2011; What a Year It's Been

I started writing yesterday about 2011, a year that has given me great highs and very low lows in the same breath. Allow me to tell you why I say so. Mind you, this entry is mainly about things that happened to me on a personal level as opposed to professional or career events. By the beginning of the year, I was planning my wedding and eagerly looking forward to marriage. The planning was a wonderful experience filled with lots of excitement and frustrations. And it's one I'll love to do again. Anyway, six months of planning culminated in two beautiful ceremonies. The first on the 5th of May 2011, which was the Engagement (this is a traditional marriage ceremony officiated by the heads and elders of the families of the two individuals getting married.) The event was really lovely and well attended considering it was on a Thursday, a day when people will be busy at work. The day was also very emotional and a bit difficult to go through for me. Even though my sisters, uncles, aunties and friends were there, I kept thinking about my mum and dad. My dad had to go the hospital for treatment and my mum had to be with him. I kept thinking how happy my parents would have been if they were at the Engagement. Anyway, the second was the Wedding itself;officiated by a priest and witnessed by family and friends. Then my wife and I went on a really wonderful honeymoon touring the Eastern Region of Ghana (I might write about that...you never know, lol.) The highlight of the wedding was the presence of my dad. You see, my dad was at the time was undergoing chemotherapy (yes, it's what you're thinking.) His presence was a beautiful gift to my soon-to-be wife and I; one my wife was super excited about when she saw him coming up to sign the marriage certificate during the wedding ceremony. Ok, then life seemed to proceed 'smoothly', actually it wasn't that smooth since my dad still had to keep going to the hospital for treatment. And this era of him going in and out of hospital was difficult for us all. The pain, anxiety and frustration at the seeming slow hospital response to his needs is something I don't even want to think about. June, the month my wife and I were born looked to be a nice month, filled with birthday gifts and birthday parties of other friends. A day to my wife's birthday, my dad had to go to the hospital for his usual treatment. He was asked to come back the following day to continue his treatment. The day was a Friday, nothing unusual about it. He went there to be attended to by the doctors. After work, I went to see him and he seemed fine. At around 10pm, me, my sisters and mum said our good byes to him and promised to see him first thing in the following morning. Well we did, actually my mum and sister saw him in the morning. My other sister and I went there later that Saturday to visit him and chat with him a bit. Again he seemed fine (considering). I had a cold that day so I didn't want to get too close to him fearing I might pass it on to him. So I just hovered around his bed having small talk, and attending to his little requests. His brothers and sisters were there to see him that day also. At around 8pm, I said goodbye to him again explaining that I wanted to take care of the cold I had and that I'll see him the following day. One of my sisters had an event at work to attend so we left together. This was a day after my wife's birthday. At around 9.50pm, I got a call from my sister(mind you, at this point I was often anxious receiving calls fearing I'd hear some bad news about my dad.) She simply said I needed to come back to the hospital. I enquired what was wrong, she just said I should pick my other sister up and come over. Well you can imagine what went on that evening. 18th June will be a day I will never forget. How could I amidst all the tears. The next couple of days that followed my dad's passing were humbling and tasking at the same time. Anyway, the funeral and organising the logistics for it all went really well. Friends and family members were so helpful I don't think I'd have been able to manage it all. My wife was a pillar by my side, just amazing with her support and thoughtfulness. Hmmm, so the year started great with me getting married. Continued with the passing of my dad after a lengthy battle. I have faith December will be a high point to close the year for me. Even if nothing exceptional happens, there are many things I am grateful for in 2011. The first being my marriage. The second is the gift of my dad's life - let me explain. You see, my dad could have died any day any time but he didn't (I know it's not his choosing, I'm just saying). He could have passed away on my wife's birthday, which would have made the day a mixed day then on but he didn't. Thirdly, my sisters and mother are doing really well after my dad's passing. Considering we were a very closely knit family, I think we have all taken his passing well. We are still tightly knit. And perhaps lastly, I have faith that God will do something wonderful with my life. So, this is my review of 2011. And I will say it's been a good year for me. How has 2011 been for you? What will your resolutions for 2012 be? Share with me.

2011! Up and down

As 2011 comes to an end, I begin to think if I was able to fulfil the resolutions I made on the eve of the year. Well, I certainly know I didn't fulfil even half the resolutions I made. Interestingly though, there were some things I didn't plane to do but ended up doing. Things I am very happy I did. Aside my resolutions, the year 2011 has been a year of ups and downs for me. I have many things to be grateful in this year. I will write about all of them in my subsequent posts. What were your resolutions? Share with me. Image source: wallpapersbuzz

Wow!... shame is not even enough! :-)

Wow, I don't even know how to begin... Perhaps the least said the better. Really, what will my ranting and going on and on about my awful writing habit result into?

Perhaps I should just focus on short writing, or just write about my life (and there are many things I can write about :-)

Anyway, so this is my comeback (in the style of an injured football player who has found his form and about to prove he still has something to offer to the fans and game in general.)

So wish me luck, keep coming back to read my posts let's keep the conversation going yeah!

Best wishes (to you and me)

Shame On Me! lol...The Resurrection!

I'm sad... yet happy. Reason(s); I'm sad because I did not make any new post to my blog for over 4 months. Happy because today I have a new post :-)

Ok.
So I have decided to take my blog seriously(sounds like a new year's resolution huh!lol? and for that matter, I intend to write at least two articles per month. I want to talk about things I really care about and/or just passionate about. I am not sure how the writings will be organised, but I'm sure I'll write on current affairs, sports, technology, education, history, friends and maybe love (that should be an interesting one, lol)

Wish me luck and let me know what you think.

P.S. Just thinking out loud! Image Source: http://www.gibbsmagazine.com/Shame.htm

What Does He Mean By "discretion"?

Yesterday on the news, the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service gave a statement on actions taken by the Ghana Police Service and some of its personnel during President Obama's visit.

He was defending the Service' strategy regarding the closing of some major roads in Accra. He thought it was the contribution of the citizens of Ghana to sacrifice some of their precious time to make the visit of the US president an historic one.

In my opinion, I think he made a good point. I suppose it is based on the premise (if I may) that, "nothing good comes easy". Well, it was unfortunate for the motorists and pedestrians on the days the roads was block, but, like the Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Police Service said, it was our contribution the success of the visit.

But I am very uncomfortable with another statement he made pertaining to the crowd control in Cape Coast. He was trying to defend some of the brutish, uncivilized and unprofessional actions some of the police officers meted out to our brothers and sisters in Cape Coast. Mind you, all they wanted was to see President Barack Obama, but some of them ended up being slapped in the face, kicked, pushed and shoved like they were pieces of logs. It was really bad of the police officers and the images captured by the news crews showed the disgraceful and barbaric manner our police officers treated the crowd.

Interestingly, the PRO of the Ghana Police Service tried to defend this shameful actions by insinuating that the crowd got a little over excited and became quite hard to manage, as such the officers controlling the crowd could use their "discretion" in maintaining the order. I suppose what he meant was that it was ok for the officers to beat, hit, slap and kick members of the crowd just to get them to order. Hmmmm, this does not sit well with me at all. Is the PRO saying it is ok for officers of the law to maltreat citizens of Ghana just to get them to act in a certain way? Is he saying that the Police Service cannot take alternative actions that does not involve physical abuse to maintaining law and order?

I wonder what he will think if his daughter or son had been slapped just because he/she wanted to take a closer look at Obama? What about our ministers of state who were literally scrambling to shake hands with Obama after he gave his speech in Parliament, would it have been ok for the Secrete Service to slap them too?

The bottom line is that, the Ghana Police Service acted unprofessionally and instead of them evaluating and improving their operations, the PRO is making excuses.

Well, I have news for you Officer PRO, and the news is that we do not think manhandling and treating Ghanaians like animals is excusable. As young people, we know the world has come far along on appropriate measures and actions that security services take to maintain law and order, as as such we would not condone ineptitude of any kind. I suggest the police service start reviewing and changing their operations.

I think I have raved and ranted enough. Till I think out loud again, let us all-especially young people in Ghana and in Africa, stand up to certain excesses from authorities that wield power and demand to be treated right.

Was Obama’s visit a good thing or not?

The President of the United States of America’s visit to Accra can be described as joyous and something we should be proud of (As Ghanaians), yet also an extremely uncomfortable experience for the many Ghanaians.

It was joyous because, firstly, out of 53 States in Africa, Ghana was chosen to host Obama. Secondly, Obama stayed in Ghana for at least 24 hours, long enough for some serious talk with our government officials (I hope!). And perhaps lastly, Obama’s address to Parliament was inspiring and had a relevant message to us young people in Ghana and in Africa- in this address the U.S promised to provide $63 billion for health improvement in Africa.

But Obama’s visit was also a huge inconvenience to people who live in Accra because of the security precautions that were taken for the president’s visit. Motorists and pedestrians had to stay in traffic for as long as 4 hours. In most cases however the traffic delay was for about hour and half hours (as reported by some TV stations). The result was that many people were late for work, and I suspect that some could not even make it to work. Trotro drivers could not make their daily sales for the day as most of them had fewer hours to do their business.

My personal perception of Obama’s visit is that, it was inspiring and I feel it was a good visit for us young people. Not to mention the fact that the country was “able” to rehabilitate the La General hospital (something that was ignored for several years). Plus there was a lot of cleaning of the city of its filth that we seem to comfortably live with.

But why do we wait for visiting international personalities before we act? Where did the money come from all of a sudden? (I’m assuming the La General Hospital was not fixed up all this while because of lack of funds, as is the case with nearly all problems that need to be solved). Is this befitting of us as a people? Is this befitting of a country that claims it is the gateway to Africa? Should this be the case for a country that literally lead the independence struggle of African states about 50 years ago? And the most important question of all, what are “you” going to do, or perhaps, what are you doing about Ghana’s prosperity and development?

Are you satisfied with the way things are going in this country and across Africa? Well, I hope you and I will do something about it.

Well, until the next time I Think Out Loud, let us not forget what Barack Obama has been able to achieve personally, and his message to us. I hope his personal story propels us all to do something productive for our communities and country.

My Love/Hate Relationship With...Ghana

I have known her for more than twenty years...I lived with her all this while and I know that even though she annoys me sometimes, I will not stop loving.

The 'her' I speak of is Ghana, yes my motherland Ghana.
I have been fortunate to travel to some West African countries, and I have always been grateful to be Ghanaian.

But I cannot say Ghana is the best place to live. I mean how could it be? Frequent power outages, poor health facilities, lying politicians, poorly equipped police force, contentious educational system...the list goes on.

I have always asked, don't we have engineers in this country to fix the constant power outages? Don't we have smart experts who can design a health system that all Ghanaians can access? Why are the majority of Ghanaians so apathetic to the corrupt activities of politicians? Why can't the government just equip the police force just as they are able to buy executive sedans, spend on elaborate and often pointless commemorations? Why can't we have an educational system where after JSS; now JHS, the student can still have a hope of having a decent standard of living in the future? Well, why not?

As you read this, I hope the questions would ingnite some introspection and then some innovative answers to the questions I asked.

Despite the many problems and concerns I have with Ghana, I still love her very much.
I have a strong conviction that Ghana will be a 'dream' country for many who would wants a safe and peaceful place to settle in.

Hmmm, it's been a while since I made a new entry on my blog. I hope this has been a good read for you and I hope you will share some of your frustrations, dreams and hopes for Ghana with me and other readers.

Till I 'think out loud', all the best to us all and God bless Ghana.