Obruni on MetroTV

This Friday I appeared on the popular Ghanaian show “Thank God It’s Friday” hosted by the comedian KSM! Ms Okra wrote to KSM and told him about Eve’s Foundation and asked him to be a guest on the show. She told me while we were waiting that she never thought she would get to be on this show. This is why I love Ms Okra, she dreams big and makes things happen.

When we arrived at the MetroTV station on Monday we were asked to wait and James, the man Ms Okra had been in contact with, would come and get her. At this point thought I was there to support her and to document her appearance on television. When James came he asked if it was going to be both of us and I said ‘No, no, no, It’s Ms Okra’s organization and I am just here to support” but Ms Okra said “Yes! Can she come?” to which James said “No problem.” Geez. (Good thing I dressed up that day!)

So then we waited while they finished another interview. They called us back to the set after about half an hour, which gave me plenty of time to get nervous. Ms Okra told me she used to get nervous but that she has seen so many ‘important’ people on television talking about irrelevant things that now she doesn’t worry so much. I, on the other hand, was worried that I wouldn’t know what to say. I looked over the brochure again and asked Ms Okra what she wanted me to talk about. Her main request was that I mention that Eve’s Foundation needs a lot of support. Well, that’s what I’m here for- to gain support and resources for the organization so I was more than willing to weave that message into my comments.

As we walked to the back we arrived in the control room where someone looked at me with a confused face and then looked at Ms Okra and asked “Is she with you?” Obviously it didn’t seem I should be there.

Then the woman who does make-up put some powder on Ms Okra and looked at me and asked if I had my compact with me. (Those of you who know me well know that this is a funny question because I hardly ever wear make-up. I don’t even own a compact!) I just told her no and jokingly asked “You don’t have obruni make-up?” She went to find some powder and lightly put some on my face. As we were waiting to go to the set the electricity went out. To the right you see the technicians waiting for the ‘light’ (what they call electricity) to come back on:

I had contemplated putting my contacts in that morning but was too lazy to deal with them so I was wearing my glasses. When they called us back to the set I put down my backpack and decided to leave my glasses with my things. So I was blind during the interview! J When I walked up to the set I asked a guy who looked in charge if someone could take pictures for me and he gladly took my camera and did a good job capturing the event. Here’s one he took of me getting miked:

We chatted with KSM about the Eve's Foundation and what we would talk about a little bit before the interview began. There were about ten guys in the set room and I was curious what they were all there for. As we started the interview I realized that they serve as the ‘audience’ and clap and cheer to make it seem like there are a lot of people there. Watching the show, you would think there is a whole studio audience. A friend even asked me afterwards how it felt to face the audience. I told him it wasn’t bad because it was just a few guys, I was more nervous facing the camera.

We began the interview and about five minutes in the electricity when out again. The producers were not happy because usually they have a generator which runs in order to keep the recording going but this day something was obviously wrong with the generator. We waited a while, which was kinda cool because we got to chat with KSM and he learned more about the organization and us. When the lights came back on we started with the question he had previously asked. We got in another few minutes and the lights went out again! This time it was only off for a few minutes and it allowed KSM to include a little joke in his question the second time around. After we were done I asked KSM if we could take a picture with him, I said "It's not everyday that this obruni is on Ghanaian television!" I'm honored that a top Ghanian comedian laughed at my little joke :D

When the show aired on Friday we had a few guests. Isaac (left), a guy we have befriended who lives nearby and helps us with random tasks and questions and George (right), the brother of our landlord who as Lindsay put it “gets stuck fixing everything.” I was determined to record the show with my camera so I created this little set-up:

I told all my Ghanaian friends I was going to be on the show and most everyone watched it! I am so grateful to have such an amazing support system and network of great friends already!!

Here is one more glimpse of what they saw: