duration: 56 mins

A strand of interwoven stories featuring various characters all integral to Prempeh College. If you've seen the Joy Luck Club, it'll make sense. Following is the strand for Reverend Pearson which we've called the first phase.

A remarkable and moving tribute to a knighted Scottish octogenarian lauded for his part in building the West African state, Ghana. Reverend Pearson was only 22 when told by his church superiors to pack his bags and set off to a place called the Gold Coast. His task, with his new wife by his side, was to head a new experimental school.

This documentary unveils the work of Rev Pearson, the notoriety of the School he built and its influence on Ghana (formerly the Gold Coast) and charts changing times in colonial Ghana. The story is told using a rich source of stills photography, video archive and Pearson's diary from the 30s and 40s.

It was in 1938 that Pearson arrived at Ghana's second capital, Kumasi, from where he was escorted to the school. The scene is a truly candid camera moment. The words of his guide still reverberate today: " Don't you know Reverend you're here to build the school". Acres of virgin forest stood waiting to be levelled.

Reverend Pearson's journey was an extraordinary one: a firm friendship was struck with the King of the Ashantis, the all powerful Nana Prempeh II, and at times His Majesty would sneak out of the palace to visit his new friend to listen to plans about this new school (c.f pictures). From the onset the school was to be named the Ashanti Secondary School, but it's acronym was not lost on Pearson.

Today, ASS's real ego, Prempeh College (the King gave it his name), has produced students in all but one tier of Ghana's private sector and government institutions and that position, the presidency, is under the gaze of year 2000 presidential hopeful, John Kuffour, Oxbridge graduate, successful lawyer, and Prempeh College old boy. The school attracts an international clientele: Asians, Lebanese and Iranians.

Last year, The President of Ghana and a host of dignitaries welcomed the frail Scot (now 84 and living in Edinburgh) and his son to Ghana. Pearson's son, Keith, can also claim to be unique: he was the first white baby to be born in Kumasi.

The ensuing festival, a cocktail of Loch Lomond and Adowa ( traditional Ashanti music) was peppered with tribute after tribute to the Reverend. Those paying their respects included: the Royal Palace and incumbent King of the Ashantis; John Kufour; and the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan who went to Mfantsipim in Cape Coast, where Pearson taught briefly. Incidentally the name given to alumni and Prempeh College's web page is Amanfoo, meaning 'are you one of us'.

Note:

• Reverend Pearson lives in a picturesque fishing village. The Amanfoo web site, produced by an old boy from PEARSON HOUSE, H. Ofori, has been a unifying force in bringing old boys together. Its success has led to the Royal Palace in Kumasi requesting a web site from Harold for the King's Education Fund.
• Potential alumni interviewees include: Ghana's Navy Commander; Pioneering Sickle Cell research doctor in the US; Chairman of Anderson Consultants in US and champion bass fisher; 100m Olympic sprinter, H. Ofori himself a product of the house that bears the name of Rev Pearson - Pearson House, who's devised the web site prempeh.org
• Ghana's presidential hopeful, John Kufour could be filmed addressing an audience at the prestigious Royal Institute of International Affairs. I'm working with Harold to see how that goes.
• Music score provided by a Community Psychiatric Nurse at Tower Hamlets in East London and also Mental Health Act Hospital Mamager at Maudsley Hospital in South London, Michael Donkor, who recently produced a critically acclaimed album of Ghanaian music which won various awards in Ghana and Choice FM (UK).
• Film will be telecined and coloured. Offline will be conducted on G4 Mac. On line by an aquaintance who is an editor/DOP and recently cut an extraordinary showreel of my work.