Former Daily Graphic Regional Page Editor Edmund Smith-Asante has published a 30-chapter book based on his experiences during a professional journalism training programme in Germany.
“Abrokyire Abrabo: My Wahala in Germany” brings together stories first published as a series in the Saturday Daily Graphic. The autobiographical travelogue follows the veteran journalist’s three-week stay in Berlin in November 2009, recounting the humorous, stressful and eye-opening moments he encountered.
The book explores the language and cultural barriers he faced, as well as unfamiliar food, public transport and other challenges associated with travelling abroad. It includes photographs and reproductions from the original newspaper series.
Presented as a two-in-one publication, the book contains both English and German versions. The format gives German readers the opportunity to see their country through the eyes of an African visitor.
The publication was launched in Accra last Thursday at an event attended by journalists, media practitioners, friends, family and associates of Mr Smith-Asante. The gathering also provided an opportunity to reflect on the experiences behind the work.
From newspaper series to book
Mr Smith-Asante said he had not originally planned to turn his experiences into a book. He began recording them because he considered writing a more lasting and accurate way of preserving events than relying on oral accounts.
After initially publishing snippets elsewhere, he discussed the idea with his then editor and began serialising the stories in the Saturday Daily Graphic.
The response from colleagues and readers persuaded him to continue the series. He later decided to gather the accounts into a book rather than leave them spread across separate newspaper editions.
“I realised at a point that what I was experiencing was something that I couldn’t share if I didn’t document,” he said, adding that written accounts remained intact, unlike stories passed from one person to another.
Mr Smith-Asante said the travelogue was not designed either to promote or discourage overseas travel. Instead, he wanted it to give prospective travellers an understanding of some of the realities they might encounter abroad.
Although travelling could broaden people’s horizons, he said proper preparation was essential to help them cope with unfamiliar surroundings. He acknowledged that he had initially felt overwhelmed by his own experience in Germany.
The book took several years to publish, mainly because of the high cost of publishing in Ghana. Mr Smith-Asante said he remained determined to complete it as part of his plans to publish other books.
Warning about life abroad
Guest Speaker Brigadier General Daniel Frimpong (retd) praised Mr Smith-Asante for recording his experiences, saying such accounts helped preserve history for future generations.
He said the reality of living abroad could be considerably more difficult than many people expected, despite the attraction of travelling and settling overseas.
Drawing on his own experiences of living in Germany at different times, Brig. Gen. Frimpong said independent life abroad brought challenges involving accommodation, food and adapting to unfamiliar environments.
He encouraged Ghanaians to focus on improving life at home rather than assuming that travelling overseas to “hustle” provided an easy alternative.
