Returning to the source of all my vim - Ghana
What is vim? Learn about it here.
Today is Ghana's Republic Day. Happy Republic Day to all Ghanaians. I took the opportunity to announce a piece of news I have been holding back a while. Besides, I've been meaning to blog (about something) but for some reason, the vim to do so hasn't been there. This blog post was coming though. July 1 is just a nice date lol.
I have become a very "online" person, so it made some sense to use online media to make this announcement. Obviously, I had told my family, close friends, neighbours and others who I just had to tell the news already. So, this is how it all went down, with the following info filtering in through tweets, facebook and google buzz posts.
For the past 10 years, my address has always been a US one. First Syracuse, then to Cambridge (MIT) and then to Stanford. It's time to change that. In fact, I bought a one-way to come to the US after high school in Presec with the goal of going to MIT, the "best engineering institution" in the world. God answered my prayers and I had 4 great years there. I hadn't thought much about Stanford but it seemed like a good move to pursue. So I bought another one-way ticket to Stanford for Masters. I came to Stanford and though I've been here longer than everyone (including myself) expected, it made me learn what I really wanted to do with my life and helped me build skills, a network and things that I will forever appreciate.
I've been in the US too long. Though I go to Gh every year, It's not enough. One foot of mine has always been in Ghana. I've always wanted to know what's going on in Ghana. I never lost my network there and I've even built it bigger and bigger. You cannot underestimate the value of this network. I may have great ideas, good intentions, but no one changed things in a vacuum. It always takes a committed few to make things happen. GhanaThink, Barcamp Ghana, Museke, Fienipa, etc, etc. Hey, folks sometimes think I am in Ghana sometimes cos of things I do. It does not matter where we are - if we stay connected and encouraged, we believe and we will achieve.
I'm moving to Ghana. For good. At the end of July. I have always thought of the day I would return to Ghana since I came here in September 2001. In August 2011, I will be back. Back where my family is. Back where my heart is. Back where my home is. After going to Ghana for Christmas for the umpteenth time last December, I felt really home sick and wanted to move back. I wanted to be by my brother, sisters, parents and the generators and change makers in GH. It's gonna happen.
I'll be working for Google in Ghana. Dream job has come true. Praise God. Many people want to move back home. Finding an opportunity makes it easier. I'll be working for my dream company, the best company to work for in the whole wide world in the best place to work, Ghana. I'm blessed. God is too wonderful. In fact, I might just cry right now. Once I got to Stanford and visited the Google headquarters for the first time, I told myself if I only work for one company in my lifetime (that's not mine), it should be Google. I'm not making this up.
I will be working for Google as Developer Relations Program Manager in the Ghana office. We will be developing & building awesome things for Ghana & beyond. #Ghanamade. #morevim! "But you studied Civil Engineering?" Well, Construction, Engineering Management. I want to be an entrepreneur, I studied this program for the management expertise. I will still do some things in civil engineering, but so will I in many sectors and disciplines. The other things I've done, building Museke together with my teammates into one of the best African music websites, growing the GhanaThink Foundation with my partners and developing the Barcamp Ghana movement with my colleagues have made me versatile.
In my Google role, I will continue building, with a bigger focus on developing and building things using Google technology in Ghana, for Ghana and beyond. I mentioned the notion of teammates in the things above and that's the way it's going to be. It's never about me, it's about us making things happen. And that's the way it's going to continue.
This was gonna be a short blog post but I guess try as hard as I could, I don't really do short blog posts well. Sigh. Either way, more vim!
Today is Ghana's Republic Day. Happy Republic Day to all Ghanaians. I took the opportunity to announce a piece of news I have been holding back a while. Besides, I've been meaning to blog (about something) but for some reason, the vim to do so hasn't been there. This blog post was coming though. July 1 is just a nice date lol.
I have become a very "online" person, so it made some sense to use online media to make this announcement. Obviously, I had told my family, close friends, neighbours and others who I just had to tell the news already. So, this is how it all went down, with the following info filtering in through tweets, facebook and google buzz posts.
For the past 10 years, my address has always been a US one. First Syracuse, then to Cambridge (MIT) and then to Stanford. It's time to change that. In fact, I bought a one-way to come to the US after high school in Presec with the goal of going to MIT, the "best engineering institution" in the world. God answered my prayers and I had 4 great years there. I hadn't thought much about Stanford but it seemed like a good move to pursue. So I bought another one-way ticket to Stanford for Masters. I came to Stanford and though I've been here longer than everyone (including myself) expected, it made me learn what I really wanted to do with my life and helped me build skills, a network and things that I will forever appreciate.
I've been in the US too long. Though I go to Gh every year, It's not enough. One foot of mine has always been in Ghana. I've always wanted to know what's going on in Ghana. I never lost my network there and I've even built it bigger and bigger. You cannot underestimate the value of this network. I may have great ideas, good intentions, but no one changed things in a vacuum. It always takes a committed few to make things happen. GhanaThink, Barcamp Ghana, Museke, Fienipa, etc, etc. Hey, folks sometimes think I am in Ghana sometimes cos of things I do. It does not matter where we are - if we stay connected and encouraged, we believe and we will achieve.
I'm moving to Ghana. For good. At the end of July. I have always thought of the day I would return to Ghana since I came here in September 2001. In August 2011, I will be back. Back where my family is. Back where my heart is. Back where my home is. After going to Ghana for Christmas for the umpteenth time last December, I felt really home sick and wanted to move back. I wanted to be by my brother, sisters, parents and the generators and change makers in GH. It's gonna happen.
I'll be working for Google in Ghana. Dream job has come true. Praise God. Many people want to move back home. Finding an opportunity makes it easier. I'll be working for my dream company, the best company to work for in the whole wide world in the best place to work, Ghana. I'm blessed. God is too wonderful. In fact, I might just cry right now. Once I got to Stanford and visited the Google headquarters for the first time, I told myself if I only work for one company in my lifetime (that's not mine), it should be Google. I'm not making this up.
I will be working for Google as Developer Relations Program Manager in the Ghana office. We will be developing & building awesome things for Ghana & beyond. #Ghanamade. #morevim! "But you studied Civil Engineering?" Well, Construction, Engineering Management. I want to be an entrepreneur, I studied this program for the management expertise. I will still do some things in civil engineering, but so will I in many sectors and disciplines. The other things I've done, building Museke together with my teammates into one of the best African music websites, growing the GhanaThink Foundation with my partners and developing the Barcamp Ghana movement with my colleagues have made me versatile.
In my Google role, I will continue building, with a bigger focus on developing and building things using Google technology in Ghana, for Ghana and beyond. I mentioned the notion of teammates in the things above and that's the way it's going to be. It's never about me, it's about us making things happen. And that's the way it's going to continue.
This was gonna be a short blog post but I guess try as hard as I could, I don't really do short blog posts well. Sigh. Either way, more vim!
Comments
Kudos..may we Brain Gain..
Beyond that, your passion for GH is infectious. It is one not just expressed in words but in the various initiatives you're engaged in.
No matter how we're all connected by the WWW, I think your physical presence will be a big boost for collaboration in all sorts of projects. May more blessings pour in!
WELCOME HOME!!!!!
Spread the VIM man!
Good luck at Google and keep the blog posts going. You have no excuse, Ghana and Africa are too inspiring, you will be overflowing with words and ideas :)
My dream job, in fact, is to work for the UN, and I think I will take a cue from you to be as relentless in the pursuit of that dream as possible, and to match actions with them! Well done!
Hope to see you sometime!
Dreams are possible to be achieved. This is a story of one.