My answer is simple because the West doesn’t want Africa to have power in any economical activities. Or why any external commercial refinery companies don’t make a refinery in Nigeria? My answer is simple because someone interferes to make an oil refinery with invisible power, which would never come out to mass media and textbooks. If there were an oil refinery in Nigeria, its neighboring countries would profit from it to a great degree. But it won’t happen, because it means that some western countries lose their market in Africa. Therefore “they” need their branches and branch managers to control internal affairs in the name of “president”.

And when western countries make an international trade treaty with developing countries, they try to sign it in the form of “bilateral treaty”, which is a treaty strictly between two state parties, and in which they can easily manipulate decision making with the power of money and politics. On the other hand, there is another form of treaty called “Multilateralism”, in which three or more organizations or countries collaborate to solve issues. Needless to say, it can be more powerful and profitable if all power is harmonized, but there would be much possibility of discussion and opposition in the process of decision making. If you have some bad intension in your mind, which would you choose bilateralism or multilateralism? Do you want to talk about your conspiracy with others? In bilateral treaty, all you need to do is to bribe a president in the name of international development.

Let me briefly talk about the case of Zimbabwe. When this country got its independence in 1980, it was called “The most blessed independence in Africa”. The both, large-scale farms owned by white people and small-scale farms owned by black people, had high productivity and its agricultural base was almost perfect. Agricultural products were exported to neighboring countries; literacy rate was more than 90%; there were large-scale industrial cities; mineral resources were so affluent; and railways and roads were well-built etc. However Robert Mugabe became the president of Zimbabwe and things changed drastically in a bad manner. And on June 26, 2006, he declared in his speech like the following: “This extreme rise in prices is a conspiracy of British. We must resist. In order to protect the life of citizens, companies and shops must sell all products in half price. I’ll nationalize all the businesses that don’t comply.” As a result, inflation rate rose up to 160,000% at maximum and domestic economy was completely destroyed. Did he protect citizens with it? Some might say that it’s because of his greediness, but why did he need to destroy agricultural base too by sending former guerrillas to farms? He could exploit from them if his intension was only for his greediness. So who really profits from devastation of African countries? My answer is the western counties that export products to Africa. In short, he oppressed the life of citizens and helped western countries.

This is my conspiratorial delusion. If Mugabe was bred by the hand of western countries secretly and sent back to become a president in the name of democratic election, which is controlled by someone, everything goes well for “them” who control western countries. Corruption, bribe, and devastation in Africa seem to be caused by selfishness and greediness of African presidents, but if they are all friends of western countries and share the wealth of Africa with “them”, all strange phenomena can be explained very easily and logically. In 2008, Robert Mugabe was re-elected as the president of Zimbabwe and when Africa Summit in the same year, he stated “If a leader of African country criticizes me as “non-democratic”, I’ll check how democratic his election was.” What does it mean? Doesn’t it imply that my delusion is right? This is the real character of presidency in Africa.