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 

The Golden Effort (Part1)

Did I hear him right? I qualified to the next stage? My joy knew no bounds. I was so elated that I thought my heart would explode out of happiness any moment soon! What joy is it to know that your efforts paid off! I couldn't help but to take a trip down memory lane when I first saw the advertisement in the Daily Graphic. I fell within all the necessary criteria needed to be passed in order to enter the essay competition…but the topic of the essay; so complex! The prize? 10000 Ghana Cedis scholarship! Wow… how badly I needed this! I had applied to a University and I was waiting for my admission letter to get to me. How to finance my tertiary education was my biggest headache. The thought of it always lingered in my cerebrum. The first thing I thought of when I woke up from bed in the morning and the last thing on my mind before I retired to bed. “From whence cometh my help?”; this I never stopped asking myself. If money could be derived from worrying, I guess Bill Gates would be nowhere near me in terms of money. As I read through the advertisement, I knew this platform held my golden ticket. There was just two days left for the period of submission to be due. The complex nature of the topic nearly discouraged me; but my determination was so great that it drowned the discouragement trying to take roots in me. Within two days, I worked tirelessly to produce my essay. Man, it was such a herculean task! The prize kept my zeal aflame. It urged me on whenever I felt like giving up on the task. Finally, I completed it and sent it to the nearest submission point. “Whoa!” I thought I could never complete it. I had done my humanly part, I left the rest in the hands of my God, and there I was qualified to the next stage. That phone call was the best I had ever received in my life. The date, venue and other necessary information were given to me. In anxiety, I waited for that green-light day to arrive. I was asked to prepare to write another essay on that day, but no topic or area was given. Slowly, the days moved; seconds grudgingly gave in to be minutes. Minutes unwillingly grew to be hours and hours reluctantly handed over to days. I had never in my life seen days move that slow. All my brain could do was to imagine how the green-light day was going to be like and which possible topic we could be asked to write on. Who could my competitors be? Did I stand a chance of winning? These were the elements of my thoughts during my “waiting period”. Inevitably, the green-light day arrived. I couldn't afford to be late. This was almost my life. I woke up very early and set off. In the car, I was so full anxiety and the butterflies in my tummy were uncountable. Silent prayers, I didn't stop offering to my God. Finally, I reached my destination. I stood before an extremely exquisite huge and tall building which looked like a pyramid. I walked towards it and entered. At the reception were three young gentlemen and two young ladies seated with their eyes fixed on their phone screens. They looked engulfed in whatever they were reading. It instantly hit me that they were part of my competitors. My heart started to beat faster. I greeted and took my seat as I got to them. They looked up to the stranger who just joined them; some kept staring like I just dropped from heaven and two others quickly focused back to their screens. What was it they were seriously reading? Had they heard about any topic? I couldn't help miss out on any information so I quickly asked the gentleman sitting by me. “No extra information has been given, just thought it wise to go through some stuff which might help” replied the gentleman. “Some stuff which might help?” My eyes grew wider, whatever that was, I hoped it wasn't something I had no knowledge about” Wisdom was knocking at my door and I needed to open “her”; I quickly took my phone and goggled stuff I also thought could help. A while after, more people joined us and we were ushered into a conference room on the 13^th floor. The lift that transported us to there….hmm, I’d share that experience another day. We were too many for just one conference room, so we were divided for three different rooms. The conference room I was sent to was so beautiful and well furnished. We took our seats around a big round table. The room was clouded with great tension. I had never experienced that kind of tension in my life; not even when I entered the examination hall for my first WASSCE paper. I could really feel the throbbing of my heart as I looked round at my competitors. No one had even said a word to another. Just then, a gentleman entered the room…all eyes was on him .He was slim and tall and fi…ne. He stood before us and introduced himself, and told us a little more about him. He opened his fountain of knowledge and shared some things concerning his field which we found quite interesting. One major bread of advice he broke and shared with us was that we should avoid getting into a relationship as we enter our various chosen universities. His premise for this was the fact that university guys aren't “serious”; they don’t know what they really want until they are done with school and face the missile life may dart at them. That piece of advice triggered discussions among ourselves, he urged us to make friends among ourselves and by the time we could say jack, we were all happily interacting. He really inspired us. This gentleman was the heat that melted the ice of tension that surrounded us. About an hour after that, some men entered the room with cameras, set them and there we were, being covered. “Were the press supposed to be here?” I wondered. Tension started growing again but the “fine gentleman” had already surrounded us with his anti-tension membrane. Just then, we were alerted that we would be writing our essays in the next ten minutes, but before then, a list was passed round for us to cross check our details and sign. When the list got to me, I realized that every other name were in capital letters except mine. Worry engulfed me, a lot of thoughts made way into my head. Just then an official of the company came by and I quickly drew his attention to it. “Oops! Sorry about this dear, it is not intentional at all. It’s just a printing error. Don’t worry, it’s not going to affect you at all” he assured. He had a soft soothing voice which evaporated my worry, he was good looking too. Still looking on the list, he exclaimed “Oh, you are going to this University? Am an old boy of it!”  What a coincidence! I thought, he was actually an old boy of my dream university? I shot him a smile and with that, he left. I felt relieved. Few minutes later, our essay question papers were distributed to us and we were asked to start work. Cameras were everywhere. Only 30 minutes was allocated for that essay, gradually, we were done. The fine gentleman announced we had to get ready for a one-on-one interview with a panel of judges. OMG! My heart instantly sank in. An interview? We weren't informed on that part of the deal! Who was I not go accordingly?After all, I was chasing a prize and so whatever mountain it came with it, I had to move. As I still sat there, I took a quick trip down memory lane back to my senior high school days. A classmate, Sheila asked me to help her write a letter to a friend in another school. The reason why she asked me in particular, I didn't know. In the process of helping her, a dorm mate of hers joined us and started dictating to her what she should write rather, I realized that Sheila’s attention had totally shifted from me to her dorm mate instead. Right in the middle of the abandonment, I didn't force her to listen to me, I didn't complain or go away instead I started making use of the pen and paper to before me and started writing. I absolutely didn't have any pre-idea of what I was going to write about; I just began to write whatever came into mind. I didn't allow the “your- writing- idea- is – not – good – enough” feeling discourage me. In about 30 minutes, I was done with an amazing short story I couldn't believe I wrote myself. Just as I finished with the story, I gave it to Sheila and her friend to read. Though this incident is five years now, I am still looking for a perfect word to describe the expression on their faces when they were done reading. I wasn't aware of my writing ability then; that was my first brainchild which was published in the Mirror. In the midst of discouragement, I kept believing myself and achieved something great; my reward of still believing in myself in that discouraging situation. This competition is another bright instance where I had to believe in myself in despite what and how the mountain was. If the magic worked before, I strongly believed it would again. I was poked back to reality by the fine gentleman’s voice telling us to move to another conference room to meet the other candidates we were separated from in the beginning.(TO BE CONTD.)