Out of the midst of political instability, the Mali Rising Foundation becomes a beacon of hope

By Oral Ofori

Children expressing gratitude for a school built them

Mali Rising Foundation (MRF), a beacon of hope in the politically unstable West African nation of Mali is an American based non-profit organization that was established in 2004 to build schools in developing countries. Education in Mali remains a great concern with about 46% of the population being literate. These numbers are even lower in the rural areas that hold a majority of the population. MRF focuses on rural areas because of the challenges inherent in these communities including extreme poverty, scarce resources, weak infrastructure and limited access to schools.

Intolerance; a people's silent destroyer and mind killer.

By Oral Ofori and Patrick Derby

Patrick Derby and myself were high-school mates in Ghana

Patrick Derby, a former student of Chemu Senior High School located in Ghana's port city of Tema and also a past student of the University of Cape Coast in the country's central region believes that it has become clear in recent years that Ghana's educational and social systems have failed to teach, maintain and promote tolerance in all spheres of the national fabric. This is more evident in the cheap propaganda peddled by the various political parties, and the social injustices at various institutions inside the country.

Kwab Asamoah; Ghanaian Clothes maker tailors his way up the fashion industry

By Oral Ofori

The 'Tape man' (with tape around neck) Kwab Asamoah with Barack Obama

'My garments are more technically designed than they are fashion designed and this is even more so owing to my engineering background' says Kwabena Asamoah of Kustom Looks Clothier as I interviewed him for my blog. We caught up in Silver Springs Maryland in the USA where the Ghanaian born entrepreneur affectionately called Kwab has been living and working for almost 3 decades now.

My friend Joshua Anny nominated for 2012 CNN/Multichoice African Journalist Awards

By Oral Ofori

Me having fun with 2012 African Journalist of the year nominee

One of this year's CNN/Multichoice African Journalist Awards nominees, Joshua Anny, is someone I went to the same high school with in Tema; one of Africa's and Ghana's premier port city. During our days in school we developed a liking for writing, researching and that strong will to see things done the right way or people treated rightly. So it was no surprise to me when later on in life I found out that Anny like myself towed the line of journalistic studies.

As Nollywood prepares for its first ever movie awards, ace Nigerian actress; Ngozi Ezeonu, reminisces about the industry

By Oral Ofori

Ngozi Ezeonu, the Nigerian born Nollywood actress, has some 150 movies to her credit. Ngozi started her acting career in 1993 in the Nigerian movie industry which is also known as Nollywood. She was born on May 23, 1965 and originally hails from Anambra State in the west African country of Nigeria. The actress has 6 other siblings, 5 of whom are males. Her first paying job according to her was hair-styling, she had also trained to become journalist, though fate made her  step into the field of acting.

How Nigeria's Nollywood is still dominating the African movie scene

By Oral Ofori

The Nollywood sign in Nigeria, an icon of Africa's movie industry

Ask an avid African movie watcher to name ten of their favorite African actors or movies and you would be assured of getting more than two of the actors or movies belonging to Nigeriain actors. Obviously Nigerian movies and actors have dominated the African movie scene and this piece is to shed some light on why I think that is the case.

Rocky Dawuni believes the digital age presents a perfect time to download Africa's revolution

By Oral Ofori

Cover of Rocky Dawuni's international hit album

The first time I heard of Rocky Dawuni was on Ghana Television in the year 2000. I had graduated from high school about a year ago and was grappling with job hunting and still finding my feet on the playing field of the game of life. I already knew I wanted to become a journalist during my junior high school days and I followed up on this dream by majoring in History, English Literature and Governance in high school to prepare myself.