I did my Service at the University of Ghana Theatre arts department as a Teaching assistant for Drama Therapy, Educational Drama, Production participation, Theatre workshop and Theatre Laboratory.
(A Thread) https://twitter.com/raphael_amuri/status/1300784120172339202

I had Studied Theatre arts and English Language and I had spent my whole university life hustling as a performance Artist. And for national service I was looking for an environment where my creative skills could grow and be useful while I figure out the business side to things

Another thing that informed my decision to become a T.A. was because I had to rewrite a paper I wasn't able to take care of during my four years in school, so I challenged myself to still work on campus despite not graduating so I could finish it up and I did...

So I'll graduate this year with a 2nd class upper, and lots of experience in my field.
During my year as a service personnel at the theatre arts department, and as a performance Artist, I have learnt more useful skills for my career, than what I learnt in the classroom.

Most of these skills were learnt through some sort of an apprenticeship or Pro-bono Performances. It is very difficult navigating these things in our field, since we deserve to get paid as Artistes with professional training too, but all the same NSS helped me navigate.

For Starters a few weeks before officially starting, I begun hanging out with my predecessors in their offices, and we begun working on creative projects together.
It was during this moment that @FafanyoThePryme and I worked on my first spokenword video

Our collaborations continued and we then worked on my next Video, 4 Sale

When we officially begun service, @FafanyoThePryme 's official position as a T.A. for filmmaking, digital storytelling, and graphic design was filled by @pencil_monk and he and I became bros, and begun to collaborate on a number of projects.

@pencil_monk is the Artist behind the cover arts for my album.
And we again collaborated to create @ayegriots where we tell stories using comics and animations.

I also volunteered as a performer for a graduate students PHD, project and that was how I got involved with @CalabashFarm .we Staged a couple of productions campaigning against plastic pollution, and I learnt a lot during these productions

It was through @CalabashFarm that I got to personally work with other amazing creatives like @_nenesenor and @KwakuAdinkra

And through our Performance Activism we met @PlasticPunchGH and began working with them to not only clean beaches but educate children through theatre.

@CalabashFarm we used Devising to create our performances, a very very important theatre directing Technique that wasn't taught in school. And through the different Performance experiences I was able to learn and apply this technique to my creative process as a performer.

In October 2019, I was the only NSS personnel to present my research work at the School of Languages Symposium on Pidgin English in Ghana. I had been contacted by a Rep from the French Embassy who offered funding for my work I had been doing on pidgin English.

As a rebellious student of Language, I saw Ghanaian pidgin as a very important tool for creativity, so I was very excited to present my work which I had begun in my final year as an independent research study which I was doing almost for fun.

My research Topic was "Pidgin English in Ghana, as a recycled Language and a tool for decolonization in an era of neoclonialism" with the help of @Poetyk_Prynx @FafanyoThePryme @pencil_monk @Chiiingi @Obiritetelive and some few others who aren't on Twitter...

We created a devised theatre piece which we presented at the symposium. And our work received awesome feedback.

In December 2019, I partnered with @philipa_fg and with her help and contributions we reworked some of my monologues from Performances with @CalabashFarm into new devised spokenword pieces which we used to compete in @EHALAKASA 's slam and we won

I must also mention that during the first semester of my NSS, my first short film "Green Green Grasses" went to 3 different film festivals, and it was through them that I met @loverrrman_ @saywarh @Togbe_Gavua @kuukssss @khalidKEITH and so many other creatives

The Film went to @benpaali @accraindiefilm1 and a screening Organized by @Abibikwantuo1 at last year's #PANAFEST

Watch the film here

In January 2020, we begun reworking my presentation at the pidgin English Symposium, and we turned it into "Who Be We" Ghana's first Experimental Pidgin theatre piece. Which we successfully staged at the national theatre's folks place. https://www.universnewsroom.com/general/who-be-we-ghanas-first-ever-experimental-pidgin-theater-piece-set-to-hit-the-national-theater/

We had a full house, thanks to all the people in my support systems rooting for me.

I was during this same NSS period that I met my sister @_KariJay she gave me the opportunity to serve with the Ghana chapter of West2West's Saturday school, and she jumped on one of the songs on my album. Thanks for the love sis

It was this same period that I recorded my album, 4 Shege Reasons Eyered, produced and mixed by @thegarage_gh @bookah_wpmg and with features from @_blaQad @FafanyoThePryme @JewellKinSpeaks and @_KariJay

Check it out on Aftown https://aftown.com/listing/4540/4-shege-reasonseyered---who-is-deydzi-%28digital-album%29

During this period, I volunteered with @kwamewrite and @inkfluent for last Year's Nkabom literary festival and out of that I met @HipHopEducate of Public enemy
And I took him too rap radio on Hitz fm

I met so many amazing local and international Artists through @kwamewrite and this particular festival I'm eternally grateful, I later befriended @wanlov through a talkset again organized by Kwame write later in the year

I also attended last year's Pagya literary festival organized by @writersPG and I met @semayatavon who facilitated a workshop I registered for

Other notable Performances I did on campus were with the West African Semantics Association and at the University of Ghana academic excellence Awards ceremony. I was recommended by @aba_amfo Who met me through my presentation at the School of Languages pidgin English Symposium

My work as a Drama Therapy Teaching assistant, taught me better on using art and Performance as a tool for mental health advocacy and development, so I begun volunteering with @badfeminist11 and the Ghanaian chapter of Africa's Mental health Matters and we started the playground

A safe space where we use Games to facilitate mental health Therapy, we were only able to have just on gathering before Covid, but it was powerful.

Another fun workshop I did during NSS was with @dramaqueensgh and @Spread_Out2016 ,I taught a group of children in Nima poetry and then we painted

I can't forget how I still continued hosting the open air Theatre Show on @univers1057fm with my bro @fael4real and the magical moments we created on air with numerous artists and creatives
The day 5his pic in Question was taking we had @syyaBULLY and @fdzogbewu with us

I almost forgot about a Theatre workshop that happened in the department, and because of my experience with Devising from calabash farm, I ended up directing a very short experimental piece we put together within 3 days

One of the hardest things I had to do was attend some of my friend's graduation ceremonies, knowing very well I could have graduated on time if I had worked a little harder, but honestly, I don't regret sacrificing my academics for things I sacrificed them for,

Everything made sense in the end

I also performed at @LegonPalmwineB 's annual concert, and it was a bang