A young actress in one of the dramatized scenesNobody knows the trouble I have seen
Nobody knows my sorrow…
The gravelly voice of jazz legend Louis ‘Satchmo’ Armstrong sang out the above lyrics as the drape on the screen moved aside for the first public showing of My Life, My Story (Medadwen) in the Ekua Boatemaa Studio at TV Africa in Accra.
The lyrics summed up the touching tales narrated by three personalities in three episodes of Medadwen which were premiered to a select audience last Saturday.
They were produced by TV Africa in collaboration with Film Africa and will start airing on TV Africa by the end of this month.
The programme, of which 36 episodes are so far ready to start rolling, stemmed from TV Africa’s realisation that society has knowingly or unknowingly, in the words of its CEO Kwaw Ansah, “come to accept that people who find themselves at the wrong ends of any social misfortune were destined to be so.”
In its attempt to throw more light on its conviction that many social challenges have been attributed erroneously to the destiny of victims, the station spent almost two years to interview prison inmates, persons in drug rehabilitation centres and some folks at the Weija Leprosarium.
The stories were then dramatised and intercut with the interviews to make compelling viewing.
The three composite episodes shown at the launch comprised a bizarre love tale that ended in tragedy and landed Kwame Akwatia in Nsawam Prison for manslaughter and the story of how an innocent Wisdom Mawuli Kpovi became a drug addict.
There was also an account of how one Madam Adobea from Akuapem-Mampong has come to spend the last 63 years of her life in a leprosarium.
“We are convinced that most of such people are the product of our environment over which no individual has significant control. For a long time, our society has failed its weaker and vulnerable members,” Kwaw Ansah said at the screening.
He hoped that Medadwen would serve as a platform for national discussion which may lead to the finding of solutions to minimize certain social challenges not helping in national development.
“We are all vulnerable,” Ansah said at the end of his comments.
There was genuine applause after the screening and the audience were allowed to comment. Most of the people who spoke liked what they had seen, especially how the programme reflected the need for good parenting.
Ken Ashigbey of Graphic Communication Group Limited said it was a brilliant programme and hoped it would lead to attitudinal change in the society.
Writer Prof. Atukwei Okai said it would not be enough to show Medadwen only on TV Africa.
“The Ghana Education Service should team up with TV Africa and take the series through the schools,” he added.
The First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Ebo Barton- Oduro also stated that “the programme will help us shape our future. It will help us work towards prevention.”
The Medadwen series, which were produced and directed by Kwame Obuo Owusu, will be hosted on TV Africa by motivational speaker, Nii Teiko Tagoe.
By Kouame Koulibaly / Graphic Showbiz
An enactment of one of the issues in the programme