SAKAWA

Credits

Name: SAKAWA

Country: Ghana/Belgien/Niederland

Year of publication: 2018

Format: digital

Language : OF m. engl. UT

Duration: 81 min. Minuten

Series: 18. Afrikafilmfestival

Direction: Asamoah, Ben

Abstract

Director’s Statement: “‘Sakawa’ is the Ghanaian term we use for illegal practices… Western society often reveals the position of the Western victims of Internet-fraud. Rarely, however, are we given an image about the motivation of the perpetrators, left without a human face. What western media often ignore is the unbelievable resilience and optimism that Africans can muster towards their problems. What is regarded as fraud in the West, is for the ‘Sakawa’-boys merely the exploitation of available resources. These available resources come in the form of electronic waste like old computers and hard disks, dumped in our country by the West. Now and then, young workers discover functional computer hard drives which they are able to sell to local shop owners. Every aspect of the electronic memory can be re-used: IP addresses, digital information, hard-drive codes. It is as if the souls of the technology’s previous owners linger and are reborn. Continents may be far apart, but they can be committed in one click of a mouse.”