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Showing posts from October, 2013

Learnt to say "Please" in 23 African languages

Africans are polite. Africans honour respect. Hence, we don't play with the word "Please". So wherever you are in Africa, you can really buy what you want for free if you throw in a "Please" word there. The MIghTy African is here to help you. With some help from  my African friends , we have a list of 23 to work with.  Akan: Mepa wo ky ɛ w. 2 many syllables for what should be an easy word. Not the stress on the double vowel. Yes is Yes and No is No :-) Bonus in Fante - Iny ɔ  & Anha :-) Ga: Ofai n ɛ .  Akan Twi and Ga are bedfellows when it comes to language. We know how Ga and Twi have similar words. So I should have seen this coming. Thanks to  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  for 'reminding' me.  Ewe: Medekuku.   +Doris Anson-Yevu  who is a part of the  +kasahorow  team and also works on  +Nyaseto  taught me this one. I'm gonna be in Ho this weekend for  +Barcamp Ho  so.... :-) Dagbani: Dim suglo.  +Ibn Shiraz  taught me this one when I ask

My first Manchester United decade - 1994-2003

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There are many noisy Manchester United fans. I am one of them on occasion. I have been a supporter of Manchester United since 1994. It's hard to believe that it would be 20 years since I started cheering and following Manchester United . During that time, Manchester United has been one of the most successful sports club in the world. Its undisputed leader, Sir Alex Ferguson , retired after capturing the club's 20th English championship. David Moyes was his assigned heir and though he's off to a fairly shaky start, many ManUtd fans are solidly behind him. He has a long way to go to fill the shoes of the man who run   +Manchester United  like a businessman and has a Harvard Business School case study around his work. I started following football aka soccer very closely in 1994. My father is a Hearts of Oak supporter so I naturally became a Phobia fan too. Growing up, we used to watch a lot of European soccer, I can clearly remember the "Football Made in German

Ghana wants PayPal now! #Pay4Ghana

Another snappy post. I have a blog target to meet and this is quite important for folks in the +233 country code who also know what it is. Ghana wants to be able to use Paypal. Hear us campaign for this via a Change.Org petition and on Twitter . Samuel Darko, my buddy started this off.  @PayPal @AskPayPal Why can't legit people buy and sell online simply because they live in Ghana? #NotFair #PayPal4Ghana . @wiledsen @Abocco — Samuel Darko (@SamuelDarko) October 30, 2013 @PayPal @AskPayPal What's the basis for denying legit people in Ghana seeking to do business online? #NotFair #PayPal4Ghana . @BloggingGhana — Samuel Darko (@SamuelDarko) October 30, 2013 @PayPal @AskPayPal There are fraudsters everywhere! Just like there are legit people everywhere! It's about time. #PayPal4Ghana @MacJordaN — Samuel Darko (@SamuelDarko) October 30, 2013 @PayPal @AskPayPal Today a unified Ghanaian front begins a campaign for review of your unfair treatment. Time

The NBA is back! My predictions are....

Let's make this snappy. The NBA season has just started but I am gonna stick out my neck and make these predictions. Actually, I picked the first names that came to mind. Rookie of the year - Victor Oladipo Sixth man of the year - Andrei Kirilenko Most improved player of the year - Bradley Beal All-Star Game MVP - Derrick Rose Defensive player of the year - Lebron James Most Valuable Player (MVP) - Kevin Durant Seeding the playoff teams and who will win it all Eastern Playoffs - Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks, Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers, Washington Wizards Western Playoffs - Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs, Oklahoma City Thunder, Houston Rockets, Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies, Dallas Mavericks, Los Angeles Lakers East Semis - Bulls vrs Nets, Heat vrs Pacers. West Semis - Clippers vrs Rockets, Spurs vrs Thunder East Finals - Bulls vrs Heat West Finals - Clippers vrs Thunder NBA Finals - Heat

No, facts about Olele don't get old - my own #Olelefacts

Yes, the Black Stars have long beaten the Pharoahs of Egypt 6-1, but #OleleFacts don't get old. Even when the one who helped start this phenomenon gets older. So espeically, when today is the birthday of the one who helped start this  +Achere Buxton . I got in on the #OleleFacts earlier and here are some :-) Enjoy. They are old tweets, but you can still say Ole! :-) @Naa_Achere #olelefacts from 27th August? wow did you start this trend? — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) October 11, 2013 #OleleFacts became popular in October. Naa Achere and her friends were tweeting this in August. Foresight. :-) Switching from my Ugandan alter-ego, Richard Nshuti Mayanja, to myself to finally join the #Olelefacts trend. — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) October 11, 2013 I had been celebrating Uganda and had to switch names to get in on the Ghanaian trend. Olele discovered the sun. #OleleFacts — Mighty African (@mightyafrican) October 11, 2013 Hehe. That means he also discovered light

Calendar of forward-thinking events & things happening in Ghana (mostly Accra)

Last year, I realised there was a gap whereby it was difficult to find out upcoming forward thinking events in Ghana. I wanted to have a cool calendar done that looked very nice on a website. I thought to make use of Google Calendar API but I couldn't get the time to learn it more seriously or someone else to help make use of it. So I decided to go ahead with a simple Google calendar I could contribute to and then embed in a website. I put this up on the Barcamp Ghana website and added a couple more people to the calendar so we could all add entries. We have different kinds of events there - Barcamps, TEDx events, seminars, workshops, and even some shows. We have also had film screenings and concerts. We have also added some cool radio shows and TV shows. Check out the calendar below. You can always find this on the Barcamp Ghana website . Suggestions welcome. The calendar is a work in progress. We have the events color-coded but the colours don't show in this view. We

Taking partying more seriously - #partycrewgh

You know about +Party Crew  already abi? Let's go party! I am a social animal. I like to party and party hard. Shout out to these party folks & PartyCrew members-  +Donald Ward   +David Nikoi   +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor   +Nehemiah Attigah   +Ali Bukari Maiga   +Bellyn Naki   +Nana Fynn Class-Peters   +Sweetie Anang   +Derek Bossman   +Mac-Jordan Degadjor   +Lexis Bill Either candle or generator? Tofiakwa.  #Partycrewgh  mode activated. Show me where the light dey lead. 2 where the action dey. Cc  @PartyCrewGH — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco)  March 1, 2013 P-Square's Chop My Money remix has been our anthem for a while. Our favorite part is "pushaa" where we kick out our legs. I did it once in Akosombo and caused small commotion with a fall. More controlled kicks coming up. I just did a kick out "karate style" as  #pushaa  was sang out of the Chop My Money song aka  #Partycrewgh  anthem. In public too. :-) — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco)  March 31, 2013

Learnt how to say "Yes" (& no) in 23 African languages

I was inspired to do this through a conversation with my Senegalese buddy  +Oumoul Khaïry Sow  while watching a music video by "yeah you guessed it" by  +Viviane Chidid  called   Fans Yi . :-) Yes, that means "My Fans". Talking about Yes, Viviane also has a music video called   Waaw . Which means "Yes" in Wolof, which is (yes) a Senegalese language.   Waw ! With some help from  my African friends , we have a list of 23 to work with. Choose your pick and say Waaw like a   Champion   wrestler from Senegal! Akan: Aane &  Daabi.  2 many syllables for what should be an easy word. Not the stress on the double vowel. Yes is Yes and No is No :-) Bonus in Fante - Iny ɔ  & Anha :-) Ga:  ɛ ɛ ɛ  & Daabi .  Akan Twi and Ga are bedfellows when it comes to language. We know how Ga and Twi have similar words. So I should have seen this coming. Thanks to  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  for 'reminding' me.  Ewe: Yoo & Aawo / Megbe.   +Doris Anson-Yevu

Learnt how to say "What is your name" & "My name is" in 23 African languages

Depending on which country I am in and who I am speaking to, I can have 1 out of about 7 names. You probably know my real one, but you do know my Ugandan , Kenyan , Nigerian , Ethiopian , Tanzanian and South African ones? Or my real other name which I use to call myself when I meet some lucky lady I feel like saying it to? Just in case, you happen to be in certain place or country and you feel you have to pull one of these out, let's learn how to say " What is your name " and " My name is " in 23 African languages. :-) Thanks to my friends who helped me pull this list together recently as I had missed writing blog posts such as these. Akan: Wo din de s ɛ n?   Me din de .. Yeah, name in Twi is "din". It might be more popular to hear people say  Y ɛ fr ɛ  wo s ɛ n? &  Y ɛ fr ɛ me ... which directly translates to "What do we call you? & We call me...  Ga: Te ats ɛ ɔ  kbo t ɛ ŋ ŋ ? Ats ɛ ɔ  mi..  I learnt this once but I don't rem

#WaakyeWednesday: #Waakye wherehouses in Accra

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Have you ever asked yourself "where can I get waakye to buy in Accra?" Better still, have you wondered where to get the fastest selling food in the world while in Accra so you can have a Waakye Wednesday ? I am here to help :-) Here are a few places to eat Waakye in Accra in no particular order of preference. Sorry, they are exactly Google mapped yet. Waakye Special  - Such a generic name. Works for me. This is located near the Roman Ridge Assemblies of God place. I like the lady who sells there. I just wish she would smile more :-) She makes most of my  #WaakyeWednesday  days come true.  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  will attest to this. Xroads Waakye  - This is one of the 2 places I regularly get waakye. I patronized it once after I thought the last place I featured had given me a raw deal. The lady serving here had a "tattoo".  Tattoo waakye o ! Another time, she told me it was one of those designs Northerners do on their hands. It's okay, I fell in love w

Join me and others at Barcamp Ho 2013 #bcho

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This Saturday, I will be attending my third Barcamp Ho. Why do I go to Barcamps in Ghana? It's a good chance to see more of Ghana. More of its sights and scenes. More of its people. More of its young people who are ingenious, innovative and inspiring. More of the positive things and synergized energies towards making Ghana a better place. You should attend Barcamps in Ghana for some of the same reasons. If you know anyone in Ho or the Volta region, you shouldn't let them miss this event. We're building a nationwide (+ Diaspora) networked community of change makers, doers and entrepreneurs and there must be a community of these people in Ho. Big ups to the organizers  +Courage Christson Tetteh   +Ousman Saidy   +Eric Tackie Tawiah Ankrah   +Gameli Adzaho  and those championing it including  +Ali Bukari Maiga   +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  and co as well as all members of the +Barcamp Ghana  team. Here is the press release for  +Barcamp Ho  2013. Barcamp Ho 13 is a free netw

Learnt how to say "Money" in 23 African languages

Money . We all love it abi? :-) Is that also not why wherever we find ourselves, we need it? Is that not why it is the root of all evil? Is that also not why people sing about it all the time? Next time, you see money raining in an African music video, think about some of these word$ that mean $$$. With some help from my African friends , we have a list of 23 to work with. Choose your pick! Akan: Sika.  My mother tongue. Quite easy. My mother has many memorable quotes on money. But here's a great song about money by one of my favorite musicians. Sika by Okyeame Kwame . Ga: Shika.  We know how Ga and Twi have similar words. So I should have seen this coming. Thanks to  +Seyram Freddy Ahiabor  for 'reminding' me.  Ewe:  ɛ ga.   Another one taught to me by Seyram .  Dagbani: Lahri.  Yeap, +Jemila Abdulai  taught me this one. Once. :-) Hausa: Kudi.  Now isn't this just obvious? I've been hearing "kawukudi" so many times. Kudi has to be one of my new fa