Super Wednesday; The Second Golden Chance

It's extremely crazy when something you badly want  to do away with tends to strike a thunder on what you badly want and wish to protect.
Emotion is king. Whatever you want to do must not affect our "king" negatively. It's very delicate and it's fruits are powerful; either a blessing or a curse. It could be either sweet or bitter too.
There is no feeling as rotten as letting down the flag of trust someone has been holding high for you, especially when it's not your intention at all. It's worse when the efforts you have been making turned out to be the windstorm that blew down the flag of trust.
At that moment, nothing said or done can instantly raise up the flag. If you are not given up on, then that's a golden chance and would just  be a matter of time. No body would perfectly comprehend what you went through no matter how well it's narrated till the person passes through same.
The indispensable ingredient is no more, yet the soup is still cooking. It can't taste the same says the custodian . It's crooked but not broken, surely it can be whole again.
The efforts made towards the mending has been great and amazing! It's beyond words and description. The "faultee" has put in more than the " faulter" which makes is amazing. It's rare. Perhaps the "faulter"  has realized not words our planned actions can do the mending but it's takes that " grace element" from the "faultee" to restore the wholeness once again.
One special thing about the whole thing I have realized is that the "poison" has made us stronger; injected into us the consciousness of value and unity and this is priceless.
A second chance backed with a pure intention is precious and I'm nursing and caring for it as I would do for my baby. However,  the "faulter" is still human. Only that it's in check and won't go overboard anymore.
These are thoughts that have been hovering in my mind for sometime now. It's worth sharing so I just did.

Daddy's Love

I respect and admire men who would not mind doing things seen as “feminine duties” to help out their wives.
Even as a little girl, I thought and felt so cool seeing my dad do for me, the things my mum is to usually do. I remember those mornings when he bathed me and got me ready for school. Getting three girls ready for school in the mornings before 6;30am whiles preparing for work also wasn’t a joke; his thoughtfulness of adding certain duties to his roles impressed me greatly.

I felt so attached to him; I was very close to him because I felt his love always through his actions. No matter how tired he was after work, he mostly made time to have a chit chat with “his little girl” about how and what went on in school. Some of these things made our bond stronger.

I remember one time my little sister used a “foul word” on me and I hit her. My dad hit me slightly on the arm to set my little sister at peace and that broke my heart greatly. “Why did he have to hit me? Did he hear what my little sister told me?” I asked myself. I felt our love was bruised. I eventually fell sick out of that. That was how dear his love was to me.
I also remember how he gave me cold baths and served me dinner all the time during my convalescence period, with him being close, my recovery was quick. There are countless precious moments I would want to share but would leave that for another post. That were little things he did for me that bonded us greatly till today.

Big things are great, but little things done out of love and thoughtfulness touches my heart a lot, they mean very big to me. They are those things that become part of me which I remember easily and talk about fondly.
Those are memories I wish to keep in a box, tie with a red ribbon and keep with me forever.

Super Wednesday- "That man, that inspiration"

There are people who can never be forgotten, they are just so special; not because they don’t have humanly characteristics or got the best of everything, but because they inspire change when they come into your life.

I have met a lot of people in life; those who live by what life offers to them, those who strive to change their status quo, those whose life is an inspiration on its own and those who brave through life, drive on, to make their dreams a reality and not stop there but make positive impact on those they come in contact with. I have known people who, for a long time, haven’t influenced me or made any impact on me and those who strive to make people better as long as you are in their lives and have contact with them.
Four days ago on I hinted on this write-up on Google plus “For a few months now, I have seen great positive change in my life. I have been inspired, pushed and guided to work hard, read widely and write more. I love the new me. That man, that inspiration”.                                                                                                    
I was not the laid back person who would not strive and better herself up, at least I have taken bold and difficult initiatives which landed me great opportunities and rewards but I have seen great, positive, rapid change in me within a short period of time. I have worked harder, read more, written more and have become a better person; because of someone I met who had great positive impact on me.

 It’s been less than half a year; a few months, ever since I came into contact with “That man, that inspiration” and there has been a new me. Let me share two aspects of my life that has experienced these changes. I had this blog, but hadn’t done this much on here. The first time I met “that man, that inspiration” on a one-on-one date, all we talked about was me, my talent, passion and ambitions. Then this blog came up. Though I had a few pieces here already, “that man, that inspiration” constantly injected into me and constantly reminded me on the fact that I had to grow this blog by writing more.

With his help, I have been able to create and introduce two segments here; Young Legends of Inspiration where I profiled Ato Ulzen Appiah in my debut and Super Wednesday, where I share a piece every Wednesday. There are a lot more in the pipe line. I love writing, it is goes beyond a hobby, and it’s a passion of mine. It makes me happy; it gives me great joy to know I am making progress with it. If someone is passionate about growing and bearing fruits concerning my passion, that means a LOT to me.

My reading habit has improved positively. I usually read once a while when I pounce on a book occasionally. Within this few months I have read books that I would have taken a whole year to read. I don’t only read but review them also. All of these happened with his constant encouragements, suggestions, advice, strict principles and supervision. This has increased my knowledge and vocabulary base and that I look back and find amazing.

There are other parts of me that has been affected positively too which I can’t talk all about in this post. I leave that for another day. This may not seem a great deal to someone, but it is to me. It means a lot to me for someone to take my passion and dreams at heart, work hand-in-hand with me in making them a reality. If everybody I had met had made such impact in my life within a short period of time, I wonder what kind of amazing person I would be now.

“That man, that inspiration” has helped me out a great deal, some; I can’t even talk about here because of their private nature. He has made me realised I wake up every morning with a passion to grow, a challenge to overcome and a dream to fulfil. Every fibre of me is grateful to him for his great help in making me a better person. There have been instances where he could have given up but he still forges on to make my dreams a reality. What better association could I have wished for?
Some people can never be forgotten, they are just so special; not because they don’t have humanly characteristics or got the best of everything, but because they inspire great change when they come into your life and “that man, that inspiration is undoubtedly one of them.

Super Wednesday- The Strange Proposal.

It was Super Wednesday, I was drenched in my birthday mood so much that I couldn't post this, but I have now.I have had some strange occurrences. I would like to share one, which I have had questions about, till now.

I was born into Methodism, my family was a very staunch one. I still happened to be in the children service because I was not yet of age to join the youth fellowship. Children service was interesting and taught me a lot of religious things. I was very involved in the activities in children service, till I had to leave for boarding school in Senior High and could only be part of them when it was vacation.

 It happened about six years ago. I was about entering form two in Senior High. It was vacation, had the opportunity to join the children service again, at least till school re-opened. In church, I was very sociable; I was opened to all. Though I was reserved (as usual), I was everybody's friend whether my age or not. I didn't have favourites (after all its church where people seek sense of belonging, why should favouritism be encouraged anyway?)

One day, a young little boy who was eight by then sent his little sister to bring me something. It was a folded piece of paper. Church was closed by then, I decided to open it when I reached home. "What could this little boy want to tell me which he couldn't approach me with but had to write?" I wondered. Well, I got home and opened it. What I saw surprised me; I have been amazed by it till now.

"Dear Sister Mabel, 
 I want to tell you that I have got feelings for you and I love you. I am shy and can't tell you in the face, so I wanted to write this."

Whoa! I was shell-shocked! An eight year old little boy could write this to me a seventeen- year -old girl? Was I dreaming? Lots of thoughts were running in my mind. "He had feelings for me? Could an eight year old boy in 'Ghana' have feelings for a seventeen year old girl?"  "He loved me"; did he really know what love is and really meant?  "Why not any of his age mates at least, but me?"
I have had a couple of boys who were my age mates and even older telling me that as at then but not someone younger than me, an eight year old boy!

I was so surprised, didn't know what to do exactly; whether to tell someone or not, what to tell my "little boy" in love, how to go about the whole thing. Gradually, another Sunday approached but unfortunately, he wasn't in church neither was his little sister (our betweener). I had to go back to school within that week which meant I would be in school by that next Sunday... 

I left for school and came back home for another vacation. I saw him in church, and decided to speak to him when church was over. Immediately church was over, my "little love" had rushed home, nowhere to be found! I wondered why. The next Sunday, same happened. He has kept his distance from me till now.
He is adolescent now, in Senior High. The last time I saw him, he was going home from school.  He was very grown compared to when he sent me the letter.

He had feelings for me, He loved me.... my little love!

Super Wednesday; Beatrice.

Its Super Wednesday! every bit of me is excited and my creative mind is willing to share this. Love isn't all words but actions. The actions will bring out all you want to say. Someone showed me love about seventeen years ago and I just can't forget it; its so engraved in my heart, I don't think I ever will.

It was in Creator Schools,preparatory one Rose, but I can still remember vividly what happened. She was in my class, she was my sitting mate. Her name is Beatrice, for her other names, I can't remember. She was my first friend in class because we happened to be sitting mates.

We are normally given homework to be done at home and brought back the next day for marking. I had two teachers in preparatory one; Celestine and Teacher Tina as we fondly called them. Teacher Celestine was always had smiles on her face, was approachable and very sweet to us whiles Teacher Tina hardly smiled and you dared not break any of her rules.

 Every morning, we were to put our homework books on our tables for inspection. Our teachers would then go round to inspect everyone's. I clearly remember one day, my homework books weren't in my school bag. I had left them at home. I checked my school bag several times just in case I was mistaken but the fact didn't change, they were just not there. I was scared to hell, I began to shiver because I knew painful lashes awaited me. Beatrice on the contrary,had brought hers and she had them on the table.

Unfortunately, it was Teacher Tina who was inspecting on that day, my fear increased. As she approached our table, Beatrice hid her homework books under our table. I looked at her confused; why would she do that when she had hers? Why would she  hide her homework books when she knew that meant trouble?    As I was just about to ask her about it she said to me " I don't want you to be beaten alone, I have hidden mine so we would all be beaten together." I was shell-shocked! I thought I hadn't heard her right. True to her words,she was also punished when Teacher Tina got to our table! It was so abnormal that someone would want to be beaten because of a friend. That touched my heart a whole lot! Never heard anyone did that for a friend in our class or any other class.

Another day in school, I wasn't feeling well. I had caught cold and was coughing real bad. It had rained earlier that morning and was very cold. Beatrice took off her pullover and offered it to me though she was feeling very cold too. Our teachers were even amazed! That was love! We became closer and were the best of friends. Unfortunately she left the school the next academic year, In preparatory two, my best friend was had left. She never returned to Creator Schools and never saw her again. Though she wasn't close to me anymore, her actions of love were engraved in my heart; I have never forgotten about her. I tried searching for her on various social media but to no avail.

A true friend she was!, she had a heart of gold. Today, I remember and write about this as though it happened just days ago. I hope and pray we meet once again. Please if you are a brother or sister to Beatrice, kindly tell her I miss her and haven't forgotten about the love she showed me.!

HAPPY SUPER WEDNESDAY!

Super Wednesday!

Wednesdays are very special days to me. Almost every good thing that ever happened to me occurred on a Wednesday...(except the day I met....). I love Wednesdays and I just cooked up the idea of introducing "Super Wednesdays"  on my blog. I will share a special write- up (short story, poem,experience,observation,thought etc). It could be any of these,  depending on what my creative mind is willing to offer! Don't miss this for anything else... Join me to love Wednesdays!

A Legend of Inspiration: Ato Ulzen Appiah

You meet him and you see nothing but inspiration. He has got great brainchildren which are fruits of bold initiatives he took. He dared to be different; he chose not to be an ordinary youth but used his brains and abilities to make a difference. 

Around 2005 and at the age of 21, he co-founded the Ghana Think Foundation and through this, he started the Ghanaian music lyrics database. At that time, there was no place to find lyrics to Ghanaian songs and many people wanted to know about Ghanaian music and its messages it contained. It grew in popularity and in demand because correct lyrics and spelling was used, it was also a medium through which people learnt Ghanaian languages. After it had been incubated in Ghana Think for two years and had become a popular service that could be a business, the project was graduated out of the Ghana Think Foundation and became Museke.

Museke was born as an African music website with two main golden goals; firstly, to be the source of African music lyrics and secondly to unite African music lovers. Museke was an African music lyrics website at the start, where people could listen to music, watch videos, find news and blogs, listen to playlists, have discussions and learn about African music in general. It became the biggest contemporary African music site which was nicknamed “the African music Bible”. It had over 4000 lyrics to songs and content from over 45African countries. At that level, he had over 350,000 people visiting the Museke.com site in one month.

He also organized two online African music awards, each awarding the best African musicians in 2010 and 2011 irrespective of country, genre and style. The second awards was held in New York City and streamed live on Television in the US and online as well. It was the first African music awards ceremony organized in North America.

Barcamp Ghana is another brainchild of his. Via the Ghana Think Foundation, he organised the very first barcamp in Ghana and in West Africa on December23, 2008. It was done to bring together Ghanaians in Ghana and in the Diaspora. Its aim was to showcase young Ghanaian ingenuity, excellence, connect and network Ghanaian youth.

 First event was held at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre and had over 150 attendees, awesome feedback was gotten. It connected many together, drove and inspired many to take action. Dorothy Gordon, the Director General at the Kofi Annan ICT Centre loved the event so much. She encouraged his team to have it in all the regions in Ghana. It’s really been hard to do said the young legend of inspiration. He led the organization of the next event in December 2009, this time with a mostly Ghanaian based Team. The event had 350 attendees. That team has been the core of Barcamp and the Ghana Think Foundation ever since.

The team has organized 28 Barcamps in Ghana now in the following locations; Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Tamale, Cape Coast, Ho, Sunyani, Tema, Kasoa and Koforidua. Over 3500 have attended these events and a strong network of young change makers, doers and entrepreneurs has been built.

 Barcamp events have created many internship and job opportunities for attendees as well as professional ones. It has led to the formation of many Google groups in Ghana; the Junior Camp Ghana program, Blog camp Ghana and even movie projects. Many people have created companies based on Barcamp Ghana events.

Two Barcamps have been organised by his team in the United States, both in Washington DC. These led to the formation of REACH Ghana and other initiatives. Many connections have been formed that continues to shape our Ghanaian landscape and our entrepreneurial community.

Must be wondering whom this legend of inspiration is I guess? 

Ato Ulzen Appiah is his name. He is a Ghanaian born on 31^st December, 1983. He had his primary and  junior high school education at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology primary and Jhs school. He further had his Bachelor degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and master’s degree at Stanford.

In primary school, he found his interest in arts and math. Throughout primary, he usually had the 4^th, 5^th or 6^th position in class. In stage five, he took a major interest in trivia and general knowledge. He .used to read the newspapers and magazines all the time, fished for information and recorded all of that in a book at that tender age. From class six to junior high, he was 1^st in class 90% of the time.

When the time was due to choose courses for Senior High School, he almost chose General Arts, where his interest lied but he resorted to General Science due to peer pressure. He attended Presbyterian Boys Senior High School for his senior high school education. There, he topped his class academically. “I started writing poems, stories and articles. I got more interested in debating and literature. It was hard to balance these interests and activities with academics, so my academics got hurt a bit" he said.

Meanwhile, he kept on winning competitions for his school and excelled in debates, writing and quizzes. In SHS 3, he unfortunately couldn’t make the school’s brilliant science and maths team. “I was sad because it was a goal of mine. I understood I wasn’t good enough but wanted to prove I was still great academically” he recounted. He worked and learned very hard for his senior secondary school certificate examination and had one of the best seven results out of over 300 science students in his school. He believes that when one is focused on something and is motivated, he or she can perform.

“In university, I didn’t care about my GPA; I cared much about the whole package; being smart, versatile, experienced, able to solve problems and being able to handle many things at the same time. I learnt to do so by practising proper time management, making smart choices, being skilled at things and leveraging others to learn and study he said”. No wonder he came out to be successful. He has traveled to Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Switzerland for work purposes while working at Google and Rancard in Ghana. He has had personal trips to Togo, United Kingdom and Dominican Republic on his own. He was in the United States for ten years for school and work. 

This is my legend of inspiration. I met him met him at a barcamp, one of his initiatives. Young but so inspiring. I am often fascinated about his initiatives and how he manages them. How he handles so many things at a time is so amazing.Knowing what he has been able to achieve through his efforts and determination so far, I thought he was worth celebrating; others had to hear about him, get inspired and take action. I took action when I got to know about his hard work and brilliant initiatives, hope you do too!

 

 Barcampghana.org

Facebook.com/musekedotcom 

Mightyafrican.blogspot.com