Letter from a Ghanaian 'Gardener'

We received this letter from a Gahanaian fan of the Gardener's Daughter (la hija del Jardinero), I call us 'The Gardeners' (LOL). I am serving it to us (along with our reply) because, it is very educative towards our crusade for African reckoning in the Telenovela world.

"Thanks very much for your mail on 'The Gardener's Daughter'.

I really do appreciate it.

I would like to ask for one big favour from you. Is it possible for to get at 5 episodes at time? This is because the programme is aired 3 times a week and we have gotten to the part that, Ceaser and Poncho smuggled Pedro out of the mental institution so they could have some bit of fun since its Ceaser's Bacholer party.

Then Carlos Eduardo shows and there was a fight between Carlos Eduardo and Pedro and they were arrested and sent to jail.

I'd like to know whether is possible to get the episodes from there.

thanks once again for the good work".

This is our reply:
Dear friend and fan of the "gardener's daughter",

Thanks for your compliments, it is appreciated. Like I always tell people, it is my passion, you don't thank a person for ejoying what that person loves doing best.

The truth is that Ghana started airing this lovely telenovela- "The Gardener's Daughter", about 5 weeks before Nigeria. You are about 25 to 30 episodes ahead of us in Nigeria.

What we should realise is that, nobody has consciously prepared and documented this 180-episode "La Hija del Jardinero" for posterity as we are doing it right now with our blog- http://www.gardenersdaughter.blogspot.com

What we are doing is not even for now, but for posterity. The hordes of guests visiting to read our daily episodes would be nothing, compared to future generation of youngsters and families that would tap into the inestimable moral and social lessons that the telenovela holds in shaping personal future and destinies of youths and families that watch or read it..

I want you to enjoy the episodes as they come, no rushing, just flow with the soap. It is futile to seek to know all the rest, when it is not available. We are still on the look out, and most of our Malaysian friends who should have- (they have watched it since 2004), don't have the complete summaries.

What we should focus on now is how to put Africa on the telenovela map. We are 3 years behind current happenings in the telenovela world. For example, last week, the latest of Mariana Ochoa's soap opera was simultaneously released in 72 countries of three continents of America, Europe and Asia. Not a single African country was in that reckoning! We still appreciate the modest efforts of MYTV (Nigeria) and TV3 (Ghana), in bringing us these soaps, but we can do better than our current position.

Let Africa do something now that would bring her to reckoning. It is time to rise up in the entertainment world to be counted.

thank you.

Philomena Ojikutu