The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Got an email from a friend recently which prompted me to look at the top rated sites on Alexa.com for Ghana. There were a few interesting discoveries so wanted to share. Top sites 1-10 1. Facebook.com : Pretty easy to decipher. Facebook has seen phenomenal growth over the last few years, making hi5 extinct and leaving myspace in its wake. Hey, they have Facebook parites in Ghana now. Facebook was probably the number one for advertising and marketing BarCamp Ghana last year. 2. Yahoo.com : People still use Yahoo regularly? For what? Email? I stopped using yahoo in 2006. I check my yahoo address once every 3 weeks. I probably use the Flickr service more than Yahoo Mail. Did I hear YahooMail has unlimited storage? 3. Google.com.gh : Maybe the only reason Google.com isn't top in Ghana is the fact that it shares 'time' with Google.com.gh. The Ghana google site has only been around maybe 4 years but it's sweet to have a country-specific google site for GH. Does Yahoo or MSN ...

It's been a while since I shared a 'diary' entry. This last weekend presented the perfect opportunity to do so. It wasn't setting up to be that special a weekend. The Harvard African Business Conference was going on, but I did not attend. While I was there last year, I decided to forgo the HBS ABC this year. I was bent on seeing this through and if I had the littlest inkling about changing my mind, my empty-full-of-potholes pocket hammered the final nail in the 'dont-go-to-the-HBS_ABC coffin. So, I was stuck in the Bay but the Bay interestingly had a few good things to offer. It ended up offering an unforgettable weekend. So I missed out on Naeto C? Kini Big Deal . Missed out on the biggest, brightest, most reputable face-to-face tete-a-tete networking potential African marriage-partner finding event? " Duro ", didn't drive me crazy because you should know my P. This weekend's Mighty African adventures were not to be missed. Here's the story. F...

In fact, sometimes I can't believe how ridiculous I get. Some might say I have a way with words. Actually, I am considering doing stand-up comedy. I have always been writing poems , used to write a lot of short stories (maybe I'll get into those again soon) and most recently, I have been doing spoken word. But at the time I found my love of writing in Presec through short stories, funny articles and poems, I employed 'these styles' in 'letters'. These styles included various figures of speech and what is known to Presec enthusiasts as "Chaa". In my youthful exuberance, I'd write letters to various girls and I don't know why we 'did' this, but we felt our letters had to be special, funny, witty, and 'chaaristic'. I don't have the letters I wrote in Presec with me but I was browsing through my Facebook messages and realised I never 'lost' my touch. I found a long-lost friend from those jolly old Presec times and felt ...

This is my second post this Valentine's National Chocolate Day. I was going to combine both posts but had too much to say in the first one . I have a poem to share with you all in the spirit of this weekend. It's a very special poem to me, because it is a love poem. Uuh. It's titled 'I would like'. I have debated well over a year whether to make it public and finally I have decided to let you all enjoy it. Well, I've performed it a couple times (spoken word) so it's not a huge secret and I've shared it with some friends as well. I wanted to keep the poem safe till I released it in my anthology or maybe, used it at a very very very special time. But hey, since I am unable to write poems these days for stupid reasons like "this poem better be better than the last poem", I figure I'll share the poem with y'all so I could be forced to write some new ones. It's easy to see why I chose this day, it's Valentine's Day, love is in t...

So it's Valentine's Day all over the world, so let me start by wishing you all Happy Valentine's! Like the Good Book says, Love is the greatest commandment. Love your neighbour as yourself. Pretty golden quote to live by. Where I'm from, aka Ghana, February 14th is National Chocolate Day. It was adopted by the Kuffour government in 2007 to boost the consumption and sale of cocoa. Ghanaians like to claim the best cocoa (or even chocolate) comes from Ghana. February 14th is a day cast in stone for high consumption of chocolate and cocoa products in Ghana. I know when I was in Ghana for February 14th in 2008, I bought my family a big pack of Golden Tree Chocolate. I shared my story on GhanaConscious too . So yes, we must buy made in Ghana-products all the time, but if you needed any reminders, we have National Chocolate Day. Too bad, I don't have any here to give us gifts. In fact, I am wondering where I could get some. I MUST get some Golden Tree Akuafo Bars today! I ...

I have blogged about Kasahorow & Fienipa creating a home for African languages on the web and the former's project for translating between some African languages and English . Through a recent Gmail conversation that I was privy too, I discovered a few great things my friend at Kasahorow have been up to. A few apps here and there are in the works and I'll broadcast them once they're 'ready for primetime', in the words of Paa Kwesi Imbeah. One recent feature I found very exciting was the opportunity to use my favorite web browser, Mozilla Firefox, in Twi. Yes, the file menus, download windows, everything. In Akan Twi! Isn't that just awesome? I am using it right now and you can too, just read on. * Download and install language pack for Firefox 3.5 or 3.6 * Navigate to about:config from your address bar and promise to be good. :-D Look for the variable called general.useragent.locale. Change the en-US value to ak-GH * Restart Firefox and ...

I Sing Of A Well is one of the best Ghanaian movies I've seen and I made that clear in my review here . After watching "I Sing Of A Well", a few questions lingered in my mind. So I decided to ask Leila Djansi, the director, a few questions about the movie, and herself. She is the founder of the Los Angeles based production house Turning Point Pictures. Her critically acclaimed screenplay for Movie Africa "Subcity" won the best screenplay award at FESPACO in 2007 and WorldFest platinum award winning film "Grass between my Lips". Normally, I would use the answers to make my blog entry but I thought I'll try something new this time. So here goes. Mighty African: What was the motivation behind doing this movie and choosing this time (circa 12th century, etc)? Leila: I love period pieces. And doing a movie on slavery has always been my ambition. Mighty African: What are some of the projects you worked on before you travelled abroad? Leila: Oh my. I...

One time as I was minding my business at Suuch Solutions' offices at Avenida Hotel, a couple of young boys came by to sell some Ghanaian and Nigerian movies (VCDs). They had a bunch, and the only ones I had seen were 'A Sting In A Tale' , 'Perfect Picture' , 'Heart of Men' and 'Silent Scandals'. I wanted to buy a couple new movies to watch but was unsure what to choose. These days, I only watch Ghanaian or Nigerian movies that are recommended. Since I didn't have too much money, I was only going to purchase a Ghanaian film. I settled on 'Sin of the Soul' because the movie looked awfully familiar. I explained to the guy selling the films that was all I will buy though he tried to suggest many other titles. Upon seeing 'Sin of the Soul', I must say it was worth the money I paid for it and it's one of the best performances by Majid Michel and Nadia Buari. Sin of the Soul (SOTS) is directed by Frank Rajah Arase and produced by H...

Here's another one. Just like the other one. I had approached Ronke about doing a similar "Smiles for Christmas (SFC) event in Kumasi. She loved the idea and wanted to support. I couldn't get my act together early enough to get her to publicize it through SFC but the event came off eventually. In the New Year of 2010. Together with some friends, we were able to present some provisions and cash to the King Jesus Charity in Boadi, Kumasi. Smiles for New Year was born in Kumasi to join its sister in Accra called SFC. You see, folks, it's not very difficult. You could also start one in Little London Obo Kwahu, Tuabodom or Tain. I sought support from Facebook friends who lived in Kumasi to help carry this out. Some people responded and we had a core to work with. It took a while to choose an orphanage or charity and Sandra Agyapong came up with King Jesus Charity. We skirted around the subject (ever since I saw this expression, I've always loved to use it) for days and ...

One day in 2006, one young Ghanaian lady had an idea. What if I got my friends to contribute gifts, provisions, money to put a smile on the faces of kids in a Ghanaian orphanage this Christmas? Like every good idea, she got some support and a few people to help her carry out her plan. This gave birth to "Smiles for Christmas", an initiative aimed at providing less fortunate children in Ghana gifts during the festive season of Christmas. Using the power of Facebook and various friend connections, she led a group of young Ghanaians to Orphanage Africa in Dodowa one of those days just before Christmas 2006 to present gifts, toys, provisions and money to the kids there. I was one of them and very proud of that effort. That effort has grown and it's become even bigger and better each year. As that day in 2006 approached, I didn't have any gifts to present. I really wanted to go to the orphanage. I had never been to any. I debated what might be the best thing to give. Water...

I am a very proud Odadee. My alma mater, Presec and its current and old students, have given me reason to. When I was in Ghana earlier in this year, I visited Presec to see what was new. A lot has changed since I left Presec more than 8 years ago. My favorite teacher, Mrs. Akyeampong has retired, there's been a new headmaster, the bursar who refused to give us funds to publish the school magazine embezzled money and got sacked, the buildings have been painted, we've won 4 National Science and Maths quizzes and the name has been changed from Presby Boys' Secondary School to Presby Boys' Senior High School. Presecans were going to stay in 'blue magic' for 4 years. But in the 'politics democrazy' country that is Ghana, anything can happen. Senior High School is now 3 years again and as a result, senior secondary or senior high school students will not write the WASSCE this year. Crazy eh? There's been a big debate about the number of years senior high s...

I've always wanted to attend a Kojo Antwi concert. Every time he had one of those 24th night shows in Accra, I was in Kumasi with my family for Christmas. So when I saw the poster for his 2009 festive season concerts, I wished he'd be in Kumasi as well. My brother pointed out to me that he'll be live at Golden Tulip Kumasi City Hotel on the 26th of December. I was not going to miss out. Yes, I wasn't going to attend the concert with my girlfriend like I always planned but I was going to be there to sing along to all of Kojo Antwi's songs. Kojo Antwi is arguably the biggest Ghanaian musician ever. He's the music maestro, Mr. Music Man. He's awesome, his rasta is evermore and his music is timeless. I had heard from an aunt that Kojo Antwi never showed up early for his concerts. It's not his fault, African musicians never show up on time. It's almost an accepted practice. Have some opening acts clear the way, have your fans wait and anticipate your gra...

When I was notified of Akon's new video, Oh Africa, I was intrigued by the song's name. Oh Africa? What did Africa do again? Is Akon going to lambast us? Shouldn't he be on our side, praising the motherland? Is it a public service announcement? I hope it's a song from his upcoming album. Well, it turns it is a 'charity single' and he does praise Africa in this video. This new video is geared towards the upcoming World Cup in South Africa and he sings "This is our time to shine, our time to fly". It surely is. I don't know why he's hiding the music video he made for Mama Africa. Trust me, I know the video has been shot. I know people who have the video on their computers. I hope the Mama Africa video is finally released this year. Kudos to Akon for 'Oh Africa' and continuing to rep the motherland big! The video features Akon and Keri Hilson singing 'Oh Africa' with a host of other people. We see a choir dressed in 'some South...