The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Me and my people we eat waakye every Wednesday. Why? Because Y has a long tail. No, we did not mean that . But we really mean to eat waakye - on Wednesday - above every other meal. We have been waging a #WaakyeWednesday campaign since since. We ushered it in. Others joined. It is a thing. I mean, we would go through wrinkles to get this done. Search for the hashtag . Corporate companies, hospitality services have all joined in. Waakye is the best selling food in the whole wide web. Okay, the whole wide world. What? It is not true. Have you seen the waakye queues anywhere? Have you seen how it gets finished a few hours after the #waakyewherehouse starts selling it? Okay, make your points as comments. But you cannot disagree that we must eat well abi ? Here's a story that captures the essence of the brand. Published on a #WaakyeWednesday of course, after a #233moments post . This story is from many moons ago.  I went to drop off a friend at Legon just before #WaakyeWednes...

"It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Have you heard that song? Christmas Eve 2024 turned out to be a day of meeting friends. On this morning, my glasses were a spectacle. They had gotten broken on the Sunday before while I was dancing . Yes, the doctors after my RTA cleared me for some side-to-side movement and common African dancing fits right into that narrative. Charles , my Partycrew buddy and our host, had helped glue the glasses after this Sunday night incident. Monday night on December 23rd of all nights, the glue gave up. Because I was going to meet one of my Presec buddies, I decided to wear a Presec Gigi that has a hoodie. Appropriate for the weather you know. As for the glasses, I figured since I would be in Washington, DC, I might find some solution somewhere.  A Museke related buddy Koby Maxwell picked me up and we headed towards Washington, DC. He is not just a musician , he is an actor , film producer , etc. You could guess the conversations whe...

I spent the weekend of August 16, 2024 with my sister's family in Amasaman. I blogged the start and the finish in this blog post . On Sunday, August 18, 2024, I followed my sister, and her husband and kids to church in my church attire. No, I was not wearing a Gigi from Wear Ghana. Her husband, Samuel, is a pastor. This is the Adonai Grace Hub Church in Amasaman.  It was great being at church. Various family members have been encouraging me to go to church more, especially the women. I'm a Catholic. I am a registered member of the Christ The King Parish in Accra, though I do not go as much. St John the Evangelist Catholic Church is close to where I live in Accra, and this is where my first son, Ebo, and many of his cousins were baptised. On this particular Sunday at the Adonai Grace Hub , we talked about faith, hope and love. We must share testimonies about great moments, and the few low moments and making sure there are many more great moments to come. The first reading was ...

On Friday, August 16, 2024 , I went to drop off a family friend, Sheila , at her place in Dansoman after having dinner in Osu. She did her Masters' degree in India (a country I would love to visit). She told me a lot about India which was consistent with what I have heard. She also mentioned how Christians were a minority there ( Hello Captain Obvious ) and how she engaged in her religion while in India. This blog post is about what happened after I dropped her off, it is about religion. My religion is  Christianity . 😇It's the most popular religion in Ghana , where I am from, was bred, live and care a lot about. While trying to navigate from Dansoman to go visit my sister's family in Amasaman, I decided to give some free rides like I normally do. I stopped at a bus stop somehwere in DC, mind you, I do not know Dansoman well, at all! I spoke to 2 ladies and a guy who seemed to be waiting for a trotro and asked them where they are going and if I could give them a ride. I t...

Ahead of March 6th , I told my wife Tracy that I was going to an event which was about Karaoke, Sip, & Paint . I mentioned that I was not as keen about the painting, but the karaoke? Count me there. Sipping is just a bonus. Babe said that why would you go to a painting thing and not paint ? She's a painter. Literally in more than one way and figuratively too. She's painted some pieces, and she can draw well to boot. I have always wanted to go with her to some of the painting things, whether at the Republic Bar, Eleven15 , anywhere we can access. Ghana's Independence Day Holiday brought an opportunity for me and I took it. Today is March 23 , as in 23-3 , which has 233 in it. I took another opportunity to expand the painting, especially of a Ghana map on Ghana's birthday . The venue was in Labone - the Brown Sugar Lounge . I arrived at Brown Sugar Lounge and sought out  Efe Keyz . She's a  musician , an entrepreneur running El's Foods Ghana and an  AccraKon...

March 6 is a very important date for me . I think you know why. March 23 is also very important. You might not know why. It's not because it is the date I am writing this blog post . It is because it is 23-3 , the date. You get it now? 233. #233moments . This is the date within #HeritageMonth that I chose to write about what I did on the date for which March is also called #GhanaMonth . I had a memorable day.  I wanted to go for the #HeritageCaravan this year. But even though I carved out the time; time, chance, expenses, responsibilities happened to it. I remember how I shouted "No, No, No" when I heard on the Citi Breakfast Show one morning in January that it was sold out. I'd come back to that in another blog post. I spent the first weekend in March in Elmina due to family engagements, great way to start the month actually. I kept wondering what I would do for Ghana's birthday . I was not going to attend the parade, I listed many reasons around that in an...

Last month, I flew to Abuja for the first time. I'd always wanted to visit Abuja to see what a 'planned city' in Africa looked like. When I knew that the +World Economic Forum  event in Africa for 2014 would be held in Abuja, Nigeria, I knew this was my chance to visit the Nigerian capital. As the time for SHAPE Africa drew closer, I was wary that I might not attend because of the attendant flight costs.  +Arik Air  came to save the day, pretty much. Details about that would come in a later post. Arik Air things :-) Guess which pc I'm posting this from? The #Arik AIr desktop computer @ Kotoka airport. The employees are so nice. Go, #Arik , go! #flyarikair — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) May 3, 2014 We all have bad customer service days. The same can't be said of May 3, 2014 with the  +Arik Air  employees at the Kotoka airport. First, I got to use their PC to share my excitement at finally flying to Abuja. I was flying with fellow +Global Shapers Accra ...

While doing some inventory checking for Shoprite items, I imagined that I'd be recording many less Made-in-Ghana goods that were not edible. We're an agri-based economy and though we produce a relatively small number of value added foods, we produce even less products that don't contribute to our daily diets. Read the following tweets capturing the non-edible things :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Butsoft toilet tissue. Otherwise known as toilet roll. Saved face. Made in #Accra somewhere. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : #Worldcup dey come. The Ghana branded ball is not made in #Ghana . I 4 talk. It's made in the #UK . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Geisha soap. By unilever. Aloe vera and things. #Shoprite should stock cool #Ghana made #sheabutter soaps. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : the world cup has come....

This is another one. Just like the other one. :-) Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Ideal. Carnation. Why, u don't use these @ home in #Ghana anymore? Them dey o. Staying power thx 2 Nestle. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Evaporated Ideal milk is on sale! #Shoprite - proudly supporting Ghanaian products. pic.twitter.com/1jYoNb3T7E — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Two thousand finest sugar. By Two thousand Ltd, hall avenue st. 2000 house. #Adabraka . Lonely ...

Earlier today, I was in  Osu  on  Oxford Street  after running a number of errands. I had some time to burn and my phone was off. So I decided to go to the Oxford Street mall. I'd never entered it before. When I got to the  Shoprite , I had an idea. I'm going to check for as many times that are made in Ghana and sold here. Revelations. Read the following tweets  capturing the some of the edible things  :-) #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : The music they are playing in the #Shoprite supermarket. Amakye Dede type stuff. DJ must be from #Sunyani . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : #Voltic . V for vim. Seriously, it's really good that Voltic is produced in #Ghana . #CocaCola dey force. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7, 2014 #MadeinGhanagoodsshopritesells : Tom tom & Hacks. Oh wait, these ones sold at #Shoprite at #Osu are produced in #Nigeria . But why? — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 7,...

I went to drop off a friend at   Legon   just before   #WaakyeWednesday   came to a close. When I was leaving for the house, and got to the   Okponglo   traffic light, something caught my attention. It made me and the   vim ride   stop. A taxi driver had stopped right at the junction and obviously needed help. Like many   good Samaritans , I   volunteered   to help him and asked what the issue was. He couldn't spark the car to get out. I've had this issue many times and knew exactly what to do to help him.  I parked the car right in front of his, both rides making up a 90 degree angle. I got my jumper cables out of the trunk, err boot. I opened up the car bonnet and proceeded to ensure that I was identifying the positive and negative terminals for the car battery for the   umpteenth time . I connected the positive terminal from mine to his but we couldn't get the other cable to the respective negative terminals. I got...