The African Cup of Nations is going on in Equatorial Guinea and as usual the black stars are in the news. However, after the world cup fiasco, Ghanaians have really lost faith in the team and its official handlers and the commission set up didn’t make such sentiments any better.
By the trend of this article if you thought I was going to write a long article about the black stars then I will point out that you notice that I didn’t even use caps on their name, the picture below should sum up my sentiments when it comes to them.
There you have it. I’m done with them.
This time I don’t know about you but it begins with ME!
Archive for January, 2015
black stars
Posted in Uncategorized with tags black stars, blogging Ghana, ghana life, ghana sports on January 31, 2015 by kolaKind Ghana Police
Posted in Uncategorized with tags blogging Ghana, ghana police, philanthropy, urban living on January 31, 2015 by kola
In recent times the Ghana Police have been in the news for all sorts of incidents ‘in the line of duty’ and some have been good whilst others have been bad. For the bad ones methinks we should follow the example of Kenya which recently did a clamp down on corrupt traffic police people by marking bills and then tracing these bills to these officers. Can Ghana do the same?
I have just come across this story about a policewoman going out of her way to help a stranded person in no less one of the major city towns.
Indeed some people will find fault with what she did especially saying that she left her post or whatever but to those people I say that be observant and notice that at every junction where the police have been posted there is always more than one police person and she could afford to help.
Here is the story as narrated to me by the beneficiary of the police kindness.
“I was stranded in Tema today. I stood at the AFCO juntion and didnt know where to turn. This young police officer stood at their mounted tent and i decided to ask her. She gladly offered to help and asked if i had the number of the person i had to meet. I explained that i did and told her my phones were off because my battery was low. She went to a nearby shell shop and asked the ladies if i could charge my fon. They agreed. She stayed there with me till i got some battery power. I didnt have airtime so she got some. I used her fon to make the calls and i got directions. She escorted to the office to make sure it was the right place. We came back later to pick my fon. I found my way back and had a successful meeting.
I did well to pass by the police checkpoint and she was there. She introduced me to her colleagues. They offered me lunch. 😀
Had to get bck to Accra. She called her taxi driver friend and i got a fair deal back to Accra. I was so so impressed. Gloria is a role model. She understands her job. Being of help to civilians. There are still some good servicemen and women out there.”
(Text edited from whatsapp shorthand. Lol)
Well, you have read the story. Whatever you think of our police force or of even any profession in society, even politicians, there are some good ones out there ready to serve Mother Ghana.
So you too go out there and do what you can for the development of the nation.
Like I always say,
It begins with YOU!!
Visit to Tolon
Posted in Uncategorized with tags blogging Ghana, Ghana education, Ghana library, ghana life, ghana reads, philanthropy, reading, rural life, Tamale chronicles on January 31, 2015 by kolaSo as part of the Pieces for Piece Project in collaboration with the Northern Regional Library I find myself sitting in a car heading towards a remote community in the Tolon district of the northern region to attend a book donation and reading program for the one junior high school there that serves the surrounding communities – like 5 other communities all attend that one school.
Portia representing the iHav Foundation and her own Africa Youth Writers Organization, her young assistant, myself and one other staff member find ourselves crammed at the back of a Toyota Hilux double cabin whilst the regional director and the metro director take up the front. The regional director is driving.
A week earlier the pupils of the school who had formed a Readers Club had managed to organize a “motorking” that fine Saturday to bring them to the regional library, about 40km away so they could come and spend the day in the library reading. Obviously these were children who were ready to read but where were the books to read.
The Pieces for Piece Project seeks to collect, organize and provide books for pupils in deprived communities so they can have access to reading material to better educate themselves and this coincides with yours truly #iBelieveInReading project of supporting any organization or venture that is taking steps to inculcate, imbibe or improve the reading culture or habits of especially school children in Ghana.
To this effect over a 1000books have been collected and bought and distributed with the support of friends on Facebook and some partner organizations such as Action Child Mobilization – Ghana, based in Bolgatanga. The organization has been a partner for the reading project from the onset because it ties in with their programs too to educate children by inculcating in them a reading culture. Most of the books for this donation came from them.
We were therefore excited to be going to this school in the Tolon district because we already knew that they were going to appreciate the books that we were going to donate. But we were not prepared for what we saw in the school.
After turning off the Nyankpala main highway we just kept driving into the vast arid land which was dry and dusty and the conversation in the car was centred on how much there was such vast land in the north and how it was being under utilized and also how the migration into the city centres was affecting living in these areas.
A photo they say is worth a thousand words and the picture below is the extent to which the junior high school with almost 200pupils lacked reading material, even textbooks.
The Little Library for which my bedside drawer is even bigger than contained only 18 books and I just stood there in a state of shock. These photos show me trying to put on a happy face to hide my indignation at the travesty of this magnitude. Here was a mini closet which had less books than I had when I was even 5 years old and all I could think of was if these pupils had to write the same exam as pupils in Morning Star or Bishop Bowers (that’s too high), let’s just say Mamprobi Sempe 5&6 Junior High.
The same exam??
Conducted by WAEC???
The team met with the headmaster of the school and the regional director of the northern regional library promised to visit with the mobile library to support their reading and I pledged to do my best to help with designs on to how best to build mobile shelves to put the books in and also build a comfortable external shed like structure outdoors where the pupils could read in their spare time, of course supervised by the teachers. The readers club also promised to be more active and get more members to join in the reading since they had more books now.
But it was the headmaster’s acceptance speech that did it in for me. The headmaster lamented their plight and stated that even though he understood the importance of reading and wanted to do his best to improve the quantity of books he had in his school, he was at his wit’s end as to how to go about it and that’s why he had instituted, organized and facilitated the pupils sojourn over that long distance to the regional library to spend the day to have a feel of what it was like to be in a library.
I couldn’t take it anymore. It just dawned on me how growing up in the city we had taken so much for granted and even a simple story book, almost 200 pupils had to share ONLY 18 books.
I put the camera down, went out and wept.
Yes I did!!
I have goosebumps writing this piece in the dead of the night, standing by the darkened Tamale roadside with the passing motorbikes, trucks and long distance buses for company and the occasional dog or goats. The full moon is up there blessing me with its light and since its shining brightly you know my lights are off.
The excursion today make me realize and reiterated one important thing I have always been harping on. That to move this nation forward it is not always that we’d have to look up to the government to do something about our situation. The government has it’s own priorities and we also got ours plus our needs. Yes! We can look up to God but God will not come down to do it for us. He would use human beings like me and you to create that change in humanity and make this world a better place. God will use you only if you avail yourself.
The journey back was in silence and everyone of us seemed to be in a pensive mood each with our own individual thoughts. I know what I have to do to promote reading in Ghana to make this nation a reading nation and I will need your support. You also find your niche and make an impact no matter how small.
Like I always say
It begins with YOU!!!!
Life is a Fart
Posted in Uncategorized with tags blogging Ghana, childhood memories, childhood nostalgia, family, friends, ghana life, high school blues, urban living, writers project on January 17, 2015 by kolaThe story is told of me when I was a little boy who usually went prancing in front of the mirror every time I took a bath. It is said that I stood in front of the mirror and until my other brothers finished taking their baths and join me, I will just be dancing and doing stunts in front of my mom’s dressing mirror.
The fun part was that this little boy could be anybody he wanted to be in front of the mirror and at times he tried out several role plays – from being a universal soldier, a martial arts grandmaster (maybe from watching too many Chinese movies at midday), a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, even a painter sometimes.
But now the real story comes in the one episode that had the whole family talking about it at family gathering for years. One day the little boy got too curious and wanted to see what his little ass looked like when he farted. He knew farts were hot and when he pushed hard enough, the fart sounds changed according to how you let the air out.
So on this Boxing Day, with his clothes ironed out and having been privy to being the first to use that big bar of yellow Sunlight soap, he paddles barefoot and stark naked into the bedroom to go use the Shea butter on his skin but as usual he had to first do his role plays prancing in front of the dresser.
With the extended family waiting outside he still prances about in his role playing charades as his grandfather the patriarch of the family. Mother hears him and shouts “Kofi! Stop it and get dressed!” He staggers but not before he lets rip one loud open ended fart – no holes barred.
Wow! That felt good!
Tries another one and with a new grimace and a slight shimmy of the hips and the rushing of wind takes the form of a whistle. It is an exciting adventure and very soon he’s lost in the fun of it. He tries several positions and then he goes for the grand finale.
He feels an urge of a big gush of air coming out and he would give anything to see how that comes out full blast.
So he turns his small tush towards the mirror, spreads it out with two hands and looks over his shoulder to see what the air will look coming out and then with one clench of his tummy muscles and one huge breath he lets it rip.
But instead of the expected air out comes a splash of poop that slashes on most of the items the dresser including mom’s perfumes and make up set, hair brushes and dad’s watches all on the dresser.
That moment of confusion as to what to do sets in.
And just at that moment mom walks in with his kid brother.
This is a story that was told by the whole family for years on end, even when somebody much as mentioned farting at any family gathering. Even when the smell of a fart permeated the atmosphere and the culprit couldn’t be found, there was one person who was always the suspect no matter what.
There are lessons to be learnt in this little story though. As children we are free to dream as to what we want in life and what and where we want to be. But it takes pretty hard work to get what you want whether it is as simple as a fart or to be the CEO of a multinational company.
Hard work is the watchword in this case even if it means the end products will be soft and brown all over a lot of important stuff. No matter how gooey it may look it’s up to you to keep trying over and over again to get it right.
The little boy who pooped in front of that mirror became a man who not learnt about the different kinds of farts and even how farts diffuse in the atmosphere depending on what you eat (high school biological science with Mr Maddy) and how farts could be used for friendly competition and also as a weapon.
Well, that little attempted fart became a springboard to what the man will become. Today as you finish reading this, let out a relieving fart and think of it going away with ail your burdens.
Mind you some are smelly some are just heavy.
Remember! It all begins with YOU!!
Fart away!