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Accra Conscious Forever
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On Saturday, April 10, 2010, from 8:00AM – 6PM GMT, the inaugural TEDxYouthInspire conference will be held at the Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT in Accra, Ghana. 
The free one-day event, a first for young African visionaries ages 14-25, will welcome a host of youth speakers, a Ghanaian dance ensemble and an Academy Award-nominated short film.
Organized along the theme “A Good Head & A Good Heart”, taken from Nelson Mandela’s 1995 autobiography; Long Walk to Freedom, TEDxYouthInspire will exhibit how radical thought and integrity of spirit combine to create unlimited possibilities for a brighter future.
The outpouring of support for TEDxYouthInspire exemplifies the need for more events like this for young people,” says Raquel Wilson, event curator, “As our speaker line-up suggests, youth everywhere are ready to solidify their contributions towards making the world a better place.”
TEDxYouthInspire welcomes the following speakers to give the talks of their lives:
Iyinoluwa E. Aboyeji, 18, a Nigerian teenager with a passion for philosophy, global politics and economics, is President of the Board for University of Waterloo publication Imprint. Using his weekly column “E is for Error” to discuss development and post secondary education, he aspires to be a tenured professor by age 25.
The Asanti Dance Theatre is a dynamic ensemble that combines traditional, contemporary and freestyle dancing along with drumming. Founded in 2003, the group raises awareness of prominent issues facing West Africa and is dedicated to developing and preserving the cultural heritage of Ghana.
Yawa Hansen-Quao, 26, is a women’s empowerment activist and firmly advocates that “one cannot love an Africa one does not know.” Believing that women must play a central role in spurring economic and social advancement in Africa, Yawa supports travel as a tool to “transform people without permission”.
Kojo Oppong-Nkrumah is the host of Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.
Mac-Jordan Holdbrookes-Degadjor, 25, a social media activist, who’s passionate about Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), Networking, Youth empowerment and ending poverty through Education. With three blogs to his credit, he often writes about global events, social entrepreneurship, traveling and how it feels to be a geek in Ghana.
Shirley Osei-Mensah, 18, is an Internet entrepreneur and student at Keystone National High School. Unable to attend a regular classroom, she takes all coursework online and uses her web exposure to inspire others, provide tips about entrepreneurship and advise on earning an income online.
Esi Yankah, 25, is founder and president of The Africa Mentor Network and creative director for Yankah and Associates. Cautious to always live a life that is cheerful and purposeful, she does not believe that entrepreneurs are an extraordinary breed of people; rather, as she explains, “We just back our faith with action.”
Ghana Google Country Manager Estelle Akofio-Sowah will host TEDxYouthInspire.
TEDxYouthInspire is sold out; however a live web-steam of the event will be available online at www.tedxyouthinspire.org Individual and corporate sponsorship packages are still available.
Additional information about TEDxYouthInspire can be found by visiting www.tedxyouthinspire.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TEDxYouthInspir or Facebook at www.facebook.com/tedxyouthinspire.
Credit: Raquel Wilson
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Are you a Social Media freak/fan based in Ghana especially, Accra? Are you positive about creating awareness on social issues such as; Education? Are willing to volunteer, meet-up and share ideas with people who share a lot of information in the Cyberspace?
I’m very privilege to inform you about another social event happening in the month of March in the city of Accra. It’s the first ever Twitter Festival dubbed: AccraTwestival2010. Follow AccraTwestival for more updates and if you want to get involved. 
It is an event been co-organized by myself; MacJordaN & RodneyQuarcoo and a few volunteers based in Accra. It is scheduled to happen on Thursday March 25, 2010 and is aimed at supporting a great cause; that is securing Educational materials for children in deprived areas in Ghana. We figured it’s very impossible to say NO when you get the opportunity to throw a great meet-up with interesting people from all corners/areas of Ghana - all in the name of charity.
What is Twestival?
On Thursday 25 March 2010, people in hundreds of cities around the world including; Accra will come together offline to rally around the important cause of Education by hosting local events to have fun and create awareness. Twestival™ (or Twitter Festival) uses social media for social good. All of the local events are organized 100% by volunteers and 100% of all donations go direct to projects.
What is the Impact of Twestival?
On 12 February 2009, the first Twestival Global was held in 202 international cities to support @charitywater, who we saw doing incredible work to help the almost 1 billion or 1-in-6 people in the world that don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. Over 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors fund raised $250k+, which resulted in more than 55 wells in Uganda, Ethiopia and India having a direct impact for over 17,000 people. Watch the videos of the first Twestival well drilled in the village of Mai Nabri, Ethiopia.
What does Twestival 2010 focuses on?
In 2010, we turn our focus to education and 72 million children in the world who don’t have the opportunity to go to school. @Concern Worldwide has been selected by the Twestival global team and local organizers to be the recipient because of their comprehensive and well respected approach to Education. This is an issue that involves many different elements; hunger, water, teacher training, building of schools, etc. We hope to use the power of our global event fund-raising and social media influence as a vehicle to give people insight into this cause on a deeper level.
Where will the Twestival funds will go?
Each city hosting a Twestival will be given the opportunity to select an area of education to support. This will be recognized with a special icon on their website once they have set a goal. For as little as $28USD they can provide the uniform, books, pencils, and paper a child needs to attend one year of school. Concern Worldwide is able to guarantee that 100% of Twestival funds will go direct to project costs. This means that the money would be used for material purchases (curriculum, desks, pencils) as well as project activities such as construction of schools; rehabilitation of classrooms; teacher/management training; PTAs; HIV/AIDS school clubs; water and sanitation in schools; health education in schools; education advocacy; vocational/life-skills training for youth, farmers and women; and curriculum development for secondary school/university.
Sponsorship
We are in the process of seeking sponsors for this event. If you want to help make this event a successful, feel free and contact us through the event’s blog; [accra.twestival.com] and we shall be glad you did. If you know any organization/company/individual that is capable of sponsoring, kindly email their details and we shall contact them with as soon as we can.
Let’s all meet-up, create awareness on Education and share ideas for the future. Accra Twestival… Let’s Go
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Accra Conscious Forever
Image by nikkorsnapper via Flickr
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Yesterday, I had a call from a friend who’s been job-hunting from the middle of last year till now. He’s been lucky to be short-listed for a few interviews but none ever worked out due to the “university degree” menace rocking the nation.
This guy in question is a very practical person when it comes to the field of information technology. He’s just curious to know about the latest IT trends, new software usage, troubleshooting skills and How-to’s but he’s not getting employed. He's studied at one of the best private IT institutions in Ghana and yet, no job. So I asked myself; what is wrong with not having a degree??
Dearest my passionate reader; please help me answer this question that keeps bugging my mind over the above subject.
Question: Why do employers in Ghana demand a prospective employee to have a degree before been employed?
According to a colleague I shared this topic with yesterday; this is how she defines a “degree”. She says; “A degree only shows that a person can follow a set motion of educational learning, but that person might have no common sense or experience at all”.
To some extent, I realized what she said was very TRUE. Do you also agree or disagree with her? This is actually very evident with a lot of people I know who have a degree in Information and Communication Technology, Computer Science and Computer Engineering but absolutely knows nothing. Yes, they know absolutely NOTHING.
Somewhere in August 2009; a week after Maker Faire Africa, a friend asked me to come have a look at his computer because it was acting “funny” and needed to format it. He didn’t even know the steps in formatting a PC, let alone grab an installation CD to start… Would you believe this friend is a graduate from the prestigious University of Ghana with a BSc Computer Science degree couldn’t solve this small problem on his PC?? What is the essence of his degree then?
I know graduates who have first-class honors in the IT field from some of the top universities of Ghana. I randomly asked a few of them to terminate a CAT-5 network cable for use in connecting to a Local Area Network [LAN], and they were like flying to the Accra Zoo for assistance. When asked why they couldn't terminate the cable, their reply was; “We were not taught how to terminate a network cable at the university!” You wouldn’t believe where some of these guys are working now?
Some random girl [a university graduate] who keeps reading my blog and thinks I’m a geeky/nerdy sort of a person because of my passion for tech-stuffs once asked me: “Why is it that I cannot get a job”? My answer to her question was this simple; “You don't have any practical experience in ICT and for that matter, you need to go for ICT professional courses [Cisco, Microsoft, Novell, Oracle or CompTia] in addition to the degree you have. If you have any of the trainings/certifications in those fields, your chances of getting short-listed and a promising job is far higher than only the so called “Degree”.
How would you compare the “whom you know” syndrome currently rocking the nation to the bureaucracy of yester-years?? It seems that with the advent of the Americanized system (the introduction of the CV), people are pigeon-holed into whatever category of work they include on their CV. What is difference between a “Personnel” and a ‘Human Resource” manager? Do you have any idea how your CV is treated when you apply to any of the GSM companies that everyone is dying to work for right after the university??? Buzz me for more fila…!
In conclusion, common sense can never be bought but can be acquired if you so wish for one. Thanks to David Ajao and all bloggers at Ghana Blogging for keeping the aggregator running till now.
Share your views, comments, criticisms and objections here. Those are the reasons why I always sit up every morning to put my thoughts on my blogs for you. Enjoy and hope to see you come back for more....!
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Accra Conscious Forever
Image by caribb via Flickr
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On Tuesday, at 21:53GMT the Caribbean nation of Haiti was hit by its strongest earthquake in more than 200 years, causing what is being described as "a catastrophe of major proportions".
Heavy casualties are feared after numerous buildings were leveled by the 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Rumors have it that, about 100,000 people are feared dead but that number is yet to be ascertain. Major landmarks, including the Presidential Palace, National Assembly and Port au Prince Cathedral have been destroyed.
I find it very disheartening to think that Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, along with its administrative, health, governance, and diplomatic faculties has been rendered incapable in mere seconds. To make matters worse, the majority of the foreigners based in Haiti - relief and aid workers - have also suffered numerous losses with the UN reporting damages to its properties and possible staff deaths in the hundreds.
“#HAITI” has been a trending topic on twitter until I just realized, it’s no more. My tweets: “I can't believe #Haiti is no more trending on Twitter. Wot's w/ all this useless trending topics? KMT. Pple needs help in Haiti. #HelpHaiti” should let you know how concerned I’m about the situation in Haiti and how willing I’m in spreading more info about ways people can help the survivors of the earth-quake. Even though #Haiti isn’t trending on twitter as at this time, Wyclef Jean’s #YELE is trending on twitter.
In search for accurate blog posts to aggregate from Ghana about the Haiti-Quake, I came across a few posts from members of the Ghana Blogging Group and other blogs worth reading.
Ethan Zuckerman, one of the donors who sponsored my trip to Copenhagen for COP15 and also a great contributor of Global Voices Online [an international citizen media organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of bloggers and other producers of citizen media, with a special focus on the developing world] wrote about how reporters are racing to Haiti to report on the disaster, but voices are already making themselves heard from the decimated city. He also mentioned how Georgia Popplewell has been rounding-up tweets from Haiti on the Global Voice Special Haiti-Quake page.
Georgia is a list person I must say. She has started a list on Twitter, aggregating accounts of people who are posting from Haiti. On her post about “List and the Haiti Earthquake” she mentioned how she can’t live without “LISTS” as they are a way of escaping thoughts about death been described by Umberto Eco. She also wrote about she spent the whole day of Jan 13, following the aftermath of the 7.0 earthquake in Haiti.
I just came across Troy Livesay’s informative tweets and long story blog about new developments in Haiti. She’s really worth following for more updates. From Troy’s blog; “
> Mass graves are being used; the bodies are seen stacked in trucks and around town. Many people will be buried without their families ever knowing where they were when they died.
> Plans are underway to open a clinic to serve our area. We need prayers that the plane is allowed to land with our people and supplies. They are supposed to be able to get in the next 36 hours but we pray that it actually comes to pass. We cannot begin without them.
> Water purification in the form of a safe chlorine product is being made around the clock and will be distributed for people to add to their dirty water source and be able to make it safe to drink.
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I have never fully understood the wonder of social networking until now, seriously thank God, for Twitter, Facebook, Skype and all blogging platforms!
Kasja Hallberg-Adu had this to say about social Media and how it’s going to help in the Haiti crisis; “If anyone ever doubted that blogging and tweeting could go beyond navel gazing, I guess today we have evidence of the contrary. Hopefully this access to on the ground information will also make a difference to the Haitian people.
Nsoromma...Child of the Heavens requested, a prayer be said for the good people of Haiti. She writes:
Say a prayer for Haiti please!
Prayers are free, but financially you can help in the following ways:
>> Donation to UNICEF >> Donation to CARE >> Donation to Christian Aid
President Barack Obama and former presidents of the United States; George W Bush and Bill Clinton launched a national drive to raised funds for the survivors of Haiti. Obama has already pledged US$100milion as a relief fund for Haiti.
Yasmeen H. Nsiah [Soap maker from 2009's MakerFaireAfrica held in Accra] have also started a campaign to mobilize donations both in cash and in-kind for survivors of Haiti-quake. She created a group on Facebook; GHANAIAN HELPERS FOR HAITI and posted this info up: “A short code has been set up for the Red Cross in Ghana. Text HAITI to 1990 to donate GHC1.00 to the Red Cross in Ghana or text HAITI to 1960 to give through the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund. You can text multiple times!
You can also send your donations through other NGOs. But in order to ensure you're not being scammed, here are lists of reputable NGOs with operations in Haiti with whom you can donate to:
YELE Haiti, Partners In Health, Red Cross, World Food Program, Save The Children and Doctors Without Borders
May the victims of this quake rest in perfect peace…!
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Accra Conscious Forever
I love Facebook and admit I spend a lot of time on there. It's a personal space for me to talk with my friends and family. I've been noticing a lot of people have the "It's Complicated" Facebook dating status. It got me thinking; why does a relationship have to be complicated? Better yet, why in the world do you want to be in a relationship that is complicated?
When I see/hear it's complicated I immediately think that individual is in some BS type of situation they clearly don't need to be in or it wouldn't be complicated. What kind of BS situation am I referring to? Well, let's see. I'm thinking of one of the following:
- Someone is involved with an individual that is married. [Sugar-daddy, Sugar-mommy relationships]
- You're dating someone who isn't quite ready for a commitment, but you are and you're your hanging on hoping they'll change their mind.
- You got cheated on (or you did the cheating) and now your relationship is on shaky grounds.
Why do we hang on to these complicated relationships? Are we waiting for a love fairy to come down and magically un-complicate the situation for us?
We are in the New Year [2010], I propose all those with these "It's Complicated" Facebook dating status'; take a real hard look into what's making their situation complicated and determine if this is a situation that is truly good for them and if it's not; have enough balls to end it and move on.
I don't know about you, but it's my goal to live a life that is as uncomplicated as possible.
Who needs the added drama? I certainly don't.
Do you?
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Accra Conscious Forever
The month of October, 2009 saw me joining
Global Voices Online shortly after I had met
Georgia Popplewell, who's the director of the Global Voices Online Community. I was introduced to her by
Eduardo Avila [Founder and Director of the Bolivian Voices Project] after we had met at
Maker Faire Africa which was held in Accra, Ghana from 14
th -16
th August, 2009.
The very first time I heard about Global Voices was during one of Ghana Bloggers monthly meet-up somewhere in Accra. Emmanuel K. Bensah spoke about his contributing to their works from Ghana and I really enjoyed all that he said about them. Since then, I have been looking out for a chance to join the group and also contribute my quota. That chance finally opened in Oct, 2009...
West-Africa's Celebrity Journalist, Ameyaw Debrah once asked me shortly after my post on Blog Action Day; "what Global Voices Online was? Answering him wasn't that difficult at all because I had started writing and contributing. "Global Voices Online is a network of bloggers and citizen journalists mostly who are volunteers that follow, report, and summarizes what is going on in the blogosphere in every corner of the world" was my answer to him.
Of all the authors at GV, Ethan Zuckerman, Solana Larsen & Georgia Popplewell are those whose works/writing inspires me a lot. There's no single day, I am not reading from any them to stay abreast with whatever is happening out there. Before writing this post, I had read about David Sasaki's retrospectives on GV's first 5yrs. It's really worth reading…!
Since Global Voices are made of volunteers [myself] who are self-less and willing to bring the news, interviews and discussions around the globe to your door, a little donation in supporting our works won't be a bad idea at all. You can send all your donations through various means here: Global Voices Donation
Honestly speaking, 5yrs of online presence and keeping people everywhere updated on the latest happenings around the world in different languages is just too much. I feel so elated to be a part of the GVO Community.
Global Voices at 5, many more years of connecting, informing and inspiring is yet to come.
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Accra Conscious Forever
The climate negotiations are all but over and we don't have the Fair, Ambitious and Legally binding deal that millions of people worldwide have demanded. But it is impossible to be without hope as our movement has come so far in this short space of time…
Head of States and other World Leaders still have the chance to get this right, but the time is ticking just like the Tcktcktck movement.
At the Climate Change Conference, most NGO's were denied access to the Bella Center but the Fresh Air Center which was started from the very beginning of the summit has acted as base-camp for many media people and NGOs, accredited and unaccredited alike. Situated about a few kilometers from the Bella Center in Copenhagen, the Fresh Air Center is part of Tcktcktck, a global campaign platform designed to bring climate justice organizations together in solidarity. This center acts as the main news hub so that the rest of the world can be connected and informed of the negations' in real time.
I was very happy to be part of the Vancouver crew represented at the Fresh Air Center. Countless numbers of Vancouver people have worked on the Tcktcktck campaign and with other climate justice organizations, so it is really no surprise of their strong presence at the conference. I was star-struck when I was introduced to the Mayor of Vancouver; Mayor Gregor Robertson by my photo-blogger buddy, Kris Krug here in Copenhagen where he is set to attend the Copenhagen Climate Summit for Mayors.
Many other celebrities keeps showing up at the Fresh Air Center day-in, day-out and always get introduced. What did I do to deserve all that, Kris? Daryl Hannah from the following movies, Splash, Wall Street, Roxanne and Kill Bill [1 & 2] showed up on Wednesday night and Steve Rio [main tech-support man from the Tcktcktck campaign] introduced me once again. It been my first time meeting a great movie star like her; I had some funny feelings in my stomach before approaching her. I didn't forget to carry my Ghana flag for the photo-shoot with her. Darryl has a biodiesel El Camino and is well-known climate justice activist.
That same night, Kumi Naidoo from Green Peace Organization took the podium at the Fresh Air Center where he explained his letter for Barack Obama as he made his way to Copenhagen from the White House yesterday. He's a great orator and I like his charisma. He was the one who got me tweeting this phrase at the conference; "We want a Fair, Ambitious and legally binding deal"& "No Deal is a Bad Deal"… I didn't wait for him to finish his talk before I approached him. His name "Kumi" sounded Ghanaian so I asked; if he's got a Ghanaian origin which he responded in the negative but rather linked his name to a Ghanaian sport legend back in the days. He's a South African by birth but had to live in exile in the United Kingdom for a year.
Next was Naomi Klein, a Canadian journalist and Author of "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" and other great books. She also contributed to the writing of the Going Rouge: an American Nightmare book.
Negotiations are ongoing and even though, I am still optimistic of a real deal coming out of the talks, my hopes seems to be fading away gradually. Well, I am keeping my fingers crossed till the last minute.
Bill McKibben writes on the outcome of the "Deal" that the US, China, India and South Africa struck last night.
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Accra Conscious Forever
December 18, 2009
Remarks of President Barack Obama - As Prepared for Delivery
UNFCCC Summit. Copenhagen, Denmark
December 18, 2009
Good morning. It's an honor to for me to join this distinguished group of leaders from nations around the world. We come together here in Copenhagen because climate change poses a grave and growing danger to our people. You would not be here unless you - like me - were convinced that this danger is real. This is not fiction, this is science. Unchecked, climate change will pose unacceptable risks to our security, our economies, and our planet. That much we know.
So the question before us is no longer the nature of the challenge - the question is our capacity to meet it. For while the reality of climate change is not in doubt, our ability to take collective action hangs in the balance.
I believe that we can act boldly, and decisively, in the face of this common threat. And that is why I have come here today.
As the world's largest economy and the world's second largest emitter, America bears our share of responsibility in addressing climate change, and we intend to meet that responsibility. That is why we have renewed our leadership within international climate negotiations, and worked with other nations to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. And that is why we have taken bold action at home - by making historic investments in renewable energy; by putting our people to work increasing efficiency in our homes and buildings; and by pursuing comprehensive legislation to transform to a clean energy economy.
These actions are ambitious, and we are taking them not simply to meet our global responsibilities. We are convinced that changing the way that we produce and use energy is essential to America's economic future - that it will create millions of new jobs, power new industry, keep us competitive, and spark new innovation. And we are convinced that changing the way we use energy is essential to America's national security, because it will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and help us deal with some of the dangers posed by climate change.
So America is going to continue on this course of action no matter what happens in Copenhagen. But we will all be stronger and safer and more secure if we act together. That is why it is in our mutual interest to achieve a global accord in which we agree to take certain steps, and to hold each other accountable for our commitments.
After months of talk, and two weeks of negotiations, I believe that the pieces of that accord are now clear.
First, all major economies must put forward decisive national actions that will reduce their emissions, and begin to turn the corner on climate change. I'm pleased that many of us have already done so, and I'm confident that America will fulfill the commitments that we have made: cutting our emissions in the range of 17 percent by 2020, and by more than 80 percent by 2050 in line with final legislation.
Second, we must have a mechanism to review whether we are keeping our commitments, and to exchange this information in a transparent manner. These measures need not be intrusive, or infringe upon sovereignty. They must, however, ensure that an accord is credible, and that we are living up to our obligations. For without such accountability, any agreement would be empty words on a page.
Third, we must have financing that helps developing countries adapt, particularly the least-developed and most vulnerable to climate change. America will be a part of fast-start funding that will ramp up to $10 billion in 2012. And, yesterday, Secretary Clinton made it clear that we will engage in a global effort to mobilize $100 billion in financing by 2020, if - and only if - it is part of the broader accord that I have just described.
Mitigation, Transparency and Financing. It is a clear formula - one that embraces the principle of common but differentiated responses and respective capabilities. And it adds up to a significant accord - one that takes us farther than we have ever gone before as an international community.
The question is whether we will move forward together, or split apart. This is not a perfect agreement, and no country would get everything that it wants. There are those developing countries that want aid with no strings attached, and who think that the most advanced nations should pay a higher price. And there are those advanced nations who think that developing countries cannot absorb this assistance, or that the world's fastest-growing emitters should bear a greater share of the burden.
We know the fault lines because we've been imprisoned by them for years. But here is the bottom line: we can embrace this accord, take a substantial step forward, and continue to refine it and build upon its foundation. We can do that, and everyone who is in this room will be a part of an historic endeavor - one that makes life better for our children and grandchildren.
Or we can again choose delay, falling back into the same divisions that have stood in the way of action for years. And we will be back having the same stale arguments month after month, year after year - all while the danger of climate change grows until it is irreversible.
There is no time to waste. America has made our choice. We have charted our course, we have made our commitments, and we will do what we say. Now, I believe that it's time for the nations and people of the world to come together behind a common purpose.
We must choose action over inaction; the future over the past - with courage and faith, let us meet our responsibility to our people, and to the future of our planet.
Thank you.
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10:04
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Accra Conscious Forever
I joined a group of climate change activists, bloggers and youth for a candle light vigil at a hall opposite the KlimaForum in Copenhagen. Even though the temperature was very bad, the turn-out was very huge and this shows how people were passionate towards the climate change issue and were demanding for a fair, ambitious and a legally binding deal.
The main reason for the vigil was to stand together in a moment of silence and also tell world leaders that "Now is the time for a Real Deal".
Each of the 1,200 candles held by the participants at the vigil read, "This candle represents 10,000 people who want a real deal", referring to for a fair, ambitious, and binding climate treaty called for in the Tcktcktck petition. However, the vigil was not held inside the Bella Center, where the heads of state from over 110 countries have gathered, as almost all representatives of civil society were removed from the Bella Center some days ago.
Below are photos from the Candle Light Vigil.
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21:09
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Accra Conscious Forever
Mr. Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
White House, Washington DC
USA
Dec 17, 2009
Dear Mr. President,
Now is the time to give hope more than a voice. As you depart for the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen, I feel compelled to express my hope and desire for the role you will play when you join the other heads of state in reaching an agreement to avert catastrophic climate change: the role you must play in keeping hope alive for many millions of people around the world.
My Name is Mac-Jordan Holdbrookes-Degadjor, I am a proud Ghanaian Blogger with the
Ghana Blogging Group and also an NGO activist with
Tcktcktck.org,
Greenpeace.org &
whiteband.org But, most of all, like you, I am a global citizen. I am also a child of Africa.
Like so many people around the world, I was uplifted during your presidential campaign. I had great hope as I listened to you speak to the perils of global warming, and about the promise of a clean energy economy. I was delighted by the promise that the US would return to multilateral engagement. After so many years of denial and inaction by the Bush Administration, you restored my hope that a fair, ambitious and legally binding climate agreement was possible. My hope that a deal which would banish the specter of catastrophic climate change could be struck. I believed and still believe you could be the leader to ensure that happens.
As a child growing up under the strict hands of my father, I learned that it is possible for a leader seeking change to keep hope alive. I also learned that, sooner or later, transformative leaders must make difficult decisions. Tomorrow you will face such a decision. Your choice could change the course of history.
As you well know, no region or nation is immune to the ravages of climate change. Melting glaciers, blazing forests, and acid seas are some of the well-documented ecological impacts of climate change. But too often, we lose sight of the inextricable link between the environment and how real people are affected. It is now estimated that some 300,000 people, mostly the poor and politically disenfranchised, die every year in our warming world.
Water, food, and habitable land are becoming scarcer, compounding human suffering and multiplying political tensions. The latest figures suggest that if we don't act now, as many as one billion people will be uprooted by climate impacts by mid-century.
The poor and voiceless will suffer most; they will be hit hardest and fastest. The unfairness of that pains me. They are the least responsible for causing climate change.
I cling on to hope, because as you have so vividly demonstrated, anything is possible. The prospect of personal leadership at the negotiations allows me to retain some 'audacity of hope' that you will have both the courage and the vision to make history.
This is not a simple political crisis: it is a moral crisis. I want to continue to believe in you Mr President. I appeal to your humanity - please don't condemn the peoples of low-lying island states and the world's most vulnerable countries to uncertainty. Do not let them be wiped off the map.
You have given the world hope that we will finally put this crisis behind us. You have the opportunity to turn hope into action and into reality.
Those from the most vulnerable states face a clear and present danger, but let us be clear, all of the world's 6.8 billion people will suffer from the consequences of unchecked climate change. They need a leader with the courage and vision to act. I pray and hope you are such a leader.
I end by reminding you of something you said often during your campaign. You frequently invoked the powerful words of Martin Luther King: "The fierce urgency of now".
Sadly, according to the science the urgency of now has become even more fierce. I humbly appeal to you to reject the voices of short-term interest, of political expediency and of compromise.
Listen instead to the call of history. Listen to the voices of those most at threat. Listen to the voices of future generations, of our children and grandchildren. Of your children. Of your grandchildren, as yet unborn. Then, please, take the action that you know is needed.
Sincerely,
Mac-Jordan Holdbrookes-Degadjor via Kumi Naidoo [CEO of Greenpeace.org]
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16:29
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Accra Conscious Forever
Yesterday, officials from the
UNFCCC decided to reduce access to the
Bella Center where the Climate Change summit is ongoing for reasons known to them only. This time round, only 7000 observers will be allowed in the building.
Over 45,000 people have applied to attend the conference, three times more than its capacity. An overwhelming number of those who applied arrived on Monday, causing congestion in the area outside the UN venue, which is under the control of the Danish police, and also long delays inside the UN area of control at accreditation counters. The UN accredited a total of around 3,500 new delegates today.
This morning, it was hell for all those who haven’t registered for the summit since it started. Thousands of media, NGO representatives and party delegates have to wait for hours to enter the conference venue. The metro station called “Bella Center” was close down due to the amount of people gathered around the place, therefore making it inconvenient for commuters to alight at and before the Bella Center Station.
I had it real tough yesterday trying to get my accreditation processed. I got to Bella Center at exactly 0550am CET and I happened to be the No.7 in the queue. Gradually, people started coming and the queue also got bigger and bigger. The temperature at that was -1°C and I was actually clad in my warm clothes bought from Kantamanto as usual.
Access to the Bella Center begins from 0800am CET but it was opened at about 0825am CET. Everyone including me was very pissed but we have no choice than to accept whatever comes our way.
Slowly, the crowd moved and it got to my turn at the UN Desk to have my accreditation processed. Guess, what happened here? I know, what you are thinking about now. Yes, just that. My accreditation couldn’t be located in the system… How on earth? Grrrrr…!!!
The most annoying aspect of this was; the UN Agent behind the desk was very rude and not nice to me.
I moved away and decided to seek assistance at the “HELPDESK” designated area. This lady was much nicer and very calm with me. She requested for my passport and my accreditation letter which I gave her. She checked the database and didn’t find my name but said, she’s going inside the main office to cross check. Luck was on my side this time because she came back with a letter for me and a form to fill which I hurriedly did.
This was where, LUCK shone on me. My card was labeled PRESS; meaning I was out of the NGO’s and Observers who wouldn’t make it to the Bella Center from today till the end of the summit because of the presence of the High Profile delegates.
I’m currently at the Bella Center where the High-level Segment attended by heads of States and heads of Government just finished with
H.E. Mr. Lars Løkke Rasmussen -Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark,
Mr. BAN Ki-moon - Secretary-General of the United Nations,
H.E. Ms. Connie Hedegaard [COP15 / CMP5 President],
Mr. Yvo de Boer - UNFCCC Executive Secretary,
HRH the Prince of Wales &
Dr. Wangari Maathai - 2004 Peace Nobel Prize Laureate from Kenya.
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13:23
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Accra Conscious Forever
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I attended the “
Copenhagen and beyond: Delivering a meaningful deal on Climate Change – the Global Green perspective” talk show at the Orange Hall at the KlimaForum09 yesterday evening with my Global Voices Contributor from the Maldives, Saffah Faroog.
The main speakers for the talk show were Marina Silva, Wangari Maathai, Jose Bove, Christine Milne, Elizabeth May and Catherine Greze. The meeting brought together Green Politicians from across the globe who outlined their views on what a meaningful climate agreement is and how it can be achieved.
With the ongoing UN Climate talks in Copenhagen expected to fall short on delivering a far reach-reaching and binding agreement to tackle climate change, the event also gave a Green perspective on how meaningful and sufficient global deal on climate change can be reached before its too late. 
And just a few minutes ago from the Bella Center, where the UNFCCC is been held, African countries raised the "nuclear option" suspending climate talks in protest of wealthy nations' resistance to discuss binding emissions reductions. Though African nations have walked out for the day, they are not leaving the talks permanently.
Friends of the Earth International's Nnimmo Bassey said: "We support African countries' demands for Kyoto targets and mandatory emissions reductions for rich countries. We denounce the dirty negotiating tactics of rich countries which are trying to change the rules and tilt them in their own favor. Developed countries are stalling these negotiations as Africa attempts to move them forward." 
A plenary session for all countries has been put on hold because of the breakdown; while Annex 1 developed nations were working to restore talks. But the chances of discussing a continuation of the Kyoto Protocol, wealthy nations contend, remain nil.
The possibility of a summit-ending walkout at Copenhagen China and India both mentioned it last month. Last week, G77 chief negotiator Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aiping walked out of one meeting in protest… I can’t wait to meet Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aiping and have a photo with him.
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19:08
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Yesterday saw about 200,000 people take part in the climate change demonstration on the Global Day of Action in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The activity was part of Global Day of Action activities worldwide, directed at world leaders gathered at the ongoing United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. Greenpeace and other Climate Organizations under the Tcktcktck movement are asking for a fair, ambitious and binding deal. Below are a couple of photos from the protest courtesy Kris Krüg
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15:39
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Accra Conscious Forever
I left Accra last night [11.12.2009] to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change which is ongoing in Copenhagen, Denmark. The program started from the 7
th Dec and should be over with a "reached agreement" by the 18
th Dec, 2009. The temperature upon arrival was 2°C; I quickly have to change into proper warm clothes before stepping outside.
I arrived 0810 local time and had to wait for my host; Kwesi Asare Bekoe [a High School Mate from Presec, Legon] to come meet me. Exactly 0845, he quickly spotted me in my Ghana Flag wrapped around my neck. It was very nice seeing him after days of talking about my coming online.
Fast-Forward >> He explained the train/metro system to me which I already was familiar with but still have to pay rapid attention to. There was a COP15 bus been deployed to pick-up all those arriving for the summit at the airport to the Bella Center every 10mins. Since my host wanted to us to rush to his place [Copenhagen Business School, Campus] before going to the Bella Center, he bought ticket for us [I and him] for the trip.
Reaching the Central Station, I had to grab a SIM Card for SMS, Int'l & Local Calls. Kwesi advised I buy the "VECTONE Mobile" card since that's what he's using and it's relatively cheaper. True to his words, it's very cheap to call international from Copenhagen on this SIM Card.
Kwesi showed me the various stops on the Metro and where to do my switching of lane. We got to the stop called "FORUM", took the elevator up to the street level, crossed to the opposite to join the bus numbered A2 which goes to his apartment. His place is the last stop on the route so he advised we seat the rear of the bus.
Fast-Forward >> Got to his place, grabbed some food to eat and had to rush to the Bella Center to process my accreditation and Press/Buss Passes. It was very easy locating my stops both on the metro and on the bus lanes.
Arriving at the Bell Center, I saw this huge crowd of different people from different parts of the world all in a queue to get registered for all events till the 18th Dec, 2009. The weather was very cold [temp at that time was -3°C]. I saw a few African Nationals really struggling with the cold because their clothes weren't helping at all. Some of the officials upon seeing how the weather was having a very bad effect on some of the people in the queue decided to allow us all in to the security area which was very warm.
Finally, it got to my turn in the queue. I have to loosen everything in my jacket before going through the metal detectors. I passed and all went successful. Not a single beep from the system. [Same happened in Kotoka Int'l Airport, back home in Accra].
I showed up at the UN Desk to confirm my accreditation and also process my Events/Transport Pass. The lady was having a hard time locating my name in the system. This went on for almost 1-hour and I just had to give up and come sort it out later. The same time I was behind the counter, that very time too; a Protest Match was going on in downtown Copenhagen, where demonstrators were matching from Christiansborg Slotsplads, or Castle Square, toward the Bella Center. [More on that in my next post]
I decided to go to the Fresh Air Center which is a rapid response digital media hub in Copenhagen for top global bloggers and digital campaigners. This place is been operated for free by the Tcktcktck Organization. The goal of the Fresh Air Center is to help civil society define the narratives coming from COP-15, encourage sharing and collaboration, and break through the noise by connecting powerful NGO, blogger, and independent digital media channels together.
I am currently sited in a conversation with Beka and Safaah over events for next coming days and also tweeting as usual…!!
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19:16
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow readers/followers in the United State and a Happy Eid-al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice) to all my Muslim friends/mates and families. I know, I haven’t written on any subject since I started working in Takoradi, away from Accra about some weeks ago. Don’t know the exact dates but I’m sure, it is not been more than eight weeks yet…
So, I have been very busy with preparations for my trip to the Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark somewhere from the first week of Dec, 09 and also working indefatigably coordinating with my fellow organizers [ Ato-Ulzen Appiah and Henry Barnor] towards Barcamp - Ghana ’09 which comes off in Accra, Ghana on the 21st Dec, 09 under the theme: Leadership for our times: Cultivating Change Makers. Hopefully, we shall be able to organize another successful Barcamp in Ghana. Make sure, you bookmark the date and be there. Don’t miss out.
Guess who I met at my favorite Fufu [God Is Love Chop bar @ Pipe-ano] joint in Takoradi this afternoon. You won’t believe me but it is very true. Well, is it no other person than Mr. Rod McLaren also known as Nana Akwasi Amoako Agyeman II, Edubiase Nkosuahene. Does that name ring a bell? I am not sure in the case of the ordinary Ghanaian but most residents within the Sekondi/Takoradi city would have an idea. My Canadian friends should also be able to remember this name with ease.
Just sitting across our table at the Fufu joint was sited Nana and his relatives, I guess because he later introduced her daughter [Afua Sewaa McLaren] who’s the General Manager of the African Rainbow Resort in Takoradi, a Caucasian young-man and another gentleman [African-American] whom I am told plays Jazz music at the hotel.
There’s a saying that, before random people became good friends, there surely was an issue. I believed that saying right after lunch after my encounter with Nana. Before our food was served, we [I and two former colleagues from Skyy TV] were having a chat when I realized the waitress serving our food commented on why the African-American sited with Nana Akwasi Amoako Agyeman II was using his left hand to eat the Fufu. Something not accepted in the Ghanaian community. Who are you to say, it? Lol ;(
Immediately, I made the waitress understand, I don’t see anything wrong with it so she should just mind her business. Unfortunately for me, Nana’s eyes caught mine just after the waitress left and he angrily asked me; “Is there a problem, young man?” and I just replied, “No, Sir”, and there was peace.
After this incident, I enjoyed my bowl of Fufu together with my friends and upon licking the earthen-ware dry, my friends suggested I approach Nana and let him know, it was very wrong for the gentleman to eat with the left hand in Ghana. I boldly introduced myself to him as a blogger and there and then, he accepted his ignorance about the whole situation and apologized. That is one true virtue of a chief and an educated man. I liked that of Nana J
Even though his twi wasn’t sounding in the right directions, I liked the fact that he wanted to communicate with me twi. We had a great time discussing about blogging in Ghana, his book [Rainbow Round the African Sun] which is currently out and how delighted he will be if I would recommend his hotel to my friends in the Diasporas and beyond (something which I have already done long ago). I might be going there this weekend if I don’t make it Accra, though.
The African Rainbow Resort is located in the fishing village of Busua on the coast in the Western Region of Ghana. It has long been a destination for travelers because of the long crescent beach. It is one of the safest beaches on the coastline, and is also recognized in the international surfing community. According to of my friends from Germany who stayed at this hotel had this to say; [The staffs are great and their food is spicy and wonderful. The view of the Atlantic Ocean is spectacular.]
Well, a little bit of information for travelers and holiday-freaks heading to [Takoradi] this side of the Ghana. Crime rate is very low here but that doesn’t mean you should not care about your belongings and live a care-free life. Just be careful and be on the lookout always. If you are a nite-club/social bird like me, I will recommend the following places to hang-out with full security assured.
Champs Sport Bar just opened in the Oil city by the Stellar Group is located on the Shippers Road heading towards the Takoradi Harbor. There is a bar and restaurant which is open to the public. This is a branch of the same bar that has been operating in Accra for a long time and is very popular. The place is really new and really stunning with huge TV screens everywhere showing all the latest sports. It has rapidly become a really popular venue within Takoradi which is otherwise quite sleepy and is a fun place to chill at night. Try the trivia Games on Thursday evenings, the Karaoke evening on Friday nights and their All-You-Can-Drink Session for just GHC10.00 on Saturdays. This place offers great value for money.
For sometimes now, Paragon Nite-Club has been the very place where every party-addict would like to go and hang out after working industriously from Monday to Friday. Due to the influx of expat’s in the Oil City, there’s now a VIP Section at the nite-club to put some level of decency among nite-clubbers. There’s also the popular-stand which I sometimes refers to as, “the zongo” where those who can’t afford the GHC20.00 for the VIP section can just party their nite away till who knows when they will be tired.
LOU MOON LODGE is a very beautiful, posh place on the marvelous beach near Axim, definitely the best beachside accommodation on the coast. The price is very high, but it is worth spending at least one day/night. Plus, maybe the only place in Ghana where you can actually swim, protected from the ocean waves!!!
There is this fairly new and nice good standard restaurant located in the heart of Takoradi called Bocadillos Restaurant. They have many types of food, local (even some Nigerian) and international, pastries, French baguettes, cakes and ice cream. They used to have a bar where they showed African Movies and sometimes, do Live Band. Currently, they have a wireless hotspot access at the place where visitors have to purchase a time code and access the internet at the comfort of free fresh air and good music…
My brain just stopped thinking despite there is a lot for me to write. Lots of ideas but little time to write... I have to do this later. Ma brɛɛ... adɛn kraaaa (trans; I’m tired, what at all again ;) I have to do this after the holiday or frankly, later someday.
Meeting up Sompair Elias who’s in town for his alma-mater, Ghana Secondary Technical School’s 100th Anniversary celebration. Oyaaa.. I'm done ;)
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16:59
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Last night wasn’t a good for me as I had to deal with the heat that came about as a result of power-outage. Opening the windows for fresh air means, I’m opening the heavens-gate for the mosquitoes. I thought twice and just had to deal with it by sleeping in the heat.
Finally, I saw the early morning sun rays penetrating through the window at about 0534 which signified, it was morning. Come see my face. I can now open the windows for fresh air at least. Thinking the power was back; I switched on the light and to my utter dismay power was not restored. How on earth am I going to press my shirt for work? I had to cook up a plan B. [Wear a T-shirt and a pair of jeans] also allowed though.
I hear residents in Accra always experiencing the power problem every now and then without any info from the Electricity Company of Ghana. I witnessed it myself when I visited last weekend. For close to about 8hrs, power was off and we had to get fuel for the gen-set. What happens when other families in Ghana have no gen-you’re your guess is as good as mine. [They stay in the dark and their perishable items get bad…]
Do you all know that, power shortages are a real inconvenience to the regular Ghanaian? How would you describe the shortage amongst Ghana’s growing entrepreneur class?
I was very shocked to hear on the news about the uncontrollable power outages and the resultant load shedding exercise that hit the country a couple of years ago has started again. What at all are The Ghana Grid Company Limited (GRIDCO), the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) and the Volta River Authority (VRA) doing about this menace? According to the reporter on the radio, he said the recent power outages were due to some technical hitches at the various ECG and GRIDCO sub-stations. Can we believe this story?
These power-outages have on most occasions, caused fire outbreaks in homes and had obstructed the smooth flow of individual businesses which depend on electricity. How do these businesses survive this low-shedding again?
Climate change in Ghana has become a threat to livelihoods. Drought and over flooding in parts of the Northern Region of Ghana has become a yearly worry to the people and government. People along the banks of the Volta River are constantly displaced, homeless and landless.
In the South particularly aquatic life is affected as a result of human activities and sea level rise that pollutes water bodies and the main economic activity which is fishing drops and this has affected the income levels of the people. The climate change impacts in Northern part of Ghana results in severe draughts in the...
With all the above flashing in front of me each and every time the issue of climate change is brought up, I’m always looking out for ways I can help. I was beyond joy this morning after going through my email to see; “The Official Invitation Letter” from the organizers of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) also known as COP-15 inviting me to be part of Climate Change conference which begins from December 7 – 18, 2009 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
I have been approved of a stipend for my trip and currently awaiting media accreditation and other documents to enhance my visa acquisition at the Danish Consulate in Accra. Whiles at the conference, I shall be presenting my own Ghana Blogging Group, the Global Voices Community and other youth who couldn’t make it Copenhagen to raise a voice against Climate Change. I shall be very glad to be a part of this conference as we sign a deal to fight global warming NOW.
I will be updating my followers/readers and the entire Ghana Blogging Group from Copenhagen via my blog and through my twitter updates at MacJordaN. Follow me for me more updates on Climate Change.
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15:46
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Accra Conscious Forever
What comes to mind at the mention of "Mobile Number Portability"? Have you ever wondered why you couldn't choose your own number and use it on any network? How would you feel, if you could now do so? A time is coming, when you can do all that… Hurray..!!!
For your information; the country's telecommunication service provider Vodafone Ghana, is pushing for the implementation of Mobile Number Portability also known as MNP in Ghana. Mobile Number Portability (MNP) enables mobile telephone users to retain their mobile telephone numbers when changing from one mobile network operator to another.
Unlike what Zain Telecommunication did upon arriving in Ghana a couple of months ago; when they enabled customers of other networks to register their numbers on the Zain network with the Zain's 026 prefixing, MNP allows a customer to move from Vodafone, for instance, with his 020XXXXXX number to Zain, still maintaining the 020 prefix.
Currently, Ghana has six GSM Mobile Operators and the implementation of MNP would give customers/subscribers the choice and flexibility to be on any network they want. That means, I can have a number [0244-101010] on MTN moved to the Zain network and still maintain the prefix and the rest of the numbers.
From my personal observation, I don't think the necessary equipments and technical skills are in place for the implementation of this unique service. Four out of the six GSM Operators in the country namely [Zain, Kasapa Telecom, Glo Mobile and Vodafone-Ghana] have openly declared their support for its implementation but only MTN is very mute on this subject and rather asking the National Communication Authority for comments on the implementation of MNP.
Why wouldn't they be mute when they know they would end up losing all their customers to the other GSM Operators? Even though, they are the market leaders with a subscriber base of about 5million Ghanaians, I think the news of the MNP is going to bring them crushing to the ground.
Major Don-Chebe, Head of Corporate Communications from Vodafone Ghana said; every mature telecom market in the world is implementing MNP and he doesn't see the reason why Ghana, with as many as six GSM Operators and a penetration level of more than 55% [55 per cent] of its population shouldn't implement MNP. He also stressed that, when MNP is implemented, customers who are trapped on other networks would now be freed and can now enjoy quality of service from any of the GSM Networks of their choice in the country.
This technology is not expensive as somebody would be thinking. The advantages outrun the disadvantages in many ways.
What do you think of this new initiative? Do you think, it should be pushed and implemented? Do you think, Ghana is ready for its implementation? Do we have the necessary tools, experts to handle this new idea? How would this help you when it's implemented?
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17:53
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Accra Conscious Forever
Programmers, Eyram Akorfa Tawiah from Ghana and Wesley Kirinya from Kenya are co-founders of
Leti Games, a Ghanaian start-up building games for the iPhone and other gaming platforms is what Leti Games brings to the African gaming community. Their names would soon become a household one soon after their release of the iWarrior from Leti Games.
According to Eyram Tawiah [developer/programmer], the iWarrior is a casual game with great African art and sounds. With its simple intense game play, it puts you in the role of protecting your village from Africa's most feared wild animals. From the thundering Elephants, the camouflaging Lions, the swift Cheetahs, silly Hyenas and others, experience the wild on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Eyram is a product of the KNUST from Kumasi and Meltwater Foundation where he was a Teaching Fellow inspiring others and also working on his projects. I booked for an interview immediately I heard of iWarrior's release but couldn't get the chance as he was busy sorting other issues out. Luckily for me, I got hold of him online yesterday even though he seems busy; he was able to grant me this interview which answers all my questions about their [his] game release.
Below is the full text of my interview with Eyram Akofa Tawiah [EAT]:
Mac-Jordan [MJ]: What got you started in programming?
Eyram Akofa Tawiah [EAT]: It is funny but my love for games actually got me serious with programming. I wanted to make my own game for the comics I used to draw back in the days.
MJ: How would you describe your programming style / what languages you are ok with?
EAT: I'm very conversant with all programming languages for now. I work with programming principles but not the language. I design and implement in any language that I find can do the job right for me but I'm very comfortable in .NET (VB, C#), PHP, java and Objective C.
MJ: What software do you use most for your works?
EAT: I use Microsoft Office applications and the IDE's. I prefer the Mozilla Firefox and Safari browsers because they are very safe to use.
MJ: What would be the first thing I would find when I enter your room?
EAT: (laughing at this question) upon entering my room, you will find my girlfriend's portrait picture on the wall, a desktop computer on a table in the hall, my laptop [either in my bag or on the table].
MJ: What would I find in your laptop bag?
EAT: My MacBook Pro, my phones and if possible a PSP [PlayStation Portable]
MJ: Who is your best Movie Actor/Actress in Ghana? Have you watched any Ghanaian movies lately?
EAT: To be honest with you, I don't watch Ghanaian movies. No reasons for that though. I think, I watched "Perfect Picture" and I liked it. Apart from that, I can't say anything on movies from Ghana.
MJ: As a programmer, I believe you have a sense for music. What is your choice of music?
EAT: I have a wide range of music I listen to but on my heavy rotations; I have Classics, Hymns, Country music, Hip-hop & Hip-life. I'm beginning to have a thing for this generation of Afro-pop music coming from the youth of Ghana.
MJ: What books have you been reading over the past week?
EAT: As a matter of fact, I've been programming over the past week so I never got the time to read any books yet except lookups in some programming books and blogs online for info's and many more...
MJ: What particular challenges do you face as a programmer in Ghana?
EAT: Constant outage of electricity, slow internet speed and the most annoying of all, internal politics in organizations.
MJ: How do you see the future of Programming & Developing in Ghana?
EAT: [sighing] hmmm… I would say, very bright. Almost everyone is barely a programmer these days and I like the idea of helping friends out whenever they are faced with any challenges. Information Technology is fast becoming the order of the day so I see, developing/programming leading in all facets. I'm very active in the Ghana Developers Group and also share a lot of info to members.
MJ: Are you currently working on any projects?
EAT: Currently, I am working on 2 games due next month. The iWarrior and its j2me version [kijiji] are already out. There's another multiplayer game due next month.
MJ: Which other programmers inspire your work and why?
EAT: A lot of them do. I like programmers like John Carmack; CEO of ID Software, Erik Hersmann of Afrigadget and Whiteafrican… Locally, a lot of my colleagues inspire me. I learn from anyone and also share with anyone irrespective of sex, race, ethnicity, color or background.
MJ: What has been the best advice given to you by another programmer?
EAT: Don't be selfish at what you know; be willing to share. Sharing helps you to know more. The more you share, the more you know.
MJ: What advice would you share with programmers starting out?
EAT: My advice to up-coming programmers is for them to take programming seriously. They should do it for a good cause. They should be passionate about it, because after all they would see it as another language but not a curse.
MJ: How are iPhone users without App Store accounts supposed to get a copy of the iWarrior Game from Ghana?
EAT: Currently, you can get the iWarrior through the app store on iTunes. As a consolation, please consider signing up as a beta-tester for our next games and you will get the games to play pre-release. You can also download the game from iTunes App Store
MJ: Tell me something nobody knows about you and want them to know..
EAT: Games are a great way to relax. It is a continuous mind teaser, and is also a very profitable avenue for business in the world. Africans should not look down on it because it forms one of the biggest economy boosters in the developed countries. In the US, the game industry is bigger than the music and the movie industry combined. Africans can make it big in this industry. It takes determination and perseverance and a little bit of networking to accomplish though.
MJ: Your final words…
EAT: I wish to see more game developers in Ghana and Africa soon. It's fun to make games and a good way to understand programming faster. If anyone is interested in it and wants someone to talk to or share thoughts with, I'm always there to help.
MJ: Thanks a lot for your time and I really appreciate it loads.
EAT: You are always welcome, Mac-Jordan. I'm very happy to see Ghana Blogging Group going places and I know, you are very active on that. Keep it up and do feel free to contact me if you want to move your blog to your own domain. I'm ready to help anytime.
According to Erik Hersmann of WhiteAfrican blog, "iWarrior is an excellent first game on the iPhone platform from two highly talented and creative African game developers. I expect that there will be lot of good games and other applications coming from this team over time - both on the iPhone and other platforms. It's a game to be proud of and one that I hope a lot of others will buy."
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21:25
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Accra Conscious Forever
Blog Action Day codenamed by some tech-gurus and geeks as [#bad09] is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day. They aim is to raise awareness and trigger a global discussion on that particular day...
Yesterday, the 15th of October, 2009 happened to be the Blog Day Action where bloggers all over the world wrote various articles on Climate Change. Ghanaian bloggers were not left out of the fun on writing about this subject on this day...
Below is a round-up of the various posts by members of the Ghana Blogging Group on Blog Action Day [#bad09].
Gameli Adzaho who is the author of The Gamelian World Blog presented his post on "5 Voices on climate Change" where he sampled views from five global leaders. In his opening remark, he talked about the significant of Blog Action Day and how "The phenomenon of climate has engaged the world's attention over the past decade, provoking debates in science, politics, business and technology." Among the five global leaders he choose to discuss about were 1. Former US Vice-President Al Gore 2. Noble Laureate Wangari Maathai 3. US President Barrack Obama 4. Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan 5. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro.
He ended his post by asking series of questions [What are your views on climate change? Is it for real? Is it a myth? In what ways do you think that the world can use its resources more sustainably? Can developing countries contribute to reversing climate change?], which he hopes to get to answers to soon.
Next blogger to post on #bad09 was; The African Women's Development Fund (AWDF) whose contributors are AWDF, Bisi and Roselyn. Their post was basically relating to 'Climate Change and Women". According to their blog AWDF the organization is an Africa wide grant-making foundation for African Women. The vision of the AWDF is for African women to live in a world in which there is social justice, equality and respect for women's human rights…
They started their post by not agreeing with Arun Agrawal in his paper on Social Dimensions of Climate Change which was prepared for the Social Development Department, The World Bank, Washington DC, March 5-6, 2008 in which he stated "Climate change will be pivotal in redefining development in the twenty-first century. How nations, societies, communities, and households respond to the impacts of climate changes and variability to which the world has already been committed will in many instances determine their prospects for growth, equity, and sustainability".
They described Climate Change as an environmental change, which is also driven by humans – it is fundamentally a human problem. The impacts of climate change are expected to seriously (and disproportionately) affect the livelihoods, health, and educational opportunities of people living in poverty. They also recommended a few ideas which I would be glad if you mind reading and sharing your thoughts with them on their blog; African Women's Development Fund.
Kajsa Hallberg Adu, co-founder of Ghana Blogging Group and also author of Rain In Africa blog had a lot to say on #bad09 but got shocked at how not current the topic is trending in Ghana. She mentioned how some organization/website is counting down to the UN Meeting and has no story from Ghana on their Climate Orb application. She even went to ask; "When was the last time [someone] you heard someone discuss climate change around here [Ghana]?
She also described a way to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions by suggesting, "We travel with public transport rather than individually in our own cars." She stated again how Ghanaians travel in packed tro-tros, shared taxis or "Kuffuor busses"[Metro Mass Transit busses] and hence do not emit too much CO2.
Finally, my great Ghanaian Blogger buddy; Edward Tagoe who is the author of Tagoe Blogger and also a software developer-cum-poet had a nice post on this great day. He decided to share an interesting website YOURENEW.COM with his numerous readers. He described how this website "is the perfect place for you to recycle or sell used cell phones, mp3 players, digital cameras and graphing calculators. You can also recycle and sell laptops, video game console, external hard drive, video game or DVD. If you can't find your device in our catalogue or we can't pay for it, you can always ship it for free and we'll recycle it safely. So look up your device today, go green and get green! So look up your device today and go green!"…
Also take note, October 24th, 2009 is International Day of Climate Action organized by 350.org
I have been a busy with providing on-site supports for my clients in the Western Region therefore I couldn't do any post on Blog Action Day. I wish I had done some post but I shall be looking out for new blogs and update this post as soon I lay my eyes on one. What are your reactions to climate change in the world and the steps taken by Blog Action Day group? Share your thoughts, comment and more here….!!!
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17:08
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Have you hugged a stranger/friend recently? How did you do it? How did you feel after you hugged that girl/lady from the club/church? Have you wondered how many type of hugs or hugging exist in Ghana?
Yesterday at dinner with @Georgia and @Kajsaha [who is also the author of Rain in Africa blog] at the Afia Beach Hotel located on the High Street of Accra just a few walks from the Ministries, the issue of hugging and the various types of hugs in Ghana randomly popped up. Below is my take on the various type of hugs found in the Ghanaian communities...
Hugging is described by as a form of physical intimacy that usually involves closing or holding the arms around another person or group of persons. The hug is one of the most common human signs of love and affection. It is also a form of non-verbal communication. It brings people together in a feeling of mutual love, comfort and safety. Hugging is an act of giving and receiving support, moral and physical, and love.
In Ghana we have various types of hugs. Below you will find a few and their meanings as I came to understand them...
- Charismatic Hug:- This is the type of hug which is given without any negative thoughts. It is also given and all parts of the body are touched. The huger don't pull back whiles hugging but rather does it with a pure and a clean heart.
- The 'Hello' Hug: - This hug type is gender specific and differs between men and women. This is the kind of hug you would employ when greeting a friend, a friends friend. Used on a day-to-day basis this would lose its poignancy so this is generally reserved for times when it's been a long time since you last saw the other person.
- Side / Shoulder Hug:- This type of hug is mostly given by females either meeting a friend for the first time. Instead of 'freeing their minds' and giving a hug with their breast/chest, they rather do it with the shoulders… Look out for it next time you receiving a hug from a friend for the first time..
- The 'Comforter' Hug:- This is the hug used to comfort someone close to you and probably in times of a loss. In times of need nothing beats a good 'comforter'. When was the last you had such a hug? Can you remember?
- Pentecostal Hug:- This is the type of hug which doesn’t allow touching at all. In this case, it is only the shoulders that come into contact. It is not normally given by the "holy holy" people.. Lol.
I know you have friends, who'll like to read this. Share with them and let them know, you got it from Accra Conscious Forever. If you have any type of hugs been practiced in Ghana, feel free to share with us. You don't know, who might be benefiting. Your comments and more are always welcome...
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8:23
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Accra Conscious Forever
I wouldn’t describe myself as been very religious but I worship and believe in God, I believe in Jesus Christ, I go to church when I’m less busy on Sundays. I worship at the Charismatic Evangelistic Ministry [CEM] but sometimes, I do worships also at the Action Faith Chapel International [Action]. So basically, I fall within a particular scoop of the Christian world. Maybe, [not-so-religious] group.
I know Christians to be very loving, open-hearted, kind, caring and all other positive attributes but one thing that always baffles my mind is this attitude of some of them.
We all know, not everyone can afford driving a car to church. Most people do commute to church in public transports [tro-tros and taxies]. Some well-to-do Christians also drive to church constantly...
My issue is; “Why can’t some Christians offer to drop their fellow Christians whom they attended the same church service with at some point? You’ll see some Christians come to church alone, got space in their cars and would drive away immediately without offering a free ride to others. It baffles me a lot.
Are these people really Christians? One would ask; “Do you buy the fuel for their cars?” Well, I don’t but in the spirit of Christianity, I think it’s very nice and pleasant when this offer is done.
Well, I found this notice [DON'T DRIVE HOME ALONE!!! PICK UP SOMEONE!!!] on a car which I’ll presume came not loaded and apparently the security men at the car park had to stick the notice to the wiper. I saw a couple of the notice on so many other cars which means, the church is trying to encourage others lending helping hands to their fellow Christians.
If you think, this move by the church is wrong or you don’t agree, feel free and share your thoughts here. Would you encourage such a practice in your local church? What does your church do that you think should be implemented in other churches?
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6:48
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Accra Conscious Forever
Did any of you really see Akon and Wyclef doing the push ups at the MTV Africa Music Awards in Nairobi, Kenya? The photo below speaks a lot for it self.
There is a saying that; "You can take a man out of the ghetto but you can’t take the ghetto out of him." So, Wyclef dares Akon to do 20 push ups on stage during the MAMA Awards. They agree and part of the agreement is to strip to their boxers, I guess?
Wyclef as you can clearly see strips down and so does Akon. But, of course Akon had to take it a step further into foolishness... He takes his mic and puts into his boxers. The rest is self explanatory. Pure foolishness, right..!!!
Aside their foolishness, Ghanaian Hip Life great and MOBO Award winning artist, Samini also won the 2009 MTV Africa Music Awards For Best Performer.
Nigeria's D'Banj emerged as artiste of the year for the second year running. The show which took place today at the Moi International Sports Centre in Nairobi, Kenya saw Wyclef Jean [host of the awards] and Akon performing on stage. Lucky Dube was honoured while Wyclef and Akon did a tribute to the late Legend of pop music; Michael Jackson.
The full list of winners below:
Best New Act - M.I. (Nigeria)
Best Hip Hop - M.I. (Nigeria)
Best Female - Amani (Kenya)
Best Group - P-Square (Nigeria)
Artist of The Year - D’Banj (Nigeria)
Best Alternative - Zebra & Giraffe (South Africa)
Best Male - Nameless (Kenya)
Best Performer - Samini (Ghana)
Best R&B - 2Face (Nigeria)
Best Video - HHP – Mpitse (South Africa)
Best Listener’s Choice - Nameless – Sunshine (Kenya)
Photocredit: Michelly Rall/Getty Images Europe
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6:00
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Accra Conscious Forever
A three days conference was held from October 4th – October 7th, 2009 at the Holiday Inn Hotel located at the Airport City in Accra for media owners to examine how they can harness and monetize the continent's growing youthful audiences heavily reliant on digital media channels as their sources of news, information and entertainment.
The conference; Annual Media Conference (AMLC) was on the theme; "Learning from the Future: Africa's Media Map in 2009. It was jointly sponsored by Rhodes University's Sol Plaatjie Institute for Media leadership (SPI) and Konrad Adenaur Foundation (KAS).
It was strictly by invitation and it had participants from South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and Trinidad & Tobago. I was a bit amazed, there was no participant from Nigeria at this year's...
Previous conferences have been held in diverse African countries, including Uganda, Mauritius, Mozambique, Kenya and South Africa.
Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa - Deputy Information Minister who represented the government of Ghana said African governments must soon learn that the media was a partner in governance and not an opponent and should allow the provision of appropriate legislation that would create avenue for freedom of expression and proper training for journalists to improve their professional standards on the continent.
He also made the attendees of the conference know that, media owners and publishers, had a critical role in assisting society to face challenges such as political intolerance, election mal-practices, cyber fraud, women and child abuse, and charged them to dramatically redefine media business and journalism.
Among the many participants at the conference was Global Voices Director - Georgia Popplewell who shared much information on twitter with proceedings from the conference which used the hash tag [#amlc09] on twitter.
Mr. Francis Mdlongwa, Director of Rhodes University's Sol Plaatjie Institute for Media leadership (SPI) said the conference seek to examine challenges facing long established newspaper, radio and television stations for survival in the face of the proliferation of digital media platforms. Listeners, viewers and readers are increasingly agitating for their own specific news content at their own time and place, and using preferred media platforms.
The conferences also provide a strong networking platform for participants by Africa's top-most decision-makers in the media industry and at times these conferences have resulted in new business being forged by some of the participants.
Photocredit: By @Georgiap
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19:13
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Accra Conscious Forever
What is your favorite type of beer? Are you a fan of any alcoholic beverage? When was the last time you had a chilled beer? Would you take cold or hot beer? Do you care to share your experience in drinking Star?
These were questions that started running though my minds when I saw a chilled Star Beer been served to a customer at the All New Champs Sports Bar which was opened in the Oil City of Takoradi last week. A lot of party-goers including myself were at the venue to witness its grand opening despite its not fully in operation. This shows how my folks in Takoradi take pleasure in chilling and hanging out.
Have you taken any type of beer apart from Star & Club Beer from Ghana? African beer refers to all beers made in Africa. Beer, especially lager, is produced commercially in most African countries, and varieties of beer are also made by indigenous tribes. I have tasted "Tusker", a type of beer produced in Kenya which is also known as 'Keroro' beer.
There are a few beers on the Ghanaian market but the most common are Star Beer, Guinness, Guilder and Club Beer. Most nite clubs do serve a couple of foreign beers as well. Among them are; Heineken, Stella Artois, Becks and the rest.
My favorite of all these beers is the STAR Beer brewed/produced in Ghana. A friend [Shim] describes my taking of Star Beer to be a way of "freeing" my mind. Well, I do and don't agree to a point. If you have any story or comment to share on Star Beer; why not? Bring it on. Others would be very glad reading about it.
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19:31
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Accra Conscious Forever
Have you tried the newest mobile technology been introduced by the GSM companies in Ghana yet? Does it make commercial sense to introduce 3.5g technology when mobile phone subscribers in Ghana cannot simply connect, won't connect and don't enjoy what they are paying for?
Making a simple voice call in Ghana is a hassle, so what could have informed some of the telecommunication companies to provide video calls? It is laughable and amounts to biting off more than they can chew. And as if by an electric switch, almost all the telephony companies - including even those who have been accused of providing sub-standard services - have switched gear in their marketing strategies to coerce people into using fantasy services when they can't even make voice calls.
There are currently about six mobile operators in the country, and on receiving its license to operate mobile services in Ghana, Globacom Plc, operators of Glo, announced it was going to operate a 3.5 network and so did Zain Telecommunication Ghana, which has already started providing the service to its subscribers.
To be seen as the market leader, MTN Ghana is now aggressively marketing its 3.5g service for subscribers to enjoy the thrill of "face-to-face" conversation on their phone with their families and friends. Something, I don't see been necessary at all.
Ghanaian consumers are discerning and deserve to have the best in mobile technology, and telecommunication operators in the country are counting on third generation (3.5g) mobile services to stimulate fresh demand in a mobile market that is approaching saturation point.
And all these services are being offered at a time there has been a wave of complaints from mobile phone subscribers resulting from continued call drops, cross calls, speech mutation, and wrong voice prompts, among others. But the potential benefits of 3.5g mobile technology appear to have swept many telecommunication companies operating in Ghana into fantasy mode. Yes, you heard me; fantasy mode…!!!
In fact, 3.5g is a fancy technology that lets users transfer larger amounts of data more quickly, speeding up links to the Internet and allowing them to watch and send videos. The technology also allows users to play games and participate in video-conferencing. There is no doubt that there is clearly a need for Internet connectivity in areas where there is no Internet infrastructure and 3.5g offers the potential of bringing Internet access to people who can't afford PCs.
Since some of the mobile telephony operators introduced 3.5g services, most consumers have developed a penchant for accessing the Internet on their phones and operators are cashing in on that. Most common is the recent increase in sign-ups on Facebook by Ghanaians. However, mobile service operators have proved over time that they can't be relied on to provide uninterrupted voice calls to their subscribers without a hassle; thwarting the basic reason why people bought their phones.
Even when a couple of years ago some of the operators were sanctioned by the National Communication Authority, the telecommunication regulator, to halt new access line activations until their networks were appropriately dimensioned to take on additional capacity, they failed to do so.
And if they cannot provide simple services such as voice calls, why do they think consumers can trust them enough to provide continuous and reliable video calls? This is on the back of the fact that video calling requires the transfer of huge data and bandwidth, and since the network infrastructure of operators is already under stress, there is without doubt that ensuring constant connectivity will be a challenge for operators.
Besides, hi-tech handsets capable of sending and receiving video messages are also currently far from cheap, and most of the handsets people use to make their calls are not 3.5g enabled, which is required to make a video. So, definitely, afford-ability is going to be the biggest problem. Only a certain strata of society will be able to afford 3.5g phones to start with.
The verdict is that people may fancy and love to have new phone services, but considering the economic situation in the country with per capital income assumed to be around of US$600, I bet Ghanaians will be unwilling to pay the going price for a 3.5g handset and its services. They would treat their body well than spend on a handset to be able to access 3.5g.
A group of young adults I had a word with are skeptical that mass demand for the new services will materialize in the short-term, arguing that few consumers will be willing to pay the hefty premiums levied by 3.5g operators. Even the cheap and sometimes free voice-mail services are rarely used by many mobile phone users in Ghana; how much more a sophisticated and expensive service like 3.5g video-calling. My guess is as good as yours..!!
When it comes to technology, Ghanaians are conservatives and would prefer to use their mobile phones for talking and short messaging services than to chat and browse on their phones. Many people might even think that since their old phones can browse and access the Internet, there will be no need to get an expensive 3.5g handset - blinding their eyes to the fact that the Universal Mobile Telecommunication Services (UMTS) technology which powers 3.5g mobile communications will offer a much richer and faster service.
The only foreseeable way for operators to cash in on the 3.5g service will be to sell to subscribers in the corporate institutions in the country, and that raises questions as to whether the revenue to be accrued from them will be enough to offset the huge investments required for the technology roll-out. So it would be in the best interests of mobile operators to invest the monies that would otherwise have been invested in 3.5g into expanding their network capacity, especially where there is no telephone penetration.
Have you heard the new Tigo commercial on the radio recently? There's a part that goes; "How many "hellos" do you have to say in one phone call…?? After all, making a voice call gets on the nerves of mobile phone consumers - and they wouldn't want to worsen their plight with a video-call.
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13:46
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Accra Conscious Forever
Ghana's internet sector faces stiffer challenge to redeem its image as the strongest telecom savvy country on the continent after losing hold of its number-one position.
Ghana is struggling in the cyber world as more people in the country find themselves out of the internet space. There are currently about 880,000 people, according to the International Telecommunication Union, out of the estimated 23 million Ghanaians who have access to the internet and the figure is increasing at a snail pace at a time other African countries have leapfrogged into the cyberspace.
Ghana is the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to have pioneered the penetration of internet services to homes, when in 1995 the Network Computer Systems (NCS) was licensed as the first Internet Service Provider in the sub-region. But now the country is ranked as the third in terms of countries with the highest internet penetration in West-Africa.
A recent research on the communication sector financed by the USAID under its TIPCEE programme indicated that in 2000, Ghana's internet penetration of 0.2 per cent of the population was twice that of Nigeria and Senegal but is now trailing the two countries, some of which began accessing the internet about a decade ago. The continued spread of cheap computers and other related technologies into many homes in the country have given people unlimited access to internet-enabled devices. However, not all home computers are connected to the internet.
What went wrong?
Though Ghana started the mass utilization of internet services by the adoption and implementation of telecom reforms to help promote ICT development, lack of consistent and sustained effort in ICT strategy implementation has resulted in minimal results. When Dr. Nii Narku Quaynor founded Network Computer Systems [NCS] to provide cutting-edge solutions in West-Africa in 1988, the buzz that was created with the entry of the company was an indication of an economy that wanted to capitalize on the boom in the IT sector to uplift the living standards of Ghanaians.
Afterwards Africa Online and Internet Ghana followed suit to provide Ghanaians with unlimited access to the internet. Since then internet usage has surged, but the concern is that the rate of penetration continues to be low because of the high cost of accessing it. Scarcity of international internet bandwidth and lack of internet Exchange Points (IXP) have driven up prices. Ghana has one of the lowest internet charges in the sub-region, with an average monthly subscription of about US$50, about eight percent of the country's per capita income. Yet cost of accessing the internet is still considered expensive, especially when hosting the Ghana Internet Exchange Point (GIX).
It has been argued that the high tariffs charge for connecting to the internet reflects the high costs incurred by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) relating to bandwidth and other ancillary services. Broadband penetration is still low in the country. The low availability, poor condition and lack of competition in the public switched telephone network market constrain the deployment of fixed broadband access.
Also the National Telecommunication Authority (NCA) appears to have slacked in its regulatory functions. There are currently more than 150 licensed ISPs in the country, but only a little over 30 of them are in operation and the Authority seems to be doing nothing about the dormant operators and exercise its regulatory oversight on the performance of ISPs. In fact, the NCA has not relented on its drive to license more ISPs because of the less stringent licensing regime for ISPs within the framework of the Telecommunication Regulations in 2003.
The provision of internet services have been liberalized so much that the NCA cannot limit the number of service providers and enforce compliance. The Authority has consistently begged key performance issues, such as requirement for ISPs to deploy service within 90 days of receiving authorization and monitoring them to demonstrate continued provision of service to the public.
In 2008, the Ghana Internet Service Providers Association (GISPA) intimated that they have lost confidence in the national telecom regulator- to the extent that some of its members have now decided to resort to court actions to resolve disputes because the NCA has instituted a regulatory regime that does not support fair and transparent management of the country's frequency spectrum. Other problems faced by service providers in the internet sector include lack of regulatory guidelines for and imposition of restrictions on the commercial deployment of Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by ISPs, lack of policy guidelines to promote the growth and success of the ICT industry, and improper pricing of access to bandwidth, fibre-optic, submarine and other infrastructure.
Improving Internet access
The internet has become a powerful tool that is being exploited for both social and economic development. For instance, the internet has facilitated the establishment of an electronic marketplace for commerce, marketing, advertising, distribution, entertainment, invention, social interaction, gender empowerment, and it's also used for online distance education and there is the need to promote widespread use of the technology.
But efforts to make the internet available to majority of Ghanaians will be useless if local investors do not recognize that it is expensive to build parallel networks as it is wasteful and increases cost to consumers. For regulatory authorities, there is the need to realize that the current accounting rate system is dying, which calls for an alternative before it dies. It cannot continue to form the basis for refusing to allow ISPs and consumers to benefit from VoIP.
Maybe government officials have to focus on the revenues to be derived from taxation when more persons are connected to the network, as opposed to the current focus on lost revenues from settlement rates. Ghanaian internet consumers crave cheap and easy access to the internet, and efforts must be made to make it available to them.
Courtesy: Evans Boah-Mensah
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19:08
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsZQLdVrTWI/AAAAAAAAAnY/V7w2_9pr0bY/s1600-h/heartofmen.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsZQLdVrTWI/AAAAAAAAAnY/V7w2_9pr0bY/s400/heartofmen.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388082161979706722" border="0" //abr /span xmlns=""pBelow is a review by a friend/blogger/celebrity journalist [Ameyaw Debrah of a href="http://www.ameyawdebrah.com/"http://www.ameyawdebrah.com/a] did about the controversial Ghanaian movie; "strongHEART OF MEN/strong" and I want to share on here for my readers and followers. Your comments and feedbacks are highly welcomed….br //ppI wanted to do a review of the pointlessly controversial Ghanaian movie, 'Heart of Men' the moment I saw the press preview at the Silverbird Cinema a couple of weeks ago but I decided to wait until after the premiere. Now that some members of the public have seen the so-called soft porn I might as well go ahead and speak my mind.br /br /Obviously the marketing strategy of the producers was to confuse the public with all the unnecessary sex scenes which cleverly became the focus of discussions the moment the trailer was released on the internet. Yes, sex sells so why not cash in on it? Certainly it whipped up a lot of interest and people were discussing it on internet forums and on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.br /br /Of course in a perverted kind of way, it is always interesting to see 'emcelebrities/em' bare a bit more flesh, and satisfy the curiosity in our minds about what makes them tick sexually. Have you ever wondered how strongemParis Hilton/em/strong became an international celebrity by doing nothing and looking stupid? Or why strongemRay J/em/strong scored his biggest hit yet after his not so private romp with strongemKim Kardashian/em/strong? Well, the same cannot be said for strongemR. Kelly/em/strong but that's another story. Yes, sex sells! So it wouldn't exactly be a bad idea to see a little deep into the thighs of strongemJackie Appiah/em/strong; or the curves of strongemYvonne Nelson/em/strong; or one breast of strongemMartha Ankomah/em/strong; or even the hairy backside of strongemMajid Michel/em/strong. But of course it depends on how it comes out.br /br /Since 'strongHeart of Men'/strong is not some secret sex tape that found its way onto the internet but rather a movie production, one would expect that these sex scenes would have at least been well scripted into the story but as the Executive Producerem, Alhaji Abdul Sallam Mumuni/em said to me in an interview, the sex scenes were not part of the script (yea they found their way in there miraculously). After watching the movie I concluded that the sex scenes were put in there just for the hell of it.br /br /Again in an interaction I had with the Executive Producer, I found out that the attempt to hit viewers with such explicit sex scenes stemmed from the groundbreaking movie, "stronga href="http://nonjeneregretterien.blogspot.com/search?q=perfect"Perfect Picture/a"/strong. According to Alhaji Mumuni, his research department conducted a survey and realized that Ghanaians want to see more sex scenes, hence the success of 'Perfect Picture'. If indeed he pays people to do research for him and this was all they could bring to the table; then he should fire them. [emYes… He should fire them immediately/em]br /br /The success of 'Perfect Picture' was not because of the last-minute steamy sex scene between strongChris Attoh/strong and strongJackie Appiah/strong or strongNana Kwame/strong showing his butt crack in the streets but rather an interesting storyline and good production; something that cannot be said for 'Heart of Men'. The sex scene in 'Perfect Picture' was very relevant to the story because the couple was married for months and could not get it on in bed, so finally when it happened it was nice to see the fireworks. Having a threesome with a girl you raped several years ago and her roommate before your wedding as revenge was complete span style="color: rgb(192, 0, 0);"strongdebauchery/strong/span.br /br /Looking beyond the sex scenes, 'Heart of Men' is almost empty. There were some bold attempts in cinematography with the way the story was being told but they couldn't carry it through properly. The first 20 minutes or so was too flashy; the dialogues were too fast and completely surreal. I felt like someone had hit the fast forward button and I didn't know where the story was going, and this was not as a result of good execution of suspense - don't get me wrong!br //ppThe continuity was quite poor and it was not surprising to notice some confusion in the minds of people at the preview, who thought the events in the movie all happened in 24 hours. Well, the movie was somewhat shot in a similar sequence like the US drama series, 24, so I don't blame them for getting confused.br /br /The detective scenes were not believable at all; the police were stiff and unreal both in their approach and comportment as policemen. The character Yvonne Nelson played, faked her death and some people were tried publicly in court for her death but when she suddenly reappeared to get married, no one raised concerns about it. Isn't it illegal to fake your death? Yea and they have the guts to talk about doing research!br //ppI could go on and on but let me leave you with this last scenario to sum up what I think about 'Heart of Men'. If you were in Navrongo and you were telling your friend about something going on in Accra; would you say something like…? "He is in Accra, Ghana"?br //ppLet me know, what you think if you've already watched this movie? If you haven't; go grab a copy, watch and share your view. Your comments and feedbacks are highly welcomed…./p/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7454822393311099122?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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11:05
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsXg5BKScgI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/rcpnADYg2iw/s1600-h/youngjustice1.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsXg5BKScgI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/rcpnADYg2iw/s400/youngjustice1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387959799387419138" border="0" //aspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" I am not one to normally make groups even though I have joined a few groups on Facebook, but what has happened in the case of Ghana’s Eric Frimpong is completely ridiculous and a total failure on the part of the justice system and the police officers, lawyers, and judges in Santa Barbara, USA.o:p/o:p/span pspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" Eric Frimpong is a young soccer player from Ghana, a star at University of California in Santa Barbara, who just won a championship for his school. According to his friends he has never been violent and has always been a fantastic person. He even has a girlfriend./span/pp /ppspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" Yet on February 17th, 2007 he reportedly raped a girl, known only as Jane Doe. Jane Doe was blackout drunk, does not remember much of the night as she was drinking heavily, and described her attacker as having white eyes and big lips. Despite not remembering nearly anything about the night, she maintains that Eric raped her on a beach.o:p/o:p/span/p pspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" No DNA evidence supports her story. No semen or DNA of Eric’s was found on Jane Doe [i style=""The name "Jane Doe" is been used as a placeholder name for the female party in this case because her true identity is unknown or must be withheld for legal reason/i]. The only semen found on her was that of her sexual partner’s, a white male. The only evidence that they had contact at all was that some of her DNA was found on his crotch which, as Eric describes, come from when she grabbed his crotch and attempted to kiss him.o:p/o:p/span/p p /ppspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" This is clearly about race and sex. Eric Frimpong is a black male; Jane Doe is a white female. There was no evidence that corroborated Jane Doe’s story and yet Frimpong was sentenced to six years in jail. Read the article, make your decision, but please spread the word about this. It is simply unacceptable.o:p/o:p/span/p pspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" Here is the link to the story.br /a href="http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4300383" target="_blank" onmousedown="'return"http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4300383/ao:p/o:p/span/p pspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" Also, for youtubers, a link to a video talking about the story.br /a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz1czFXO3yc" target="_blank" onmousedown="'return"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz1czFXO3yc/ao:p/o:p/span/p pspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" span style="font-weight: bold;"PLEASE READ!/spanbr /Many of you have asked how to contact Eric so here are the two main ways we can contact him.br /-Send him a handwritten or typed letter (probably more meaningful than an email) to this addresso:p/o:p/span/p p /pp class="MsoNoSpacing" /p pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;"span style="font-size:10;"Eric Frimpong #F95488. California Correctional Institution. Level 2, Dorm 8, Lower 38. PO Box 608;/span/spanspan style="font-size:85%;" /spanspan style="font-size:10;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Tehachapi, CA 93581. USA/spanbr //span/span/span/ppspan style="font-size:10;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/span/spanspan style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" -Or send an email to Eric: a href="mailto:frimpongfreedom@gmail.com"frimpongfreedom@gmail.com /ao:p/o:p/span/p pspan style="line-height: 115%;font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" These messages get printed in about 1-2 weeks and delivered to him. Either of these ways to contact Eric is helpful. Help him keep his spirits up by showing your support! For the price of a few postage stamps you can give him something that is priceless, HOPE.br //span/ppspan style="line-height: 115%;font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" Please send donations! Eric Frimpong needs your help! July 2009 projected financial needs $25,000. Funds to date ($5,125 as of July 10, 2009). Email ERIC and they will tell you how to donate via Paypal./spanbr /span style=";font-family:quot;;font-size:10;" o:p/o:p/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5990459196840553234?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:01
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsUONoJYUVI/AAAAAAAAAnI/imdo54BNs4Y/s1600-h/AfricaCode.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 126px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsUONoJYUVI/AAAAAAAAAnI/imdo54BNs4Y/s400/AfricaCode.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387728156496515410" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"The beauty of the barcamp format is that while it was originally born from a very hardcore geek background, it can be adapted to "camp" just about anything (/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.baconcamp.org/"span style="color:blue;"BaconCamp/span/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" anyone?). This has helped to popularize the “unconference” a great deal in recent years, which is fantastic for everyone. But through all of this, a group of us who met at the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://barcampafrica.com/siliconvalley"span style="color:blue;"BarCamp Africa Silicon Valley/span/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" last year have stayed in contact and met up at various other events. We talked about how having an event that returned to these geeky roots, which would be great, especially if it focused on Africa-related geeky stuff. /spano:p/o:p/span p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"a href="http://www.parisoma.com/"span style="color:blue;"PariSoma/span/a, a cool co-working space in San Francisco's SOMA district, showed an interest in seeing it happen as they're hoping to establish co-working spaces in a couple of countries in Africa at some point in the near future. With their nudge and our desires to "go geek", so was born the span style="font-weight: bold;"AfricaCodeCamp/span, an event focused on being for African coders or those coding projects for Africa. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"Why make the focus so "narrow"? Simple. Coding for the United States is different than coding for Europe and in turn is different than coding for Africa. For instance, multilingual interfaces aren't such a problem in the US and developing for low bandwidth isn't really a concern in the US or Europe, and these are just a few of many differences. African projects require rethinking one's approach and in that process comes different and unique innovations. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"So on the 4th of October we'll get as many of these innovators as possible together in one place in San Francisco, to problem solve and work together to make all of our hacking even better. This particular date was chosen as it's the day after a href="http://www.tanconf.org/usa/schedule.php"span style="color:blue;"The Africa Network Conference/span/a (TANCon) in Palo Alto, who we are partnering with to provide an entire weekend of getting African tech innovators together in the San Francisco Bay Area. Hope to see you there or at another AfricaCodeCamp elsewhere in the world! o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"bDetailso:p/o:p/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"bDate/b/spanspan style="font-size:85%;": October 4th, 2009. bTime/b/spanspan style="font-size:85%;": 12:00-18:00. bLocation/b/spanspan style="font-size:85%;": a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1436+Howard+street,+san+franciscoamp;sourceid=mozilla2amp;oe=utf-8amp;ie=UTF8amp;split=0amp;gl=usamp;ei=ViskSueiIo7stgOcxICKBAamp;z=16amp;iwloc=A"span style="color:blue;"PariSoMa.br //span/a/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1436+Howard+street,+san+franciscoamp;sourceid=mozilla2amp;oe=utf-8amp;ie=UTF8amp;split=0amp;gl=usamp;ei=ViskSueiIo7stgOcxICKBAamp;z=16amp;iwloc=A"span style="color:blue;" 1436 Howard Street, San Francisco, California/span/a o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"bRegistrationo:p/o:p/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"Please register a href="http://barcampafrica.com/sub/eng/main/articles/zcr1253656667/"span style="color:blue;"here/span/a. The pay-as-you-can registration fees will be used to cover drinks, snacks, and various swag. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"bSponsorshipo:p/o:p/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"We're looking for one or more sponsors to help us cover the basics to make this first AfricaCodeCamp an enjoyable experience. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:10;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Please contact us if you'd like to sponsor its: bafricacodecamp@gmail.com/b/span/span/pp class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms" style="line-height: normal;"span style="font-weight: bold;"/spanspan style="font-size:85%;"Courtesy: a href="http://barcampafrica.com/eng/articles/code/"BarcampAfrica/a/spanbr /span style="font-size:10;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:10;" o:p /o:p/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6682988916762806481?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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23:21
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodybuilder"Bodybuilding/a is fast growing in Ghana. All through history, you'll find that many cultures were practicing some form of weight training. Weight training was considered an athletic activity and was a way to improve one's strength and gain power. This particular celebration of the human body can even be seen in ancient art and statues from the Roman and Greek Periods.br /br //spanspan style="line-height: 115%;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" I asked a friend who usually works-out a lot the other day about what really influenced him into working-out. This was his answer; “span style="font-style: italic;"a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schwarzenegger"Arnold Schwarzenegger/a is one of his inspirations for getting involved in bodybuilding and wanting to build muscle. This is largely due to the influence his movies had on him especially the likes of predator which he would class as his all time favorite/span.”br /br //spanspan style="line-height: 115%;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" These days, it is very common to find young guys working out to either develop their muscles, [i style="font-weight: bold;"get arms/i] be in good shape for their counterparts and occasionally for just showing off. I have tried working out but trust me; it’s not been easy at all. For me, I can only do 10 push ups. More than that, I would find myself in the nearest L’hopital… It demands a great of deal time, energy, dedication, commitment and above all respect for one’s body./spanbr /br /span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Men's arms have been known to be symbols of virility. It is a well-known fact that every time a woman encounters members of the opposite sex, she always manages to give a longer than usual glance at the arms. Those that are not covered with sleeves can certainly catch her attention and can be subjected to her feminine discriminating tastes. For one who has large and muscled arms, the mere sight of it will already bring out sighs of approval from many Ghanaian women I know. The sight of strong arms can make a woman swoon or fantasize about being literally swept off her feet. [/spani style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;"don’t tell me, I’m kiddin’ here/ispan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"]./spanbr /br //spanspan style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"A couple years back, many bodybuilding fans in Ghana thought the interest of the body-building had gone down due to the absent of any competitive competitions for the bodybuilders to compete in. The sport went off the sporting scene in Ghana for about 3 years, after the 2000 Mr. Ghana Bodybuilding Championship./span/spanspan style="line-height: 115%;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" My lady friends, have you asked yourself what young men [macho men] of today go through to be able to build that body you so much fantasize about all the time? Do you know how those six-packs about? Wait for my answer…br /br //spanspan style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsKYsf0toKI/AAAAAAAAAnA/vnrEEEeettI/s1600-h/43511610_94e11dc508_b.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsKYsf0toKI/AAAAAAAAAnA/vnrEEEeettI/s400/43511610_94e11dc508_b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387035994512793762" border="0" //a/spanspan style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" o:p/o:p/span p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Looking at the picture up there, you might have come across this bench and metal somewhere in your neighborhood whiles growing up. Every young man who’ve by some means of wanting to develop his muscles and look good, is sure to have gone under those metals, done the push-ups and all. It’s been an easy task though./span/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"What baffles me most of the time is; after spending so much time under those benches, doing the push ups and finally developing some form of muscles; they end up drinking alcohol which does the body no good than harm. [/spani style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;"I’m not saying alcohol is bad to the body but to the bodybuilder, it wouldn’t do him/her any good/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"]…/span/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Funny enough, most bodybuilders I know in Ghana are nite-club bouncers. I don’t know if it’s a full or part time job for them but most I’ve come across happen to be bouncers in majority of nite-clubs in Accra. From /spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" a href="http://www.clubaphro.com/home.php"Aphrodisiac Nite Club/a /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"through to /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://pathghana.com/hang-outs-in-accra/"span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"Rhapsody’s/span/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" to /spanspan style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Tantra Nite Club/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", you’ll see these macho men bouncing people at the clubs because they possess the body to do such works. Are they really meant for that?/span/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"There’s good news in the air though…. This year’s national bodybuilding competition dubbed “Man Ghana” will be held on October 24/spansup style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"t/supspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", 2009 at the National Theatre in Accra. Selection of contestants comes off on October 4/spansup style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"t/supspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", 2009. If you have a bodybuilder friend, inform him/her to participate…!!! Meet /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://bit.ly/eAt8Z"Michael Bossman Kwame/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", a bodybuilder from Accra and what he has to say..../span/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="line-height: 115%;font-size:85%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Have you tried building your body? Where you able to achieve your dream? How many push ups can you do? Do you care sharing your experience? I want to read more from you…!!! Share your comments and views...!!!/spano:p/o:p/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8659415589881180964?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:41
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-size:85%;"br /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsJ8obcQkMI/AAAAAAAAAmw/JLLsp3wljWY/s1600-h/ghana+cedis.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SsJ8obcQkMI/AAAAAAAAAmw/JLLsp3wljWY/s400/ghana+cedis.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387005138291429570" border="0" //a/spanspan style="font-size:85%;"o:p/o:p/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" span style="font-size:100%;"A Cashless society is a society in which all bills and debits are paid by electronic money media, for example, bank and credit cards, direct debits, smart cards and online payments. /spano:p/o:p/span p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Ever since the first general-purpose charge card debuted in the early 1950s, pundits have been predicting the "cashless society". Over fifty years later, we may finally be getting close to that vision. Paying for goods with notes and coins could be consigned to history within five years, according to the business development officer at a href="http://www.e-zwich.com/index.php"Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) Limited./a/span o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" A cashless society in Ghana is gradually being introduced. Amongst products on the market include a href="http://www.mtn.com.gh/NewsArtDetails.aspx?AID=112amp;ID=0amp;CID=38amp;MID=11amp;FirstParentID=1"MTN Mobile Money Transfe/aa href="http://www.mtn.com.gh/NewsArtDetails.aspx?AID=112amp;ID=0amp;CID=38amp;MID=11amp;FirstParentID=1"r/a,a href="http://txtnpay.net/"Text amp; Pay/a, Cashless mobile phone top-up service, credit cards and newest of all, the E-zwich smart card. The Ghana Interbank Payment and Settlement Systems (GhIPSS) Limited, issuers of the E-zwich smart card have announced, they are looking at increasing its E-zwich subscriber base to one million by the end of 2009./spano:p/o:p/span/pspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" span style="font-size:100%;"Most of the banks partner with telecommunication service providers to offer mobile phone money transfer services to their customers; a href="http://www.etranzactgh.com/"eTranzact/a is a leading name when it comes to assorted money transfer products; Cal Bank's ATM mobile phone TOP-UP service is premiering on the market; Ecobank’s and Zenith Bank’s credit cards are the ones on the Ghanaian market for now… /spano:p/o:p/span p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p/o:pspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" The E-zwich smart card which was introduced in April 2008 and has been operational till now seeks to reduce the risk at which card theft was on the increase a while ago. Most post offices are currently hooked onto the national platform whiles payment of school fees in second and third cycle institutions can now be done using the E-zwich card./spano:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p/o:pspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" Cardholders only require authenticating a transaction with their fingerprint. This eliminates the problem of identifying theft associated with card transactions authenticated through the use of PINs. A person does not need to be a customer of a bank or have an account with a bank to have the E-zwich smart card./spano:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" I was able to get my E-zwich card from the Stanbic Bank branch in Ho when I was there for a project in the mid-July of 2009. Even though I haven’t been using it, I’m glad I acquired one. I have a couple of questions though…!!!/spanbr //span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-style: italic;font-size:100%;" span style="font-weight: bold;"What happened to the “Sika-Card” introduced by /spana style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SG-SSB"SG-SSB Bank/aspan style="font-weight: bold;"? Is the E-zwich here to stay for good? Can we bank our hopes on this new technology from the GhIPSS? What happens when the telecommunication service provider fails to provide service to these financial institutions?/span /spano:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"/o:pspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" If you have answers and comments to this post, please feel free and express your mind a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5948459444912602771amp;postID=7370784976417796568amp;isPopup=true"here…./a/spano:p/o:p/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7370784976417796568?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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17:29
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJ1rhAx0EI/AAAAAAAAAmo/Rm7qJ66Q7-U/s1600-h/Kwame_nkrumah_tomb_accra_ghana.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJ1rhAx0EI/AAAAAAAAAmo/Rm7qJ66Q7-U/s400/Kwame_nkrumah_tomb_accra_ghana.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382493895117623362" border="0" //a
br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cxwidaam%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in .75in 1.0in .5in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p class="MsoNormal" style=""span style="font-family:Calibri;"A couple of Quotes by a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwame_Nkrumah"Dr. Kwame Nkrumah/a (27 April 1972 - 21 September 1909), who was an influential 20th century advocate of Pan-Africanism, and the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Coast_%28British_colony%29"Gold Coast/a, from 1952 to 1966…/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style=""
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style=""span style="font-family:Calibri;"Below are a couple of quotes I came across in remembrance of him during st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place’s celebration of the b style=""Founders’ Day/b. /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style=""
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"“Revolutions are brought about by men, by men who think as men of action and act as men of thought.”u1:p/u1:p/spanspan style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"u1:p
br //u1:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"u1:p“We face neither East nor West; we face forward”/u1:p
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"“It is far better to be free to govern or misgovern yourself than to be governed by anybody else”/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"“The best way of learning to be an independent sovereign state is to be an independent sovereign state.”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p“It is far easier for the proverbial camel to pass through the needle's eye, hump and all, than for an erstwhile colonial administration to give sound and honest counsel of a political nature to its liberated territory.”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p“Freedom is not something that one people can bestow on another as a gift. Thy claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.”o:p/o:pspan style=""/span/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"span style=""/span/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"span style=""/span“We prefer self-government with danger to servitude in tranquility.”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p“st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place is a paradox which illustrates and highlights neo-colonialism. Her earth is rich, yet the products that come from above and below the soil continue to enrich, not Africans predominantly, but groups and individuals who operate to st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place’s impoverishment.”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p“Its concern was based on the fact that such disputes continued to retard development and progress, resulting in increased poverty among the people.”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"...I have often said, the party and the nation are one and the same, namely: the Convention People's Party is st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region and is st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region the Convention People's Party."o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"Countrymen, the task ahead is great indeed, and heavy is the responsibility; and yet it is a noble and glorious challenge - a challenge which calls for the courage to dream, the courage to believe, the courage to dare, the courage to do, the courage to envision, the courage to fight, the courage to work, the courage to achieve - to achieve the highest excellencies and the fullest greatness of man. Dare we ask for more in life? "o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"What other countries have taken three hundred years or more to achieve, a once dependent territory must try to accomplish in a generation if it is to survive. Unless it is, as it were ijet propelled/i it will lag behind and thus risk everything for which it has fought."o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"We have the blessing of the wealth of our vast resources, the power of our talents and the potentialities of our people. Let us grasp now the opportunities before us and meet the challenge to our survival."o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"It is said that, of course that we have no capital, no industrial skill, no communications, no internal markets, and that we cannot even agree among ourselves how best to utilize our resources for our own social needs”o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"The masses of the people of st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place are crying for unity…"o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"In the era of neocolonialism, iunder-development/i is still attributed not to exploitation but to inferiority, and racial undertones remain closely interwoven with the class struggle."o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"Common Continental Planning for the Industrial and Agricultural Development of Africa is a vital necessity."o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p"It is only the ending of capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism and the attainment of world communism that can provide the conditions under which the iRACE/i question can finally be abolished and eliminated."/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"/span/pp class="MsoNormal"meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cxwidaam%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- /pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"If you have more quotes by this great man mostly referred to by many as the "span style="font-weight: bold;"Greatest Ghanaian/African/span" or "span style="font-weight: bold;"Adolf Hitler of Ghana/span" for many reasons, feel free and share it a href="https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5948459444912602771amp;postID=8471101764667962978amp;isPopup=true"here:/ao:p /o:p
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Long Live Kwame Nkrumah...! Long Live /spanst1:country-region style="font-weight: bold;" st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana.../st1:place/st1:country-regionspan style="font-weight: bold;"!! Long Live /spanst1:place style="font-weight: bold;" st="on"Africa...!!!/st1:placeo:p/o:p/span/p p/pp class="MsoNormal"/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p /o:p/span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3163554370189356673?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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15:43
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJbYrSHW7I/AAAAAAAAAmY/SzQMfMfmLvo/s1600-h/Nkrumah.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 242px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJbYrSHW7I/AAAAAAAAAmY/SzQMfMfmLvo/s400/Nkrumah.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382464984154856370" border="0" //a
br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cxwidaam%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"“Freedom is not something that one people [person] can bestow on another as a gift. They claim it as their own and none can keep it from them.”/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"Dr. Kwame Nkrumah was not just the first President of Ghana but a very extraordinary man whose life and works contributed significantly to changing the world. He grew from a little village boy in Nkroful in the Western Region of Ghana to a world leader fully devoted to the struggle to free all black people from all forms of racism/struggle. He was also against everything which kept people irrespective of their color in conditions of slavery. He opposed oppression and exploitation in all its forms./span
br //pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Many historians including a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basil_Davidson"Basil Davidson/a and F. K. Buah credit Nkrumah with the leadership of the struggle which led to granting independence to many African countries under various forms of colonialism. Indeed Nkrumah is placed in the same category as a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Einstein"Albert Einstein/a, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx"Karl Marx/a, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Lenin"Vladimir I. Lenin/a, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_L%27ouverture"Toussaint O’Liverture/a and a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohandas_Karamchand_Gandhi"Mahatma Gandhi/a whose ideas and actions helped to make the world a better place./span
br //p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Amongst the many things which make Nkrumah stand out as an extraordinary personality was his realization that Africans everywhere ought to unite in common effort to assert their dignity and use their resources for meeting their needs and realizing their aspirations. His ideas for the unity of all Africans has come to be known as Pan-Africanism and they have their roots in his experiences as a colonial subject, his sojourn in the United States of America and the racist experience he suffered there and his association with Pan-Africanism thinkers of the time including a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._E._B._Du_Bois"W. E. B. Dubious/a, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Garvey"Marcus Garvey/a and a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Padmore"George Padmore/a.
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"After completing his elementary school education, Nkrumah went to st1:place st="on"st1:placename st="on"Achimota/st1:placename st1:placetype st="on"School/st1:placetype/st1:place from where he graduated as a teacher. He was still burning with ambition to excel academically and in 1935; he left for the st1:country-region st="on"United States of America/st1:country-region where he enrolled at the st1:placename st="on"Lincoln/st1:placename st1:placetype st="on"University/st1:placetype, first obtaining a Bachelor of Arts degree and later doing a master’s course at the st1:place st="on"st1:placename st="on"Philadelphia/st1:placename st1:placetype st="on"University/st1:placetype/st1:place./span
br //p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Given the fact that Nkrumah came from a poor background, he had to work to pay for his education. He worked as a waiter and sometimes as a dish washer. He did anything which would put a few dollars in his pocket and help him fend for himself in a land which was obviously strange to a village boy from Nkroful.
br /
br /Nkrumah experienced racism at first hand. He saw that Africans were all victims of racism no matter where they came from. In searching for to questions about racism Nkrumah joined black students’ organizations and became acquainted with the ideas of such activists as Marcus Garvey. He read widely and was transformed into an activist./span
br //pp class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJb0E6SHpI/AAAAAAAAAmg/1UdlIaLSi-8/s1600-h/oau.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 298px; height: 242px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrJb0E6SHpI/AAAAAAAAAmg/1UdlIaLSi-8/s400/oau.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382465454890688146" border="0" //a/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:pWhen Nkrumah moved to st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"London/st1:place/st1:city in 1945, he joined other Africans and persons of African decent in implementing the ideas he had formed. They worked in the West African students Union and the West African National Secretarial for the sole purpose of accelerating the independence process in st1:place st="on"West Africa/st1:place as part of the general struggle of emancipating the African wherever he may be./span
br //p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"It is significant that on the eve of Ghana’s independence on 6th march 1957, he declared loudly that “b style=""the independence of Ghana is meaningless until it is linked to the total liberation of the African continent/b” The organization of the All African People’s Conference in Accra only one year after the declaration of independence attest to the Pan-African Agenda of Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. This conference brought together the newly independent states in st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place and the national liberation movement to strategize on how to speed up the decolonization process. It was also the beginnings of what became known as the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
br /
br /For Nkrumah the situation in which st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place remains the richest continent on the globe whiles its people are counted amongst the poorest is untenable. He saw Pan-Africanism defined loosely as the ideology and activism of Africans everywhere united in the battle against their under development as a redeeming force. Pan Africanism was not just an intellectual exercise, for Nkrumah it was the ideology for the liberation of the African from the clutches of oppression and exploitation./span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br //pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" Credit: Kwesi Pratt/span
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p /o:p/span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7471503985397702727?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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16:16
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrERy7wpm_I/AAAAAAAAAmI/gwtDgGqNZc8/s1600-h/kelele_logo500px.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 144px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrERy7wpm_I/AAAAAAAAAmI/gwtDgGqNZc8/s400/kelele_logo500px.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382102596417330162" border="0" //a
br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cxwidaam%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="City"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} h1 {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; mso-outline-level:1; font-size:24.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; font-weight:bold;} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} p {mso-margin-top-alt:auto; margin-right:0in; mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto; margin-left:0in; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:.75in 1.25in 45.0pt 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- pstrongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"What is Kelele?/span/strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"a href="http://kelele.org/"Kelele/a is an annual African bloggers’ conference held in different African cities each year and run by an organizing committee in that city. Kelele will be held for the first time in October 2009 in st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Nairobi/st1:city, st1:country-region st="on"Kenya/st1:country-region/st1:place and hopefully would move from there.o:p/o:p/span/p pstrongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"Why Kelele?/span/strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Kelele is the Kiswahili word for b style=""noise/b. /span/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"We are organizing a gathering of African bloggers in the tradition of historical African societies where everyone has a voice. With too many voices marginalized or simply ignored in African society today for a variety of reasons, we believe that the internet in general and grassroots media tools such as blogs/SMS in particular represent the most powerful way in which to give Africans back their voice. o:p/o:p/span/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"We are gathering to make a powerful, positive, inspirational noise that will be heard across the continent and beyond. b style=""KELELE/b!/span/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"The specific theme of Kelele ’09 st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Nairobi/st1:city/st1:place is “b style=""Beat Your Drum/b” – which connects the traditional African method of getting your message across vast distances – “the talking drums” – to the 21st century and the tools we use today, blogs and the Internet. /spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrES_aEDG3I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/6hn42koAOoo/s1600-h/1416as01l.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 271px; height: 400px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SrES_aEDG3I/AAAAAAAAAmQ/6hn42koAOoo/s400/1416as01l.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382103910221814642" border="0" //a/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"We anticipate that this conference will continue to be called Kelele wherever it is held. For example b style=""Kelele Nairobi ’09/b, b style=""Kelele Accra ’10/b, b style=""Kelele Cairo ’11/b and so on.o:p/o:p/span/p pstrongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"When will Kelele ’09 st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"Nairobi/st1:place/st1:city take place?/span/strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /October/November 2009. We have tentatively booked the 29th October – 1st November 2009.o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"Sister events/span/strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /The African Bloggers Awards, which aims to recognize the top blogger from each African country, will be held for the first time in st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Nairobi/st1:city/st1:place during b style=""Kelele/b. The winner from each country will be invited and sponsored to attend Kelele ’09 st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Nairobi/st1:city/st1:place.o:p/o:p/span/p pspan style="font-family:Calibri;"There are a variety of ways that you can become involved as a sponsor for Kelele – your contribution doesn’t only need to be financial in nature. If you’d like to find out more about the sponsorship opportunities, please email a href="mailto:daudi@kelele.org"daudi@kelele.org/a o:p/o:p/span/p pstrongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"For more information please contact/span/strongspan style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /General – a href="mailto:main@kelele.org"main@kelele.org/a
br /Daudi Were – a href="mailto:daudi@kelele.org"daudi@kelele.org/a
br /Erik Hersman – a href="mailto:erik@zungu.com"erik@zungu.com/a
br /Ndesanjo Macha – a href="mailto:ndesanjo@gmail.com"ndesanjo@gmail.com/a/span o:p/o:p/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p /o:p/span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-2325333994029230107?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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20:07
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"I have been a great and a loyal fan of Nas. I can boastfully boast of almost all collections of him. Born /spanb style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones/bspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" but known by all as “Nasir Jones”, “Nastradamus”, "God's Son"...br /br /The son of jazz musician a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olu_Dara"Olu Dara/a, he was born and raised in the Queensbridge housing projects in New York City. Although he dropped out of middle school, he managed to attain a high degree of literacy which is prominent in his lyrics.br /br /One of my favorite videos of this great son of the motherland is “/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngFIrmEBANY"Quick To Back Down by Brave Hearts featuring Nas amp; Lil’ Jon/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"”./span /span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"Monday 13supth/sup September, 2009 marked another milestone in the life of this great artist. He became 36years old. Happy Birthday Nasir Jones. May you live to achieve all that, you've ever dreamed of.br //span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq__H4g533I/AAAAAAAAAmA/ZBf7IplNXVE/s1600-h/Nas+Jones.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 308px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq__H4g533I/AAAAAAAAAmA/ZBf7IplNXVE/s400/Nas+Jones.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381800590625595250" border="0" //a/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"To say you’ve inspired me would be an understatement. To say you’re imperative to hip hop wouldn’t be doing your talent justice. To say you’re a lyrical genius just might not be enough./span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"Information reaching my email indicates Nas and Damian “Jr Gong” are coming out with an album entitled “Distance Relatives”. I’m keeping my fingers crossed; can’t wait for it either. /span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"Lyrics from the Video; “a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngFIrmEBANY"Quick to back Down/a”…./span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"[Nas]br /First of all this is Nas I'm a Braveheart veteranbr /and y'all already know who I'm better thanbr /Y’all know the beef in the hood it'll never endbr /Never hit the club unless I get's my berretta inbr /The letter N, short for Nasir/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-108585027656095077?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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15:05
»
Accra Conscious Forever
meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5Cxwidaam%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1073750139 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:.75in .75in 1.0in 45.0pt; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"Do you know, banks can rip you off without you knowing? If you are reading this and are a customer of a Ghanaian bank, it is likely your bank is exploiting you in more ways than one which you aren't aware of. This illicit practice has survived for a long time because we have a weak consumer watch-dog group in st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region and the Bank of Ghana appears ineffective looking after the interests of the public through regulation./span
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Some time ago, the a href="http://www.bog.gov.gh/"Bank of Ghana/a (span style="font-weight: bold;"BoG/span) gave directives to banks to abolish or reduce what it described as unwarranted bank charges and fees. But all this appears to have fallen on deaf ears. As a result, undue exploitation of customers, unfair and uncompetitive practices by the commercial banks in the country have conjoined to discourage many Ghanaians from patronizing the services of the banks./span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"The last time fire gutted the a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/50306760@N00/2872400013/"Kumasi Central Market/a, cash exceeding millions of cedis got destroyed. Similar incidents have taken place previously at the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makola_Market"Makola Market/a in Accra and other markets countrywide. This is because the services of banks in the country lack human face so traders have no recourse but to keep millions of cedis under market tables./span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /The irrational minimum initial deposits, punitive deductions for maintaining balances below thresholds, punitive charges for cheque withdrawals, salary processing, b style=""use of ATMs/b, extremely low interests on savings are just a few of the various complaints from the banking public. And BoG’s inability to enforce its own rules and regulation makes most Ghanaians to have little faith in the banks. The bank tariff regime in the country is not only unacceptable but is illegal./span
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /In st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region when one uses the ATM to withdraw cash from his/her account, one is charged between GHC2.00 and GH0.50p depending on the bank. When you request an interim bank statement, you are charged. What happens, when you try using a bank’s ATM and its faulty? Does the bank pay you back?/span/p p class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:pThis morning, I was a bit late for work therefore I decided to be fast by stopping a taxi. I jumped into the taxi not even bargaining how much, the driver was charging me for the trip from my home to the office. Upon reaching my co-located office premises at the a href="http://www.panoramio.com/photo/20636982"Gulf House/a near the a href="http://wikimapia.org/1426125/Tetteh-Quarshie-Interchange"Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout/a, I decided to pay the driver by cashing some few st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region cedis from the Ghana Commercial Bank’s ATM located around./spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq-19wktRoI/AAAAAAAAAl4/-IJCRnz806c/s1600-h/15092009051.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq-19wktRoI/AAAAAAAAAl4/-IJCRnz806c/s400/15092009051.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381720152346543746" border="0" //a/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:pTo my utmost dismay, the ATM was faulty/out of use and couldn’t help me pay this mean-looking cab driver who’s just about ripping me off. Here I am shocked, startled and confused; not knowing what to do again. The amount of money in my pocket wouldn’t be enough to settle the cab driver. Come see my embarrassed face? o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:p/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"o:p/o:pLuckily, I saw a colleague also hurrying to use the elevator, approached him to help me out so I could sort him out later during lunch when the banking hall is in session. Thanks Walid for saving me…!!! Don't ask if I paid back, I did after I went to the banking hall later in the afternoon.
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"My question again; “span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"What happens, when you try using a bank’s ATM and its faulty? Does the bank pay you back?/span”
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"This afternoon, I went to the banking hall and was again met by a large crowd of people in the hall. The queue was just unbearable. I reported about my inability to use the ATM this morning and how embarrassed I felt. All the lady was able to tell me was; "span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"sorry/span". I asked, when it would be fixed, she told me blatantly; "span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"I have no idea, Mister/span". Worst case of customer service again.. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br /Bank of Ghana would do the public good if pressure is put on the banks for them among other things to eliminate the minimum initial deposit requirement [heard some banks now open cashless accounts, though], abolish the fees for account closure, account maintenance, and reduce the Commissions on Turn Over by charging flat rates rather than percentage of volume of transaction, among others.
br /
br /Foreign banks in the country are the major culprits in the excessive exploitation of customers. Services which these banks render in Europe, st1:country-region st="on"America/st1:country-region and the rest of the Western World free attract charges st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place - and we are the poorer people. Why is it that in England Barclays Bank do not charge customers for using ATM’s to withdraw cash but when it comes to st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region they charge us. Are we trying to say that Bank of Ghana is not aware of this broad day light exploitation?/span/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-family:Calibri;"/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"I wonder, why people [including myself] keep saving/doing business with these banks./spanspan style="font-family:Calibri;" For your information; I closed my account and my might be trying a href="http://www.zenithbank.com.gh/"Zenith Bank/a out.
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:Calibri;"Have you had a bad experience with any Bank in Ghana? Have you tried accessing an ATM of any bank and it was faulty? How long did you spend in receiving money from your bank? Would you recommend your bank to me? What makes your bank different from others? Your thoughts, comments are always welcome...!!!
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-9009180664830357700?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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17:58
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Accra Conscious Forever
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Finally, this week has come to a successful end. It’s actually has been, without doubt, a very eventful week in the history of /spanst1:country-region style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-regionspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" [my happy-homeland.] Indeed, it couldn’t have ended on a more eventful note. Honestly, in this high-speed dot com age when man has varying interests in the incredible and sometimes paralyzing abundance of options, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell what makes sense and what doesn’t./span/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"o:p/o:p/spanspan style="font-size:85%;"b style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" span style=""The Review [st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Accra/st1:city/st1:place]/span/b/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" The week started on a rather shocking-but-exciting note when the CEO of a href="http://exopa.de/index.php"Exopa Modeling Agency/a [a leading modeling company in st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place] was “grabbed”, “nabbed” or maybe, “arrested” at our almighty Kotoka International Airport (KIA) with cocaine stuffed into some tubers of yam. I have a question and it’s going the media guys who broad-casted this breaking news. [span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"What type of yam was it? Was it a/span i style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"puna, afasie, dabrekor, pundjo or avadze/ispan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"?/span]/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" span style=";font-size:85%;" o:p/o:pThese yams were purportedly destined for someone in “span style="font-style: italic;"abrokyire: abroad/span”. Apparently, there is no yam in the country of destination, huh? The said tubers, sadly did not weigh the normal kilos/grams, as their insides were scooped and re-designed for other purposes; to contain other things./span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" span style=";font-size:85%;" Hell broke loose as the content of the tubers turned out to be a whitish powdery substance suspected to be “span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"benzoylmethylecgonine aka Cocaine/span”. And as expected, that became the most important piece of news item for most part of the day and the days thereafter. All over Facebook, Twitter and all other social network, it was a banner headline./span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style=";font-size:85%;" What I find rather ridiculous about this whole yam odyssey has nothing to do with the fact that Ibrahim Sima is a huge public figure and maybe a role model for somebody or let me put it well, for the model girls at his company... Far from it. Indeed, I don’t think he is one. Well, at least, neither for me nor my kid sisters. I just don’t think that the guy looks smarter than he really is. In other words “i style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;"tagbor faa n3 papa (in ewe)/span: span style="font-weight: bold;"w’aa bon papa, ni tri e’wu paa (in twi)/span/i”./span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style=";font-size:85%;" o:p/o:pI bet he has to get his head re-examined; in the unlikely event that the heavens smile on him and his lame excuse (span style="font-style: italic;"of not knowing the content of the yams/span), saves him from rotting at the newly renovated Nsawam Prisons also knows as span style="font-weight: bold;"University of Nsawam/span. Was it Usher-Ray or 50 Cents? Which of them said, “get rich or die tryin?” I am sure, it’s 50 Cent…!! /spanspan style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq5DGHXFI4I/AAAAAAAAAlw/2McSA5lHoUs/s1600-h/204x_mg_dfyn_boris_kodjoe.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 204px; height: 180px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sq5DGHXFI4I/AAAAAAAAAlw/2McSA5lHoUs/s400/204x_mg_dfyn_boris_kodjoe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381312377088451458" border="0" //a/span/pspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;" As things stand, this guy may just ‘die tryin’. Ibrahim Sima should have taken a few fundamental tutorials from this hip-hop boys since he’s already a fashion mogul in Ghana. Someone who was able to invite a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Kodjoe"Boris Kodjoe/a for his Ghana Fashion Weekend, He should have known that the cops are very familiar with this archaic and childish prank./spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" o:p/o:pspan style=""br /br /Now, if that guy really wants to make money and walk with the big guys, he should be considering at least a 40 footer container full of the stuff and not some 4 or 5 tubers of yam. It’s a shame. He has only succeeded in dragging the cherished business of the purportedly T-gor’s and the KB’s, in a piggy mud. Those guys won’t be excited at all. As a matter of fact, I am not going to side with IB at all, didn't know; He's such a coward...br /br //span/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Is Boris Kodjoe coming to Ghana in December for the * L* Fashion Nite?? Now that IB has been arrested, what's next for his modeling ladies? What would happen to his customized Range Rover with number plate span style="font-weight: bold;"EXOPA 7Y/span??? Heard, its been impounded at Narcotics Control Board [span style="font-weight: bold;"NACOB/span] as investigations continue.br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Part 2 of Review coming soon... Going out for a lunch. Need to grab a bite. Been writing this in between my web-conference this morning./spanspan style=""span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" br /br /Adios....................../spanbr //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8471101764667962978?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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7:06
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Yesterday marked a significant date in my life. I believe everyone was very much aware of the date: 09.09.09. It's a date, I consider "Unique". Unique in the sense that, it won't happen again and there's no possible way its ever recurring. Like the previous ones; 12.34.56, 07.08.09, 060606, 070707 and 080808; they are all unique. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My facebook status read: Mac-Jordan is counting down to 09:09:09 - 09:09:09. Where you gonna be..?? What would you be doing..?? Share your thoughts...!!! I got the following comments from my friends and you would be surprised to know, where I was and what actually went on at that time. /spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Sam Kessie/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;": "grrr... i'm gonna be working.. So hopefully it means more projects from here on out ;)"/span span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Tornam Tbone Anku/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;": "Its not too strange but its unique."/span span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Adjoa Johnson/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;": "am gonna be in Africa where no one is interested in bombing us out.. lol !!!!!!!!"/span span style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Kajsa Hallberg Adu/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;": "I was on facebook :-)"/spanbr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqiq0Y8ZyuI/AAAAAAAAAlg/3K6eJWyOAuA/s1600-h/Number+9.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 269px; height: 269px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqiq0Y8ZyuI/AAAAAAAAAlg/3K6eJWyOAuA/s400/Number+9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379737571919776482" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Now to my ordeal:/spanbr //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"As it is the norm in Ghana and most major cities in Africa, if you don't have a car to use for your personal and other work-related issues, you gotta be on the troskie always or when need be, taxies . Even though, they [tro-tro mates'] waste too much time looking for passengers and more, you'll finally get to your destination if only there's enough fuel in it. The driver's mates are always interesting and trust me, they've been no single day without a drama in any tro-tro I've boarded./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"While sitting in this tro-tro heading to the Kwame Nkrumah [/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"check my post on this great man later/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"] circle. A drama started again. The bus conductor popularly known as "mate" took a GHC5.00 from a passenger and was to return a "/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"change/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"" of GHC4.45, he didn't want to do it. Only heaven knows, why he would do a thing like that. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Did someone say; it might be due to forgetfulness...??? "I beg, don't bring in that at all", was the cold remark I got for trying to save the day. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Apparently, the driver's mate have intentionally refused to balance the passenger thinking, he's got a free GHC5.00 for his already bright Vodafone Red-Day. Before he could say jack; my co-passenger friend [/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"let's call him Efo Atsu, because he's got this Ewe accent in his spoken twi/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"] shouted from the backseat; "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Bro mate - My change; I gave you five cedis/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"". /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The mate sensing danger also replied in some harsh but tricky manner, "/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"are you sure, you gave me five cedis/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"?" Efo Atsu nearly gave him a dirty slap if he was close to him but that didn't happen so let's box on. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"On reaching the Akuafo Interchange porpularly known as "37", Efo Atsu requested to alight there. Still no change from the driver's mate, he asked angrily; "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"hey bro mate - where's my change/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"". The mate still insisted, Efo Atsu didn't give him five cedis but rather, one cedi. I had to save the situation by clarifying and cooling it down./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"By this time, angry workers who were already late, started shouting; "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Papa driver, we are late for work ooo/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"", "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"Let's go before the traffic starts again/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"" and a couple more comments.. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The driver's mate finally gave in and returned Efo Atsu's balance of GHC4.45. As my time approached 09:09am; I started to look at significant things happening. At exactly 09:09:09; a police officer stopped the already late, traffic-pruned tro-tro. Everyone in the tro-tro shouted, /spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;"haaaabaaa../spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" !!!/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Seeing us coming from a distance, he raised his hands whiles holding onto a clip-board and shouted; "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"pack, pack, pack/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"".. Everyone in the car including a Fire Service Officer, just chuckled. A young lady from the front-row exclaimed; "[/spanspan style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;"ma nu one-cedi, na yen kor: give him one-cedi and let's get going/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"]"/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The driver got down, placed the one-cedi in what looked like his insurance booklet and walked towards the Officer who at this time was behind the tro-tro. In no time, the driver was back at his cock-pit, started the rickety tro-tro's engine and off we went. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"So basically, my /spanspan style="color: rgb(51, 102, 255);font-family:trebuchet ms;"09.09.09 - 09:09:09am/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" didn't go as it should have but trust me, I am very happy sharing this with you. The part I didn't and don't like is; the bribe part. We shouldn't encourage this in our society at all. When would the /spanspan style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ghana Police Officers/spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"stationed on our roads to do just what they've been asked to do than taking bribe from tro-tro drivers even if their documents are in good standing...?? /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This tro-tro driver's documents were in good order but because he wasn't prepared to be delayed, he gave the bribe.. Ooooo Ghana.. Where are we going? Are we really moving forward??br /br /For your information; I was born on the span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255); font-weight: bold;"9th of April/span; mine reads 0904.. !!!br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-1162104117790412532?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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13:31
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqex2vWye1I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/IwSgXWuRv-Y/s1600-h/glologo.gif"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 68px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqex2vWye1I/AAAAAAAAAlQ/IwSgXWuRv-Y/s400/glologo.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379463833900448594" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Walking around the capital of Ghana, Accra; you'll see workmen digging trenches and laying the cables which have been laid in the United Kingdom through Portugal and has now reached Ghana.br //spanbr /a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.gloworld.com/"Globacom/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", the sixth company licensed to provide mobile telephony in Ghana has began digging the ground in Ghana to lay underground cables for its broadband service. The landing is expected to mark the beginning of cheap bandwidth which in itself would translate into many possibilities in the Information and Communications sector of the Ghanaian economy.br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The project jointly executed by /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.gloworld.com/"Globacom/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" and its partners, /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.alcatel-lucent.com/"Alcatel Lucent/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" may give Ghana lead in telecommunication, eCommerce and egovernance among other practices that transform economies. The 9800km cable is coming from Bude in UK and connects Ghana to the rest of West Africa and the UK. It has landing points in Morocco, Senegal Ghana and Nigeria in Africa; whiles in Europe it got points in Cornwall, England and Lisbon, Portugal.br /br /It is deploying 16 branching units to connect countries in West Africa./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It is the first single telecommunication company in the world to own its submarine cable. The high capacity Glo 1 optic fibre cable will bring direct connectivity between West Africa, the UK and the rest of the world. The 9,800 km long cable will provide huge capacity on its 2-fibre pair system. The Glo 1 cable will also provide excess bandwidth to all the cities connected to the cable./spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqex23nJvcI/AAAAAAAAAlY/0V1tlXkPcKk/s1600-h/glo1.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqex23nJvcI/AAAAAAAAAlY/0V1tlXkPcKk/s400/glo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379463836116565442" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This will translate into much faster and more robust connectivity for voice, data and video. The cable will connect 14 West African countries through the branching units to the rest of the world. It will boost economic activities in the region, create job opportunities and serve companies in Europe and Africa.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Facts of the submarine cable landing are;br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"1. Glo 1 provides connectivity from Lagos to Bude in United Kingdom through fibre optic cable laid undersea.br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"2. The cable which is of the 32 STM 64 type has virtual infinite capacity and therefore offers sufficient capacity for traffic for the Globacom’s mobile, fixed, and internet telecommunication services.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I am just too tired of making phone calls and not been able to reach another subscriber on the same network, meanwhile his/her phone [subscriber unit] is on. There's been cases where, relationships has gone sour and some even gone bad due to poor services from the present GSM operators.br /br //spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.gloworld.com/"Globacom/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" - Rule Your World....!!!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6376960454665245312?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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10:53
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Last Sunday at the Ohene Gyan Sports Stadium in Accra, Ghana Black Stars became the first African nation to make it to the World Cup finals as they defeated the Desert Hawks of Sudan 2-0 in the Group D qualifiers. With Benin having held Mali to a 1-1 draw in Cotonou, the capital of Benin; Ghana needed a win to qualify for the 2010 showpiece in South Africa./span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pA first half strike by Sulley Muntari who plays his career football with a href="http://www.inter.it/"Inter Milan FC/a in Italy set the Black Stars up as Michael Essien span style="" /spanwho also does same with my English Premier League team,a href="http://www.chelseafc.com/" Chelsea Football Club/a in London, England followed up with a fierce shot in the second period to help the four-time African champions book their tickets to travel for South Africa next year.a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqeZ7q8RsXI/AAAAAAAAAlE/3goMp1Stm1o/s1600-h/Muntari+and+Essien.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 384px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqeZ7q8RsXI/AAAAAAAAAlE/3goMp1Stm1o/s400/Muntari+and+Essien.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379437530335785330" border="0" //a/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pVictory at the Ohene Djan Stadium also booked a place for Ghana in next year’s Nations Cup as the FIFA World Cup qualifiers serve to determine the field for the continental championship with the top three finishers in each group qualifying for Angola./pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The win confirmed Ghana's qualification even with two matc/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"hes left to play in the African qualifying series as the Black Stars have kept a clean sheet after four games./span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"The Black Stars were given a scare when a back pass to goalkeeper Richard Kingson slipped under his boots but he was quick to clear it off his line. But after 14 minutes, The Black Stars were in the driving seat as Muntari run onto a pass from capito-de-Marshall; span style="" /spanb style=""Stephen “Tornado” Appiah/b to score in the 14th minute past Sudan goalkeeper Hafez Ahmed./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"Ghana’s defence build around John Mensah and Eric Addo pulled John Paintsil and Harrison Afful together as they were hardly threatened to end the half 1-0 for the Black Stars. Both sides returned to pitch for the second half with Ghana mounting the attack as Samuel Inkoom, playing on the right side of attack kept on pushing forward.a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqeUuv_ra4I/AAAAAAAAAk8/Fj7C3MiSMAs/s1600-h/black-stars-2.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 246px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqeUuv_ra4I/AAAAAAAAAk8/Fj7C3MiSMAs/s400/black-stars-2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379431810795793282" border="0" //a/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pThe Black Stars picked up two bookings, going to Muntari and Appiah. Six minutes into the start of the second half and Michael Essien doubled Ghana's lead when he unleashed a 20 yard strike from outside the box to make it 2-0. But Sudan sprung into life as they threatened Ghana just two minutes after the Black Stars' goal./po:p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Stephen Appiah [/spanspan style="font-style: italic;font-family:trebuchet ms;" still without a professional team and have been out of play for almost a year/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"] was the first Ghanaian substitute as the captain was given a rousing applause as he made way for Laryea Kingston after 75 minutes having successfully captained the Black Stars qualify again for the World Cup finals./span p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pAs proceedings neared the final minutes, the fans packed into the Stadium started the Mexican wave with yet success recorded. a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=tamp;source=webamp;ct=resamp;cd=2amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FMilovan_Rajevacamp;ei=-ZCnStu4MN6OjAeGiuS4CAamp;usg=AFQjCNE_SVnhxPyJ-vH6GpNmAbeYci090Q"Milovan Rajevac,/a the Serbian coach made a second change sending on Asamoah Gyan for Matthew Amoah with Haminu Draman replacing Sulley Muntari./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pWith qualification now in the bag the Black Stars can begin plotting their assault on second successive World Cup finals./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pb style=""Line up/b: Richard Kingston, John Paintsil, Harrison Afful, Eric Addo, John Mensah, Anthony Annan, Samuel Inkoom, Michael Essien, Matthew Amoah/Asamoah Gyan, Stephen Appiah/Laryea Kingston and Sulley Muntari/Haminu Draman. /p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Substitutes/b: William Amamoo, Opoku Agyemang, Isaac Vorsah, Laryea Kingston, Asamoah Gyan, Haminu Draman and Derek Boateng.br //pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"I am hoping a tour operator gets a good and an attractive package for us to be able to go cheer/support the Black Stars in South Africa 2010./pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8828073761980323739?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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16:58
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqaw6UlGPxI/AAAAAAAAAks/jNpNizEPIv4/s1600-h/Winter+colds.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sqaw6UlGPxI/AAAAAAAAAks/jNpNizEPIv4/s400/Winter+colds.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379181320943845138" border="0" //abr /span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Have you ever thought of learning another language apart from your native homelands lingua? Have you ever traveled out of your homeland/country to study and have to learn a new language? Have you also thought of becoming proficient in a language you learned alongside English? If you have, clap for yourself but if you haven't; take the necessary steps working on either of the questions I asked up there. /span/spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Don't you feel like asking me, "How many languages can you speak after all the ranting?" Well, you just did. I speak and write a couple of languages very well. emNumbre Uno/em on the list; English followed by Russian [Ruskie]. I can boldly do conversational French, Kiswahili [emthis was because I had a Kenyan girlfriend whiles in college/em] and /span/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My local Ghanaian languages are Twi, Ewe, Ga and a little Fante./span/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"While most of my high school mates after graduation where thinking of continuing their education in Ghana, the United Kingdom, Canada or the US; I choose to do something different from everyone. After writing the various standardized exams that needs to be written and still not getting a full-tuition scholarship; I decided to forget entirely about the English speaking countries and head towards Eastern Europe… Now, don’t be surprised to read this./span/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"You might be asking yourself; /spani style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"“Is this guy really serious?” /spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"“Has he gotten out of his senses?” “Does he know where he’s heading to?” “What in the heck would a black young man be doing in Eastern Europe where racism is the other of the day?”/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I have had my ups and downs whiles schooling in that part of the world. The part where the dark-skinned man is not regarded as a human being. I have a question for you; “/spani style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Is racism towards dark skin people an outcome of colonization, or a question of class?”/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I have always wanted to write about my journey from Accra through Milan- Italy, Moscow –Russia and finally settling in Kharkov amp; Kiev – Ukraine. Would you believe, I got detained in Malpensa Airport in Milan for 10days because I missed my flight to Moscow and they wouldn't let me go stay in a hotel until my next flight? Yes, that's what you get for been a dark-skinned man, at times. /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Aside all the hullabaloos in Milan and Moscow [/spani style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"would share much of this side later/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"], I have deep for Russians [/spani style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"as in the people/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"…] Have you ever encountered a Russian at this part of the world recently? How many of them do you know live in Accra? /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Do you know where I can find a Russian restaurant apart in Ghana? Do you know any organization apart from their consulate in Accra? I want to meet-up with them and better my Russian language skills. I think I am loosing in on it. Don't get to practice so; I am beginning to forget most of it. Somebody come to my rescue… /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"There is something that Russians and Ukrainians can be counted on to do which I think; it's a part of their cultural. /spani style=""span style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Сказать как есть: Say it like it is/span/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;". Many foreigners especially Africans are shocked by the harsh remarks made by Russians./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My psychology teacher in school would at times say things like, "/spanspan style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Tы выглядите ужасными сегодня/span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"":”/spani style=""span style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"You look horrible today/span/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;".”/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"And my favorite of all incidents was when I was shopping for a new sweater in the Winter of 2005 , and I pointed to the one I wanted to try on at the/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spani style=""span style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"магазин: shop/span/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", and the shop attendant said, “/spani style=""span style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Нет, Вы являетесь слишком долговязыми для этого: No, you’re too lanky for that/span/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;".”/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"That’s the Russian/Ukrainian version of customer service–no beating around the bush./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I took no offense and even had a good laugh, and thanked her for not wasting my time./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I learned to kind of love that harsh manner of talking and expressing (more often imposing) ones ideas; which is never accepted at this part of the world though./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The great thing about Russians is that they don’t talk harshly about one another behind each other’s backs./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"They have some interesting beliefs and they feel it is their responsibility to bring you into the light./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Russians are shy to “trash talk” but every once in a while you find an article in one of their newspapers [Правда (Pravda): The Truth]./span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"There’s a famous little poem that describes what this blog post should be all about:/span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNoSpacing"i style=""span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"“Умом Россию не понять, Аршином общим не измерить: У ней особенная стать - В Россию можно только верить.”: /span/span/ispan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Which means, in short/spanspan style="color: rgb(148, 54, 52);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;",/spani style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" "if you want to get to the real Russia, you’ve got to put aside your informative books and start learning about her with your heart"./span/i/span/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In a place as vast as Russia, my experience there was so miniscule./spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"But if you spend even just 1 day in Russia and you do it with an open heart, the real Russia comes pouring in but you have to be very careful while doing this though... /span/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Been an African students in Russia means, you live your life in absolutely carefulness. It is more a daily exercise in fear management. I have been attacked, beaten on the streets whiles the Militia's looked on without coming to my aid. I learned to follow the old advice of both Russian and African authorities -- never venture alone into the street./span/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Find a more information on Russian language Alphabet a href="http://www.masterrussian.com/russian_alphabet.shtml"here/a.br //span/span/pp class="MsoNoSpacing"span style=""span style="font-family:verdana;"span style="font-size:78%;"span style="color: rgb(204, 0, 0);"Photo above is me [on the right] and school-mates from Cote d'Ivoire heading to school during winter. Got my sweater after all./span /span/span/spanspan style=""span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5122535633481213486?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com' alt='' //div
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14:41
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqUf6H35LCI/AAAAAAAAAkM/JIusTPp5DpU/s1600-h/revolution_logo1.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqUf6H35LCI/AAAAAAAAAkM/JIusTPp5DpU/s400/revolution_logo1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378740413370280994" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The much awaited a href="http://www.bigbrotherafrica.com/"Big Brother Africa Reality TV Show/a started is finally on the s/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ilver screens after days... weeks… months… of serious hype. There are a few twists to this ye/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ar’s new series though. This season’s show is dubbed; Big Brother Africa – The Revolution./spanp class="MsoNoSpacing" /pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"BBA’s residence is located in a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=enamp;client=firefox-aamp;rls=org.mozilla:en-US:officialamp;resnum=0amp;q=Highlands+North,+Johannesburgamp;um=1amp;ie=UTF-8amp;split=0amp;gl=ghamp;ei=oh-lSpLeNqbajQfA_ZmYDgamp;sa=Xamp;oi=geocode_resultamp;ct=titleamp;resnum=1"Highlands North, Johannes-burg/a and is aptly name/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"d Revolution House. The property is decked out with 40 cameras and 100 microphones so that you can see and hear everything over the 91 days the house/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"mates are inside…/span p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The popular reality show will have no more ‘shower hour’ to titillate viewers but will now present a unisex bedroom. Sitting on the /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"couch, I couldn't believe all that been said about the "shower hour", well I gotta take it like that. Big Brother Africa – Revolution is on a href="http://www.dstv.com/"DStv/a channel 198./span/p p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Bedtime will never be same again as all 14 contestants vie for a peaceful night of scheming on how to get their hands on the US$200.000.00 prize!/span /p p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pb style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"uMore information on the new BBA Revolution.o:p/o:p/u/b/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• The prize money for this year’s Big Brother Africa has been doubled – it is now US$200 000, a ‘b style=""winner takes all/b’ fortune./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• The new season has almost twice as much sight and sound capability as seasons 1, 2 or 3: there will be 40 ‘b style=""all-seeing, all-knowing/b’ cameras, and 100 microphones./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• The old rules banning conspiracy in the house have been lifted and contestants will be free to forge alliances, discuss strategy openly and play the game in an entirely different way./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• This year, audiences will be asked to vote for the housemates they want b style=""uto see remain/u/b in the series rather than the housemates they want b style=""sto see leave/s/b the house./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• This year there will be 14 housemates, compared to the 12 of the past; this year will include housemates from Mozambique and Ethiopia. The other 12 countries are: Angola, Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"• The show will run for 91 days./p p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pu style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"a href="http://www.bigbrotherafrica.com/housemates.php"The 14 Housemates are as follows; [i style=""not in any specific other/i]/ao:p/o:p/u/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pb style=""Namibia/b: Edward [33yrs old Public Relations Officer. He’s Single and in a “complicated relationship”.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Botswana/b: Kaone [26 yrs old Principal Youth Officer.span style="" /spanHe’s Single – and he's okay about it”.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Uganda/b: Hannington [23yrs old Student with a Bachelor’s Degree in Information Technology.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Nigeria/b: Kevin [24yrs old Entertainer with a BA in English Language. A Man Utd fan who resides in Jos, Nigeria]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""South Africa/b: Quinn [21- year- old Quinn is a single1st year Media Diploma student from Johannesburg.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Kenya/b: Teddy [18yrs old. Has a BA in International Relations from the United States International University in Nairobi.span style="" /span A Voice-over artist and broadcaster]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Zimbabwe/b: Itai [32yrs old currently studying towards his Master’s Degree in Peace and Governance. A keen public speaker]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Mozambique/b: Leonel [23yrs old. A single ICT Administrator. Leonel is proud to be the first Mozambican to appear on the Big Brother Africa show.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Ghana/b: Wayoe [34 yrs old Web Developer, father of 2 girls (4 amp;2) and the first Rasta Law Student and first Rasta Hall of Residence [Unity Hall] President from KNUST]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Kenya/b: Jeremy [22yrs old Web developer. He’s currently studying towards a BSc Degree in Telecommunication and Information Technology plus Accounts.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Uganda:/b Phil [25yrs old Marketing Consultant. BSc in Industrial Chemistry and is single.]/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"b style=""Ethiopia/b: Yacob [28yrs old Assistant Manager. A Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication. He stands at 6'4" and is the tallest housemate.]span style="" /span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:p“I’m not sure what it is about the show but it’s almost addictive. I hate to confess it but, I remember days when I stayed up watching people [housemates] in the house sleep.” I also think there will probably even be more drama in this edition too because the stakes are higher. Not to mention that there are more countries.”/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p/o:pAfter a href="http://twitter.com/kwakuT"Kwaku-T/a got evicted, I kind of loss interest but this time around, I am going to stay updated till the 91days is finally over. I don’t have a favorite housemate now but I am rooting for Wayoe [my country-man], Kevin [my naija buddy] amp; Phil [the chemistry man]/p p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p /o:p/p p class="MsoNoSpacing"o:p /o:p/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-85158841464059097?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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17:07
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqBpxk5QtnI/AAAAAAAAAjk/32DKIW5okAI/s1600-h/wi-fi.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 324px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SqBpxk5QtnI/AAAAAAAAAjk/32DKIW5okAI/s400/wi-fi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377414255518725746" //abr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I read Rebecca Wanjiku’s [my Kiswahili blogger friend in Nairobi] post on “Free Wi-Fi Hotspot Locations in Nairobi” and I just felt like doing same for Accra. When MakerFaireAfrica ‘09 was in session from the 14th to 16th August at the KACE-AITI, most of the Wi-Fi’s weren't working well despite their three internet services around. Heard, the national provider been Vodafone was down. Well, this only happens in [Ogyakrom] Ghana. br /br /I have a problem here though. ---Ghanaians and the word FREE---. Hmmmmmm. Whenever a Ghanaian [most I have encountered] hears, something is for free in Ghana, he/she jumps at it first before thinking about the clauses attached. br /br /I have been a busy-go-buddy since returning to Accra two years ago. I would probably say; I define “WEB-A-HOLIC”... Every minute of my time spent on the internet is more valuable to me than to be out there doing other non-beneficial stuffs. I have more friends all over the world and can't stay connected with them through snail mail, telephone conversations etc...etc... Therefore, the internet is surely my best tool/place for connecting with everyone out there. No wonder, I have 1000+ friends on FaceBook. br /br /Lately, a lot of social events have been going on on-line but the need for physical meet-ups is becoming more necessary than before. For instance, Ghana Blogging members usually meet virtually for un-conferences and discussions about the future of blogging in Ghana through a mailing list but recently, there is the need for physical meet-ups. br /br /While physical meetings are going on; we also take into consideration our members who by some [reasons] couldn't make it and would like to still participate by hosting a conference on Skype where they share ideas and also contribute to whatever is been discussed.. br /br /I haven't really roamed Accra that much to know more about the various Hotspot locations but the list below should help start for now. br //spanstrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Coconut Groove Regency Hotel/span/strongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Yesterday, I was at a GISPA meeting at the Coconut Groove Regency Hotel around the Sankara Overpass and was stunned. YES... I was very stunned at what I saw. I was about a fourth of the way through downloading an episode of Dirty Sexy Money, and it took me about 5mins to finish it (using uTorrent). I saw max speeds of 2MB (big B) per second, and it hovered at about 900KBps for most of the download. From what I gathered it's free and anybody or group of people looking for such an environment could come there for any social events; be it meet-ups, provided they shall buy drinks/foods whiles there. If anybody gets the chance, they should check it out. br //spanstrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /RATING: ****/span/strongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br //spanstrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Protea Hotel - Accra./span/strongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Located in Accra's wealthiest and most exclusive suburb called East Legon, this hotel offers a whole lot more than just FREE Wi-Fi. It's actually got a notice of "Free Wi-Fi Zone" just at the main reception and the restaurant. If you looking at watching a Rugby game and enjoying some surfing for free, just try it and let me know your review.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"strongRATING: ****/strong/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /.Smoothies [Smoothys] Pubbr /This place is located on the Oxford Street in Osu, right opposite Compu-Ghana Ltd and a few minutes’ walk from Papaye. It’s been and is still the best place for any social event. Ghana blogging members have actually adopted this place for their monthly meet-ups until another location comes up. This place suits most members because of proximity, space and as usual FREE Wi-Fi [if you don’t agree, well it’s your own kpalava].br /Ayesha Haruna Attah had a book reading and the launching of her African Writer’s Series book at this same place. Though it was packed, everything went on well. Ghana Developers Community would be holding their first meet-up at this same venue on 4th September. Would be seeking people’s views and comments about it though.br /br /RATING: ***br /br /.Venus Restaurantbr /Located in the area of the former US Embassy and the plush Citizen Kofi Nite club in Osu, very close to Danquah Circle, you can have a very nice meal and still use their free Wi-Fi... I really enjoyed it there when Ghana blogging members had their July meet-ups there. The internet gets real SLOW when too many free-surfers are connected but its pretty fast.br /br /RATING: ***br /br /.Novotel Hotelbr /For some reasons, I like it here. Anytime, I am in the Central Business district of Accra where this hotel is located and I have to respond to nature’s call. I look no further than here. Nobody cares to ask, what you doing here or whatsoever. They have a cool environment and friendly staffs. FREE Wi-Fi is accessible here, quality is a bit hit and miss, patience is a helpful virtue. DNS takes time to resolve but when it does eventually, its super fast. Best days would be Wednesdays and Fridays. Un-booked meet-ups not really allowed. Maybe, would have to look more into that.br /br /RATING: ***br /br /.Holiday Inn Hotelbr /Last Christmas, I was at Holiday Inn Hotel located at Airport City not very from the Kotoka International Airport and the Silver Star Tower to provide some form of IT support for a visiting Civil Engineer. I was actually recommended to him by an Engineer friend at my former company, Dizengoff Ghana Limited. I enjoyed the free use of internet without any interruption. The speed was pretty cool, no interferences. Download speed was off the hook. I don't think I disliked anything in particular at the hotel except for the fact that, the security officers were a bit hostile from the beginning.br //spanstrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /RATING: ***/span/strongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /.Legassi Gardens-Serviced Apartments.br /Legassi Gardens-Serviced Apartments. Located around the Addis Avenue, Pokuase Station Residential Area, offers Free Wi-Fi access. Wi-Fi in Lobby and Restaurant. Internet Speed; quite better than a couple I have paid for. Try it out of you live close.br /br /RATING: ***br /br /The following are [Pre-paid Wi-Fi Zones] I came across while compiling this list.br /br /.- BusyInternet used to offer Free Wi-Fi service at their Liquide Bar until people started abusing it. Currently, BusyInternet runs a Pre-paid Wi-Fi Service at their main HQ on the Ring Road and all other BusyInternet Hotspots in Accra. You can located the rest in Tema community 6, Accra Mall and also at the Kotoka International Airport, Accra...br //spanpspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;".- Captain’s Hotspot.-: Evelyn House, Ogbojo Down Town, South Legon br /.- Jefkings Hotel Adenta, Accra.-: 300m Off the Adenta Police post towards Dodowa, Adentabr /.- KNUST Guest House; OSU.-: KNUST Guest House. OSU near Country Kitchenbr /.- La Beach Hotel WiFi. -: La Pleasure Beach Resort , Accra. [Pre-paid wi-fi]br /.- Rocky Café (Retelgy Ltd). -: 100 Meters from American House, East Legonbr /br /If you have other places you have visited and experienced their Wi fi, please leave a comment and will benefit all others interested./span/ppspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Thanks for passing through and don't forget your comments, feedbacks and criticisms are always welcome.br //span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-1941590213813678654?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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2:29
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Accra Conscious Forever
div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sp3YEsvV-nI/AAAAAAAAAjM/QFbwweDQiAI/s1600-h/anonymity2.jpg.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sp3YEsvV-nI/AAAAAAAAAjM/QFbwweDQiAI/s320/anonymity2.jpg.bmp" //a/divspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="'font-family:"Are you blogger? Are you a Writer? Are you able to construct a sentence that makes sense to someone after all? Do you have the desire to pen down your thoughts on paper/website for others to read? What type of blog are you keeping?/spanspan style="'font-family:" How do you see anonymity on the internet? /spanspan style="'font-family:"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"/span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="'font-family:"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"/span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="'font-family:"Several people have several reasons for starting and keeping various categories of blogs. Most bloggers maintain blogs because it gives them an opportunity to express their thoughts and opinions on issues of particular concern to them eg. travel, fashion, entertainment, everyday live, photos and many...(at least that is what they say anyway)./spanspan style="'font-family:"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"Those would be personal blogs! There are a different category of blogs however- most of which I find a lot of these days- the ones which companies and organizations use to inform clients, users or general consumers about new products, services, and (would you believe) provide support./spanspan style="'font-family:"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"br //span/spanpspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="'font-family:"Yap! Yap...!!! You read right. Nowadays it is common practice for companies to provide support through blogs. So all in all, blogs are useful to just about everyone, even the corporates./span/span/ppspan style="'font-family:"span style="color:#0b5394;"bstrikespan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"But what is the true essence of a blog?/span/strike/b/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/span/pspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I was engaged in a conversation with a friend this afternoon on the same issue [/spanspan style="color:#0b5394;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"what is the true essence of a blog/span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"?]. According to my her [Sedinam], "the true essence of a blog is simple - /spanspan style="color:#0b5394;"bstrikespan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"PARTICIPATION/span/strike/b/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"". She seems to be of the opinion that the contributions and input of readers is "what makes a blog-a-blog"./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Well said, Sedinam! I couldn't agree more./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In my candid opinion, the reason why people even start blogs in the first place is to satisfy that somewhat involuntary need for association (or mingle if you will) - Similar to what social network platforms provide. I remember a friend also saying, he's blogging to be able to get noticed in the social and entertainment scene. Nice one, man..!!!/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"WAIT A MINUTE...!!! A blog is a social networking platform. Am I correct?/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Let's face it, Human beings really are social beings- even the so called "/spanispan style="color:#0b5394;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Introverts/span/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"" like yours truly. Haahaahaah.. :D/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The more I think about this, the more exciting it becomes. Another thing that came up during my 3 hours chatting with her was the reason(s) for the low rate of "participation" in blogs and anonymous on the internet./span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Do Ghanaian bloggers practice anonymity? Is there an issue with that in this part of the world.?Anonymity is a cornerstone of the internet. The internet with its anonymity is an aid for whistle-blowers everywhere. I don't see what is to be gained by losing anonymity. What difference does it make if the person is really called /spanstrongemspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Kofi Tamale /span/em/strongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"instead of pretending to be called /spanemstrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Kofi Tamale/span/strong/em? I don't know them, and never will, apart from their contributions under that name.span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Personally, I use the same username [/spanspan style="color:#0b5394;"strikestrongspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ghanablogger10/span/strong/strike/span] across the net but (obviously) I use my real name for work and other business relateds.span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanI don't want someone from my work-life "googling" my name and finding my posts on Porn, gaming, religion or politics; not because I don't stand by those comments, but because I don't want someone to jump to conclusions about me without having the opportunity to defend myself. As someone else said, readers are anonymous. I say things online that are perfectly within the rules in those fora but which would be unacceptable in a work setting, where discussion of sensitive topics (e.g. religion and ethnicity) is not generally allowed.span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I'm not ashamed of what I write, but I want to be able to write it without fear of negative repercussions./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This is where we differed slightly in opinions. Sedinam, on the one hand, seems to think that people only contribute to a blog when they find the particular topic(s) being discussed interesting./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I, on the other hand was of the view that it's not necessarily the topics that matter, but the fact that people just do not want to come out of their shells and "speak their minds"- so to speak./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"To somewhat buttress my theory, I cited this very blog platform as an example, where there are blogs discussing a wide variety of issues, some with well over 20 posts, and over a 200 views, but still CANNOT average a comment per post. People spend time to write-out their thoughts and no one cares to comment on it. I find this really; something paapaa.. [sounding a typical Ghanaian]/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"So how do you get people to comment in blogs then? She asked away./span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I think one should be willing to read and comment in other people's blogs, before one can expect anyone to comment in theirs. Anyway, this is one issue which can be discussed forever. I think I'd raise this on some other platforms as well./span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"But I'm really quite curious to hear what other bloggers and YOU reading this article now think.. Let me know, what you think.. Comments, Feedbacks, Criticisms are always welcome. /span/spanbr /br /script type="text/javascript"br /var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");br /document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));br //scriptbr /script type="text/javascript"br /try {br /var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-10517906-1");br /pageTracker._trackPageview();br /} catch(err) {}/scriptdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3572212031637749598?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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10:05
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I heard from source, to be specific - Cyberworld that, yesterday marked the 40th Anniversary of the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/40th/"NASA Moon Landing. /aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"That must be a great feat. I have my doubts though, if that thing really did happen. Did Neil Armstrong and his colleagues actually land on the moon 40 years ago?br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Someway, somehow, I'm tempted to agree with a friend who thinks the whole thing is one big hoax and a carefully choreographed US prank, just to prove their superiority over the USSR. You know how these two have been engaged in superiority contest since then.br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"One other thing that makes the picture a lot more blurred, is the fact that 40 year ago, technology was barely developed, but that claim was slapped on the world. And yet, till date we still know very little about the moon. Today, with all the dot.com/dot.net technologies and speed of lightning, NASA is now span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"'planning' /spanto return to the moon in 2030. Woooaw! What a plan! Why should it take them that long?br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I wonder if I will be alive to see that day. But they did that 40 years ago with crappy amp; cheap technology. One would have expected that an encore of that feat be achieved earlier than 2030. Anyway, that is an entirely US headache and not something for my small head.. My take is on Ghana's fanciful thinking about space travel. Yes, you heard me right. /spanspan style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" Ghana's Fanciful SPACE TRAVEL../spanbr /span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Listening to News Night on /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.myjoyonline.com/"Joy Fm/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"; I heard a few arguments to the effect that Ghana should be considering a space travel. Oh yes.. You just heard it.. Only from me. Don't doubt it. I was amused and I laughed silently listening to that trash. Sorry, its more a blunder than a trash.br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It is absolute wishful thinking. Travel to space to do what in the first place? Honestly, given even 50 years from today, I bet we are not and never going to get anywhere near there. As usual, let me be the only pessimist here. You can join me if you do agree. I don't expect you to agree with me though. In fact, I'd be glad if Ghana and her so-called scientist can prove me wrong for once. But sadly, I'm going to be proved right. We won't even be able to build an aircraft in the next 50 years, talk-less of a spaceship. Where is /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.planelist.net/dc-10.jpg"Ghana Airways/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", Black star Line and the rest...??br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpfFc-n1X1I/AAAAAAAAAi8/ohg3S5-DDnw/s1600-h/GH+4+Space.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpfFc-n1X1I/AAAAAAAAAi8/ohg3S5-DDnw/s400/GH+4+Space.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374981781927059282" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My premise is this simple. 50 years after that miserable independence (I wonder who at all advised /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.atokd.com/blogPics/Big%20Six.jpg"Kwame Nkrumah/aa style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.atokd.com/blogPics/Big%20Six.jpg" and his friends/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" to get that from the British, we would have been better off); one which we were proud to celebrate with USD$70 million, we have nothing to show. We have not yet been able to figure out how to keep hawkers off the streets of the Accra Central Business District, we don't have a stable National Education and Youth Policy.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"We are always shifting blame on other people instead of looking for the right solution to our problems. We can't think of a sustainable way of providing affordable clean drinking water for even a quarter of the nation's population. I live in a community known for it affluence and all but, we still have to buy water every week since we moved there.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"We still can't find enough intellect to create a good drainage system in the capital, Accra. Our major health institutions have remained largely as transit points to the grave. No wonder, when our political leaders have simple "/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" kaka/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"" [trans: toothache], they fly outside, of course at our expense, to get treatment. When people elsewhere are traveling to the moon, we are still struggling to reach our villages from the city.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"50 years after independence, span style="font-weight: bold;"NDC/span and span style="font-weight: bold;"NPP/span activists are still fighting over who has the political right to keep the keys to public toilets in Cape Coast, Accra New-Town and Axim; and we are talking about traveling where? To the moon? Please... Spare the crap-talk.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Let's try to figure out how to clear the debris in the Korle Lagoon, take the primary school kids from under the mango trees in span style="font-style: italic;"Garu Tempane, Yendi, Bawku and Zabuzugu-Tatale/span, into very good and well-equipped classroom buildings; let's work out a permanent solution to the perennial flooding in Accra; let's find a way of reducing the driving hours between Adenta to the Tetteh-Quarshie Interchange and to the Central Business District.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"If we are able to find our way around these little things, then we can have a clear space in our heads to spare on thoughts of a space travel. Simply put, age-old wisdom should teach us to count one before two. Let's not place the cart before the horse.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My fingers hurt so badly... Heading to ACP Canteen opposite DWA-Ghana with Fred and Joyce [colleagues from work] to find some beans amp; fried plantain as usual. /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://accraboy.maneno.org/"Accraboy/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", how I go do am...??br /br /Photolinks Credit: a href="http://www.atokd.com/"AtoKD's Blog/abr //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6719262502222916643?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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12:25
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpVnmWszKGI/AAAAAAAAAi0/Ri1IJeCGkqs/s1600-h/450px-Faure_Gnassingb%C3%A9_29112006.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 266px; height: 357px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpVnmWszKGI/AAAAAAAAAi0/Ri1IJeCGkqs/s400/450px-Faure_Gnassingb%C3%A9_29112006.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374315638962727010" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Togolese President, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe, arrived in Accra on Tuesday Aug/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ust 25, 2009 for a two-day official visit during which he is expected to visit some industrial and energy project sites.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"During his visit, the Togolese president and his delegation would hold bilateral discussions with President John Atta Mills on a number of issues including strengthening of ties, cross border concerns, trade and energy.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I have a question on mind and I want some answers. How does his visit affect the general lives of the common Ghanaian on the street....?br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Waking up Tuesday morning at around 0600GMT and leavingthe house at 0625GMT, I was greeted with a heavy traffic just around the Tetteh Quarshie Roundabout heading towards Airport.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This particular traffic jam wasn't the normal one I used to see when going to work every morning. I asked about it, only to be told; because of President Faure Gnassingbe's visit, all major roads linking the Akuafo Interchange popularly known as [37] and other roads linking the airport was closed to vehicular traffic as part of security measures towards President President Faure Essozimna Gnassingbe’s visit to the country.../spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Me, been the common Ghanaian, an accraboy for that matter had to resort to finding other routes to work. I humbly advised the vexed tro-tro driver to try using the road in front of a href="http://www.clubaphro.com/"Aphrodisiac Nite Club/a and a href="http://www.nssghana.org/"National Service Secretariat/a; so we could either join the a href="http://www.alliancefrancaiseghana.com/"Alliance Francaise d' Accra/a link..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Trust me, that road was also heavily packed with cars since most had no option than use that one too.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Did the Ministry of Information properly broadcast news about the Togolese President's visit? How many days before was this news item carried out? Did most media houses carried this news article just as they did for President Obama when he was visiting? Are you thinking, what I'm thinking...??"br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I checked my time-piece on my wrist and it reads, 0848GMT. Whaaaaaat....? I have been in traffic for this long hours? Well, I couldn't do much than just sit in the rickety tro-tro which moves about one-quarter a minute.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Some passengers who couldn't wait anymore and had waited in the traffic for hours had to alight and make the rest of the journey on foot. Come listen to the curse-words coming from these passengers. You wouldn't want to hear..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"To me, the situation have been the same/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpUuvfvZXQI/AAAAAAAAAis/C0kbL_Uan4s/s1600-h/roadblocks.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 295px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpUuvfvZXQI/AAAAAAAAAis/C0kbL_Uan4s/s400/roadblocks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5374253123845577986" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" since a href="http://accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-in-ghana-view-from-accra.html"President Obama visited Ghana/a some months ago till now. The situation is and always poorly been managed by the so-called policemen/women on duty..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The Ministry of Information and the Police Administration should take this up and treat it with all seriousness because, it seems as if the big people up in government don't really care about the plight of the ordinary Ghanaian. Yes, they don't care a whooat. Let me know, if you think they care... They only care for their families and their pockets..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Next time a visiting dignitary is coming to Ghana [Ogyankrom], information should be sent out earliest for people to be informed about the road-blocks, the various affected routes and many more..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I don't know think, you'll like to know the very time I got to my company premises... I haven't been that late to work in my life than that day..br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Well, I can rest my case here....!!!br /br /span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);font-family:times new roman;" photo-credit: a href="http://wikipedia.org/"wikipedia.org/a/spanbr //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3628884124162344251?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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11:38
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpEtqr75EVI/AAAAAAAAAiU/Lqo-5K6hpnQ/s1600-h/747.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SpEtqr75EVI/AAAAAAAAAiU/Lqo-5K6hpnQ/s400/747.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373126041801396562" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Before a href="http://twitter.com/hudin"Miquel Hudin/a, co-founder of a href="http://maneno.org/"Maneno/a departed from Ghana on Tuesday back to Spain and on-ward to his home in San Fransisco, we spent the whole afternoon at the office of Internet Research @ BusyInternet in Accra.br /br /Whiles here, Miquel wrote about Internet Connectivity in Ghana, Bandwidth, Taxis in Accra, a href="http://busyinternet.com/"BusyInternet Services/a and a href="http://internetresearch.org/"Internet Research/a. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"And Miquel wrote..... |Like most things encountered by unsuspecting foreigners in Ghana, the high quality offerings at Busy Internet in Accra are quite impressive. It sits on the main Ring Road just a bit east of Kwame Nkrumah Circle. This is a large, modern building with every service imaginable for those who choose the geeky path in life to those who just need to check their email. Even nefarious taxi drivers know where this place is. |/spanbr /br /a style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" href="http://subsaharska.maneno.org/eng/articles/uxz1250999499/"You can read more here..../abr /br /br /span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family: times new roman;"In The Photo: Charles Amega-Selorm, Myself and Worlali Senyo of Internet Research.br /Credit /spana style="font-family: times new roman;" href="http://twitter.com/hudin"Miquel Hudin Balsa/a/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3133782051015978298?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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10:02
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"From the 14th to 16th August, 2009 MakerFaireAfrica (MFA) was held on the premises of the Advanced Institute of Information Technology (AITI) in Accra, Ghana. As quoted from the homepage of this group; MakerFaireAfrica (MFA) is a celebration of African ingenuity, innovation and invention./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"The 3-day event drew innovators and inventors from countries including: Brazil, Guatemala, Tibet, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi, South Africa, Liberia, Pakistan, Uganda, Madagascar, India, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. There were several guests of who mostly came from the USA./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"MakerFaireAfrica aims to stoke the fires of innovation, catalyze the seeds of ingenuity, and amplify the pace of invention, wonder and curiosity amongst the young and young at heart,” said Emeka Okafor organizer of MFA and director of TEDAfrica. “We intend to dial back the negative reinforcement that pervades the continent in matters of career choice and conformity and will give center stage to the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things.”/spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Among the Makers that intrigued visitors at the Faire were William Kamkwamba from Malawi also known as the "boy who harnessed the wind". He was a school drop-out who was inspired by the picture of a windmill he saw in a book in a local library. “Once someone had made it I believed I could make it too and I am happy I did. I hope to train a lot more of the local folks and to eventually start it on a commercial/span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"venture". William said./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Perhaps the most compelling of all the inventions at MakerFaireAfrica was a Maker Faire radio station designed from scratch by Hayford Bempong, David Celestin and Michael Amankwanor from Accra Polytechnic. They announced upcoming Maker Faire activities, broadcasting on 101.7 FM, and it could be heard up to a couple of/span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"thousand meters away using gear they designed and fabricated from scratch./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Dominic Wanjihia from Kenya exhibited two products, an evaporative cooler and a food dryer both of which aimed at extending the shelf-life of food. His motivation for those pieces were that in Africa obviously 60-80% of the food goes bad due to insufficient storage and refrigerating solutions./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Another Maker/Inventor; Johannes made his entire room furniture with recycled plastic water bottles. He plans to experiment building a home with these plastic bottles and eventually all children homes across the country with these plastic bottles. He needs funding however to achieve this dream./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"The Kofi Annan ICT Centre of Excellence hosted the three day event providing makers and visitors a relaxed and friendly atmosphere to witness the event as it fold by. Internet connectivity was good though with intermittent brakes and slowness it provided people with opportunity to share the event online via blogs, tweets, Skype, flickr … for the international community. Mac-Jordan H. Degadjor and his team/span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"of IT Geeks were always keeping the ears and eyes outside Ghana informed by their tweets./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Quite a good number of organizations took part in the Maker Faire event amongst which included the Butterfly Works, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, NairoBits, MIT- International Development Design Summit’s (MIT-IDDS), Inveneo, Mozilla, AndSpace Labs, BusyLAB, eSoko, Internet Research, eCoband and BusyInternet./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"MFA has also attracted a host of industry thought leaders, bloggers and news organizations who are dedicated to building the future of Africa including Amy Smith; Founder of MIT’s D-Lab, Miquel Hudin Balsa; Co-founder of Maneno, Florian Sturm; co-founder ICT4D.at, Nana Kofi Acquah; a Pro photo-blogger, Sam Kessie, Africa News, AshokaTech, Ghana Bloggers, Next Billion, and TechBridgeWorld./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Participants were served with delicious Ghanaian dishes favorite amongst them “Red Red” - cooked cowpea with palm oil, served with fried ripe plantain-, Vegetarian meals, Fried Rice and chicken. Water and pure natural fruit drink was also available for everybody./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"As a result of the event, a project dubbed “Match-a-Maker” was launched. The project aims at connecting Makers/Innovators/Inventors offering solutions all over the world and will be made available online soon. The GO Ingenuity Award also known as the GO Campaign was also launched by Scott Pfeiffer to stimulate the next generation of/span span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;""makers."/spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Among the organizers were Erik Hersman, Founder of AfriGadget; Emeka Okafor of Timbuktu Chronicles and the Director of TED Africa; Lars Hasselblad Torres, Director MIT IDEAS Competition; Mark Grimes, Founder Ned.com and Founder NedSpace, Emer Beamer; Founder of Butterfly Works, Nii Simmonds of Nubian Cheetah amp; Afrobotics and Henry Barnor of Afrobotics/Internet Research./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"The next edition of MakerFaireAfrica would hopefully be in Nairobi, Kenya in 2010./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: georgia;"Compiled by a href="http://twitter.com/MacJordaN"Mac-Jordan H. Degadjor/a, a href="http://twitter.com/wsenyo"Worlali Senyo/a and a href="http://twitter.com/camega"Charles Amega-Selorm/a./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-928712245172273574?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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17:52
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sp_xB_-fcjI/AAAAAAAAAjc/15SjEkrpyeU/s1600-h/Blogger+Pic.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 251px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sp_xB_-fcjI/AAAAAAAAAjc/15SjEkrpyeU/s400/Blogger+Pic.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5377281496759366194" //abr /p class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spanspan style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My topic for this post might look a bit off-the-hook but let me tell you this; we got to try out others areas in this business of writing/blogging./spanspan style="mso-spacerun:yes"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /span/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Hope, I am still within the scope of my writings though. If I’m going off guard, somebody bring me back before it’s too late. Blogging surely is a business… Don’t you agree? /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The definition of pornography says; “/spani style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Sexually explicit pictures, writing, dressings or other material whose primary purpose is to cause sexual arousal/span/ispan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;".” Everyone knows that eyeing a shapely woman is a harmless male pastime. Don’t be confused. Staring sometimes can be a sin. The man gets a cheap thrill – maybe even thanks God for it – and the woman is flattered, and everything is cozy, hence the title, “strongHow Harmful Is Pornography...?/strong”.. Or is it not? /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Do we; men [I am talking about the typical Ghanaian MEN] dismiss leering as harmless because we are too engrossed in seizing our own pleasure to give a split second’s consideration to our victims’ feelings? /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"What would you think of a one-armed man, those normally from the war-torn areas who suddenly grab a stranger [lady] and starts trying to rip off her clothes? She’s struggling to fend him off, frantically trying to protect herself from humiliating exposure, attempting to hold down her skirt with one hand, and clutching her neckline with the other while he’s doing his utmost to expose more of her flesh and underwear. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" Doesn’t that same desperate battle take place whenever a woman with normal feelings is gawked at? Let say, an elegant lady shapely dressed from head to toe in an “am-ware” outfits. The absence of violence makes it no less an assault on a woman’s desperate attempt to preserve her modesty and avoid humiliation. Even if she manages to keep prying eyes out of her private parts, the entire ordeal is an offensive attack on her person. /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Like struggling with a one-armed man, she has a chance of emerging with some of her modesty intact, but should she have to endure such a degrading battle, tugging at her skirt, calculating how to avoid bending over, knowing that if she relaxes her defenses for a moment filthy eyes could be thrust up or down her dress? Should she have to go through life haunted by the knowledge that at any moment her decency could be violated – even by someone who claims to be a Christian? These are all questions; I pose to you my female-friends./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;""If women don’t want to be treated as sex objects, why do they go out of their way to dress like sex objects? If any woman really wanted to protect her modesty, why would she wear the ridiculous clothes most women wear these days? – the em“I’m aware”/em types, so vulnerable to wind, and riding up, or flopping down, showing their beads and exposing parts of their boobs?’ /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" Because they feel pressured to walk the thin line between not being looked down upon for dressing in a dowdy manner, while at the same time trying to preserve their decency. Ultimately, men determine women’s fashions. You have to agree with me on this. Some women are desperate to appeal to men and the rest follow like “n’guan” [trans: sheep], scared to act differently in a world in which so much rides on whether one is fashionably dressed. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In the western society where I’ve been to, it is usually the case that a woman is either dressed seductively or she is not considered to be well dressed and this is what our women/ladies/girls these days are copying blindly. This is so much the norm that women rarely stop to consider how carefully women’s clothing is designed to maximize sexuality. /span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Despite being quite experienced, there are gaping holes in the average woman’s understanding of male sexuality. A woman can be remarkably naive as to exactly what arouses a man and yet seem highly skilled in dressing provocatively. All she needs to do is buy fashionable clothes; something my Ghanaian ladies can’t do because it’s not the norm. Let’s be real here; how many of you my passionate readers/followers would boldly say; he/she has seen a Ghanaian lady buy a dress worth $5000.00 before? Show me that lady and I shall give her peanut pay-cheque./span/span/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Women/ladies who consider themselves to be well dressed, but modestly so, are usually oblivious to the fact that they display more flesh than their male counterparts. Any woman/lady not dressed provocatively risks so much scorn that most women feel driven to dress within a fraction of an inch of exposing to the world flesh that they long to conceal and reserve for the sanctity of marriage. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;""I’m sick to the stomach of men forever being portrayed as villains and women as innocent victims." I'm resting my case here.. If you have any comment, please feel free and drop them here and I shall be glad to respond.. /span/span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="'font-family:"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Adios...!!! /span/span/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8729055926043297217?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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14:34
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Going forward with Maker Faire Africa-MFA 2010br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"As a follow-up to the invigorating inaugural Maker Faire Africa 2009. The organizing tea/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So6-JraIAdI/AAAAAAAAAiM/b7XJOQaRMnE/s1600-h/mfa-banner-2b.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 232px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So6-JraIAdI/AAAAAAAAAiM/b7XJOQaRMnE/s400/mfa-banner-2b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372440478979981778" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"m has announced a number of initiatives to harness the momentum and energy felt at the just recently held MFA-Accra event.br /br /They are:/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /* Maker Faire 2010 Nairobi, Kenya/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /* A build-a-MultiMachine prize/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /* An inaugural Maker prize to be launched at MFA 2010/spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"br /* A Maker Directory for participants in MFA 2009br /br //spanspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Please stay tuned to the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/"MFA blog/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.afrigadget.com/"AfriGadget/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://nubiancheetah.blogspot.com/"Nubian Cheetah/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" and /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/"Timbuktu Chronicles/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" for further details on these and other exciting developments./spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5148205472544330888?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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9:39
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Accra Conscious Forever
p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"I'm a Tuesday born but trust me, I love Fridays. Fridays are mostly for releasing the stress that came from Monday till Thursday-ish. Its the day of the week which makes me work so briskly, fast and in such a manner, I wouldn't do on any other day b'cos I have a lot planned.br /br /Making calls starts from about 16:45GMT to find out, where the latest hang-out going to be. After all is settled, my back sees the office door at exactly 17:00GMT.br /br /Would either meet-up with my geeky-nerdy friend, a href="http://fopoku2k2.blogspot.com"Bobby Esco/a who's most of th time wanting to hang-out to avoid the traffic on his way home. Trust me, dude; kinda lives very far. damn.. !!br /br /On a normal FREAKY-FRIDAY, it surely should end at either Rhapsodys of Realities @ the Accra Mall or Aphrodisiac Nite Club.. Don't really know how today's gonna be like though. Leaving all in God's hand. Long Live Freak Friday... Long Live Me.. :))/pp style="margin: 10px 0pt 0pt; padding: 0pt; clear: both; font-size: 13px; font-family: Georgia; line-height: 24px;" class="plinky_badge_rid:16330" a href="http://www.plinky.com/mini/reroute/16330" img src="http://www.plinky.com/proxy/badge?id=16330" style="border: 0pt none ; padding-right: 4px; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" title="" / /a/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-9028590856752711891?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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9:13
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Accra Conscious Forever
p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"strongSee other parts of the world/strong/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"strong/strongMy next birthday is and should be a joyous one. It's a time I need to see other parts of world though I have seen some parts already, offer a helping hand to others, try out something new and stay focus. /pstrong style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"Grabbing a Partner/strongbr /p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" I am hoping to find a partner [one that is here for good. No games, No wahala, No com si - com sa]around that time and celebrate it with her. All of my birthday's have been celebrated with close friends and not with a partner.. Hope all goes well.. :))/pa href="http://www.plinky.com/mini/reroute/16329"img src="http://www.plinky.com/proxy/badge?id=16329" style="border: 0pt none ; padding-right: 4px; vertical-align: middle;" alt="" title="" / /adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-1189117752177030605?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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11:41
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ghana bloggers do meet once every month to dissect issues concerning blogging in Ghana and how to run the group. There's no group in this world without issues, therefore we deem it necessary to meet every last Thursday of every month./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In the month of August, we had a developer/blogger guest, /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/maneno"Miquel Hudin/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" who was in the country for /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/"MakerFaireAfrica/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" [techno-exhibition] and decided to introduce his blogging platform [/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://maneno.org/"maneno/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"]-(meaning ”words” in Kiswahili) to us. According to him, his platform is tailored for the sub-Saharan conditions and seek to invite more Africans to become /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"bloggers.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Before the Ghana bloggers meet-up, Miquel was touring Cape Coast and Kumasi so couldn't meet him before joining the rest of the group at Smoothies on the Oxford Street in Osu that Thursday./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I was late in showing up for the thursday-ish meet-up because I had to bring a few Gh-bloggers[/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/"Emmanuel Bensah/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" and /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/camega"Charles Amega-Selorm/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" ] who couldn't locate where the group was meeting./spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So1BAfjPiOI/AAAAAAAAAh0/HmruRQZMZL8/s1600-h/13082009790.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 430px; height: 295px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So1BAfjPiOI/AAAAAAAAAh0/HmruRQZMZL8/s400/13082009790.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372021407247993058" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Getting to Smoothies, I saw this large crowd of about 20+ people. I was almost telling myself; "I'm in the wrong place because I had no idea we were going to have more guest than before." I finally joined, introduced myself and everyone was kinda glad seeing me for the first time because, most have heard and read my blog but haven't seen the Human being Mac-Jordan before.. I was happy to see /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/whiteafrican"Erik Hersman/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" - Founder of AfriGadgets and Emeka Okafor - Author of /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://timbuktuchronicles.blogspot.com/"Timbuktu Chronicles/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;". I follow their blogs and I get more information in the techy world from their blogs./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"One issue raised by Emmanuel.K.Bensah II was the fact that most of the bloggers were returnees writing about their life in Ghana through the filter of their overseas experience, but how that was changing...br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The most interesting part of the meet-up was when Erik Hersman spoke about blogging for money. He started blogging as a hobby until he realized he could make more from it. He writes about technology in Africa and when starting /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.afrigadget.com/"AfriGadget/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" recently; it quickly surpassed his popular personal blog, WhiteAfrican.br //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"If my memory serves right; the following Ghanablogging members: /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Cornelis Rouloph Otoo, /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"David Ajao, Samson Ojo [was my first time meeting him, story about him will come later], Toke Olagbaju, Nana Yaw Asiedu, /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Nana Kofi Acquah, /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Edward Amartey Tagoe , Gameli Adzaho and Emmanuel K. Bensah jr II./spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So1BAwdXoGI/AAAAAAAAAiE/jKnyeuwIfyE/s1600-h/gh+bloggers.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 219px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So1BAwdXoGI/AAAAAAAAAiE/jKnyeuwIfyE/s400/gh+bloggers.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372021411786760290" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Lora Akati is a student at the University of Ghana who want to be a blogger as usual. I joked about her been a *model-blogger* because she's got the looks of a model. I therefore invited her to join us for the meet-up and also afford her the chance of meeting other pro-bloggers.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I introduced her to everyone and according her, she really received a lot of goodies from most of the earlier bloggers especially /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/Wayan_Vota"Wayan Vota/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" and Miquel Hudin.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I later got alone very well with Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, William Kamkwamba (who autographed his book; "The boy who harnessed the wind"), 'iTosh' Hamilton Juma from Nairobits, Chika Okafor Uchenna - a Nigerian Entertainment photo-blogger and Brian Shih from Inveneo pretty well @ Container opposite Papaye for a beer drinking spree...br /br //spanspan style="font-family: times new roman;"***Sorry for the late posting of this article. Please bear with me as I have a lot to do, to write and to work on during the past weekend.***br /br //spanspan style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family: arial;"Photo: Credit - a href="http://twitter.com/maneno"Miquel Hudin/a/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-2043853434609659978?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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10:04
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"Last weekend saw me very busy with the a href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/"MakerFaireAfrica/a crew. Had to co-ordinate this here, that there and it was the best experience I've ever had from any Tech-no workshop/exhibition. a href="http://subsaharska.maneno.org/"Miguel/a, co-founder of a href="http://www.maneno.org/"Maneno/a blogging platform for Africa wrote this piece about his experience with Taxis in Accra and other parts of Ghana he visited whiles here . You can read more a href="http://subsaharska.maneno.org/eng/articles/tkz1250603794/"here......./a/spanbr /br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So0iYatkzSI/AAAAAAAAAhs/xcc5UfcTLlI/s1600-h/taxi.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 142px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/So0iYatkzSI/AAAAAAAAAhs/xcc5UfcTLlI/s400/taxi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371987733405551906" border="0" //aspan style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-family: verdana;"Photo: Credit - Miquel/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-244771927443971090?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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15:25
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Accra Conscious Forever
Hi All,br /br /Please find sometime and answer this poll for me. I am about restructuring my blog and I want your opinion on some issues. br /br /Thanks...!!!br /br /iframe src="http://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?key=t4mcb0H2QkpUni3ArgE3O2A" width="500" height="684" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0"Loading.../iframediv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-416743088776366188?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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11:37
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Have you heard of MakerFaireAfrica? How about, The Speed Networking Roundtable Lunch? Are you looking to network, meet and socialize with top CEO’s in Ghana. Believe me, this is your chance, so grab it now before it’s too late…/span /spanmeta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link style="font-family: arial;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]--span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/span span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/span/p
br /p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAPc6z47GI/AAAAAAAAAhc/5WYICPzyr4Y/s1600-h/mfa-banner-3g.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 138px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAPc6z47GI/AAAAAAAAAhc/5WYICPzyr4Y/s400/mfa-banner-3g.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368307745323281506" border="0" //a/p
br /p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" span style="font-size:100%;"MakerFaireAfrica [MFA] is also happening live at the a href="http://www.aiti-kace.com.gh/"Advanced Information Technology Institute [AITI], Ghana-India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence [KACE]/a in Accra from the 14supth/sup – 16supth/sup August from 0800GMT to 1800GMT daily. It sure would be worth the time spent there./span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:pA Ghanaian blogger friend, a href="http://nanakofiacquah.blogspot.com/"Nana Kofi Acquah/a who’s a seasoned international photo-journalist will be exhibiting his works on “a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_BMe_Mf8-n-Q/Sn5x8C9GTjI/AAAAAAAAATc/74lEe7Vm_xo/s1600-h/3799521718_1c1c32d655_o.jpg"Water Flies/a”./span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"MFA is designed to create a space on the continent where Afri-gadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, and propagated, this conference will answer the question, "What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from across the African continent together and add resources to the mix?"/span
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-size:100%;"With more than 900 people expected to participate, MFA is a chance to change the conversation about Africa from development to innovation. Check out my post on a href="http://accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com/2009/08/maker-faire-africa-in-accra-ghana.html"MakerFaireAfrica./a/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"
br //pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style=""o:p/o:p/spana href="http://accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com/2009/08/maker-faire-africa-in-accra-ghana.html"meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- /a/pp face="arial" class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAWdwJMQuI/AAAAAAAAAhk/Ov_uxmLQVMA/s1600-h/badge.png"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 150px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAWdwJMQuI/AAAAAAAAAhk/Ov_uxmLQVMA/s400/badge.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368315456221102818" border="0" //a/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"If you are a blogger and living/residing in Ghana, we have a a href="http://www.ghanablogging.com/"Ghana Bloggers Group/a that meets once every month. We are meeting again on August 13th @ Smoothies Pub at the end of the Oxford Street in Osu from 0630GMT.
br /
br /a href="http://subsaharska.maneno.org/eng/"Miquel Hudin Balsa/a is visiting Ghana for the Maker Faire Africa workshop and would like to meet Ghana Bloggers. He's one of the founders and the main programmer of Maneno; (which is a blogging platform) being built for the African blogger. You can read more about a href="http://www.maneno.org/eng/about/"MANENO/a
br //pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"
br //pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Hope to see you at any of the events mentioned above.. AccraConsciousForever would bring you more..!!!/spanp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"
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br //pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"
br //pp class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAPAQAWxTI/AAAAAAAAAhU/IA0fx8SQjSo/s1600-h/AMN.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 154px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SoAPAQAWxTI/AAAAAAAAAhU/IA0fx8SQjSo/s400/AMN.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368307252796507442" border="0" //a
br /span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms"span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" a href="http://africamentor.blogspot.com/"The Africa Mentor Network Incorporated/a is to launch on August 12th, 2009 a premier networking event in Ghana dubbed: “The Speed Networking Roundtable” at the a href="http://www.african-regent-hotel.com/"African Regency Hotel/a in Accra, which would bring together top executives of companies in Ghana to listen to “wisdom and knowledge” of African child and guide him or her (child) to achieve greater heights. “It is an organization made for Africa by Africans to help the continent's youth to help themselves through mentoring and networking./span/span/pp class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms"span style="font-size:85%;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-size:130%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"
br //span/span/span/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Ms. Esi Yankah, President of the NGO, said the event would give the youth the platform to unearth their skills and capabilities at a face-to-face interaction with these top executives and managers. The idea is to promote networking where participants could be hired by the companies and organizations of these executives and or gain a second interview for possible employment./span/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:arial;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"
br //span/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" face="trebuchet ms" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"“a href="http://www.africamentor.org/"The Africa Mentor Network/a event will introduce the art of networking into the Ghanaian community and create an environment where all corporate executives who may be competitors can come together for a common purpose,” it said./span/pp face="trebuchet ms" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:pWell; for your information, I have already confirmed and booked my seat for this event and would be glad if you could also. I am not sure, the group is still receiving applications for “The Speed Networking Roundtable” by now but I hope, this a href="http://africamentor.blogspot.com/"link/a can be able to help us out./span
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br //pp class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Hope to see you at any of the events mentioned above.. AccraConsciousForever would bring you more..!!!/span
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br //pp class="MsoNormal" face="trebuchet ms"/pp style="font-family: arial;" class="MsoNormal"meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Trebuchet MS"; panose-1:2 11 6 3 2 2 2 2 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]--/pp style="font-family: arial;"/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7905746135681490817?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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22:47
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Have you had any African diet apart from your home country's own? Have you tried any foreign delicacies? Have you thought of eating something way out of your religion or tribe? Well, my answer to most of the questions is a big YES./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"African cuisine has never been very popular among the places I have visited on my road trip some years back and after seeing what some people consider delicacies, I can understand why. Poverty and drought push people to find new ways of sustaining themselves. In some places insects are the most nutritious meal available. Here are 5 African foods that can easily turn your stomach inside out:/spanstrong style="font-family: georgia;"br /br /5. Fried Locusts/strongbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /The swarms of locusts th/spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9sCoaGYFI/AAAAAAAAAg0/boPyPN4pGpc/s1600-h/locusts.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 342px; height: 256px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9sCoaGYFI/AAAAAAAAAg0/boPyPN4pGpc/s400/locusts.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368128073311346770" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"at frequently destroy vast crops are seen as a curse and blessing at the same time. They may compromise hundreds of thousand hectares of fertile land but they sure are crunchy. That’s what Nigerians say, anyway.br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Every time a swarm of locusts hits Niger, you can see people everywhere munching on fried locusts like popcorn. Some say that when you see people eating fried locusts, it’s not a sign of famine, for them it’s like eating caviar. The wings are removed, sautéed in a pan, sprinkled with spices and left in the sun, to make them crunchy./spanbr /br /p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal" /p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-weight: bold;"4. /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;"Cooked Mopane Worms/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9sXmJA-vI/AAAAAAAAAg8/ovUImlIJJTE/s1600-h/mopane_worms.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 333px; height: 249px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9sXmJA-vI/AAAAAAAAAg8/ovUImlIJJTE/s400/mopane_worms.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368128433480071922" border="0" //a/pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The Mopane is a species of moth found in Southern Africa, whose caterpillars are considered a delicacy. They are handpicked by women and children in the wild and either dried in the sun or smoked to give them extra flavor. After they are picked, the worms are pinched at the back and squeezed to get rid of the slimy insides./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The dried Mopane caterpillars are either eaten raw as a nice, crispy snack, or rehydrated and cooked with vegetables and spices. The caterpillars have a yellow color and a taste similar to green tea leaves./spanbr /br /br /span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" 3. Bushmeat/spanbr /br /a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9qlu--eDI/AAAAAAAAAgs/j3uzL1WBtmU/s1600-h/bushmeat.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9qlu--eDI/AAAAAAAAAgs/j3uzL1WBtmU/s400/bushmeat.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368126477348796466" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"What started as a way to fight famine, has slowly become a new cuisine in countries like Ghana, Kenya, Ivory Coast or Guinea. Bushmeat is basically fried, grilled or boiled wild animal meat served both in established restaurants and households. In some parts of Ghana, there's never shortage of bushmeat as its the main source of meat for a whole farming community./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"You should be careful when trying out bushmeat someday, you could be chewing either a crocodile, snake, rodents, great apes, even cats and dogs. It would interest you to find on the Bushmeat menu in some restaurants any of animals earlier mentioned above... The situation is becoming truly desperate for many wild animals in the countries where Bushmeat is popular especially Ghana and the Ivory Coast, as poaching becomes a very profitable business./spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" 2. Cow Blood/spanbr /br /a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9p-pVG-uI/AAAAAAAAAgk/7PUtKsHUbo4/s1600-h/cow-blood-masai-africa-avkj7t0524-out.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 221px; height: 297px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9p-pVG-uI/AAAAAAAAAgk/7PUtKsHUbo4/s400/cow-blood-masai-africa-avkj7t0524-out.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368125805816117986" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"A popular meal in the Masai tribe, cow blood is often mixed with milk, as it is believed that it makes the men stronger. The blood is collected by puncturing the cow’s jugular with an arrow and the hole plugged after enough blood has poured. This can be done once every month, without harming the animal./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The blood clots are separated and the pure blood is mixed with fresh milk and consumed raw. Other cultures mix the cow blood with fresh or sour milk and cook it on an open flame until it thickens, resembling scrambled eggs./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My kenyan friends from university really persuaded me into trying this but trust me, I couldn't stand the sight of it. I have tried their staple food, that is Ugali and Chapati but Cow blood is not a thing for me../spanbr /br /span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:georgia;" 1. Goat Head/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I love goat meat and I believe everybody loves it. Go to any chopbar in Ghana and youll surely be served with a variety of soups with goat meat in it but there's no restaurant in Ghana that I know of that serves Goat head./spanbr /br /a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9vmyR1zBI/AAAAAAAAAhE/owP6ICxzvR8/s1600-h/goat_head.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 370px; height: 278px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sn9vmyR1zBI/AAAAAAAAAhE/owP6ICxzvR8/s400/goat_head.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5368131992971234322" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Goat head is served in many upscale restaurants in Nigeria, Congo and most parts Southern Africa. After the goat is beheaded, its head is shaved and burned to remove any stray hairs. It is then chopped into fragmented pieces with an ax and boiled with onions, garlic, tomatoes, ginger, chilies and other seasoning. Yummy, init [sounding British, here]??/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"People brave enough to try this dish can enjoy traditionally cooked brains, tongue, ears and eyes. The goat’s eyes are usually reserved for the guests of honor, so if you’re lucky enough to find them on your plate…enjoy!/spanbr /br /span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 153);font-family:trebuchet ms;" Have you tried any delicacies recently from your trip? Feel free and share them. All comments are welcome.. :))/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7206743128541005659?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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16:28
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Accra Conscious Forever
meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} a:link, span.MsoHyperlink {color:blue; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:purple; text-decoration:underline; text-underline:single;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 45.0pt 1.0in .75in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"It’s a Thursday-ish morning and upon waking my sleepy self from my bed, I decided to do a few things before going to work. Trust me, I just decided to be late for work this morning, I didn’t know why; but I felt I should just be late. You know, the type of feeling you get; when you just want to do something for just no reason. Well, that’s the same I got..o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pNormally, my phone’s alarm is clocked at 0530GMT; but at times, I do ignore its crazy-buzzing tones and sleep more... “Massa, man don taya.” [trans: Master, man is tired]… This should be common amongst most working-class youths in Ghana.o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pI just wanted to be late, so I intentionally switched the television on, at exactly 0545GMT and started flickering through the channels until I got to BBC. Normally, I would go to a href="http://espn.go.com"ESPN/a first, catch up with the latest in the sporting world, listen and watch Sport Center a bit before moving away to the News networks. I didn’t see anything interesting much, so I turned it off.o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pJust as I turned on the radio, I heard something like; a href="http://news.myjoyonline.com/health/200908/33661.asp"b style=""span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0);"BREAKING span style="color: rgb(255, 51, 0); text-decoration: none;"NEWS:-/span/span/b/a Ghana Record First Swine Flu Incident. There and then, I asked myself; Ghana has done what..?? OMG, not Ghana. Why Ghana?o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pThe most annoying part about this news was the fact that, it was discovered in the Oil city (Sekondi-Takoradi). Why should it be in Sekondi-Takoradi…?? How I love Takoradi, no-one knows about that at all. Now, I am very scared; but it’s just a little. Moving to Takoradi, I am going to defy all odds and still go despite “span style="font-style: italic;"Pork-Kplotoo-Ehaa-Prekoo-Swine/span” flu has been discovered. Why should this happen when I wanted to move and go settle in Takoradi? Is it my destiny or what? “span style="font-style: italic; color: rgb(102, 0, 0);"w3i nkwa di3, m3 hwehwem/span” [tr: as for this one, I have to look deep into it].o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pI became an ardent fan of the ever popular “i style=""porkshow/i” not long ago, now a swine-flu menace is going to limit my intake on that. How I used to be at Auntie Adjokor’s joint for “i style=""porkshow”/i and hot kenkey every friday nite will reduce. My radio journalist friend, Cyrus De-graft Johnson of a href="http://myjoyonline.com"Joy FM/a would be very sick at this news; so is Auntie Adjokor’s stock of pork which will send her sales down to ZERO… Mz Naa of Yfm will screaaaam, "span style="font-style: italic;"No sizeee/span" at this news.. Get well soon, Naa Adjorkor.. :)o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 11pt;"o:p/o:pI am waiting for the type action; the government is going to take on this new development. Swine-flu go away, Ghanaians want to eat span style="font-style: italic;"porkshow/span… Go, Go, Go away…!!!o:p/o:p/span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-215191481858696480?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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14:24
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"What at all is PRINCIPLES...?? /span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /a href="http://dictionary.reference.com/"Dictionary.com/a, the free online dictionary defines Principles in the following ways: /span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"[1.an accepted or professed rule of action or conduct: a person of good moral principles. 2. a fundamental, primary, or general law or truth from which others are derived: the principles of modern physics. 3.a fundamental doctrine or tenet; a distinctive ruling opinion: the principles of the Stoics. 4. principles, a personal or specific basis of conduct or management: to adhere to one's principles; a kindergarten run on modern principles.]/span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /br /We all like to think we have principles, whe/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ther religious, political, social or moral. But how far would you go to stand by them?/spanbr /br / span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"a href="http://www.ghana-pedia.org/org/images/stories//nkrumah%20-%20pic%203.jpg"Dr. Kwame Nkrumah/a spent some years in prison standing his grounds and defying all odds. a href="http://www.info-regenten.de/regent/regent-d/pictures/ghana-rawlings.jpg"Ex-President Jerry John Rawlings/a was also inprisoned for planning a coup d'etat which eventually happened and led to the uprisings. a href="http://freetsatsu.com/album/Tsatsu-Tsikata-1.jpg"Tsatsu Tsikata/a was also imprisoned for causing financial loss to the state whiles standing his grounds on his plea of innocence. /span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Snr1JPB0jBI/AAAAAAAAAfU/y4r9KgUCX8M/s1600-h/Principle.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 263px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Snr1JPB0jBI/AAAAAAAAAfU/y4r9KgUCX8M/s400/Principle.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5366871444967164946" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"A couple of days ago, The Mine Workers Union is incensed by wage disparities between expatriate and local workers and has threatened a nationwide strike and this is going to affect the countries mining sector. The workers have called on management of mining companies to increase the amount to $500 this year as a beginning of a three year salary adjustment programme aimed at correcting the disparities./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br /Would you defend your principles even if it means losing your family or putting them in danger? Would you stand up for your rights if it meant losing your job or being ostracised? Does the will to fight for a cause dull with age or when you have family responsibilities? What happens when your principles conflict with those of other people like in choice of marriage partners, schools, jobs and travel plans??br /br /Please share your comments feedbacks.br //spandiv style="text-align: right;"br /Photo: Courtesy a href="http://maameous.blogspot.com/"Esi Cleland's/a advise from a href="http://www.wordle.net/"Wordle.net/abr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-4147876736051394526?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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9:48
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sna0_0mSJ_I/AAAAAAAAAfE/JMIgt1w7_bM/s1600-h/mfa-banner-3e.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 138px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sna0_0mSJ_I/AAAAAAAAAfE/JMIgt1w7_bM/s400/mfa-banner-3e.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365675014602500082" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Organizers of Maker Faire Africa announced that /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/"Maker Faire Africa/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" (MFA) will be held from August 14 - 16 in Accra, Ghana. Focused on bringing together acts of ingenuity and inventions from across the continent the 3-day event will host a series of workshops, seminars and lectures focused on 4 key innovation areas. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Designed to crea/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"te a space on the continent where Afri-gadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, and propagated, this conference will answer the question, "What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from across the African continent together and add resources to the mix?" /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"With more than 900 people expected to participate, MFA is a chance to change the conversation about Africa from development to innovation. /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"“So often the world hears the bad news coming from the African continent. Maker Faire is a chance to high/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sna1Ji-nUBI/AAAAAAAAAfM/g_0uPJV5Ybk/s1600-h/mfa-banner-2b.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 252px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sna1Ji-nUBI/AAAAAAAAAfM/g_0uPJV5Ybk/s400/mfa-banner-2b.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365675181671403538" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"light the innovation, entrepreneurship and opportunity that abounds in Africa,” said /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://nubiancheetah.blogspot.com/"Nii Simmonds/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;", co-founder of Maker Faire Africa and Author of the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://nubiancheetah.blogspot.com/"Nubian Cheetah Blog/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"." /spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"With MFA, we can create a space where the best and brightest can come together to support each other, exchange intellectual capital and find the resources they need to deliver products that fulfill the most basic to the most complex needs on the continent. And this is just the beginning. We hope to propel this into a platform that continues to bring people and products together for the future.”/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"MFA will deliver 4 conference tracks all fostering conversation and collaboration with attendees:/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" * Robotics – Lead by Afrobotics in the ROBOlab, this track host lectures as well as a LEGO robotics workshop and competition./spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br / * Agriculture amp; Environment – takes a new look at sustainability, green technologies and innovations such as biofuel and architecture./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" * Science and Engineering - this track will highlight new innovations from the 3rd annual IDDS at KNUST as well as a series of hands on workshops./spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" * Arts amp; Crafts – held at an outdoor art center this track will showcase everything from sculptures to toys to textiles/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"To register or sponsor MFA please visit: /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://makerfaireafrica.com/"MakerFaireAfrica/adiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-1043297504631097612?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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9:35
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX7n00YnpI/AAAAAAAAAec/2NGRRsocTqw/s1600-h/twitter_logo.png"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 461px; height: 129px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX7n00YnpI/AAAAAAAAAec/2NGRRsocTqw/s400/twitter_logo.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360967593066274450" border="0"/afont face="trebuchet ms"For sometimes now, everybody have been going the Tweetz, Twitz or Twitter way. First, it was /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.hi5.com/"Hi5/afont face="trebuchet ms" and later came /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.facebook.com/"Facebook/afont face="trebuchet ms". Now we have /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/"Twitter/afont face="trebuchet ms".. If you are not on Twitter, join me in knowin#39; more.....!!!/font font face="trebuchet ms"Let me start by stating the major differences bet/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"ween Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is a great application for /fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"keeping in touch with friends/fontfont style="font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms", /fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"long-lost school mates/fontfont style="font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms" /fontfont face="trebuchet ms"and /fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"receivin/fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"g info, pictures and other information about people you already know/fontfont face="trebuchet ms". If you have no desire to network with a number of people you#39;ve never met, then there is no reason to get a Twitter account. /fontbr bra style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/"Twitt/aa style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/"er/afont face="trebuchet ms" is a micro-blogging, more like a social network meant to excha/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"nge information, entertainment or status/thought information with people outside of your immediate circle – that's it – however, there are some great advantages of being able to do that./font font face="trebuchet ms"If yo/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"u are looking to network with people you don't know as opposed to primarily commu/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"nicating with people you do know /fontfont face="trebuchet ms"then Twitter is a great tool. I am not saying that networking is not possible on Facebook, it is however facilitated in a different manner./font font style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"brbrFACT/fontfont face="trebuchet ms": If you find that you are constantly looking at your friend requests to see where you know someone from before you accept the friend add, then you possibly would not like Twitter. Yes, you won#39;t like it../fontbrbrfont face="trebuchet ms"The best analogy that I can give is that Facebook for me is like; working in an office – everything has to be "/fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" face="trebuchet ms"politically correct/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"". Twitter is like hanging with good friends where pretty much anything goes and it's a relaxed, fun environment for getting and receiving "/fontfont style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" face="trebuchet ms"info-tainment/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"." /font font face="trebuchet ms"br brAs my friend-base on Facebook expands, [currently I#39;m around 1000+], I find that I can't say whatever is on mind because people are either not receptive, judgmental or easily offended. With Twitter, there are very few limits – its like hanging with great friends – you can "let your pants down" so-to-speak. One of my tweets this weekend said [/fontfont style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" face="trebuchet ms" "At home alone, farting in/fontfont style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 0, 102);" face="trebuchet ms" my room. Air around is so smelly.. Cough-Cough."/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"]/font font face="trebuchet ms"I would never put that in my status on F/fonta onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX-kK3X2bI/AAAAAAAAAe0/EOrBR03BIhk/s1600-h/gravity.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 227px; height: 374px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX-kK3X2bI/AAAAAAAAAe0/EOrBR03BIhk/s400/gravity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360970828799793586" border="0"/afont face="trebuchet ms"acebook update due to some of the "/fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic; color: rgb(204, 0, 0);" face="trebuchet ms"P.C. dynamics/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"" in my FB network. It was quite a fun topic over on Twitter though… Got silly comments from people I haven#39;t met before../font font style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"br brFACT/fontfont face="trebuchet ms": The /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/"Twitter website/afont face="trebuchet ms" and interface are HORRIBLE!! For a much better and more enjoyable Twitter experience download /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.tweetdeck.com/"TweetDeck/afont face="trebuchet ms" – it only takes 5-8 mins and revolutionizes the tool. If you are using an S60 Symbian Phone like the Nokia E amp; N series, You can download /fonta href="http://snaptu.en.softonic.com/symbian"font style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"snaptu/font/afont face="trebuchet ms" and /fontfont style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" face="trebuchet ms"S60 Tweets/fontfont face="trebuchet ms" which are all free, but if you want to buy one, try /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://mobileways.de/products/gravity/gravity/"Gravity/afont face="trebuchet ms"./font font face="trebuchet ms"br brI want to keep this note as short as possible, so I will end by bulleting a few advantages of Twitter:/font font face="trebuchet ms" On Facebo/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"ok most people use their "/fontfont style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"government name/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"" which can limit your communication (if you're a school teacher you might not want to say "I've got a killer hangover" on a FB status update.) With Twitter you can comfortably communicate using an alias if you so choose./font font face="trebuchet ms"brbr- On Facebook if you comment on a friend's status you will receive notifications from everyone in that person's network if they respond to that same status after you. On Twitter if you respond to a friend's "tweet" you will only see their response or the response of other's you follow – not the responses of their entire network./font font face="trebuchet ms"br- To expand on the above point – if you are in a back and forth chat with a friend, the only people who see the communication in their account are you and that person and any mutual friends the two of you have. That communication does not go to your entire network if you are replying dire/fontfont face="trebuchet ms"ctly to them./font font face="trebuchet ms"br- On Twitter, entries are limited to 140 characters, it is designed for short bursts of information./font font face="trebuchet ms"br - On Twitter, you are encouraged to share your personality and sense of humor and expertise – many times you will find people from across the country or world that you have a lot in common with and actually can assist you in some way or become an excellent future connection/resource./fontbrbrfont face="trebuchet ms"I could go much further, because there are many more positive points, but for those who have questions; I'm willing to give additional info because Twitter for me has been an incredible experience. I didn't like it at first, but it was more because I didn't understand how to use it. /fontbrbra style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/"Twitter/afont face="trebuchet ms" is meant to be interactive and a free-form expression of how you feel about /fontfont style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" face="trebuchet ms"ANYTHING /fontfont face="trebuchet ms"going on with you. I have received tons of laughs, great information from people I didn't know and I've met some incredible outside of those I already know./font font face="trebuchet ms"It is not like Fa/fonta onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX_9Zr5owI/AAAAAAAAAe8/tRqDIpYmc7o/s1600-h/twitter_logo_map.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 358px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmX_9Zr5owI/AAAAAAAAAe8/tRqDIpYmc7o/s400/twitter_logo_map.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5360972361786565378" border="0"/afont face="trebuchet ms"cebook, totally different, used for different reasons, but people are expanding their sphere of influence, their business and personal network and having fun while doing it. Its more like a dating site these days from comments I#39;ve been receiving from friends. Who knows, you might find your love there... Lol./fontbrbrfont face="trebuchet ms"I remember vividly, when Obama was in Ghana, I was sitting comfortably on my bed and /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"twit-ter-ing/fontfont face="trebuchet ms" [act of twittering from your phone or your laptop] as I see on the television set. The trending topics were, /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"#ghana/fontfont face="trebuchet ms", /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"#obama/fontfont face="trebuchet ms", /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"#obamaghana/fontfont face="trebuchet ms", /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"#panafest/fontfont face="trebuchet ms", /fontfont style="font-weight: bold;" face="trebuchet ms"#capecoast/fontfont face="trebuchet ms". My twitter friends, /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/kwabena"kwabena/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.twitter.com/abocco"abocco/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/panafest"font style="font-weight: bold;"panafest/font/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/ameyaw112"font style="font-weight: bold;"ameyaw112/font/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/BBCAfrica"font style="font-weight: bold;"BBCAfrica/font/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/kobinasucks"font style="font-weight: bold;"kobinasucks/font/afont face="trebuchet ms", /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/konkrumah"konkrumah/afont face="trebuchet ms" and /fonta style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/ghanablogger"font style="font-weight: bold;"ghanablogger/font/afont face="trebuchet ms" all helped in bring more traffics to our blogs./font font face="trebuchet ms"br brI will create a document for people who want to know tips and ways to make Twitter fun and informative. If you want the info send me a private message at this /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.blogger.com/macjordan.holdbrookes@gmail.com"email/afont face="trebuchet ms" and I'll be more than happy to send it thru./fontbr brfont face="trebuchet ms"Feel free to connect with me on /fonta style="font-weight: bold; font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://twitter.com/MacJordaN"Twitter/afont face="trebuchet ms". /fontbrbr div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6837000413811733491?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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12:12
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Accra Conscious Forever
div style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"I have been up all night with a little headache. I just couldn't take it anymore. Had to shower and be ready for work as usual. So; I woke up this morning and a couple of things ran through my mind. Most importantly they all revolved around a past relationship I was involved in about two years ago. This was not one of my better relationships to date, but we will get into that in a minute. What troubles me the most was not actually the relationship itself, but the after effects which are still playing themselves out and it hurts so terribly./divp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"As an almost 20-something-ish young and energetic man, I pride myself on being strong, handsome, confident, educated and economically independent. (span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"I threw that in there for the sisters who would no doubt question it/span)./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:trebuchet ms;"But because I am a Black man from my native sand town (Keta) and particularly attracted to women outside of my race; I find it extremely cool to find a mate who is on equal footing. So when I found one… I latched on for dear life! This one was someone from my own black race. She was attractive, beautiful, cute, confident, educated, cultured (maybe)….all the boxes were just ticking away. But then I got to know her.....!!!!/pp face="trebuchet ms" style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Lord help/span…… this lacked lacked so much personality and thinking I could help make it better was my worst idea, and if you ask me; she was secretly jealous of my vivacious character. She basically tried to shadow my spirit by convincing me that I wasn't competent in any category except handsome-ness, and even then she regularly commented on my fashion sense./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Straight out of a Mary song, this woman for all intents and purposes was choosing my clothes, my friends, how I spoke, what I ate, you name it. I was checked regularly and made to feel inadequate often./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"When I obeyed, I was given an over abundance of love and affection only to be manipulated again into maintaining this twisted idea of what she considered to be an ideal mate. When I would finally get the nerve to leave, she would successfully convince me that everything wasbr /my fault, and sadly her reasoning was so astute that I always found myself apologizing to her for the fails in our relationship. So as it is being described and can be a bit wordy let me put it in its blunt form…..I was abused./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"So rightfully……I'm angry. But I am most angry with myself because like you I am thinking….. well how could this strong, confident man ever get caught up with a lady like that? Why didn't he just leave? It saddens me that I don't have any of the answers. Every fiber in my body told me that this was the wrong relationship for me to be in, yet I stayed. There is no archetype for the battered man./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"The looks, the judgements, the comments, how I feel about myself, all bother me more than anything she could have done to me. The idea that my friends and family are sickened by the fact that I ever got into a relationship with her in the first place is something that weighs against my confidence often. But most don't realize that psychological damage is much greater than physical and far more everlasting./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"So finally I'm on my path to forgive myself. I wait for the day when I can truly forgive span style="font-weight: bold;"ME /spanfor being in that relationship, because like my mother always says "Can't nobody do to you what you won't allow." Because even the most self assured, hard-hearted, strong man span style="font-weight: bold;"CAN/span be abused. So don't judge what you don't know./pp style="text-align: justify; font-family: trebuchet ms;"Feel free and post your comments and feedbacks. Your comments actually inspires me to do more than this. I'm Proud to be a a href="http://ghanablogging.com/"Ghanaian Blogger/a./pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3908845414558633468?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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12:04
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCThXGDqgI/AAAAAAAAAdc/YjcPJhHnr8k/s1600-h/sex.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 291px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCThXGDqgI/AAAAAAAAAdc/YjcPJhHnr8k/s400/sex.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359445757915277826" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Interestingly, before writing out this post today, I have done a lot of resear/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ch and had conversation with a lot of my married and bachelor friends on "sex before marriage". Those friends of mine are both men and women between ages 18 to 30./spanp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" face="trebuchet ms"I asked each one of them one single question "Are you in favor of sex before marriage or pre-marital sex? The views they had given to me on this are really amazing. Every friend of mine has got a different view. Do you want to know what are their views after I had posted it on Facebook, on Monday, the 13th of July, 2009....???/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My status reads; "How would you know, you're sexually attrac/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"ted to your partner? And is sex before marriage the right decision?" Most of the responses that came were based on the "sex before marriage" issue./span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:georgia;"Below are the comments passed by my friends on the status;/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Safiya/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" was so emotional about the status and therefore had this /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"to say; "sometimes u wanna sample before u settle...but that doesn't mean you sleep with everyone you date" immediately, /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Tornam/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" came in with; "When you go to Mechanical Lloyd to buy a car, you are given the option to test drive the BMW's before settling on one. Sex before marriage is important bro."/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At this point, I realized some sense is been made but it was/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"n't until Enyonam, a very good friend of mine whom I used to work with at my former place had this also to say; ""I will not leave you as orphans, but I will ask the father and he will send you the Holy Spirit, He will lead you into all truth and teach you". "JESUS CHRIST...!!! Sex is not a BMW to be test driven..."/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At that very moment, I just couldn't help it but just burst into uncontrolled laughter/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" making my colleagues at my new workplace, looking at me in some fussy manner. I believe some would be wondering, “/spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-family:times new roman;" what in a h%^amp;@ is wrong with this lanky dude...?/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"" hahahahah.. I just couldn't help it./span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It wasn't long before /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Safiya/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" came in reacting and attacking Enyonam with this; "How do you apply that scripture to sex and marriage?" Now, Enyonam have to proof his point clearly which made him come out again with; "the Holy Spirit is your GUIDE in EVERYTHING..."/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I decided to give answers to everyone's post by just sampling a couple of my thoughts on each of their comments:/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"@ span style="font-weight: bold;"Tornam/span; I am really digging your point. Nice one made...!!/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"@ span style="font-weight: bold;"Enyonam/span; don't forget body no be firewood ooo [trans: the body is not a p/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"iece of firewood]. Lol/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"@ span style="font-weight: bold;"Safiya/span; please ask him again for me.../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Enyonam/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" couldn't help again, this time he had to quote the Bible to support his comment; "Quote Paul "but I beat my body and bring it into submission..." 1 Cor 9:27 (this is what we call SELF CONTROL - FRUIT/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" OF THE SPIRIT)". At this point, I became a little spiritual so I decided to relax and see the counter comments as they come in.../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Angelo/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" said, "Yes, am a strong advocate for sex before marriage". Now, my dull self came back to life again. Whooooah, I got somebody to stir things again. I had this to say to him; "I'm with you brother. How on earth would you want me to buy a car or a dress without first testing/wearing it...?” How..???/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Enyonam/span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"came i/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCUFfFYMKI/AAAAAAAAAdk/27TGtpbImzw/s1600-h/no%2Bway....jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 210px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCUFfFYMKI/AAAAAAAAAdk/27TGtpbImzw/s400/no%2Bway....jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359446378535202978" border="0" //aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"n again and this time with CAPS with what really sent me to the floor;/span "span style="font-family:verdana;"I AM NOT A BELIEVER IN SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE AND I DO NOT THINK YOU CAN COMPARE IT TO BUYING A CAR! IN ANY CASE, WOMEN, DO YOU WANT TO BE TREATED BY YOU, A MAN LIKE A CAR FROM THE GARAGE...!”/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"My fellow blogger friend, /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Emmanuel/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" who's the author of /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/"The Trials amp; Tribulations of a /aa style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://ekbensahinghana.blogspot.com/"Freshly-Arrived Denizen...of Ghana/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" , made a rather long comment. Here's what he had to say; "I wrote a long post, and it didn't come up, so let me make it brief: in theory, sex before marriage is wrong. In practice it's easier--and made so by the westernized culture where one night stands and "best friend with benefits" makes it easy to make a clear distinction between sex and love. In short, we've come to accept that having plenty sex is.../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Read more; okay as long as you LOVE your chosen one. I think that's very dodgy for us guys who would love to "try" it with as many women as possible. Thing about trying though is that it might be the LAST time you try, considering STDs and whatnot! Even if STDs were not a problem, it's about choice between you and your partner to agree that "no sex till we get married" or if you're really sure, "occasional sex"./span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"In my own experience, my first ex insisted no sex, so we only touched and kissed passionately.My second conceded to sex. There is no third ex, but my long-term girlfriend, who WILL be my wife. We agreed (though in my case reluctantly at first!)... /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"[...continuing]...that since we've had some great and plenty sex, in order not to demean the beauty and importance of it in a structured relationship, let's refrain TILL we get married./span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Now, here's someone I've been in a relationship with for some three and a half years; I am sure she's the one, but I cannot help but feel guilty as a Christian for not having waited for we got married at times.../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This comment actually summarized everything I wanted hear and I even made him aware; "I'm really touched by his comment. It’s the best I've read since I started hearing from people on the subject... Nice one man but I still will go for sex before marriage...!!!/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Eva/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"; came in with what I was thinking of more like a personal attack on me from her. She commented; "Why won't you go for sex before marriage when nowadays we've put God's word aside and doing things our way? God have mercy on us."/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"I felt a rush in me to counter-comment after she fired that missile at me. I just started punching the keys on my keyboard as if I was attacked by hay-fever and was about to be rushed to the a href="http://wikimapia.org/8480882/Pantang-Hospital"Pantang Hospital/a. I had this for her; " Eva; everybody's got his/her point of view. It’s a matter of expressing your view. When you want to follow the ways of God at times, it’s very hard but I believe all you can do is ENDURE.. But lemme ask you, how long can you endure...?? Would you tell me, you're a virgin at your age...?? Answer me plssss...!!!/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At the mention of Endurance, /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Enyonam/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" came in with this; "He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved' Matt 24:13 the end being MARRIAGE in this situation". Tornam couldn't help but had to let Enyonam know, "Massa I know a lady who decided to do this sex after marriage saga but when they got married she realized the guy is impotent. So if you don’t try how would you know? It would very painful for me to be a 26 year old virgin. Massa women sweet but make the right choice."/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Enyonam/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" wanted to show his Biblical prowess by quoting; "Mark 11:24 "what so ever you desire, when you pray, believing, you shall receive it." GOD IS STILL IN THE MIRACLE BUSINESS.../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Audrey/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" also commented saying; "Yeap. Lol" signaling her acceptance of the topic, "Sex before Marriage is RIGHT".../span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Wasiu/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" thought about the status as the most controversial and sent in this comment; "What a controversial question JD [Jordan], I think everybody has a reason to choose whatever option. Let’s don't forget that what the creator says is what will be used against man on the day of resurrection. That is not to say I obeyed.... May God forgive us all. I love the subject............[]/spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCUxkxCZDI/AAAAAAAAAds/4CLqIYXDTYk/s1600-h/bed%2Bsex.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 341px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SmCUxkxCZDI/AAAAAAAAAds/4CLqIYXDTYk/s400/bed%2Bsex.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5359447135974745138" border="0" //a/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Well, well... All these said, I was thinking all was over until /spanspan style="font-weight: bold;font-family:trebuchet ms;" Ms. Safiya/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" ca/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"me in again with what I would say; the last judgment reading; " I don't think God is going to/spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"cast me into hell fire for having an intimate relationship with someone I love... We are spiritual being and need that intimacy. But then again, man created marriage as we know it today, /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"biblical marriage was not the same thing soooooo...have the intimacy...but as I said...it doesn't mean you're a whore yourself or have go have sex with everybody and everything.. hahahahaha.!/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At this point, I just couldn't help but just close and think of another controversial topic for today. But let me ask you, what you think of the topic been discussed: "Is sex before marriage the right decision..??"/span/pp style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" You can read more on such controversial and debatable issues by visiting /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://maameous.blogspot.com/"Esi Cleland/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" and /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://adventuresfrom.blogspot.com/"Nana A. Darkoa Sekyiamah's/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" blogs. We are all part of the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://ghanablogging.com/"Ghana Blogging Group/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" making our voices heard globally./spanspan style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);"br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(153, 0, 0);" Your comments, ideas, feedbacks are humbly welcomed./spanbr //pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5079131446601165844?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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15:51
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SljP4G7_YXI/AAAAAAAAAZw/eEHgBKFkYGs/s1600-h/obama.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 294px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SljP4G7_YXI/AAAAAAAAAZw/eEHgBKFkYGs/s400/obama.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357260319599059314" border="0" //a
br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in .75in 1.0in 45.0pt; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} /* List Definitions */ @list l0 {mso-list-id:305401897; mso-list-type:hybrid; mso-list-template-ids:749472198 67698713 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715 67698703 67698713 67698715;} @list l0:level1 {mso-level-number-format:alpha-lower; mso-level-tab-stop:.5in; mso-level-number-position:left; text-indent:-.25in;} ol {margin-bottom:0in;} ul {margin-bottom:0in;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"
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br //span/pp class="MsoNormal"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The long awaited day has finally come. The Black and Bright Star of Africa now blossoms in the sky. From the moment, the Air Force 1 landed on the /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"tarmac of the Kotoka International Airport, I knew and believed that, the black man is now free after several years of bondage./spano:p/o:p/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At exactly, 21:15GMT, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama with their two children, Sasha and Malia came out of the doorway, descended down the stairs and was met on arrival by His Excellency Pro. John Evans Atta Mills, Vice President John Mahama and other top government officials./spano:p/o:p/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Barack Obama is indeed the first black President of the United States of America. I believe by now, everyone is much aware of this fact. He’s an aspiration to Africans, thus our happiness. His visit to Ghana, the first country in Africa, south of the Sahara to win an independence from the colonial masters is a great tribute to freedom fighters all over the world/spano:p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"./o:p/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pGod has already anointed Africa (GHANA) was the acronym I got from a Liberian refugee last week at the mall in the hopes of getting some small coins for tro-tro… Ghana is truly the gateway to Africa…!!o:p/o:p/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SljN0lgmmII/AAAAAAAAAZo/gHMOlnP-zpc/s1600-h/jj+n+clinton.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 341px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SljN0lgmmII/AAAAAAAAAZo/gHMOlnP-zpc/s400/jj+n+clinton.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5357258060062955650" border="0" //a
br /o:p/o:p/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pA walk down memory lane saw Ghana hosting three sitting American Presidents. 1965 was Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah hosting John F. Kennedy, 2000 saw Ex- President Jerry John Rawlings hosting Bill Clinton, the year 2008 saw Ex-President John Agyekum Kuffour also hosting George W. Bush and today, His Excellency Prof. John Evans Atta Mills hosting His Excellency, the President of the United States of America and his wife and children, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Sasha Obama and Malia Obama..o:p/o:p/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pI sampled views from a cross-section of colleagues at my work place and the following was their questions. I asked, “If given the chance to ask Barack Obama one question, what would it be…??” Below are the questions……..o:p/o:p/pp class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/p ol style="margin-top: 0in;" start="1" type="a"li class="MsoNormal" style=""What is his policy on domestic oil and when will America start producing its own oil and stop depending on the Middle East???/lili class="MsoNormal" style=""What’s his actual purpose of coming to Ghana? Why Ghana and not his fathers native country, Kenya?/lili class="MsoNormal" style=""Would he allow me to marry one of his daughters in future? (Shim asked this one!)/lili class="MsoNormal" style=""Is his coming to Ghana, a mere visit or for America’s gain especially in out newly found oil?/lili class="MsoNormal" style=""How does he want to end his political career as the 44supth/sup President of the United States/lili class="MsoNormal" style=""What lessons in his life will he want to the Blacks (Africans) to pick as most youth look at him as their mentor?o:p
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br //p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"Barack Obama’s coming to Ghana has really sparked a lot of arguments and heat, here and there. Kenyans are naturally disappointed. But if Obama had gone to Kenya, it would be interpreted as a homecoming rather than a strategic visit by a U.S president…!o:p/o:p/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br /o:p/o:p/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pI would be extremely happy and glad if the following questions raised are answered for me. All criticism, feedbacks and comments are dearly welcome. They actually inspires me to write more..!!
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br //pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"Enjoy reading. You can follow my blog by clicking on the ‘Follow Me” section or on a href="http://twitter.com/macjordan"twitter.com/a/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"
br //p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"God bless Ghana! God Bless America!! God Bless a href="http://www.ghanablogging.com/"Ghanablogging.com/a!!!
br //pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"I’m a Ghanaian Blogger….!!!/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3042791530183914704?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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15:34
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SlO2AmNuNXI/AAAAAAAAAXw/JKx-B-9CIM0/s1600-h/GH.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 248px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SlO2AmNuNXI/AAAAAAAAAXw/JKx-B-9CIM0/s400/GH.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355824503248008562" border="0" //abr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Leaving home for work this morning, I was listening to a presenter of the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/audioconsole/?stream=networkafrica"Network Africa program on BBC. /aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"He touched on a poem, a listener from Khartoum wrote which really inspired me to write this piece.br /br /My question is;br //spanbr /span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" ARE YOU A GHANAIAN BY CHOICE....???/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The place and circumstance of birth is not for babies to decide, but as grown-ups each one of us have the exclusive right to lay claim to where we truly belong. I wrote an article on /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com/2008/03/who-do-you-think-you-are.html""Who Do You Think You are?"/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;" and I guess, this is more like it but its in a different dimension./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Whether at home or broad, some of us will always obey the Ghanaian call and we will always hold her Red Gold and Green flag in high esteem./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"It's not that we don’t have the chance to be or act otherwise, it's because we have faith enough to look beyond the present gloomy cloud to see the blue skies of brighter days long before the dawn of its first breaks./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Being Africans does not make us inferior and being Ghanaian does not make us dubious; We are Ghanaian because that is who we want to be.br //spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SlO6yPj-KXI/AAAAAAAAAX4/V1aXM9W1jhA/s1600-h/michael-jackson.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SlO6yPj-KXI/AAAAAAAAAX4/V1aXM9W1jhA/s400/michael-jackson.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5355829754207283570" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Did you hear Queen Latifah say, talked about how important Ghana was in the life of the Late Pop Legend, Michael Joe Jackson...? The Memorial service of "Jacko" has placed Ghana again in the limelight.. Isn't that awesome? Aren't you happy to have a link with Ghana..??br /br /Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GV_YJuC0FPI/SCDFwv2unpI/AAAAAAAAAyg/og2gtdCtMmw/s400/IMG_2867.jpg"Ghana's Black Star Square/a.br /In Johannesburg and Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama, and Birmingham, England. We are missing the King of Pop Music, a href="http://www.streething.com/team/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/michael-jackson.jpg"Legendary Michael Jackson./abr //spanbr /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"We've got strength like horses, beautiful flowers that blossom on our rich dark soils and the great River Volta that unite us across the Ghana;/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"With enough willingness, fate and dedication, we will always soar like eagles that protects the coat-of-arms of the nation and we will be able to hold our own in the committee of nations./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"If you are faithful, loyal and honest; If you pledge to serve, represent and identify with the Ghanaian dream;/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"If you are a Ghanaian, not by chance or accident, but because that is who you really want to be,/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Say "Aaay" and join this community of great people who are Ghanaian by Choice, together we will create a brighter future for our dear native land. I am proud to be a Ghanaian and a a href="http://www.ghanablogging.com/"Ghanaian Blogger/a./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Your thoughts, feedback and comments are always welcome. /spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5910331419729118780?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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19:12
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" I found this interesting article about two modern GSM Services (a href="http://www.zain.com/"Zain/a amp; a href="http://www.mtn.com.gh/"MTN/a) in Ghana from /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);" href="http://www.mobileafrica.net/"David Ajao's blog/aspan style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);font-family:trebuchet ms;" , and I really want to share with you. Your comments are feedbacks are always welcome though...!!!/spanbr /p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"I listened to a href="http://www.techgov.gh/assets/images/zain_if.png"Philip Sowah/a, the Country Manager of a href="http://www.gh.zain.com/en/"Zain Communications Ghana Limited/a, being interviewed on strongJoy FM/strong’s Super Morning show one morning in the last quarter of 2008. It was at the eve of Zain’s network launch in Ghana. One thing I remember clearly was him saying Zain Ghana has so much network capacity, they are scared in a positive way. I wondered to myself: span style="font-family:times new roman;"“/spanem style="font-family: times new roman;"What is he talking about? Why this much confidence? Is this a marketing gimmick?/emspan style="font-family:times new roman;"“ /span Zain eventually launched and I bought a Zain SIM card, just to experience Ghana’s first 3.5G network not that I was ready to ditch my MTN that had served me quite well for more than 5 years./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"I recently bought a Nokia 5800 XpressMusic - a 3.5G high-capacity multimedia device from Alireta Mobile - and decided to give my Zain SIM a spin with the mind that should it serve me better, it would replace my MTN eventually. I have been blown away in the past few days and thus I feel compelled to document the positive difference I have experienced./pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"For well over a decade, MTN (hitherto known as Spacefon, then Areeba) has been the market leader in Ghana in terms of running the most sophisticated cellular network, and offering more useful value added services than its competitors. Not anymore. For the first time, MTN has a tougher competitor to contend with./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"3.5G network coverage/strongbr /MTN Ghana scrambled to unleash their 3.5G network on the Ghanaian airwaves after Zain’s loud entry into the telecom market. Zain’s 3.5G network has a wider coverage than that of MTN, in Accra. I have tested the two from Tete Quarshie interchange to McCarthy hill. From McCarthy hill to Osu. Zain even went a step further to publish their 3.5G network coverage on their website and the publication reveals that 3.5G is available in much of Accra and parts of Kumasi (Ghana’s 2nd commercial hub). Whilst at work, I make sure my phone is permanently on 3G network mode so I can experience the superior call quality and make/receive video calls on Zain. Neither of them has a perfect 3.5G coverage but Zain is ahead, from my checks./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Mobile Internet ‘Activation Fee’/strongbr /Unlike MTN, Zain does not ask for a 5 Ghana Cedi “activation fee” for internet connectivity to be enabled on one’s SIM. Slot your Zain SIM into a capable GPRS/EDGE/3G/3.5G phone and the settings come tumbling in within minutes. Zain even sends you an MMS welcoming you to “A Wonderful World”./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Call cost summary/strongbr /I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I get the total cost of a call I make, after the call is over. A message displays on my phone informing me of the amount deducted from my account for that call and the account balance I have left. Now, that is transperancy at its best. There is nothing like that on MTN./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"SMS/strongbr /em /emI can update my a href="http://www.twitter.com"Twitter/a account via SMS using Zain. MTN could not deliver SMS to the UK mobile number used by Twitter.com. Zain delivered to the same number, in 2 seconds./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"I do not have to retry sending SMS multiple times and pray it goes through each time, on Zain. On the other hand, the little tricks I used on MTN are even begining to fail as I have a hard time sending international SMS from MTN./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"Still on SMS, Zain has a neat online service called Zain Web2SMS. I can compose and send SMS from Zain’s website with the added convenience of typing on a computer keyboard. It is faster and better for me. Zain bills my prepaid account for each SMS sent. What is more exciting? Zain offers 5 free Zain to Zain SMS daily. MTN hardly ever gives anything for free. Hardly.. Hardly..!!br //p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"MMS/strongbr /Zain’s MMS really works. I can zap photos and audio to loved ones’ phones or email accounts. MTN’s MMS has been epileptic for months now./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Missed call notification/strongbr /Whenever my phone is switched off or out of cellular coverage area, I receive SMS notification from Zain when my phone is back online, informing me of the missed calls. I know MTN has been offering the same service for several years but I could not access it because they restricted it to post-paid subscribers only. I had been attracted to MTN’s post-paid offering for so long but I stayed away because of the $1,500 security deposit they required for international roaming. I am fine with prepaid roaming - thank you very much. I would rather leave my money in a fixed deposit account than hand it to MTN if I have no use for it./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Roaming/strongbr /Talking about roaming, MTN quickly launched their “Seamless Roaming” service some weeks before Zain launched in Ghana. MTN’s Seamless Roaming is a very similar concept to Zain’s One Network. They both allow local subscribers to access the network of other subsidiaries, outside the home network. Example: Zain subscribers in Kenya can roam into the Zain networks in Tanzania, Uganda, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Niger without hassles. Traveling subscribers can receive calls/SMS for free, and make calls at the same rate subscribers on the host network pay. MTN’s Seamless Roaming currently works in Cameroon, Nigeria, Benin Republic and Ghana./p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Call Divert/strongbr /You have no idea how useful this service is to me. I can divert calls, all my calls unconditionally, or if I am busy, or if I do not answer the calls within a stipulated number of seconds, or if I am out of network coverage area. These settings come with even the most basic GSM phone but MTN has restricted its prepaid subscribers to “Call divert - if out of reach” only and even that can only be diverted to their default Voicemail number strong style="font-weight: normal;"only/strong. On Zain, there is no single restriction and so I can divert my calls as I deem fit!/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strong style="font-weight: bold; font-family: georgia;"Zain Phone number Pre-registration/strongbr /I was able to search for and book a phone number of my choice, even before the commercial launch. MTN doesn’t offer that convenience./p p style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Over all, I am enjoying the Zain experience so far. /spanstrongbr //strong/pp style="font-family: georgia; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"strongWhat about you? What has been your experience with Zain in Ghana? Share your thoughts by leaving your comments now./strong/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-614925485884414725?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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11:56
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkysscS1BwI/AAAAAAAAAXI/WKRc_jFHyns/s1600-h/bar.png"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 71px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkysscS1BwI/AAAAAAAAAXI/WKRc_jFHyns/s400/bar.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5353843936546064130" border="0" //aspan style="font-family: lucida grande;font-size:100%;" br //spanspan style="font-style: italic; font-family: lucida grande;font-family:lucida grande;font-size:100%;" Hi friends here’s information about a really awesome camp you can attend if you have sometime this summer:-)/spanspan style="font-size:100%;"br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"On December 22, 2008, 100 plus young Ghanaians met in Accra to exchange ideas on entrepreneurship, innovation and development for a rising Ghana during a href="http://www.barcampghana.org/barcampghana08"BarCampGhana '08/a with theme: ‘Fueling Ghana’s Technology and Business Renaissance’../spanspan style="font-size:100%;"br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"On July 25, 2009 the conversation moves again to Washington, D.C and later to Kumasi and Accra at the latter part of the year for BarCamp Kumasi and BarCamp Accra '09./spanspan style="font-size:100%;"br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"You can be part of that conversation by joining my fellow friends at BarCamp Diaspora '09 at the a href="http://www.sais-jhu.edu/"School of Advanced International Studies - Johns Hopkins University./a/spanspan style="font-size:100%;"a href="http://www.sais-jhu.edu/"br //abr //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"The theme for BarCamp Diaspora '09 is "Investing our talent where it counts"/spanspan style="font-size:100%;".br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"BarCamp Diaspora '09 will be an ad-hoc gathering and a day of discussions, demos, dialogue, panels and speakers. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Unlike a conference, at a barcamp everyone is both a speaker and a participant. The content is provided by all attendees based on their interests./spanspan style="font-size:100%;"br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"BarCamp Diaspora '09 will be the first such event in the United States, focused on bringing together the African diaspora to exchange ideas on doing business in Ghana, West Africa./spanspan style="font-size:100%;"br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Who should attend?/spanspan style="font-size:100%;" /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Anyone who is interested in using skills, talent, resources to benefit Ghana and the Diaspora/spanspan style="font-size:100%;". /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Register today at the a href="http://www.barcampghana.org/barcampdiaspora09/register"BarCamp Diaspora website/a at a cost of $20/spanspan style="font-size:100%;".br /br //spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Spread the word about BarCamp Diaspora '09 by grabbing badges. /spanspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;"Support and donate to us to keep the participation costs low and for sponsorship opportunities, a href="http://www.eventbrite.com/contact-organizer?eid=371338684"contact us/a/span span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-278846850829636813?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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23:34
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SklgXFfbaHI/AAAAAAAAAXA/HBCUmprcHGQ/s1600-h/Crunchy.JPG" /aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SklgXFfbaHI/AAAAAAAAAXA/HBCUmprcHGQ/s1600-h/Crunchy.JPG"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 374px; height: 241px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SklgXFfbaHI/AAAAAAAAAXA/HBCUmprcHGQ/s400/Crunchy.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5352915581833799794" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SklgXFfbaHI/AAAAAAAAAXA/HBCUmprcHGQ/s1600-h/Crunchy.JPG" /a
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br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"In recent months, one phrase which has become a household name is the /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_crunch"credit crunch/aspan style="font-family: trebuchet ms;", and many cannot help but wonder how crunchy this crunch is, that it seems to find itself on every economic menu served on this planet and especially in Ghana!/span/span
br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"
br //span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"One Saturday afternoon before the rains started coming, I went together to the Tema Community One market to shop for food stuffs with my sister-in-law and there, I got my most detailed explanation of this new credit crunchy crunch. My desire for some obviously over-aged sausages turned out to be an economic class. A pack of tiny looking sausages which hitherto went for a href="http://tinyurl.com/mp32ek"one Ghana cedi/a (or Ten Thousand Cedis as some of the market women prefer to call it), had been doubled and was being sold for two Ghana Cedis ( Twenty Thousand Cedis). When I protested, a fellow shopper quickly exclaimed in Twi “abrantie, iei na wo nnim se Credit Crunch aba?/i” [tran: young man, are you oblivious of the credit crunch?] The attendants sat calmly nodding their heads in silent agreement.
br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"
br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"My hunger for knowledge brewed in the Ghanaian market increased. So I firmly asked what a lack of credit options globally, had to do with my modest desire of munching some tiny sausages. “There is no money everywhere, the system is hard so everything is going up, even if you have the money you can’t get things to buy” was the reply. Before I could say Jack, the attendants exclaimed “we cannot do anything about it so we are in it like that, Brother are you buying it or not?” Immediately, I realized my class was over!
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br /One fact I took home that day was the statement of the attendant, “we cannot do anything about it so we are in it like that”. It likely would take a whole financial committee to access the financial implications of this statement, however, I do know for a fact that there is a need for each and everyone to survive this economic downturn because i“we are in it like that”/i.
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br /One dimension of the credit crunch which has been overlooked is the health implications of the development on the wellness of the corporate world which is a huge component of national development. Think of the long winding hours spent at work strategizing and re-strategizing and its attendant stresses, poor diet patterns, eating “a href="http://tinyurl.com/l3d2ey"Kofi broke-man/a” and high blood pressures, uncertainties, frustrations, and deepened stress about job security in the wake of large job cuts and shrinking economies, the lack of available resources to keep up with activities like visiting the gym and exercising, playing soccer or basketball, and the like, a reduction in healthy wellness alternatives, and check up rates in hospitals.
br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"
br //span/p p style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"It is unfortunate to see many employees resorting to soda and snacks instead of balanced diets during lunch. Lunch time seems to be woven seamlessly into mainstream work time. This situation seems to be worsening by the day, with many institutions feeling a pinch from the credit crunch. Employees are working longer, strategizing more, and unfortunately sacrificing their lunch which is an essential component of body development.o:p
br //o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"
br /o:p/o:p/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;font-family:georgia;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"o:p/o:pspan style="font-size:100%;"What’s more, many employees are worried about job security, layoffs and their impact on workload, fewer credit options at high interest rates and so on. However, what can you really do about the current economic situation? How would fretting and constant pessimistic thoughts make the situation any better? Undue frustrations and worry leads to a body not at ease (dis-ease).
br //span/span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" face="georgia" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"
br //span/pp style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size:100%;"Are you willing to spend your scare income on treatment of a dis-ease body? /span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3163272443873488903?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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6:32
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-size:100%;"a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkTkNOVIgcI/AAAAAAAAAW4/Yn8T8Q3LZo0/s1600-h/cheap-calling-to-nigeria-flag.jpg"img style="width: 437px; height: 242px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351653173059158466" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkTkNOVIgcI/AAAAAAAAAW4/Yn8T8Q3LZo0/s320/cheap-calling-to-nigeria-flag.jpg" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" br /br /Nigerians can talk. We all know it – from the office, to the marketplace, to the village square and from the city – Nigerians make it a point to have their voices heard but today, I am doing a piece on them here..!!!br /br /Today I want to take you into the literary landscape of Nigeria-Naija-9ja, and not just the regular. In the past few years, it seems that our output in literature has grown in leaps and bounds even in the face of poverty and other hindrances. A Nigerian has now won the Booker – Ben Okri, the Orange – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (who also got the MacArthur Genius Grant), and the Man Booker International Prize – Chinua Achebe for his lifetime achievements. Need I forget Wole Soyinka who won the first Nobel Prize for Literature in Africa. I know, there are a couple of Ghanaians in the publishing industry worth mentioning but this piece is centered on my Naija people...br /br /I am a proud member of the Ghana Blogging Group that meets once in a month to discuss and jaw-jaw on topical issues, set agenda's towards a cause we are aiming to bring into the light and also and socialize which is the part I do love.. Yes, you heard me.. I do LOVE... I am always reading Nana Sekyiamah's blog because, I get to read a lot I won't hear from my female partners.. She discusses issues which won't gain grounds in the Ghanaian open circle... Below is a group photograph of the Ghana Bloggers Group...br //spanspan style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:100%;" span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/spanbr //spanspan style="font-size:100%;"a style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkTe0MtwAvI/AAAAAAAAAWw/dL6eKHLDUrY/s1600-h/gh+bloggers.jpg"img style="width: 452px; height: 264px; cursor: pointer;" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351647245570671346" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SkTe0MtwAvI/AAAAAAAAAWw/dL6eKHLDUrY/s320/gh+bloggers.jpg" border="0" //a/spanspan style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" br /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"At the mention of someone been in a Nigerian, some many negative stuffs comes into mind. First on the list is; Fraud, Money Laundering, Armed Robbery, Prostitution and lastly, Rituals for money but trust me, Nuna even said, at the mention of a person to be a Niaja-man, she always sees "that person is looking for a cheap Ghanaian gal to explore..." My dear follower-cum-reader, there are couple of Nigerians in this country who are really positive and got businesses going on in Ghana and re making it big..../spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Take for instance, the Owner, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the Ovation Magazine, /spana style="font-family: trebuchet ms;" href="http://goingontop.com/spk_delemomodu.php"Chief Momodu Dele/aspan style="font-family:trebuchet ms;". He's got a business going on, created employment for the youth in Ghana and at least, he's a respected resident. My trip to Nigeria in the fall of 2004 took me to Victoria Island (It is the main business and financial center of Lagos, Nigeria), where I was hosted by a long distance Aunt who married a Nigerian doctor. I stayed for a couple of weeks before returning to Accra./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"During my days in VI, I learn from the everyday life of the Naija man and till day, I am able to live and dwell in anywhere I find myself. The saying, "if you can stay in Lagos, you can live everywhere" is very true. I was having a chat with a friend of my aunt who works in the same hospital as her and this is what, he said about Ghana when he visited with his family for Xmas../spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Everything is so organized and so straight forward. Everyone is so welcoming and friendly it was unbelievable. Life is reasonably cheaper and more relaxing than Naija. You come home there is constant power. You drive anyhow on the street and you are given an alcohol test, if you fail you face a jail sentence of 3 months. Petrol stations are open 24 hours a day with built in supermarkets like Europe. The whole city works on traffic lights 24 hrs a day./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"The police are friendly and do not disturb anyone, in fact every police station has a telephone number for emergencies. Crime rate is very very low and in fact; its sad to know that all crime there are committed are by Nigerians or Liberian refugees. I put on the television one day and on the news, found out they caught a gang of 12 robbers terrorizing Kumasi in which 9 were Nigerians./spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"Honestly, I can go on and on and on, but I think experience is the best teacher. If any of you have any holidays, pay a visit to Accra and you will never regret. I am buying a house there and sending my family there by the middle of this year. I met a lot of Nigerians who have houses and their families there while they work here. I met a lot who are sending their children to school there and they come here on holidays because education is better in there. It is very sad, but the truth is painful. As much as you love and care for Nigeria, you don't get that in return.../spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"This is what; a Nigerian citizen is saying about my beloved country Ghana.. What would a Ghanaian say about Nigeria...???/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"/span/spanspan style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:100%;" br //spanspan style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:85%;" span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"P.S: I am a Ghanaian blogger. This post is my contribution for our universal posting day/span/spanbr /br //spanspan style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:100%;" /spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3893657273548447140?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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8:48
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style=";font-family:georgia;font-size:85%;"
br //spanmeta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5Cjordan%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 63.0pt .75in .75in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"I returned to Keta again last weekend on Easter Sunday to attend the one year anniversary of my cousin, Courage Elikplim Beckely aka Abichi’s funeral and also took a tour to Keta Secondary School where I took shots of the school; I just had to because, I manage the a href="http://www.facebook.com/photos/?ref=sb#/group.php?gid=5708576968"Ketasco Alumni (Dzo Lali) Group on Facebook/a. Earlier on, I had promised the group, I shall try my possible best to bring some current photos of the state of the school.
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBk6Hz7I/AAAAAAAAAWY/dD-Scg4lQjY/s1600-h/Ketasco.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 172px; height: 103px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBk6Hz7I/AAAAAAAAAWY/dD-Scg4lQjY/s320/Ketasco.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325593447871532978" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBaY2ElI/AAAAAAAAAWI/9NkH03r73uQ/s1600-h/Ketasco+Alumni.JPG"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 162px; height: 101px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBaY2ElI/AAAAAAAAAWI/9NkH03r73uQ/s320/Ketasco+Alumni.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325593445047603794" border="0" //a/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"Well, a lot of change has occurred over the past years. The church service was kind of very long because, about three other families were present in the same church for the Thanksgiving Service of their past relatives or friends. I couldn’t stand the stress in sitting down whiles I had other stuffs to do. I quickly dashed out after the offertory was taken./span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"Keta now appears to be a ghost town, deserted by her children, most of whom have left her shores in search of greener or maybe browner pastures. The town seems quite empty, compared to what it used to be and those who remain, wander around with a strange look of restless on their faces. The Keta market which once served as the heart of the town no longer bustles with the same energy it once did. Now all the merchants (and their customers) have aged; they no longer frequent the market or have completely closed up their stalls. The younger generation who might have taken up their trade, are now too few in number to restore the life and vitality of the market./span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfVvzaYI/AAAAAAAAAU4/1GEm_D1tPMw/s1600-h/1239066-Fort-Prinzenstein-0.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 174px; height: 123px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfVvzaYI/AAAAAAAAAU4/1GEm_D1tPMw/s320/1239066-Fort-Prinzenstein-0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325587362128030082" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKpMpr5tI/AAAAAAAAAV4/FNDRTjKehHc/s1600-h/Keta+Fort.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 177px; height: 124px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKpMpr5tI/AAAAAAAAAV4/FNDRTjKehHc/s320/Keta+Fort.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325588630996772562" border="0" //a/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"The buildings all stand in a melancholic state. Their grayish, brown walls tell the story of their neglect - decades gone by without renovation. But stubbornly they remaining standing; strong solid structures, grand in style and stature. The architecture is closely European, reminiscent of the colonial era in which they were built. My first point of dashing to was the slave a href="http://www.modernghana.com/newsp/191003/1/pagenum2/the-keta-fort-fort-prinzenstein.html"Fort Prinzenstein/athe mightylocated near the Late Togbui James Ocloo’s Residence. I took a couple of shots of the Fort and later moved to the old E.P. Church compound. The Sea had washed almost everything away if not for the Keta Sea-Defense Project; there wouldn’t be any evidence ofchurch and school that once stood on that compound. /span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJffrhsmI/AAAAAAAAAVA/GhRaEl5_McE/s1600-h/12042009037.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 131px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJffrhsmI/AAAAAAAAAVA/GhRaEl5_McE/s320/12042009037.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325587364794446434" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKpNKPA5I/AAAAAAAAAWA/GaJD9pzj6Sc/s1600-h/12042009039.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 159px; height: 130px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKpNKPA5I/AAAAAAAAAWA/GaJD9pzj6Sc/s320/12042009039.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325588631133291410" border="0" //a/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"My grandmother was and still an avid member of the E.P. Church and so was everyone. It was more like a family church, almost everyone in my maternal and paternal families were members of the church. So you could imagine the effect it had on me. Just adjacent to the church is the Amegashie Family Palace which the sea took almost all of it away leaving the front huge gates which have now been changed. The remaining of the church and Amegashie’s Palace has been painted in white-wash.
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"Thanks to the good Samaritans who want to keep history alive. I took a couple of shots of both buildings for evidence sake. Alas, church was over and I had to return to the house where friends, families and other members from the church were to be refreshed. I met a couple of friends from my kiddy time who came around to say hello to me and find out, where I’ve been hiding all these whiles. Well, it was good seeing them again, though but I was very careful in dealing with some of then. /span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;" /span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"The greatest obligation when visiting one’s hometown is the number of people you must greet. First stops were made to some of my ancestral family homes; iAdadevoh-Beckely-Degadjor, Fumey-Setordjie, Tamakloe and Acolatsey /ihouseholds where I was warmly met by several relatives, many of whom I had never met before (or only remember vaguely from my childhood) yet they all seemed to know me just at the mention of my mum or dad’s name../span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKo-JfydI/AAAAAAAAAVw/WZ7JAPnRirM/s1600-h/12042009052.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 155px; height: 137px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKo-JfydI/AAAAAAAAAVw/WZ7JAPnRirM/s320/12042009052.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325588627103664594" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfusDy9I/AAAAAAAAAVY/vOrtSKcx4Do/s1600-h/12042009046.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 154px; height: 135px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfusDy9I/AAAAAAAAAVY/vOrtSKcx4Do/s320/12042009046.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325587368823213010" border="0" //a/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"Altogether that weekend, I was able to visit and see some places and people in the town. I visited my aged great-great-grandmother who normally holds my arms and touches my face to see if I’m growing in flesh. That’s hilarious, init? I also saw how the main street coming from Tamakloe Gardens through the A.M.E Zion Church and Tay-Agbozo’s Residence has been paved.
br //span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBTkXeLI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/N2OnVpZW6Lc/s1600-h/12042009049.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 148px; height: 108px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehPBTkXeLI/AAAAAAAAAWQ/N2OnVpZW6Lc/s320/12042009049.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325593443216881842" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKoyUcQpI/AAAAAAAAAVo/cJcDRFwtmDM/s1600-h/12042009051.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 167px; height: 104px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehKoyUcQpI/AAAAAAAAAVo/cJcDRFwtmDM/s320/12042009051.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325588623928345234" border="0" //a/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"Later that afternoon I roamed the streets of Keta and Dzelukope with my cousins. I was amazed at the number of people who ran up to welcome me. Word travels very fast in small towns and everyone knew who I was. People told me how they were related to me i“hey, don’t you know me, I am your mother’s cousin’s wife!” or “your dad and I used to best friends, we went to elementary school together!” /iThose who happened to have seen me as an infant before I finally left the town, put on a greater display; screams of “Oh my God”, hugs, kisses, i“Oh look how much you’ve grown, you were just a baby when you left!” /iIt was all pretty overwhelming, but also very nice being among people who are so welcoming and really take you as their own./span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"
br //span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"As the sun began to set, my cousins and I headed towards the beach; we wanted to see the sun melt into the ocean. The waters were very calm that evening; nothing like the angry crashing waves I remember from my childhood. It was then that I began to see some of the progress made by the a href="http://www.globalfamilylink.com/images/two1.jpg"Sea Defense Project/a. Once upon a time the beach was considered too dangerous a place to be and only fishermen ever ventured into the waters. But now people also frequent the beach for leisure. I couldn’t believe seeing some guys coming to defecate around the shore. The moment, I pointed my camera to them, they hurriedly wore their trousers and took their heels without cleaning their a**…/spanspan style="font-size:85%;" /spanspan style="font-size:85%;"ha aha ah.!/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfmXBufI/AAAAAAAAAVI/4jH_p8Yf2XQ/s1600-h/12042009043.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 103px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehJfmXBufI/AAAAAAAAAVI/4jH_p8Yf2XQ/s320/12042009043.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325587366587513330" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehR3sKk2AI/AAAAAAAAAWo/vE-UM5JxUIk/s1600-h/12042009042.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 123px; height: 102px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehR3sKk2AI/AAAAAAAAAWo/vE-UM5JxUIk/s320/12042009042.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325596576555784194" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehR3pQ49qI/AAAAAAAAAWg/0-UFB8tWmUE/s1600-h/12042009033.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 102px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SehR3pQ49qI/AAAAAAAAAWg/0-UFB8tWmUE/s320/12042009033.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5325596575776962210" border="0" //a/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"My impressions of Keta last weekend left me feeling depressed, but that is because my attention focused only on the losses of the town. All I could think of was things that were no more; the people who had left, the market that had slowed, the buildings that were crumbling. But my time here this weekend has shown me other things.True, the Keta of today is not the same as it was when I was born or the other years when I came back to school in Keta Secondary School nor is it the same Keta my parents knew as children. But the strong sense of attachment and belonging that I felt towards the town has shown me that despite all the changes, in essence, the Keta of yesterday is still the same Keta of today. It still bears the same soul. bi
br //i/b/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"bi
br //i/b/span/pp class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"biThe spirit of Keta has not left. Long Live Keta. Long Live Everyone from there...!!!/ispan style="" o:p/o:p/span/b/span/p p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family:georgia;"span style="font-size:85%;"o:p /o:p/span/p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7924306136879738334?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Accra Conscious Forever
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" My dear followers, Readers and Critics, yours truly AccraConsciousForever is here again with yet another weekend fila-gossip-cum-news for y'all music lovers and fans.br /br /The Annual MTN Ghana Music Awards was held on a grand scale last night at the Dome of the Accra Conference Centre to a capacity of over 6,000 music lovers. I guess, it /spanspan style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" was the 10th edition. The night for the Ghanaian Music industry saw Okyeame Kwame of "Woso" fame winning the big one, the Artiste of the Year. Well, there are more shocks and surprises as well.br /br /In, what many analysts and pro's of the industry described as the most competitive year for the GMA's, favourites Okyeame Kwame, Praye and Christiana Love were the top winners on the night filled with excitement, cheers and some few surprises./spanspan style="font-size:85%;" /spanbr /br /span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" Kojo Antwi won the Artist of the Decade; Obour also won a World Bank sponsored category dubbed Best Music for Development for his campaign on Road safety which I believe you all will agree did help in the mass education on safety on our roads; and the late Micheal Dwamena winning a posthum/spanspan style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" ous award for Nest Contemporary Highlife Song of the Year with his hit song, 'Ngozi' were the main highlights of the night.br /br /The 2009 Ghana Music Awards also boasted of performance across the past decade. Among the performers on the night were Cindy Thompson, Pat Thomas, Kwabena Kwabena, Akyeame/Okyeame Kwame, Lord Kenya, Irene, Asem, Tinny, Josh Laryea, Sway, a href="http://museke.com/node/402"D'banj/a [kokomaster], Ikwechuku of "whine am well" fame and a Praye.br /br /The trio did the "a href="http://museke.com/node/2466"Angelina/a" song which shooked the whole stage with the introduction of their big-boobs female dance./span span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" See p/spanspan style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" hoto below../spanspan style="font-size:85%;" /spanbr /br /span style="font-size:85%;" a style="font-family: georgia;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdnsF62ZgeI/AAAAAAAAANw/fA_TAyfbJm0/s1600-h/MJ+027.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 176px; height: 116px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdnsF62ZgeI/AAAAAAAAANw/fA_TAyfbJm0/s320/MJ+027.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321544021155873250" border="0" //a /spana onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sdnwmv-qeFI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/M62wwUFLEb0/s1600-h/MJ+018.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 193px; height: 117px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sdnwmv-qeFI/AAAAAAAAAOQ/M62wwUFLEb0/s320/MJ+018.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321548983219943506" border="0" //aa onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdnwmoWY9DI/AAAAAAAAAOI/xQiGUfKv7OE/s1600-h/MJ+028.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer; width: 185px; height: 119px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdnwmoWY9DI/AAAAAAAAAOI/xQiGUfKv7OE/s320/MJ+028.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321548981171975218" border="0" //abr /span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" br /br //spanspan style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" The shock and surprises finally here...br /br /Wanlov Kubolor got nominated in most of the categories but he didn't win any award at all. At the later part of the show, I happen to chance on him just at the entrance of the Dome, arguing with a GMA attendee. The reason was, Wanlov claims to be more African than any of the artistes who sings about Africa but the dude said, he didn't understand, why Wanlov was bare-footed claiming all African and yet, he's got a dark-sunglasses on @ 0235gmt. Is the sunglasses too African? Lol.br /br /In my opinion, I believe the Discovery Of The Year Ward should have gone to R2Bees instead of Asem. The guys came in the later part of the season and took everybody by surprise with their hit single, "I Dey Mad Ooo". Its currently a household song that every kid can sing to if been played on the airwaves.br /br /I'm going to have a poll about this. Kindly feel free and express hyout thoughts on this particular subject.br /The GMAs w/spanspan style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" as hosted by Obour, Batman Samini and Dentaa under the theme, “IT'S A BIG DEAL!"br /Complete list of winners is below;br /br /br /Gospel song of the year – Me Ma Mewere Firi by a href="http://museke.com/node/1197"Christina Love/abr /Gospel Artistes of the year – a href="http://museke.com/node/1197"Christina Love/abr /Contemporary highlife song of the year- Ngozi by a href="http://museke.com/node/1834"Michael Dwamena/abr /Hiplife song of the year – Mercy Lokko by a href="http://museke.com/node/390"C-zar/abr /Hip-hop song of the year – Woso by a href="http://museke.com/node/1975"Okyeame Kwame/abr /Afro-pop Song of the year – "Angelina" by a href="http://museke.com/node/191"Praye/abr /Hiplife/hiplife artiste of the year – Okyeame Kwamebr /Best Reggae song of the year- Change your constitution by Chizzy Walerbr /Instrumentalist of the year – Ackah Blaybr /Merit Award – Paapa Yanksonbr /Traditional Artist of the year – Hewale Soundsbr /Best Collaboration – Adea Akye bia by Christiana Love and Kweku Gyasibr /Contemporary highlife artist of the year – Kwabena Kwabenabr /Songwriter of the year - Bernice Offei for 'Life'br /Best Video of the year – Woso directed by Abraham Ohene Djanbr /African Artist of the year – D'banjbr /Producer of the Year –Richie Mensahbr /Best female vocal performance- Bernice offeibr /Best Male Vocal performance – OJbr /Record label of the year – Lynx Entertainmentbr /Best Music for development – a href="http://museke.com/node/21"Road safety song by Obuor/abr /Album of the year – Roll Kall by Prayebr /Record of the year – Emere by Josh Laryeabr /Discovery of the year – Asembr /Song of the Year – Angelinabr /Artist of the decade – Kojo Antwibr /br /and finally, the Big one....br /br /Artist of the Year- a href="http://museke.com/node/1975"Okyeame Kwame/abr /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9zJMRngcKe0amp;color1=0xb1b1b1amp;color2=0xcfcfcfamp;feature=player_embeddedamp;fs=1"/paramparam name="allowFullScreen" value="true"/paramembed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9zJMRngcKe0amp;color1=0xb1b1b1amp;color2=0xcfcfcfamp;feature=player_embeddedamp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectbr //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-4640508879645901084?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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20:59
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Accra Conscious Forever
div style="text-align: center;"a href="http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/5d5e6a4/16777243"img src="http://media.shozu.com/cache/portal/media/5d5e6a4/16777243_blog" //abr /br /div style="text-align: left;"br /On Wednesday, I happened to chanced on a small party-cum-drink down of a friends roomie on the campus of the University of Ghana. I guess, the right location was a href="http://wikimapia.org/2326328/Mensah-Sarbah-Hall-Annex-A"Mensah Sarbah Hall Annex A./abr /br /As a matter of fact, I wasn't invited or let me say, I wasn't known to be coming around that day. I just thought of passing through and Lo and Behold, there's a is loud music on the floor, drinks been served and girls in party attires everywhere.. Well, when I talk about girls, I don't mean the type that you'll find at most parties in GH these days.br /br /These are well-wishers, gossips and rumour mongers who were there for various reasons ranging from, "how does her cake looks like", "What food will she serve", "Which people would attend" and lastly, "would there be anything special about her b'day"?br /br /I have been to a couple of parties-cum-drink ups [downs] but this one was briefly nice and easy going except for one old looking girl, who by virtue of age, fell out of place. She's the type, we would call, "Opanyin Toto" [tr: an elder who has relinquished his/her status and would roll with his/her lesser peers/mates]. Just because she wasn't looking beautiful, she decided to have an issue with me for been an un-wanted paparazzi that nite.br /br /At most drink-ups[downs], rice in different forms are served but at this one, it was a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuisine_of_Ghana"Banku/a and grilled a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilapia"tilapia/a. Man, its not just anything tilapia ooo, its the very big ones with enough flesh. The picture above says it all.br /br /It was not a well attended event but it did creat a lasting impression on the mind of the "party-gbee's" [tr: party freaks]. Happy Belated B'day to Cisca....!br //div/divp align="right"a href="http://www.shozu.com/portal/?utm_source=uploadamp;utm_medium=graphicamp;utm_campaign=upload_graphic/" target="_blank"img src="http://www.shozu.com/resources/messages/logo_blog.gif" alt="Posted by ShoZu" border="0" //a/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3262828885593581813?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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7:56
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdCBaDYMXZI/AAAAAAAAANY/_gsb2rD7aVM/s1600-h/5b5810114b54499d950e9984062e23d3.jpg"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SdCBaDYMXZI/AAAAAAAAANY/_gsb2rD7aVM/s320/5b5810114b54499d950e9984062e23d3.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5318893444507917714" //span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/spandivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"The evolution for change finally happened in my own small world sometimes last week. I got delivery off the new Nokia E71. Previously, I had the /span/spana href="http://newreleasemobiles.com/images/1110i.jpg"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Nokia 1110i/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;" which I called the "green-tooth" and the /span/spana href="http://www.apple.com/iphone/"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"iPhone 3G /span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;" and trust me, it didn't last more 3 weeks in my hands. Its not what you are thinking, I wasn't "kwashed" [tr: forcibly attacking and robbing you of all your possessions]. Before I could say jack, I got a buyer who needed it urgently. I had to let my 3G go just like that../span/span/divdivbr //divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"I have let go of my "green-tooth" yet though. With the type of poor gsm services from the most subscribed provider, MTN, I would still need it around though. I just love textin' on the green-tooth.. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style=" "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Now back to E71. Would you believe, I spent almost the whole day just reading about it, what applications to install, a few tricks and tips and more? Trust me my dear reader, I don't sleep these days ooo and the coming of this sleek-cute-small phone has worsen my almost complicated situation with sleep. I've got all your photos downloaded on it already. I don't wanna miss y'all at all. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Well, I'm hoping to start some sort of a therapy on sleep soon, though. My nocturnal life is becoming a great bother to me but I just can't help myself. Would you offer any advice? I shall be more than grateful.. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"With the Nokia E71, you have to hold it to feel how small it is. It has a very solid feel to it. Its got it all; US 3.5G, GPS, Bluetooth, Infra-Red, QWERTY Keyboard format, and its smaller than the iPhone./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Typing on the keyboard is great but I know, them ladies with long nails might end up finding this sleek gadget not cool at all but I know, what I am talking about. I have already setup my gmail account, exchange account and all my contacts are in place. I haven't loose you yet, I've still got your emails on the GO.. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"The E71 already came with the following applications installed: Adobe PDF viewer, File manager, Unit Converter, Java VM, Flash Lite 3.0, Podcasting, FM radio, Camera, Voice Recorder, Gallery, Ovi/Flickr,Vox support, Nokia Maps, GPS utility, Zip manager, Music Player and Application Downloader./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"I have a couple of applications running currently. I've got the KJNV Bible, eBuddy, Facebook Mobile, Handago, Call Recorder (for unknown numbers), Resco Bubbles, ShoZu (for uploading photos and mobile bloggin')./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"I am yet to install the "Amaze GPS" because I've heard, Accra is on it. Let me do that and shall keep y'all updated. If you've got a new gadget and want to share more about it, just feel and lets us know! /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Me for now, I shall be looking for such articles from you.. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"Oya, I don go now../span/span/divdivbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8542425381672045519?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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1:53
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Accra Conscious Forever
divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Looks like making enemies is the easiest thing to do lately, all you have to do is to air your views by what ever means and you are sure to make an arch-enemy who will give up his life to pin you down./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"As far as I am concerned, speaking up is not a crime at all for as long as my comments are constructive and are of a good measure. Film acting is not only an explorative showbiz or profession, but that which also calls for demonstration of gifts in evoking naturality./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"I have always prefered our own local movies to foreign ones whiles living abroad because there's no doubt that I've missed out on a lot of things from home hence after a hard day's work, I get fixed to a Naija [tr: another name for a Nigerian] or Ghana-man movie which I deem, a hobby. Recently, I've been getting angry with what turns out to be a sheer gibberish and a waste of precious time./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/ScMCsvb6tzI/AAAAAAAAAMY/ccdwlXCV-OM/s320/jimi_ike01.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 224px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315094952898377522" /br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Let no one think I am ''bad-mouthing'' our movie industry because that is not the case at all, and for those who share my sentiments they will bear with me on the note that some of these local movies are just too hard to watch. Massa, they are just too hard. Period!/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"If I have to compare the horror of watching our Ghanaian movies to a real sci-fi horror,''My bloody valentine'', I would say, ironically, the horror feeling is not in the movie's ability to exude terror and to hold viewers intrigued but the horror lies in the boredom of seeing the same old faces, the blend of both professional and unprofessional acting, the recurrent use of foul language amongst many other flaws that's plagued the movie industry so badly leaving viewers questioning, whats going to happen next?/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Intrigue!/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"I have watched'' life and living it'' and for those who have seen it will have all thumbs up for Shirley, I wont say it was perfect but it certainly had elements that one could fairly acknowledge as a good movie but what I couldn't stand, was the language. It was either someone was busily swearing unnecessarily or nearly everyone was playing the fake American or British accent which to me was appalling./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/ScMFaBBF9uI/AAAAAAAAAMw/8m25Pzgkfx4/s320/rama+brew.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 279px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315097929735075554" /br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"The characters of /span/spana href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2642586/bio"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Rama Brew/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;" and Bibi Brew were great in terms of language and accent, some other actors were equally good but for those who kept an eye closely, the bad nuts were all too visible. Can I ask question please? Who said swearing,''fuck!,"shit!", "bloody!", etc is a sign of elitism? Or maybe, is there a con structural clause that says,''no swearing, no acting?'' Please tell me!/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Well your guess is as good as mine./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/ScMFabkWFxI/AAAAAAAAAM4/Q2HITVOFKL0/s320/PRINCESS+TYRA+3_CD.jpg" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 252px; height: 216px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315097936862254866" /br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Credits to all the boring and outmoded faces of /span/spana href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Aygemang"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Jackie Appiah/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;", /span/spana href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadia_Buari"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Nadia Buari/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;", /span/spana href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Vicker"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Van Vicker/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;" amongst many others. Is it that they are just too good that no new one joins the club or they are all we have for now? I guess that is what we trade for if producers decide to extort money from up coming actors all in the name of '' paying for or buying audition forms''. Why does Van Vicker have a "Joseph" in his names and he's not using it? /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"As for the poor and mutilated story lines plus the unprofessional skills in acting, I suppose these are all well noted ingredients adding up to a bad movie day for the ''choice less'' viewer sitting behind the screen./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Don't take this as a movie review as it is not and can't be, this is the opinion of a loyal fan of any thing Ghanaian, proudly Made In Ghana and a passionate viewer of these advanced "Akan drama'' polished up in English./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"In fact I am just tired of defending all this rubbish called movies as every time I sit in my lounge with shame staring at my face while my Naija [tr: another name for a Nigerian] counterparts jeer and cheer their hearts out to their overrated ''/span/spana href="http://www.nollywood.com/"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"nollywood/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"'' movies. It is not like they are better than as but maybe the difference lays in what if I can be forgiven and allowed, I may invite the ghost of /span/spana href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzzy_Williams"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Suzzy Williams/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;" to attest to. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style=" "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Pardon me, my dear reader; let me ask this question. Who kill that fine actress?? Its a big question but if you think, you have answers, please feel free and let me [us] know.. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"I believe nothing is going to change if we do not shape up our ways, I can certainly predict we are going to keep seeing hilarious "Agya Koo" and "Kyeiwaa" incite some laughter in us that will make us crack our ribs in pain while our tear ducts run dry of tears./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style=" "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/ScL9cGpo2XI/AAAAAAAAAMQ/XNimZ-Z_tBg/s320/agya+koo" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 300px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315089169514027378" /br //span/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Shaping up our crocked ways may take quite a lot but not too difficult to do. If producers will encourage the young ones and new faces into the industry rather than entrenching themselves as the over lords of our movies, I think we'll surely get somewhere. If young ones, especially ladies, would get their priorities right by not allowing men in between their legs with intent of becoming celebrities, I should think; that will also ease the burden of a bad movie day for a viewer./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"Actors and actress should be fair to acknowledge what a bad script is and should be able to critic their own works, if that seems too difficult to do, kindly hire a professional movie critic and surely that is the one with common sense. They be interested in the needs of the viewers to who these movies are made for and not just the cash that they earn making them feel like bank-able actors on top of the world./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"The bad language and swear words should be stopped in all because it teaches nothing at all in the end. Swear words are regarded as very rude in the developed cultures were these languages are thought to be ''acceptable'' in ours. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"And to the producers and all the the architects both on screen and behind the scenes, you would bear with me that, one person playing the roles of a writer, producer and director is just too ''dangerous'', because not only are those roles exhausting but they deprive one the ability to come out with a flawless movie. And for people advancing from other fields into the movie industry,these three- in- one roles can just add up to our already selected ingredients to making a real bad movie day for all./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"For a start people should be ready to share these roles and to accept criticism, there's no doubt that one can execute these roles perfectly after building a reputable experience base which surely comes with time. With all these having been said, I look forward to a positive change in this vain, and just like many others before me, I do not know if some one is listening or even reading but I surely look forward to the day that I can also subject my naija or anago counterparts to ridicule in my defence and most importantly./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style=" "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"I dream of the day a Ghanaian movie can churn my feelings around with its thrill and intrigue satisfying my need after a real hard day's work. M-I-G y'all./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"God bless Ghana-man !!!!!/span/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7041563485684798092?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:55
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Accra Conscious Forever
divspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I have been a great fan of /spana href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Franklin"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Kirk Franklin/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;" since I started going to a href="http://www.cemghana.org"church/a and hearing the choir sing most of his songs. The cheorography group at my church usually performs with most of his songs, especially, "/spana href="http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individualamp;videoID=862511518"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Revolution/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"" and "/spana href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v5-SEzT0nY"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Stomp/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"". /span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"For sometimes now, I haven't been listening to him more until this morning, whiles flipping through the channels on the a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DStv"DSTV/a, I stumbled on this piece called, "Without YOU" been played at OneGo, a Gospel Music channel on the decoder. /span/divdivbr /object width="425" height="344"param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/tNLTOT-E3Doamp;color1=0xb1b1b1amp;color2=0xcfcfcfamp;hl=enamp;feature=player_embeddedamp;fs=1"param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/tNLTOT-E3Doamp;color1=0xb1b1b1amp;color2=0xcfcfcfamp;hl=enamp;feature=player_embeddedamp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"/embed/objectbr //divdivbr //divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px; "Hope you enjoy it as much I did enjoyed it very well. Wishing you all a great and a blessed weekend./spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5104368208510441223?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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0:53
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style=";font-family:trebuchet ms;font-size:85%;" Good Evening / Morning.....br /br /br /I don't like to speak about my personal stuff, but I think I should let you know I'm going through something. Something, I feel I should discuss with my readers, friends, critics, haters and see what advice, they have for me. I truly believed, its time people open up and express their thoughts about issues freely.br /br /Relationships they say, have its up and downs. It might interest you to know, I have been in and out of it a couple of times and I still don't believe its true. The feeling to get attached to someone is always there but I often choose to remain adamant about the fact that, the same things will happen again, no matter what.br /br /So, what at all is called; "a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puppy_love"crush/a"? Okay, what happens when someone gets a crush over another person? Does it necessarily have to do with the heart or its just some kind of stupid feeling that runs deep into your heart? What actually comes to mind about it?br /br /I wrote a letter to love, I told it of the hurts and the pains it caused.br /br /I would look love in the eyes and ask where Christ was, and how could love turn this way. I would question the emotion, the feeling , the you and me. Why the hold? Why the pain? Why all the rain?br /br /I would look love in the eyes and question the reality and the issues I have claimed and embraced. You said, you love me but you ended up hurting me again, is that love?br /br /Love, the damages of you have left me very cold. Blue, and Unemotional. Angry, and full of ridicule. I want to warm to you. But memories clog me, they surround me, stare at me and say don’t do it, remember me! You might get hurt again..br /br /I say to love, just leave….I will be okay, but trust me, it wouldn't!br /br /So, to answer you, yes, YOU. I know very well, you are shaking your head right now but don't freak out.. I am only answering you.. I am all you describe. I am this way, because loved ruin the new of me and you. The old of the past has caused me to hide and be cruel. It says to judge you, break you down, and leave.br /br /But love has exceptions to the rule. And you might be that thing. A love, that holds true. Maybe the Christ I search for dwells in you. When I was with you, you changed a lot but the moment we went our separate ways, my old me came back.. Is this what love is?br /br /If so, love be true. Hold on to me, understand me through this state. Understand, all the love I have instead of hate that I exhibit. Because I have inhibited hate that pretended to be love. And love is what I gave, instead all I felt was pain.br /br /Return the favor, love hold me in your chamber. If you feel that its not for me, let it be. Yet, give me a chance, I can grow, and you can put flowers in my empty pot. Those seeds will produce the love that use to dwell in me.br /br /Love remember me.br //spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-4105334584618382995?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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1:59
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sb26S6wPdpI/AAAAAAAAALY/8HLVsYEqWKo/s1600-h/Central_Uni.jpg"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 120px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/Sb26S6wPdpI/AAAAAAAAALY/8HLVsYEqWKo/s320/Central_Uni.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313607969539061394" //aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"br //spandivdiv style="text-align: center;"div style="text-align: left;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"br //span/div/div/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Just recently, the authorities of the /spana href="http://www.centraluniversity.org/"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Central University College/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;" (CUC) have introduced a dress code for the students. Clothes and hairstyles of the ladies, under the code, are to emphasise their unique and sacred identity. According to the code, dresses that expose the breast, upper thighs, loins and panties are regarded as indecent.br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;""By these, we mean transparent, sheer or tight-fitting blouses, sweaters and sleeveless tops (spaghetti strap), while T-shirts are not permitted," the code indicates, adding that short blouses and dresses with low neck lines are also not permitted. The students are not allowed to wear shorts and tight-fitting slacks, because they are considered inappropriate for lectures, while skirts and trousers with stylish cuts are also disallowed./span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"They are also not allowed to wear anklets, while wearing of more than one pair of earrings is prohibited, just as it is an offence to wear T-shirts with offensive inscriptions. The men are required to wear trousers and shirts with collar and tie or decent African wear, and it is also not acceptable for them to wear sleeveless T-shirts. The men can only wear shorts for sporting and recreational activities and they cannot wear earrings, nor can they braid their hair./span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style=" "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I think this is the ridiculous code of it kind I have ever seen. I dont believe a university which centers on training professionals for the morden world should have such imposition on the the democratic minded individuals of the institution. If a lecturer should say because of the way you are dressed I can't teach you, then I believe that lecturer should be dismissed for being a potential threat to the students. /span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I believe the authorities should rethink their decision, because it's a bit out of time. Shame on those tie wearing authorities who think all young people should dress like them. Even Central University of Baghdad does not have such impositions on their students. The fact that, Central University is a private institution does not mean, they can imposed these laws on the students just like that./span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;" As a matter of fact, I haven't seen much nude dressings on the campus of Central University than on Legon Campus. When you happen to find yourself on the campus of the premier university [/spana href="http://www.ug.edu.gh/"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"University of Ghana]/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;", you would be shocked to see the type of attires students wear for lectures. Its just too unbearable but that is not the case at Central University. Also, I don't really blame anyone for now, I rather blame the very students this law is about to affect. /span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"When this so-called dress code was passed, they never opposed it immediately but rather, sat for almost weeks before realizing how they are going to be affected. Dear reader, if you will agree with me, there is a saying in akan which goes this way; "the one who climbs a good tree deserves a push." I feel, if they [students] had spoken on this issue right from day one, this would be a big problem. /span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"My question is; what if I can't afford those shirts with collars and ties? How am I suppose to attend lectures if I only have t-shirts? The authorities needs to review these dress code of kind and make the universal environment to be free and neutral instead of these restrictions on dressing./span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-2646695638606995254?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:14
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-family: georgia;font-size:85%;" I have some issues on my mind, I wanna pour out now.br /br /First of foremost..br /br /Firstly...br /br /a href="http://www.mtn.com.gh"MTN/a..br /br /Its official now, I hate a href="http://www.mtn.com.gh"MTN/a.br /br /I just hate the service provider. They are taking us for granted.br /I have not been able to send a simple text message for the past 6 days going to a week.br /What The Fuck is wrong with these people?br /Friends have been complainig but, I normally take things on a lighter note.br /br /NOW, I am in the bigger soup..br /br /The most annoying part is here:br /br /It took me well over 2hrs to be connected through to the customer service rep.br /Whenever you dial their customer center number, 111, please be assured, it won't go through unless Jesus Christ is by your side. Lol.br /br /I finally got through and this gentleman asked me; "My name is Konney, how may I help you? I started telling him all the shit I have gone through just because I couldn't send messages for the past 6days only for him to tell me, "Please Sir, we are working on it".br /br /This part really got me so upset. I wish, I was by him to give that dude a derty slap. I have been calling the customer service center almost everyday since this issue started and all they keep saying is, "We are working on your problem."br /br /FUCK THEM.. Yeah, you heard me.. Fuck MTN..br /br /What the Fuck at all, are they working on...br /FUCK the bullshit and let my SIM card be able to work well.br /Let me send sms ooooooo!br /br /Do you really want to know how I feel right now?br /br /Fuck MTN.br /br /Fuck THEM.br /br /Fuck EVERYONE I'VE TALKED TO CONCERNING MY PROBLEM.br /br /Fuck GSM TECHNOLOGY.br /br /I am thinking of starting a group on the negative side of MTN.br /Things people are going through in the hands of this bull-crap GSM company..br /br /Cyril, I would need your song;br /br /"This Big Phone, I dey Hold. I dey Call 024, Ino dey gooo"br /Please promise, you'll let me use it for my cause.br /br /I just can't believe, they've introduced another number on their already choked network.br /People, where are we going??br /How can we seat for these people to throwing sand into our eyes just like that?br /br /They are taken us for a fools ride for long!br /Let do something about this BULLSHIT.br /Their network is already choked, instead on working to make things better,br /they've introduce another number, "054".br /br /Who the FUCK needs your choked-virus ridden-dirty-corrupt and useless network?br /br /I am so pissed right now. Most of my friends and families are on this BULL-CRAP network called, MTN.br /br /How I wish, all of my friends, families and everyone facing this bullshit from MTN would migrate to another network for them to see how they would make profit again.br /br /This shit just upsets me so much, I wanna cause a .....!,br /I'm just going to pretend as if it never happened.br /And in pretending like it never happened I will surely move the fuck on.br /br /I am joining another network NOW.....br /br /I am DONE!/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-9122061728418095486?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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12:43
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SYRKOgjJNRI/AAAAAAAAALI/fYBFh4uLWoo/s1600-h/scor_preweekend_bkgrnd_as09.gif"img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 161px; height: 83px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SYRKOgjJNRI/AAAAAAAAALI/fYBFh4uLWoo/s320/scor_preweekend_bkgrnd_as09.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5297440674810508562" //adivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Basically, I’m just happy to be here right now, sitting behind my pc and writing on my fave sport, basketball. /span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px; "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I'm far from nocturnal... sleeping just isn't my thing. As of right now, I have gone 38 hours without sleeping. weird huh?/span/span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I have great passion for basketball and this reflects on how, I wouldn't miss any NBA or FIBA game on TV. I am a great fan of both LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers and KoBe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers but yester ite, they were not in action. Rather it was the Boston Celtics playing the Detroit Pistons in their home. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"I stayed glued to my set as I saw the Celtics thrash out Detroit in their home. Detroit's new signing, Allen "The Answer" Iverson, scored 19pts. The game nearly got marred when Celtics Kendrick Perkins knocked Detroits Jason Maxiell sending him straight unto the hardwood. Perkins later, had to be sent away after a review from the camera's showed his flagrant foul. That reminded me of Ron Artest's fight whiles with the Indiana Pacers. The final score after the 4th Quarter was 86 - 78 for the Celtics./span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Even though, basketball in Ghana is not given much attention like the other sports, there is a small community in Ghana who will stop whatever they are doing to watch a basketball game in action. They believe, Ghana has talents that needs to be cupped for any international competitions. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Last year, saw Choice Fm organising an Inter-School Basketbal Tourney for the High School students at the Aviation Social Centre in Accra. I just hope, the new government works out something for the promotion of basketball in Ghana. There are some old men out there, who really have passion for the game and are wiling to sponsor but because, its not much promoted, they've also relaxed on their money. This thing is making most talents go waste. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Every Saturday mornings and Sunday evenings, If I happen to be at home and not on one of my usual road trips, I would definitely be at the University of Ghana Campus, playing hoops and just trying to stay in form as usual. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"The NBA Playoffs are here again and all my crazy baller friends are making up list of who's going to be picked for both sides, that's The West and East Conferences. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Last week on /span/spana href="http://www.espn.com/"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"ESPN/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;", the starters for this year's 2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix were announced. And, predictably, they were pretty predictable: Dwyane Wade, Allen Iverson, Dwight Howard, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett in the East, whiles the West features players like Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Yao Ming, Tim Duncan and Amare Stoudemire. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Well, I have to get going now. Just feel free and tell me, what you think about the future of basketball in Ghana and what can be done to hype the promotion and ressurection of basketbal. How do you see this years All Star Games and who's gonna be the MVP and all. Lemme read your comments on this. /span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"br //span/span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"Keep ballin' ya'll. I'm outta of here for now.!!!!/span/span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-8078067701907390094?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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20:51
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Accra Conscious Forever
span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; "I am African. I am Ghanaian. I am Ewe. And I am human. br /Yet when I am in America, I am nothing except African. br /br /Who, in Texas, Tennesse, cares whether you are a Nubian or a Libyan; Omotswana or Omotsikere? br /You all look and sound the same... and carry the same illness. Thats what, they say. br /br /If I am in Europe, I am first an African - then I am Ghanaian second. br /Europeans tend to appreciate the subtle differences among people from my continent. br /br /And when I am in another African country - I am Ghanaian-African. br /I like to express my Africanness through the uniqueness of being Ghanaian. br /br /But at home, I am Ghanaian first, and then I am Ewe. br /I am sustained by the Ewe blood. But I cannot present that in a vial to the immigration desk at Boryspol, Kiev.br /"Паспорт Пожалуйста.!" - "Passport please!" br /br /My full lips speak eloquently enough of my equatorial ancestry: of my place in the tropical sun; of what and who I am. br /But for the avoidance of doubt, I shall say it one more time: /spandivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px;"br //span/divdivspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; "I am African; I am Ghanaian; I am Ewe and I am human. /span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-296412634951318265?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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19:13
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Accra Conscious Forever
span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 14px; "span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"In Ghana age is not “/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"just a nu/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"mber/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"”, it is a measure of one’s place within his/her family and community. Age is associated with having knowledge, experience and wisdom; hence the older a person is the more respect he/she is given. There are strict morals dictating how one should behave towards his/her elders and these are very closely adhered to. In many western societies, for example, there is this “/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"call me by my first name/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"” custom whereby people tend to prefer for others (including young children) to address them by their first names. So you have young children calling adults directly by their first names, just as they would call their friends. Because of such practices, the line between adult and peer becomes blurred (to the child). br /br /In Ghana, this would not be acceptable - an adult is an adult and a child a child. It is important that this distinction is made. Also when it comes to discipline, Ghanaians are believers of the philosophy that “/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"i/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"t takes a whole village to raise a child/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"”. A child belongs not only to his/her parents alone, but to the entire community. As such when the child is outside the home, others can assume responsibility for his/her discipline if the parents (or other guardian) are not around and the child is doing something which is detrimental to his/her well being or to that of others. br /br /So long as someone is older than you, in Ghana he/she will always have certain standing over you. Even if the person is only a minute or two older than you he/she is still afforded all the rights and respect of being your elder. I have a cousin who is the exact same age as I; only that I was born 2 months before him. As infants we did everything together; we lived together, played together, bathed together and sometimes we even wore matching clothes. We were being brought up as one and because of this up until the age of four; I had actually believed that he was my twin brother! Now that we are adults, between the two of us we are still just the “/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"sam/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"e age/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"”, but to the rest of the family we are not. br /br /I entered this world 2 months before him and in their eyes that is enough to make him my “little brother”. He hates this classification, and I don’t blame him. Now every time he does something wrong they say to me “/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"l/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"o/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"ok at how your little brother is behaving, you must talk to him, you have to advise him/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(192, 192, 192);"”. To him it is extremely annoying, but I must admit I find it kind of funny. There are many privileges that come with being older than someone here. But I also see the way in which these can be taken advantage of.br /br /Being older than someone does not necessarily guarantee that one knows better or is always right. Nor should it automatically give one the right to boss around and control the other person “do this, do that”, all because they are older and therefore you cannot question their authority. I love the great emphasis placed on age and respect in Ghanaian society. I think it is a good custom that benefits the overall social development of the nation. But it is when individuals start abusing it (beyond reason) and taking it too far; that is when I start to have a problem with it.br /br /So dear reader, kindly give the maximum respect where its due../span/span/span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6820933925821206524?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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18:49
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Accra Conscious Forever
span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: 'lucida grande'; font-size: 11px; line-height: 14px; ""The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." -- St. Augustine/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-9130774337579922118?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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11:03
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SX7swAJRm8I/AAAAAAAAAK4/zlGuIBE4OdM/s1600-h/Mantombazana.JPG"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 255px; height: 189px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SX7swAJRm8I/AAAAAAAAAK4/zlGuIBE4OdM/s320/Mantombazana.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5295930521251060674" border="0" //abr /span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family:georgia;"Just found this piece about girls and would like to share with you all. /spanspan style="font-family:georgia;"Hope you enjoy it and please don't forget, your comments are warmly welcomed.. !!!/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:georgia;"**************************************/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Girls.! Girls..!! Girls...!!!/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:georgia;"Girls are like internet virus.br //spanspan style="font-family:georgia;"They will enter Ur life,/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Scan Ur pockets,/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Transfer money,/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Edit Ur mind,/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Download their problems,/spanbr /span style="font-family:georgia;"Delete Ur smile amp; hang u 4ever!!/spanbr /br /span style="font-family:georgia;"Get yourself an Anti Virus before you go out with a lady......lol /span/spandiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-3970821489657693695?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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8:26
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Accra Conscious Forever
div style="text-align: left;"span style="font-size:100%;"Finally, I am able to do something on this piece after a long silence on the tribes. It was a hard fought one I guess, its surely going to pay off someday. My friend Yaw Linus was asking me, when am I gonna write on his people, "The span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"Kwahu's/span"?.br /br /I have had some idea about them but it wasn't full for this though. I had to read more, make some findings and finally, here I am with it.br /br /Yaw, I hope you enjoy reading this piece. Spread the word about Accra Conscious Forever afterward! Don't forget to leave a comment, yea!br /br /span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"Okie/span span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"dokie/span! Here we span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"gooooo/span....!br /br /THE span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"Kwahu/span Man has been born with an identity crisis, history links him to the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"Asante/span Kingdom and colonization to a region he shares very little with its inhabitants beyond language.br /br /Their naming conventions span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"donot/span help in this since span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"Antwi/span, span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"Owusu/span etc.. are so generic as to bestow any sense of uniqueness to anyone. Your potential span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"Kwahu/span Man will always want a price comparison even when it comes to drugs for the common cold. He wears this tag as a badge of honor and pride.br /br /The biggest offense committed against him is to make superfluous purchases like pounds of beef when you could have substituted a pound with eggs. Left overs for the children are encouraged and promoted.br /br /He goes to span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10"Oboo/span once in a while when its a friends passing out ceremony, funeral or naming ceremony. He's got no time for funerals unless, its a heavy one where most of the people on the obituary list have UK, USA, France, Canada and Germany placed in brackets around their names. He surely will be there...br /br /Seeking education, meaning higher education, to the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_11"Kwahu/span man is of modern day reality, he can afford the crowd. He does not see any value in Western education beyond seeing it as an insurance policy.br /br /He acquires his love for span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_12"Kantamanto/span and a store somewhere in Accra is almost a sacred and primordial right. In every facet of the Ghanaian society they are seen as the least threatening amongst the eccentric and ubiquitous.br /br /The span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_13"Kwahu/span man has a covert disdain for public service since revenues from this business is not enough, involve him in the thankless and hopeless investment ventures, like building a huge 20 bedroom empty house is also by far the least ambitious when it comes to measuring men on prestigious appointment in government. He sells second hand tyres at span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14"Kokompe/span than take an ambassadorial job.br /br /In span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_15"Akan/span society especially, amongst our fellow mountaineers, a span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_16"matrilineal/span descent group, span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_17"abusua/span, is span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_18"exogamous/span. That means members must marry outside the group. That, in turn, means a husband and wife must belong to different descent groups.br /br /A father belongs to a different descent group from those of his children. By this calculation, a cross cousin, child of mother's brother, or child of father's sister, is marriageable. Trust me you, this practise is no more holding, we are in 20something century but a typical span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_19"kwahu/span man would all he would to get his children do same.. span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_20"Thats/span the power of the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_21"Kwahu/span-man.br /br /If you're a lady who believes in wealth and all its trappings this maybe a risk worth taking, girls of the 90's need to know that span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_22"Wiafe/span is still an old fashioned polygamist at heart, struggling to accept the romantic 1960's let alone make a pass century. Here, I mean, he's still and shall always remain, a players player. No offense here!br /br /His usual line is "I give you everything why are you complaining?" he just does not get it. If you think this price is too much, then enjoy your marriage through the happiness of your children, this is heaven on earth.br /br /Your average span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_23"Kwahuman/span is notoriously stingy, not because he cannot afford anything but he simply sees being at home as an ideological crusade, he abhors fancy eating habits. The purchase of a Mercedes and the building of mansions is like puberty to them and if you have eat bat soup 3times a day to accomplish this, thy will be done in span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_24"Kwaland/span.br /br /If after reading this article ladies, your heart is still set to get your pseudo, go ahead. Ashanti man, less flamboyant and subdued just get your "Dumas" ready and be prepared for a gondola ride in a car to span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_25"Kwahu/span mountains. To the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_26"Kwahu/span man, Easter is for the consumers. It helps if you have a span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_27"Kwahu/span girlfriend accompanying you because they, are still the most span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_28"nepotic/span and inward looking amongst all the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_29"Akans/span, your girlfriend's recommendation will be golden.br /br /In relationships they are impressionable and act like they have no strong opinions. But will certainly be commissioning a salon appointment and keeping the money, taste, style and such ladylike niceties on her woman escape attention.br /br /He has no time for compliments and has no regards for your level of education. He will easily leave her wife for a standard 7 without any regrets, it is that bad. To him the glory is in the houses, the power is in the store if every penny is saved. For cheap red meat, Amen.br /br /On the plus side, there is a modicum of financial security, and an investment for your children but beyond attending an occasional large donation to the Church, he is clueless to any other form of entertainment.br /br /Take and do not tell me, I did not tell you the heartbreak hotel is fully booked.br /br /*A cry for help! I want to do a piece on the span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_30"Akyem/span Man, I can't do it alone. I need some ideas.br /Please come to my aid, span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_31"lol/span.br /br /Thanks in advance.....br //span/divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5681898865453998715?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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23:21
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SWkwP5s8uaI/AAAAAAAAAJc/btJ2ZnTQ1_c/s1600-h/barcamp.jpg"img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 226px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SWkwP5s8uaI/AAAAAAAAAJc/btJ2ZnTQ1_c/s320/barcamp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5289812287068879266" border="0" //adiv style="text-align: left;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0); font-family:arial;"br //span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"Honestly speaking, I have never attended a BarCamp before but when I got the invitation for last years BarCampGhana, I started reading about exactly what a BarCamp was and what actually goes on there. I started going from search engine to search engine, just trying to get more information before the program.br /br /My searches were very helpful and I also started spreading the word about it and soon, most of my friends wanted to know more and I had to direct them to the homepage of /span/span/span/spana href="http://http//www.barcampgahana.org/"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"BarCampGhana/span/span/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);", br /br /My expectations for BarCampGhana was actually what I thought it was going to be but after everything, all went well. The program started quite late, at around 0920GMT instead of the proposed 0900GMT. Well, I remembered, we are in Ghana so therefore, the Ghana Man Time thing still works.br /br /The feeling of meeting all the people who registered for the camp was very high. at the entrance of the venue, /span/span/span/spana href="http://www.aiti-kace.com.gh/"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"AITI/span/span/span/span/aspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);", , there was a desk with the organizing folks around, helping with the name tags and also displaying the T'shirts.br /br /Actually, the t'shirt wasn't part of the initial plans but later, I guess Ato thought it wise to get a memorable paraphernalia for the campers so, he got some t'shirts printed for the camp. It looked real good, I wish I had enough to get one but I couldn't because I didn't carry enough on that day in question./span/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"br /Before the start of the 'unconference', there was a blue bucket filled with fruit drinks in packs and bottled water, very chilled though. I just had to make justice to one because I missed breakfast before coming. While things were been sorted with the gadgets, more networking, more conversation and more everything was also going on. Finally, all was good and we had to start. I didn't like the sitting arrangement as it looked as if, we came for some political lecture of a sort but I ignored that thought and freed my mind for everything that was supposed to happen that day./span/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"br /Introductions were made and after which, some campers we called to share their thoughts on some basic issues. I like the way, Esi Cleland acted herself throughout the session. She was easy going, nice, open-minded and a real social animal. One thing she did that really struck me was, before she started talking, she had her cm-cards which she shared to everyone in the hall. Behind the com-card is a blog she's started and would like us to frequent it. Her blog can be located @ /span/span/span/spana href="http://maameous.blogspot.com/"span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"Esi's Blog/span/span/span/span/a/span/span/span/span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/ScPaGTj8DNI/AAAAAAAAANA/bzge_NZsxoU/s320/b-camp" style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5315331787092397266" /br /The first keynote was delivered by Herman Chinery-Hesse, CEO of Soft Tribe Ghana Limited. He's the man, BBC describes as the "Bill Gates" of Ghana. He made some nice points and also took the opportunity to sell to us, his latest economic venture. Another note was delivered by a professor from the University of Ghana who's currently doing a research work at a fishing village somewhere in the Central Region./span/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"br /He described the situation of the fisher folks as pathetic because, they don't have any means of knowing about the tides for each day but they are able to go out to sea and make good harvest at the end of the day. He suggested, if there could be a way, where tide readings from the Ghana Port and Harbor Authority is sent to these people, it could alleviate a problem of tides changes. He was deploying us in the ICT world to develop a solution for the problem at hand./span/span/span/span/span/span/span/span/divdiv style="text-align: left;"spanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"br /During the sessions, I had the chance to hear one Ato Bernasko who's with the Readers' Digest sharing his rich experience as an ICT auditor for his company. He talked about how his company did outsourcing and what measures they put in place and all. I learned a lot from him in the sense that, he took charge of the session. He also shared his travel experience amongst other things with us. As a matter of fact, we need open-minded people like him at the next BarCamp in Ghana.br /br /The last keynote was delivered by /span/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"Estelle Akofio-Sowah, CEO of Busy Internet in Ghana. She talked about how she's been able to manage an ICT firm without any serious background in the field.br //span/span/span/span/spanspanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"br /The only criticism I have of this event was that it should have been longer. Actually, I needed another day. Let say, a two-day BarCamp first time in Ghana. The media was not involved which makes awareness slow. There were so many people I did not get a chance to meet especially, Gideon Chonia from University of Zurich. There were so many people I met that I did not get to talk to long enough. There were so many conversations that I wanted to carry on longer but time was not and never on my side. I wanted to just soak in the knowledge and passion of the people around me.br /br /I am thinking,it should be a Barcamp at the regional capitals of Ghana. Kudos to the organizers, now let work on BarCamp T'di, Kumasi, Ho, Tamale, Sunyani and the rest to be a reality.br /br //span/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanspanspanspanspan class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style=""span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(51, 0, 0);"Can’t wait for the next episode. /span/span/span/span/span/span/span/spanbr //divdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7857681381129900866?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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Accra Conscious Forever
By no fault of his own, the regular Fanti Man has been born with a pre-independence White Man's name hanging over his head. Some of them love to pretend it's a burden, (though they love it!) and redeem their nativeness with indigenous first names.br /br /Paapa, Fiifi, Yoofi and Kojo are all time favourites. Kweku, Kwesi and other weekday names are also favored.br /br /Kwamena Smith, or Yoofi Van Dyck are examples of such a curious combination. Your potential Fanti Man is pompous and self-opinionated and believes that the biggest offense committed against him is 'accusing' him of belonging to another tribe.br /br /His answer to a question like "Are you from X town?" invariably is "Of course not! I am Fanti, a Fanti from Dutch Komenda!"br /br /Seeking education, meaning higher education, to the Fanti man is as natural as seeking rain after a long drought. In the days of the 'Matric' Exam, they were the Greek and Latin Scholars - leave the Sciences (physics, maths, add. Maths) to others, theirs was the Humanities.br /br /Even the Post-Matric Fanti man of the 2000's still believes that nothing is as good as a University Degree, any degree from Legon or Tech will do - Cape Vars is out. While on Campus, they still behave like they used to in Adisco and Augustines. In nobody else is the old boy feeling deeper than in the Fanti man. This is one of their fewer good points, for they are very loyal to old friends (even when they are down).br /br /This 'old boy' streak is carried into the Civil Service, which is the Fanti Man's mainstay and Principal Secretary in a Ministry or General Manager in a private firm is his ultimate ambition. They are very rarely businessmen and even so their business achievements are commonplace and mediocre.br /br /If you're a lady who believes in wealth and all its trappings, steer clear of the Fanti man because so long as government bungalows exists, the Fanti man will not build a house. When they get around to build a house, like their business acumen, their houses are uninspiring.br /br /Your average Fanti man is stingy, and I mean with chop money, even though he enjoys his food. If after reading this article ladies, your heart is still set to get your Fanti man rush into the kitchen and start frying. Fry anything, he'll love it, as long as it is fried! As the Fanti proverb goes "a Fanti man builds his mansion in his stomach."br /br /In relationships they are dictators and act like domineering feudal lords. They tend to colonise their women. In appearance, speech and taste, no detail on his woman escapes his attention. Stubborn and authoritative, the Fanti man can be cruel if you so much as change your hairstyle without consulting him.br /br /On the plus side, he has a terrific sense of humor and is incredibly cheerful, though he can be petty, quarrelsome and can really sulk.br /br /To know if you are the perfect match for the Fanti man, check the following out;br /br /1. Did you go to Wesley Girls High School? (Upper Six mind you!)br /2. Can you cook very well (and bake pies?)br /3. Are you Fanti yourself or at least a Ga lady from British Accra (Chokor is out!)br /4. Do you wear hats and gloves to weddings (and enjoy it?)br /5. Are you ready for picnics, packed lunches and sandwiches(for afternoon tea?)br /6. Can you pretend to be his slave (forever?).br /br /If you couldn't tick any of the above, please don't waste the Fanti man's time, or yours. On the other hand if you do have one in mind, please act accordingly and as they say, book early to avoid disappointment and Good Luck!br /br /Adze wo fie a, ow33!div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-4635430092200552653?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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Accra Conscious Forever
He was christened Nii Ayi Aryee Aryeetey - no name can be more ultra Ga than that.br /br /br /Your Ga man, from the standpoint of history falls into one of three categories - those who belong to the sea (James Town, Bukom, Teshie and Chorkor), those who belong to the sand (Nungua, Labadi, Accra City itself), and those who are lost and about (Adangbes, Hausas, Yorubas, Sierra Leoninans etc., born and bred in Accra).br /br /br /If you are yourself a lady prone to picking quarrels, never fear, for in the Ga man you have found your lifelong bodyguard. At first sight, he tends to be somewhat gentle - that is, until provoked of course. Of all the men in other Ghanaian tribes, the Ga man is the most fearless - moreso after his balls of kenkey and red pepper. But tread softly.br /br /br /br /Because of their horrible sense of humour, every joke on him is a personal affront to his manhood. And since he applies the same code of honour to women and men, please for heaven`s sake, if he says.. "Ma yi bo eei" (I will beat you), don`t stand to challenge him, thinking it as empty threat. Woman, wife, lover, fiancee, he will turn you into a punching bag! But that is the core of the Ga man.br /br /br /The icing on the cake is the educated Ga man. He is of a breed you can always count on. For even though he is capable of chewing his sponge to the airport to meet his cousins on the early morning Ghana Airways flight from London, he has gone to Achimota School and speaks the English language well.br /br /br /br /If he is from James Town (British Accra) and has a surname like Bannerman, Reindorf or Bruce, he has extremely good taste and mannerisms and is worth the ride. That is until a taxi driver crosses him at Bukom junction. Then his spirit of sexual frankness comes out. Expletives of descriptions of the various parts your relatives spew forth in a torrent from his well-trimmed moustache. These insults, too private to mention here, invariably begin with "Onyaeeeeeee......................" and so on and on...br /br /br /If Nii Ayi has any ambition, it is suppressed, perhaps for fear of failure. His faith is in the white collar job, where he fights with Fanti man over posts in the civil service. But the Ga man hardly ever gets to the top, because he will surely forgo his transfer related promotion to stay put in Accra - you see, he has the firmest intransplantable roots in Accra and for him Accra is the only place to be.br /br /br /If you are a young ambitious lady who wants her man to get everything, forget it. Even though they can (with a little training!) make the most docile and obedient companions, his lack of drive will drag you down. But if you are a bit on the lazy, labour-saving side in the kitchen, rush for a Ga man.br /br /br /br /Not for him the elaborate three course meals - he is more than satisfied with kenkey and kenkey and kenkey, fish and pepper (N.B just vary slightly with sardines, tilapia, corned beef, etc.)br /br /br /Ah! One problem though, he is already married to his grandfather`s family house! So if Mr. Aryeetey has already started talking about matrimony, ask him where you are going to live after the wedding!br /br /br /br /Don't think of moving outta ACCRA. You shall be in Accra always and not anywhere but in his fathers' father's home.. You get, what I mean..?div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-2093485936993127844?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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Accra Conscious Forever
In Ghana, he will tell you the name of his village, which is some miles away from Kumasi. Outside Ghana, ask him about his hometown in Ghana and he will tell you he is from Kumasi and probably knows everyone that lives in Ashanti New Town. His house in Kumasi is near the house of one of Asantehene's sub chiefs. p If he is in his sixties, he is likely to have attended Adisadel College, St. Augustine's or Achimota. The generation after that went to either Prempeh College or Opoku Ware. If he could not get into OWASS and Prempeh, he would settle for Ahmadiya Kumasi Academy, Konongo Odumasi, or Osei Kyeretwie. The Ashanti man likes the schools in Ashanti. UST before Legon (except Medicine and Law). Cape Coast? Unless he did attend secondary school but went to training college. /ppThere are things Ashanti man does not do. He does not swim, does not like wedding and the wife does not care not having one and won't call his kids by non ? Ashanti names. He does not cook or wash; the wife does both. The things he does: have about a dozen funeral cloths, goes to funeral every weekend, build or aspire to build his own house if he can afford or uncle does not have any to inherit. Even the educated ones are likely to have a farm somewhere: a cocoa farm, cassava farm or citrus plantation.br //ppHe takes care of his parents, sister's children and the extended family. Ashanti man believes in litigation. Don't cross his path, he will take you to court. He will spend his last Ghana cedi on chieftancy matters. His identity is linked to a stool in his family and he does not hesitate to tell you about it. /ppHis political affiliation? A relative likely spent some time in Nkrumah's Nsawam detention. His family supported National Liberation Movement and United Party. He later joined Progress Party, did not like Kutu Acheampong, supported Victor Owusu's PFP. Detested PNDC and NDC and yes, is very happy NPP is in power. If he does not call President Kufuor uncle, he seems to know someone that grew up with the President. /ppHe supports Asante Kotoko and hates Hearts of Oaks. He's even against Hearts when Hearts plays a foreign team. He does not care if Cornerstones move out of the region. He refuses to eat fufu when Kotoko loses. Kotoko means more to him than the national team. Mfum, Osei Kofi, Razak, Opoku Afriyie, and Opoku Nti are his soccer heroes. He does not care about anyone that did not play for Kotoko. /ppThe Ashanti man who did not continue his education past secondary school has lived in Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, the US or Canada. He goes to Ghana to visit very often. He tells you how many houses he has built since he left Ghana; he visits "Atwumunumo" ? a popular hangout for fufu and bush meat.br //ppHe even brings some bush meat back from Ghana to make soup in his Bronx apartment and the soup smells all over the place. In the big cities in Europe and USA, he goes to funerals in his cloth no matter how it is. He is very proud of his culture.br //ppWell, folks watch for the rest of the tribes in Ghana in the coming week. Got a lot to share, Time is actually not on my side but I am looking forward to writing about the Ga Man first thing when I get to the office early Monday morning... :)br //ppbr //pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-4683533588729002710?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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10:40
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Accra Conscious Forever
span style="font-size:100%;"span style="font-family: georgia;"In the run up to the opening of the fabolous new movie theatre @ the Accra Mall, there will be FREE weekly pre-screenings starting today, the 2nd of May 2008 and going right up till the end of June./spanbr /br /span style="font-family: georgia;"Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you gotta butter up your popcorn and prepare to be thrilled as you are pampered with the latest movies to hit the big screen right here in Accra!br /People, Accra is really getting excited.br /br /Beginning at 16:00 in the food court every weekend for the next two months, don't miss out! be on the look out, the Accra Mall is becoming the new hang-out joint for the youth these days. Girls in their teens usually come there during the weekends to just catch a glimpse of what is going on and all.br /br /No need to rush to town just to hang out. The Accra Mall has everything you can think of. If you living around, East Legon, Airport residential Area, Dzorwulo, Spintex Road and it environs, just -drive or -pick a cab or if possible, grab a -tro-tro to the Tetteh Quarshie Interchange and you'll be surprised at what you can do in a twinkle of an hour.. Don't forget to check out the 'Mr. Price" Outlet. They've got great stuffs for all @ very cheap prices.br /br /Its the latest TS or Kantamanto @ the shopping mall. Its a true modernized 'bend-down-boutique". You can also get to print fotos from your phone, memory cards or even flash drives (Pen drives). Just look out for the Print shop and you will enjoy their services.br /br /Beware of traffic and make sure, you do all you gotta do as early as possible and hurry home or you will be taken by surprise with the traffic build-up @ the shoping mall area..br /br //span/spanSo yeah there it is.br /br /TGIF babe.. See you on the flip side.div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5524933700166253257?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:49
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SA33LWafyOI/AAAAAAAAAEk/23FVcDKEhqo/s1600-h/GhanaF.gif"img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SA33LWafyOI/AAAAAAAAAEk/23FVcDKEhqo/s320/GhanaF.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192077719795386594" //abr /Warning: Objects in this article may appear farther than they really are!br /br /I overhead my friend’s mother telling her husby, his proposal to her wasn’t romantic because he, unlike the westernized folks, didn’t get on one knee to ask her to marry him! What she probably has forgotten or failed to appreciate because of unnecessary imitation (or better yet, copy-catting) of the white man’s culture, is the nice traditional marriage I gave her: What is more romantic and more elegant than the Ghanaian marriage ceremony. Firstly, the man’s family goes to the woman’s family to seek her hand in marriage. “Our son would like to pluck a beautiful flower nurtured in this house”, the spokesperson of man’s family craftily says. br /br /After the woman’s family concedes to the marriage, the man’s family organizes an elegant ceremony where they display and offer an array of beautiful cultural items like pure gold, colorful kente cloths and a heavy dowry to the female’s family as a token of their great appreciation. The display of both culture and items, the choice of words of the ceremonial spokesmen, and the evolution of the Ghanaian way of marriage, in my eyes, carry lots of not only romanticism but also meaning and symbolism.br /br /Aside: There are mixed feelings about whether or not the displays of these elegant but expensive cultural items are worthwhile. In my opinion, our ancestors, being great thinkers, envisioned marriage as a serious event and thus required men to show their seriousness about their decision to marry by incurring such huge but well-intended costs. This could be an explanation to the extremely low divorce rates in the past: Any man, knowing the humongous fore-costs of marriage, would not even think about marrying if all he wanted to do is to “hit and then run (i.e. only having sex)”. br /br /It was also appropriate that culture required the man to incur the costs of marriage since men, in the past, had more authority on divorce decisions. In our modern world where divorce could be initiated by either party, however, I think culture should require both parties to incur marriage costs so that neither party would find an incentive to marry unless he/she is serious about it. This would help curb the rampant divorce rates in our modern times.br /br /Unfortunately, my friend’s mother is not the only person suffering from “Westernized Mentality Syndrome (WMS)”. My friend almost labeled me “NOT GENTLE” to say the least (the actual adjective my friend used was even harsher—UNCOUTHED) for having not developed the habit of opening car doors for ladies. However, this is the same guy who laughed at me when I took off my hat when greeting my grandfather’s friend. When did it become cool to adore someone’s culture but ignore our own (which should rather be more superior at least in our eyes). If pressed to rate these two events (i.e. respect for the elderly and opening doors for women), I would say respect for the elderly is more important by any standards than the western courtesy of opening doors for females. br /br /Personally (and the reader can feel free to disagree), opening doors is just an unnecessary burden anyone should incur as this is huge waste of time especially if it’s done on a daily basis. We could save substantial amount of precious time if each party opens his/her own door! br /br /To be clear, so I am not misinterpreted, it’s inevitable for a man to help a woman when, say, she is carrying a huge load of goods as women are physically not as strong as men; however, constantly doing things that a toddler easily does for him (her)-self with no assistance, in the name of so-called courtesy, is a complete waste of time. Despite the lack of meaning and value of most western culture, it remains a puzzle why Ghanaians strive to be like the west, and in the process and rather unfortunately, lose their own identity: I can’t count the number of times I have come across Ghanaians who look like Ghanaians but strives desperately to act like Americans or British. br /br /They always try to put up a fake accent and more. {Aside: A friend of mine observed that hiding one’s identity is negatively correlated with one’s education. In other words, less educated Ghanaians are more likely to act westernized!)br /br /WMS is spreading more rapidly than the HIV syndrome. Very unfortunately, WMS is giving rise to the proliferation of symptoms worse than the above mentioned: It’s definitely not by coincidence why the typical so-called civilized (westernized) Ghanaian woman doesn’t know how to cook even the simplest Ghanaian dishes. br /br /I was unfortunate to be a part of a group of Ghanaian boys who happened to taste the jollof rice of a Ghanaian lady who volunteered to cook for us; I never knew Jollof could be as bitter as paracetamol (and this is no exaggeration). Trust me, my brotha; Dave is the best Jollof Chef in town. If you looking to eat some delicious-aromacious jollof, hola at me. br /br / Because most Ghanaian wives in our recent world don’t know how to cook, most families are at the mercy of their maidservants (imported from the village) or the outside restaurants. Quite paradoxically, instead of feeling ashamed of their cooking skills, the so-called civilized Ghanaian ridicules the ethically trained Ghanaian woman, whose cooking skills are inferred just from the aroma of her dishes, for being “kolo” colloquial, that is belonging to the 17th century. br /br /Cooking is just a tiny bit of the imminent threat of the loss of our Ghanaian pride and identity. Most Ghanaian men can gracefully put on flying ties within a twinkle of the eye but it remains a mystery how they tend to look like caricatures when they try hard to put on traditional clothes; we rattle English but stammer at our own language; worse of all, we laugh at the guy who speaks his language with uttermost dexterity and prowess. br /br /Instead of the fellow being an idol, he becomes a comedic entity showered with all sorts of belittling names like “Green”, “Kumasiano”, “local”, etc. Agyaa Koo is a typical example and I do find his acting skills very interesting. Our voting pattern reveals tremendous favor shown toward the folk who is able to speak both English and Twi like the white man. When did it become a big deal to not “know English” but no deal to be ignorant of one’s own language? If we don’t do something now, our children and grandchildren would be more cultureless and would have no identity.br /br /Our culture and traditions are what make us Ghanaians and not Americans. Just as Toyota strives to distinguish itself from the other car manufacturing companies, we ought to not feel shy promoting our own. Democrats are known by their beliefs and practices and they accentuate these features so they are not mistaken for Republicans. br /br /I understand comprehensively that, we should weed out the unhealthy Ghanaian practices like Trokoshi (the vestal virgin), female genital mutilation, and the others, that are rather detrimental to societal growth; however, there are other distinguishing aspects of our culture that need to be proudly promoted and accentuated anytime everywhere. br /br /These include but not limited to Respect for the old age, Admiration of the Ghanaian values and culture, the Ghanaian Dance, our language, our way of organizing ceremonies like marriage, naming, and funeral, to mention a handful. These are what make us unique and there are no better substitutes for them. br /br /Let’s remember that, the bad doctor who took care of the sick until the good doctor came to take over need not be betrayed! Saying the same in our ancestors words, “Okomfo bone a, woatena oyarefoo ho ama okomfo pa abe to no no, yennyi ne mma”div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7846159523613045304?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:33
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SA3rAGafyMI/AAAAAAAAAEU/VoOAyVqLhHw/s1600-h/196199852_370047.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SA3rAGafyMI/AAAAAAAAAEU/VoOAyVqLhHw/s320/196199852_370047.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5192064332382324930" border="0" //a
br /meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"link style="font-family: georgia;" rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CADMINI%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"o:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceName"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="PlaceType"/o:smarttagtypeo:smarttagtype style="font-family: georgia;" namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"/o:smarttagtype!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:worddocument w:viewNormal/w:View w:zoom0/w:Zoom w:punctuationkerning/ w:validateagainstschemas/ w:saveifxmlinvalidfalse/w:SaveIfXMLInvalid w:ignoremixedcontentfalse/w:IgnoreMixedContent w:alwaysshowplaceholdertextfalse/w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText w:compatibility w:breakwrappedtables/ w:snaptogridincell/ w:wraptextwithpunct/ w:useasianbreakrules/ w:dontgrowautofit/ /w:Compatibility w:browserlevelMicrosoftInternetExplorer4/w:BrowserLevel /w:WordDocument /xml![endif]--!--[if gte mso 9]xml w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156" /w:LatentStyles /xml![endif]--!--[if !mso]object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id="ieooui"/object style st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /style ![endif]--style !-- /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} -- /style!--[if gte mso 10] style /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} /style ![endif]-- p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"On Sunday afternoon, after returning from church, I hurriedly entered the kitchen and placed some rice on the gas burner as fast as I could because, I never had breakfast before going to church. Whiles at church, I was thinking, by the time we get home, Jude (cousin in Cape Coast Uni) might have cooked something but to my utmost dismay, he was sipping tea when we got back in the name of, I was not really hungry.. lol/pp style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"
br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"I stood near the gas burner, constantly checking if there is any progress with the rice. I would drive a spoon through it once a while to see if, it is getting to some boiling point. I left the kitchen to go look for my basketball short which I shall wear to the beach that afternoon…/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Came to the kitchen to see Jerome, my kiddo brotha stirring the rice and also checking to see, if it’s cooked. I warned him to stay off or else, he shall know no peace that after. Previously, I had asked him to go put some rice on the fire and eh said, Hell No… So, why now come and be stirring the rice, people ask him for me ooh./pp style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"
br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Finally, I smelled the aroma of the rice from the sitting lounge and hurriedly got to the kitchen only to find Jude, scooping about half the content in the name of, “we are three”. I guess, you would by now be imagining the look on my screwed face. Astonished! Well, I couldn’t deny him the right to eat, therefore I just had to allow him and Jerome take some and I did justice to the rest.
br //pp style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"
br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Alas, the van was ready to make the long journey to the Volta Hall Week Beach Bash @ Kokrobitey. A close family friend, Marcus and his brotha, Nana who joined us had to go pick a few friends from the Pentagon Hostel on the campus of st1:place st="on"st1:placetype st="on"University/st1:placetype of st1:placename st="on"Ghana/st1:placename/st1:place. It happened, they were 3 gals and they had to be in his momma’s Ford Explorer. We left Legon Campus heading towards Achimota to pick, KayDee, another family friend, the nature of our friends are normally rooted deep in the family way..
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br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Half-way through the journey, we reached a police check point and luckily for us, it was a lady Sergeant on duty and she beckoned Dave, (my half brother) to produce his license and the documents covering the car since it wasn’t registered. It had a trial number and we must all times carry its log book and all..
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br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Before then, Dave had a police notice for misplacing his drivers license and it was the lady sergeant who even reminded him, it shall expire the next day, therefore he must go and have his license or else, he shall not find it easy at all.We did thanked her and speed away only to find another bunch of crazy-looking money-conscious police officers, these time around, MEN with AK’s. They realized, we were just going to have fun and never wasted our time at all instead, one just asked us to get him GH¢1.00 for him to get a packet of cigarette for his immediate officer which we did and went our.
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br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"We finally got to the beach and starting meeting a couple of friends from my high school and those I used to play basketball with on the Legon Campus. I met Nokio taking it cool and calm with his Caucasian mate, saw all colors and shades of ladies, from obolos-not too obolos, shorties, slendies, and skinnies. Soon, it was dark and the real jams got underway. DJ Mensah from Empire Entertainment, DJ Nii-Aryee from Joy FM, Mr. Drive-Jam, Bola Ray were all there to give the students and friskers a real treat on the dancing floor. Man, it was the bOmB./p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"
br //pp style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"Later, as the K4 Buses (Metro Mass Buses) started tooting their horns signifying, departure is due, the “kwashe3 boys’ started snatching the ladies bags and mobile phones. Dave lost his freshest pink colored ipod in the process of getting to the van. Sorry brotha. I shall get you another one when my wages are in. lol/pp style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"
br //p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/p p style="font-family: georgia;" class="MsoNormal"We started the journey back home and not long after, I fell asleep. I woke up when we had stopped at a near by kenkey joint to get some supper since no-one would cook that nite… The moment I got home, I called a very good friend of mine; made her aware, I was back safely and tried describing the turn of events to her. /p div class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5822678000302060543?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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15:21
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SAYjqJKrKjI/AAAAAAAAAEI/oSYHoSZJGDk/s1600-h/JaRule-03-big.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/SAYjqJKrKjI/AAAAAAAAAEI/oSYHoSZJGDk/s320/JaRule-03-big.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5189874827513244210" border="0" //abr /o:p/o:pWe’ve seen them all– Brenda Fassie, Tony Tetuila, 2 Face, Dade Shoki, Blu 3, Awilo Logomba, Jeff Bogolobolo and D’Banji. They have graced the stages of the most pristegious music industry awards in Ghana and now it has been confirmed – one of America’s best rap artistes, Jeffrey Atkins aka Ja Rule is to headline the Celebrations Jam of the MTN Ghana Music Awards festival 2008. p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pThe music awards festival is the only occasion, year-on-year, that musicians from st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region and across st1:place st="on"Africa/st1:place are brought together on one stage to celebrate Ghanaian artistes for their works. With the inclusion of Ja Rule on this year’s performance line up, the festival is on a sure route to becoming a music festival like no other. The MTN GMA festival begins on April 23. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pThe Celebrations Jams which comes off a day after the main awards, will also feature star performances by some Ghanaian musicians as well as P2 from st1:country-region st="on"Nigeria/st1:country-region and Nameless from st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Kenya/st1:country-region/st1:place../p po:p/o:pThe performance by these international acts will in no way detract attention from the many hard working musicians whose contributions to the Ghanaian music industry will be recognised. Artistes like Kwaw Kesse, 5-Five, Praye, Tic Tac (Accra Connexion), Ofori Amponsah, Cee, Bcca and Ohemaa Mercy are sure to register a strong presence.o:p/o:p/p pMeanwhile the voting process is still ongoing. Music enthusiasts are encouraged to make their views on who wins what count by calling MTN short code 1750./p pFellas, I, your most ever-industrial son of Accra-town will surely be there to have some photos and more fillas for ya’ll. I promise and I shall keep to my words but ya’ll should always keep reading my blogs and spread it also. /pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-2075236548832794103?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:27
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R_ON_A98uiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/WTp7Wr9WO38/s1600-h/Mugabe.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R_ON_A98uiI/AAAAAAAAAD4/WTp7Wr9WO38/s320/Mugabe.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184643709764680226" border="0" //aDown south of Africa in st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Zimbabwe/st1:place/st1:country-region. Ruling President Robert Mugabe needs to step down so as to allow the victor in the recently held presidential and parliamentary election to take his post as next president of the st1:place st="on"st1:placetype st="on"Republic/st1:placetype of st1:placename st="on"Zimbabwe/st1:placename/st1:place. p class="MsoNormal"The outline of a deal has almost been reached for st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Zimbabwe/st1:country-region/st1:place's President Robert Mugabe to step down; opposition sources have told the BBC. They say that representatives of Mr. Mugabe, st1:country-region st="on"Zimbabwe/st1:country-region's military chiefs and the opposition have held meetings chaired by st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"South Africa/st1:country-region/st1:place's president.br /br /The sources say Mr. Mugabe would give an address to the nation but urge caution until the announcement has been made. The opposition says it won Saturday's general elections.br /br /Under the proposed deal, Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai would be declared the winner of the presidential race after Mr. Mugabe had stepped down.br /br /President Mugabe, 84, came to power 28 years ago at independence, but the economy has been in freefall in recent years. The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has not yet given the results of the presidential race; sparking MDC claims that the outcome was being fixed.br /br /BBC correspondent Ian Pannell has spoken to three MDC sources who have confirmed that a deal had almost been reached. One was 90% sure that this would happen but others were less confident.br /br /Ruling Zanu-PF officials have not yet commented on the reports./pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-7719675457171727859?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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10:55
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R_OHRw98uhI/AAAAAAAAADw/cOxb7o5YAP0/s1600-h/Go+Home.JPG"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R_OHRw98uhI/AAAAAAAAADw/cOxb7o5YAP0/s320/Go+Home.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5184636335305832978" border="0" //aLook i style=""sistethren/i and i style=""brethren /iwho do read my blogs, I hear well, I have no hearing impairment and I read well. The intended meanings into the comments some readers make about this blogs is way beyond your average sleaze and cheap tabloids. Every issue raised is thoroughly researched into and written to fit well into the brackets of the law and all the tenets of the noble Pen Profession. p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pI have not been feeling well lately but I am fine as at today. I had a problem with my neck and left shoulder, and a British friend of mine suggested, I go see a Chiropractor. I just made her aware, it’s not easy to locate one in Ghana and even if you do, it’s going to be very expensive. She laughed!/pp class="MsoNormal"On the front page of this morning’s People’s Daily Graphic of our noble gold-coast now st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place, is the caption, “b style=""27,000 To Go Home”/b. The story says, all 27,000 Liberian refugees resident in the country are to be sent back to their native now-peace-free country to help rebuild their country. According to sources, the security of the nation might be breached when care is not taken because; amongst the refugees are ex-combatants who can jeopardize the peace atmosphere the country is enjoying currently. Therefore, there is the need for all of to be sent back. /pPeople out there; don’t be disturbed by this news at all. We have done what we can to accommodate them. Feed them, provide them with shelter and almost everything but they don’t seem to appreciate it. Rather, they decided to go on a strike and demand for a $1000.00 before leaving the st1:place st="on"st1:placetype st="on"land/st1:placetype of st1:placename st="on"Ghana/st1:placename/st1:place. Did we ask for war to befall st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Liberia/st1:country-region/st1:place? Are we the cause of all the attrocities that befell them? Hell No! p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pThe poorer a nation the more religious it becomes. The more religious one becomes the poorer one is. By the way, how true is this assertion? Much is known about our plight and socio-economic situation. Note, I didn’t say anything about spirituality, because one can be spiritual without necessarily being religious./p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pspan class="newstext"It is rather sad that our NHIS couldn’t chip in to help Auntie Ama Asumani. The health of our nation is at stake here. How do the poor and vulnerable people cope in times of crisis when the wages is from hand to mouth? Maybe some organizations in st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region deduct money for the NHIS but many do not. Is there any provision made for such group within our society? The NHIS is not really well organized and I believe, they need to revisit it before implementing. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:pLet have a look at this scenario; I registered for the NHIS in Fijai in st1:city st="on"Sekondi-Takoradi/st1:city in the Western Region whiles working there and now, I moved back to st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"Accra/st1:place/st1:city and suddenly fell ill. I went to a health care post only to be told, I can’t be attended to here because, I registered in the Western Region. Do I have to go back to the Western Region for health care? Doesn’t this sound very strange?? o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:pGhanaians are ranked, 4supth/sup most people who like to travel for greener pastures. Recently, there was a commercial on the radio for tourist and travelers who will like to explore the other end of the island nations, st1:country-region st="on"Barbados/st1:country-region, st1:city st="on"Cayman Island/st1:city, st1:country-region st="on"Jamaica/st1:country-region and the rest by a travel and tour operator in st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"Accra/st1:place/st1:city. Many people rushed to book for their seats just because, there is no Visa required if you holds a Ghanaians passport. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"Lemme tell you this, what a typical Ghana man hates to hear is, Ghanaians don’t require visa to enter so-so countries, they shall pack bag and baggage and head towards that country without even studying about those countries economy or whatsoever. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:pNow the government of Ghanakrom has committed $12million to hire a plane to fly home about 50 stranded Ghanaians in st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Barbados/st1:place/st1:country-region. The deputy minister of foreign affairs, Dr. Charles Brempong-Yeboah, who made this known, said the stranded travelers paid between GH¢4000 and GH¢10000 Ghana Cedis to get to Barbados for just two weeks in the name of travel experience. o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:pTo him they could have used the money they paid to the travel agent to invest at home instead of embarking upon such trips with the hope of moving from there to enter either Canada or the USA.o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:pWhy won’t this happen, when you get to the American and British Consulate, you get denied because you have no travel experience whiles all your documents are original and correct??? Oh, st1:country-region st="on"oman/st1:country-region st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place. When shall all these stop…?o:p/o:p/span/p p class="MsoNormal"span class="newstext"o:p/o:p/spanst1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place is surely a strange place when it comes to sex and sexuality. People are embarrassed to talk about it much, but they do it a lot. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pCase in point; Masturbation. I know, it sounds like the beginning of a joke, but it's not. A radio presenter at in Takoradi asked me what I thought about masturbation. I genuinely said; I figured everyone had done it at some point in their lives. So we asked some other people, and nobody would admit it in person, but almost everyone admitted it on the radio, having had the chance to conceal their identities.br /br /There’s also a huge variety of herbal potions to enhance sexual pleasure, often being sold by street hawkers who can't even read the labels if they happen to be in English. I remember when Jude visited from st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Canada/st1:country-region/st1:place, someone tried to sell him a little bottle of i style=""'sex juice'/i. It had a picture of a couple having sex and that was really all the information to be gleaned from the bottle.br /br /Women are especially frowned upon if they admit to having had multiple sexual partners. It’s gotten so bad that they've resorted to herbal concoctions that changes their organ, and makes men think they're virgins. Oh yeah...the concoctions / potion causes cervical cancer and sometimes HIV.br /br /It reminds me of “bon jovi”. "Your love is like baaad medicine..." really, really baaaad medicine.br /br /On a lighter sex-related note, st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region chocolate is good. Pure cocoa, very few chemicals. Cadbury from st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"London/st1:place/st1:city will never taste the same. Now that's orgasmic!/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-5310521816671083287?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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13:04
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-z0bQ98ugI/AAAAAAAAADo/ETA1iKxRhhg/s1600-h/20070412-kuffour.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-z0bQ98ugI/AAAAAAAAADo/ETA1iKxRhhg/s320/20070412-kuffour.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182786020445043202" border="0" //abr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zzMA98ufI/AAAAAAAAADg/SYWOKuD8LLg/s1600-h/J+J+Rawlings+new.jpg"img style="cursor: pointer;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zzMA98ufI/AAAAAAAAADg/SYWOKuD8LLg/s320/J+J+Rawlings+new.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182784658940410354" border="0" //abr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zy-Q98ueI/AAAAAAAAADY/LaiiiI0E4Us/s1600-h/shasha.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zy-Q98ueI/AAAAAAAAADY/LaiiiI0E4Us/s320/shasha.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182784422717209058" border="0" //abr /a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zypQ98udI/AAAAAAAAADQ/py8zlDwzG3Q/s1600-h/_39012269_ghanaonebody.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zypQ98udI/AAAAAAAAADQ/py8zlDwzG3Q/s320/_39012269_ghanaonebody.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182784061939956178" border="0" //abr /pI have been thinking about the run-up to next year's general election. Atta Mills already won the NDC candidacy. People are already saying buy Mills, get Rawlings free. Hmmm. “i style=""hwe wa asetenam na tu aba pa”/i meaning, “i style=""consider your current situation very well before casting a good vote/i” /p pTheir nemesis the NPP after all their big billboards display and fussing around town went in for Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo? Akufo-Addo was one of the founding members of the NPP in 1992, and was also the founder and first chairperson of the Ghana Committee on Human and People's Rights. A recent newspaper article described him as a potential future a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Ghana" title="President of Ghana"President of Ghana/a. A recent opinion poll conducted by Research International put him well ahead of all the 17 people aspiring to be nominated as the presidential candidate of the governing NPP in st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place. /p pNana Akufo-Addo was preferred by 40% of his party members and 38% of the general electorate out of the field of 17 candidates. The closest to his popularity was the country's vice president, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliu_Mahama" title="Aliu Mahama"Aliu Mahama/a, with a distant 18%. If radio airplay is anything to go by, you have to go with Alan Cash, the man who has promised Ghanaians cash. On a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_23" title="December 23"December 23/a, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007" title="2007"2007/a, Akufo-Adda was elected as the NPP's 2008 presidential candidate at a party congress, receiving 47.96% of valid votes (1,096 votes). Although he fell short of the required 50%, the second-place candidate, a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Alan_Kyeremantenamp;action=editamp;redlink=1" title="John Alan Kyeremanten (page does not exist)"John Alan Kyeremanten/a, conceded defeat and backed Akufo-Addo. /p pUp till today, st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region politics is still about J A Kuffour and J J Rawlings. Don't let the lack of Boom speeches and Waa waa press conferences deceive you, advises the Ghanaian music monk aka a href="http://www.museke.com/node/1620"Shasha Marley/a. Remember Shasha Marley? He's the guy who released the track, i style=""See ye good and not evil/i, one of the biggest reggae hits in st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place. He also led the Johns Hopkins sponsored a href="http://www.museke.com/node/815#comment-7473"AIDS campaign song/a which proved very successful in educating Ghanaians about the HIV-AIDS pandemic. He disappeared from the music scene for awhile and just resurfaced with his second album, b style=""i style=""Lost amp; Found/i/b. I don't know if he was ever lost, because listening to his album, he was still very aware of st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place and 'conscious'. /p pI am really glad he's found because I love his track 'a href="http://www.museke.com/node/1666"Buum buum waa waa/a', the inspiration for this blog. The album also has tracks like i style=""a href="http://www.museke.com/node/1525"Maata family/a/i, i style=""a href="http://www.museke.com/node/1665"Shame Politicians/a/i, i style=""Promised land/i, i style=""Twin city mafia/i, I am not ashamed of the gospel, etc.o:p/o:p/p pTo Shasha Marley, Ghana Politics is all about Kuffuor and Rawlings. Rawlings says Buum! Buum! Buum! and Kuffuor says Waa! Waa! Waa! The two have been going at ever since Kuffour was running for the NPP in 2000. After leaving office, Rawlings has not been able to be a quiet statesman, resorting to 'boom' speeches, criticizing the NPP government and even making some 'threats' that many pundits did not take lightly. /p pThe gentle giant aka span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"Traveller/span John Agyekum Kuffour has matched Rawling's fire with his own fire, and the relationship between the two has not been cordial. We've had to have people like Kofi Annan, Pastor Mensah Otabil and countless Ghanaian chiefs to reconcile them. They have not been in the news lately as attention has turned to their successors though, but stay tuned." o:p/o:p/p pCost of living gets so high, Rich and poor dem start to cry". But Ghana Politics is all about Rawlings and Kuffuor, NDC and NPP. Instead of battling ideas and ways to move st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region forward, we find ourselves discussing political parties, attacking personalities and likening every situation to two people. "It’s a shame". Do you know that there is a Boom boom junction and a Hotel de Waa Waa in st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"Accra/st1:place/st1:city? We need to focus on the average Ghanaian who is hungry and hungry for some opportunity. o:p/o:p/p pWe need our press to focus on more pressing issues. Focus on constructive criticisms and pushing the agendas of our leaders so that our citizens can be aware of where st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region is as a nation and where we are going. "Writer man, change your headline news". The media must not use the liberty accorded them to disrupt the political landscape in st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region. We must move away from sensational journalism to selling the news of development, excellence, ambition, patriotism and service. o:p/o:p/p pAccording to Shasha Marley, st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"GHANA/st1:place/st1:country-region stands for "God has a nation ahead". I am amongst the few who believe st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region will take its place on the world map and become a beacon of greatness and prosperity. We have the people to make this happen, we have to encourage them and not discourage them by pitting every 'boom' against 'waa'. Shasha Marley signs off by saying "Asem beba dabi, Asem beba dabi". If we don't change, we shall face the consequences. I believe we can change, it is the only thing that is constant, and st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region shall prosper.o:p/o:p/p p class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:p/pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-1147316559566932096?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
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Accra Conscious Forever
a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zgjQ98ucI/AAAAAAAAADI/i_9LYlLfLjc/s1600-h/3233064-Independence_Arch_centre_of_the_nation-Accra.jpg"img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_iAIkdpRgAT4/R-zgjQ98ucI/AAAAAAAAADI/i_9LYlLfLjc/s320/3233064-Independence_Arch_centre_of_the_nation-Accra.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182764167651441090" border="0" //abr / pbr /Let me tell you what’s been going on in the Nkran (st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Accra/st1:city/st1:place). I must say the African cup of nations was quite a spectacle, the whole world had cameras and satellites of all sorts focused on st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region. It was all about colors, colors and colors as Sean Kingston sang about colors... The st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place flag did fly everywhere; it flew on cars, on hats, on faces, on t-shirts, on goats, and on babies who had no clue of what was going on. /p pWith all the noise about st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region’s chances of lifting the Golden trophy on both local and international TV, radio, print, taxis and bars, the stalwart men, the Black stars could not, but they still brought a cup, it was just of a different color. If you are a Ghanaian reading this, you missed a whole lot of action, passion and crying. There were those proud Ghanaian moments when you just thanked the good lord that your flag indeed was a red, gold, and green with a black star in the middle. Anyway, the Pharaohs of Egypt took the trophy back for the sixth time. /p pCongrats guys, you put a lot of balls in therespan style="" /spanbut I don’t understand, why the Egyptians had to kill cows and share to our folks in Kumasi in the name free giving after they qualified from their group. People, we need to look into some of these things because, they have spirito’s backing them.. I find it funny anytime head of states try to tell the nation what state it is in. You may disagree with me, but these dudes in power no nothing of the state of the nation currently.br //ppLast Saturday a DJ friend of mine, (would like to stay anonymous on his identity) was robbed at cutlass point and his hard earned span style="font-style: italic;"iphone/span taken from him by some motor-bike boys just like that. They are called the “i style=""kwashee boys/i” because; they will forcibly take anything you have on you if they chance on you walking alone. Reporting it to the police did not do anything, as he’s still not got any call from the police to say, ‘Mr. DJ, we have the bandits in our custody, and your phone retrieved’. /p pInstead the police man looked at us without a care in the world and it was as if we were disturbing him. Talk about the state of the nation. Robbery is on the rise, water and electricity supply is on the decline but we pride ourselves with these words-‘the future is bright’. Let’s all pray and hope that the st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Ghana/st1:place/st1:country-region we wish for will materialize and be free from all these crime and “i style=""gangsterism”/i.o:p/o:p/p p class="MsoNormal"The construction firm working on the Madina-Legon-Shiashie-Tetteh Quarshie double lane is really doing a great job but I really would be glad if he could at least speed up a bit. These days, the lungu-lungu’s are kind of getting free because, the tro-tro drivers have resorted to using the main roads instead of the lungu-lungu’s. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pWhen I starts my journey from the house to work early in the mornings, the road is usually free till when I get to the Shiashe where our insane-go-let-me-come tro-tro drivers decides to outwit each other in search of commuters thereby causing so much traffic for about 30minutes just at that point. I normal curse my day when I get to this point but I am always assuring myself that, when the second is finished and joined, we shall see less of these./p p class="MsoNormal"o:p /o:pFolks, these days, we have our sisters and brothers in yellow amp; black known as the community police helping our able-bodied police force in discharging their traffic duties. You’ll find them at faulty traffic joints, applying their common-sense to helping drivers and pedestrians use the road safely but its becoming a nuisance because, they are at every traffic junction. Whether the traffic is working or not, they are there. Unemployment is making all these and more happen. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pI would like to know, if they have also been given the permission to arrest anybody who flaws the law because, a cab driver friend of mine was apprehended by one for making a U-Turn at an unauthorized location. The yellow-and-black dressed gentleman just hopped into the cab and asked the driver to drive to the Cantonment Police Station. My good friend obeyed and started the cab towards the said direction but along the way, he made a turn towards a friend’s house where he knew, he’s going to get support from them./p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pReaching the friends house, the cab driver went in to call his friends who came to nicely to interrogate the yellow-and-black dressed community police gentleman. According to one, he said, you’ve sat in this cab all the way from 37 Hospital Area, enjoying the cool air-condition, all for free and you still want to take my friend to the police? Hell No. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:p“st1:place st="on"st1:city st="on"Massa/st1:city/st1:place, get down and get going before my temper gets to its peak” was what the cab driver’s friend told the yellow-and-black dressed gentleman. The friend saying this is a huge looking stout guy standing at 6’6”. Before we could say jack, the yellow-and-black dressed gentleman was on his way running. /p p class="MsoNormal"o:p/o:pHe shall regret ever apprehending the cab driver and even facing his ordeal. Imagine, he never had any notepad or pen on himself to at least jot down the cab’s registration number. o:p/o:pWell, folks out there don’t be disturbed about these things happening in GH, st1:place st="on"st1:country-region st="on"Ghana/st1:country-region/st1:place is sure the best to be on earth. You wouldn’t experience the type of hospitality Ghanaians accord to foreigners when we travel to their countries.br //pp class="MsoNormal"It’s Hell! In our neighboring st1:country-region st="on"st1:place st="on"Cote D’Ivoire/st1:place/st1:country-region, at every police post-cum- check point, whether a citizen or a non-citizen, you need to produce your i style=""“carte-de-identifique”/i or you shall end up paying a fine at least a CFA1000.00. Ooopps! span style="" /spanPeople, I have to run, watch out for more news, gossips, rumors and the latest info from Nkran, I-Cry (st1:city st="on"st1:place st="on"Accra/st1:place/st1:city)./pdiv class="blogger-post-footer"img width='1' height='1' src='http://res1.blogblog.com/tracker/5948459444912602771-6163375628136339319?l=accraconsciousforever.blogspot.com'//div
The free one-day event, a first for young African visionaries ages 14-25, will welcome a host of youth speakers, a Ghanaian dance ensemble and an Academy Award-nominated short film.
