#TheAfricanDream show produced and hosted by Oral Ofori and friends for television at Fairfax Public Access (FPA) in Virginia (VA), United States (US), has passed its 50th production as at October 2018.
The show started airing on Wallingford Public Access (WPAA) in Wallingford, Connecticut in the US, where it became an award-winning show in 2014. It was awarded in the category of Diversity Empowerment at 16th edition of the ACM-NE Region Video Festival in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Since August 2014, over 51 episodes of #TheAfricanDream has been produced and aired on WRLD channel 30 of FPA where it is broadcast 3 times a week to both a local US audience and international audiences.
“It was such a pleasure working with and for you Susan Adele Huizenga, my experiences at WPAA in Wallingford, Connecticut (and serving briefly on the board) sure did build a firm foundation for my adventure into TV production,” said the show’s host as he announced this milestone on his LinkedIn page.
Susan Adele Huizenga is the Executive Director at WPAA and Community Media Center where Mr. Ofori was a Producer and Board Member until he relocated to the Washington, DC, Metro area to grow his network.
Describing what was peculiar about the show, Mr. Ofori said “the hashtag symbol is actually part of the show’s name, hence #TheAfricanDream and this is because our guests sometimes are random people with amazing stories to share that we ran into online.”
“Another cool thing is that the Director of Programming at FPA — Maryam Sha — lets us have free reign to create and that really helped #TheAfricanDream tell authentic stories. Over the years we have tried to tell stories about Africans and by Africans for both Africans and non-Africans alike on a limited budget.”
When asked what the future of the show was, Mr. Ofori responded: “TV production sure is great, I enjoy it a lot, but after over half a decade of bearing the majority of the cost involved, it sure does become expensive. I know there are more stories to tell, which is why I have been seeking sponsorship since we began, but for now, I want to continue giving, knowing how much I’ve been blessed by it.”
Mr. Ofori is a Ghanaian-American award-winning digital media producer, storyteller, entrepreneur, author, and blogger. He is also the Founder of US-based communication and research consultancy TheAfricanDream LLC which you can visit at www.TheAfricanDream.co.
To co-produce or host #TheAfricanDream or find out how you can contribute to it simply connect with Mr. Ofori by finding him on Twitter as @OralOfori or using contact@oralofori.com to email him.
Written by Rexford Nkansah of KhoPhi.Blog
