The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

In 2013, the GhanaThink Foundation decided to institute National Volunteer Day - NVDay . This was to encourage many people in Ghana to volunteer, make an impact in our communities, help solve problems in ways we could, and help people. It wasn't just to help people, but help ourselves as volunteers : in building skills - especially soft skills, gaining experience, networks , etc. Info about the first couple of years are on Wikipedia . GhanaThink chose Founders' Day - September 21 . By volunteering around September 21, we would also be doing something for Ghana. On December 5, 2013, the Ghana Volunteer Program program (GVP) was created by GhanaThink to run National Volunteer Day and match volunteers to volunteer opportunities. Even though September 21 became Kwame Nkrumah Memorial Day, it is still National Volunteer Day. In 2020, NVDay is encouraging the celebration of volunteers and for people to volunteer safely and creatively due to the corona virus pandemic. GVP team mem...

Earlier  this  year , we at the  GhanaThink Foundation  had an idea. What if we could get many people in Ghana to volunteer on the same day with a unity of purpose to make Ghana better? We've gone many iterations of how to get it done and we are almost there. The date we chose was  September 21 . It's interesting to note what % of people in Ghana actually know it's  Founder's Day . On September 21, different people in Ghana would be organizing or participating in volunteer activities. You can find out more info about these here. Stay tuned to #NVDay on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Watch the video promoting it and see our press release below. Many thanks to  +Estelle Akofio-Sowah   +Antoinette Benneh   +Nana Amoah  and Nana Aba Anamoah for participating in the video. I was surrounded by some awesome Ghanaian women :-) National Volunteer Day is being instituted by the  +GhanaThink Foundation to come off ...

I've heard a lot of Senegal's DJ Awadi and how he is talked about a lot when it comes to African hip-hop. We've seen a lot of conscious and meaningful hip hop come out of Senegal and Awadi's Positive Black Soul deserves a lot of the credit. Awadi's recent album, Presidents d'Afrique (African presidents) was released in 2010, the same year many African nations celebrated their golden jubilees of independence. Awadi took us back to the 60's and told us those messages of unity, positivity, leadership and revolution still ring true today. So, I had to let you know all about the album :-) African rap legend, Didier Awadi , is one of the most highly respected African musicians. He spent four years of research, reading, collecting and interviews preparing his most recent album, Presidents d'Afrique. He featured many African rappers and musicians on the album, making a transcendent and monumental African rap album. L'Esclave opens the album and feature...

Maximus Ojah writes ---- Hello Osagyefo, It's been a week since we celebrated your 100th birthday. It's been ages since I last wrote to you. Coincidentally, my last letter was about your birthday and the debate about the Founder's Day celebration and holiday. No one listened to my suggestion and you were celebrated (alone) on your centenary with good measure. Everyone was talking about you, including the folks at Ghanablogging.com . How did you spend the day? Reflect on your regrets and achievements. Kwame, I find myself regretting way too much in my life these days. If it will make me grow old quicker than I want, please warn me. I am already worried about my age, but let's leave that for another day. What I want to know is, were you a little lucky to be born in 1909? In essence, were you a little lucky to be Ghana's first president instead of its 4th? Is there a little luck involved in creating and leaving a legacy? I will like to argue so. I am really enjoying m...

Today is the 100th birthday of Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. He's being honoured in Ghana with September 21 instituted as Founder's Day, a national holiday. Many people travelled to Ghana to celebrate his centenary. I wanted to take this opportunity to honour Ghana's founding father and remember him once again. I don't really have much to say about Nkrumah today, but I will talk about him later on. So I'll use this blog to recap a bunch of recent Nkrumah related blog posts. Concerning the Founder's Day debate, I blogged about it here through one of my pseudonyms, Maximus Ojah. Read about it here . In fact, if you've heard of the Lettas to Osagyefo, I am the one who writes them. Yes. You can see the whole bunch here . GhanaBlogging.com has an Nkrumah theme so a lot of Ghanaians have been talking about Osagyefo. My friend, Edward Tagoe has been blogging a bit about Nkrumah recently. He mentions moving Nkrumah's remains from the Mausoleum to Nkroful . It will...

My alter ego, Maximus Ojah, has a few things to offer in the Founder's Day debate as he writes to the man at the centre of all the attention. Felicitations Osagyefo, The last time I wrote to you, your daughter, Samia, had become a Member of Parliament. Now, she is in the news again praising Ghana’s new president, Asomdwoe Hene Atta Mills for proposing a Founder’s Day to honour you. This national holiday would commemorate your 100th birthday, September 21, 2009 and would be a yearly affair just like Martin Luther King Day in the USA. I don’t know why this bit is not surprising, but the folks in the New Patriotic Party (NPP) have opposed this proposal and getting this legislation to pass is going to be a battle in parliament. This opposition is being branded as a feature of the “Mate me ho” folk, which dates back as far as you emerged on the scene as Ghana’s leader. The National Democratic Congress’ majority will probably chalk another democratic victory so felicitations again, Osag...

My alter ago, from GhanaThink, just wrote another letter to Osagyefo. Enjoy! Greetings Osagyefo, I hope you are doing well and getting into another gear for the festive season. As for me, I'm following Kaakyire Kwame Appiah's 24 song to the tee, I'll be going to Sikakrom to spend Christmas. Even though there is a credit crunch, I still have some money to purchase a ticket from one continent to the other and buy Christmas gifts. It's called 'saving by being chisel and hustle' . I'll be going to meet a Ghana I haven't seen in awhile, a Ghana that is gearing up for an election. That should be interesting. Ghana's election is going to a second round. The NPP and NDC would be going at it. One person who will not be going against anything is sure to be Samia Nkrumah. She's the new member of parliament for Jomoro. Osagyefo, your daughter is a wonder o! Many people didn't give her a chance to wrest the parliamentary seat from Hon. Lee Ocran, and besi...

My alter ego, Maximus Ojah (Nwia) of GhanaThink fame, wrote a letter to his buddy Osagyefo concerning the Ghana elections. Here is the letter below. Dear Osagyefo, Forgive my insubordinate self for not keeping in touch. I know my letters have become occasional but it's not because you didn't send me that stimulus package. I will change. But as you can guess, there is an occasion. Coming up in two days is the election in Ghana. Ghana will be electing a new president as Traveller John steps down after two-terms. We know for sure there will be a change in who our first citizen is. Would there be a change in what our first citizen does? The world is looking at Ghana wondering if we'll pass another test in our democracy. We'll be praying for peace and a free and fair election. Kwame, people are saying Ghanaians are too 'chill' for post-election violence in case some group of people feel there is a stolen verdict. Kenya and Zimbabwe cannot happen in Ghana they say. So...

It's been two weeks since my last post. I didn't see this silence coming when I started blogging. But what you should know is, I got stories, lots of stories. Last Thursday, I attended a meeting regarding a new NGO set-up to raise funds for students in one district in Kenya. One of the founders has been my Swahili tutor for two quarters. To show that I belonged, I started speaking the little Swahili I knew to whoever would listen. "Why are you studying Kiswahili?" This is the question other people at the meeting asked me. I responded "Marafiki zangu 'plenty' wanatoka Afrika Mashariki" which means 'a lot of my friends are from East Africa'. My Swahili tutor went on to say 'This guy is a Pan-Africanist'. That is a cool thing to hear given my love for Kwame Nkrumah, but is it really a cool description? How are Pan-Africanists seen today? People blamed Nkrumah for concentrating too much on other African countries and he eventually began ...

Another post from my alter ego - Maximus Ojah, a member of the GhanaThink community . Happy Belated Birthday Osagyefo, Kwame, some people in this world are old, but as for you, you are grown. What! 99 years! I am struggling with my quarter-life crisis and am dreading the next few years; I can't even imagine a mid-life crisis. Happy belated again sir, and may you find rest and sleep at the same side of the bed you slept on September 20th. Do find that spot again because you smiled at your fans. You must have smiled when you read the news about the national launch of your rejuvenated party's campaign for this year's election. The CPP is back, new, vibrant and attractive. Nkrumahists like us cherish your birthday like other holidays in the Ghanaian calendar. Were you called the African Showboy due to the flamboyant parties you threw for your birthday? Were you called the African Showboy because of how you lavished cedis (when they were as good as dollars) on your friends and ...