The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I met Kwame Nsiah-Apau and interviewed him in 2008. I came away very impressed. He was working towards his Bachelor's Degree at KNUST. Really smart dude. Time has proven that he is a really smart dude. Growing up in Ghana, we say the smartest folks become the doctors. He calls himself the Rap Doctor.  He helped popularize Wear Ghana and has become one of our best #MadeInGhana ambassadors. More on this later.  He and Okyeame Quophi helped popularize hiplife through Akyeame, one of the first great duos. His successful solo career took hiplife to another level. Mesan Aba is one of my all-time favorites, and his rap on this track is legendary. Word play be what. However, we're talking about his solo hits . He called himself the best rapper alive. I started this series with Obrafour and ended with Okyeame Kwame, it's apt - they have some small history together. I think Okyeame Kwame challenges him for best Ghanaian lyricist ever . Let's listen to the music. Woso (2009) T...

Kumasi was naturally the next city to have a Barcamp after the ones in Accra. In 2010, the first +Barcamp Kumasi  happened at KNUST. This Saturday will be the 6th +Barcamp Kumasi , and the 52nd +Barcamp Ghana  event. I'll be there. Kumasi is where I was bred, and where my parents still live. All these years in trying to build a network of changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs in Kumasi, we've been too limited to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology community. As past Barcampers have left Tech and stayed in Kumasi and through the few #KumasiKonnect events pioneered by our own +GhanaThink Foundation , there is a growing inclusion. I pray for the huge number of first time Barcampers this Saturday, with many of them being Kumasi based but not part of the KNUST community. So help us God :-) The team is led by the indefatigable +sampson deklu  who is mostly in Ho these days and co-emceed +Barcamp Ho . In fact, he's the first repeat #bcksi coordinator ...

Many a times people have told me that I am very friendly and helpful. It lends well to a lot of the work that I do with the  +GhanaThink Foundation  etc. Someone said I have the heart of a mother. If I do, you might imagine how great my mother is. She is :-) Her greatness lends itself well to hosting people . She's hosted many people in our house growing up. And for the last few years, she has a guest house where she hosts more people. If you're looking for a place to stay in Kumasi , a guest house for one, two, three nights, a week, two weeks - look no further than Higgins Memorial Lodge . It's affectionately called Higgins Homes . You can book your stay there by contacting me -  @Abocco or on gmail as well with the same username. Higgins is a great place to stay. You can ask  +kofi yeboah  who stayed there for more than a week.  +Yayra Tay  stayed there with a couple of friends for some time. My brother  +Kofi Ulzen-Appiah  can also ...

Wow, so this is going to be the 5th +Barcamp Kumasi ! I missed the first one though in 2010, when +Nana Kwabena Owusu   +Teresa Lemaire   +Kwamena Appiah-Kubi   +Kofi Ulzen-Appiah   +Carl Nutsugah  and co were premiering it. We've come far. It's sad Eli Aidam won't be here with us for this event - the Ho & Volta region champion I've known - he passed away earlier this year in Kumasi. We'll have a minute of silence for him. He's a hero, like the many others we'll be celebrating this Saturday at +Barcamp Kumasi . Register and join us for Barcamp Kumasi at the College of Science Auditorium at KNUST on November 1st. This follows two Kumasi Konnect events. The organizing team behind that +kofi yeboah   +priscilla sarfo-frimpong   +Rasheeda Yehuza   +Prince Boadu   +joseph osei  have been joined the ringleader +sampson deklu   +Watson Bedzrah  and co. Kumasi is buzzing as a result of many +GhanaThink Foundation  led i...

The Kumasi Konnect initiative is growing. When we first promoted it, a gentleman called  +joseph osei  emailed us saying - "My name is joseph, i work with Ultimate Radio, and I will like to be involve in the Kumasi Konnect initiative". I knew of Joseph, because I had seen him email the  +BloggingGhana  mailing list and knew he lived in Kumasi. I was really happy that he approached us about getting involved in  #KumasiKonnect . I knew what exactly we wanted him to do, since he was with Ultimate Radio and was a blogger he'd help us with marketing. After finally reaching him via Twitter , the team asked him to recap the first event. He came back with a post that talked about the first event which featured Frank Boateng and the second (upcoming event) featuring Valerie Okudzeto . Foresight. Get tickets for  tickets for this one at Ego Tickets . Below is the press release he wrote and circulated amongst many websites (albeit edited a bit). I love Joseph's...

Sometime last year,  +kofi yeboah  had an idea for a monthly meetup. He had returned from Kenya where he attended the Amani Institute and was brimming with ideas. I admired Kofi, he reminded me of myself when I was younger. To a great extent, that's probably only because he is younger than me. I've known him since  +Barcamp Cape Coast  2011 and he's grown into being more awesome, aspirational and inspirational. I wasn't surprised when he sought to organize a monthly event for social entrepreneurs in Accra. Today, that idea has given birth to Kumasi Konnect and a lot more like it are about to follow. Watch this space. Kofi ended up moving to Kumasi late last year to start his national service with  +Clean Team Ghana . Today, he's traveling to Singapore to represent Clean Team at the BOP Convention Expo. I've heard many great things about Singapore from friends like  +Curtis Vanderpuije  and I know Kofi will come back and share a lot of great exper...

I'd never heard of Armed Forces Senior High School (SHS) in Kumasi until  +Christian Junior Worgbah  announced that they had accepted to host a  +Junior Camp Ghana  event. It's not the school we expected to debut  +GhanaThink Foundation 's career guidance series for senior high schools at. But that's just how the cookie crumbles sometimes. As I blogged earlier, June is Junior Camp Ghana month. Armesco, as the school, is affectionately called, hosted the first Junior Camp event at an SHS in Ghana this year. Dumasua JHS had the first #jcghana event this year, albeit at a junior high school, following on from what happened at  +Barcamp Sunyani  last year. Junior Camp Armesco happened last Saturday, June 7. The first Junior Camp was held on January 30, 2013 at  +Keta Senior High Technical School  with the support of the  +Barcamp Ho  team. The second happened on July 13, 2013 at Kalpohin Senior High School with the involvemen...

There were some submissions from that +Barcamp Kumasi  breakout session on September 28, 2013 that lend itself to a culture conversation. Kumasi, as many will tell you, is the cultural capital of Ghana. Before you come argue tribes with me, Twi is the most widely spoken language in Ghana. Go to a place in Ghana which has a non-Akan tribe settled there and the residents are more likely to speak Twi than English. But back to the cultural conversation as I got side tracked for a minute. I'd recount some of the submissions from that #bcksi (Barcamp Kumasi) session in this blog post. One participant,  +Kwabena agyare yeboah  suggested we create a Wordpress website on Akan mythology. This is important in documenting the history of Kumasi. Kumasi may be losing its ' Garden city ' moniker but its spirit and culture remains authentic. It's the cultural capital of Ghana. As it develops, this authenticity must be maintained to give Kumasi an edge and keep it in the spotli...

I was looking through some papers hiding in different places in my house the other day and came across one with some scribbles I could clearly remember. It was from September 28, 2013 at a  +Barcamp Kumasi  breakout session on ... yeah, you guessed it, Kumasi . Today, I saw a news story announcing that the Asantehene (15 years on the throne and going strong) had cut the sod for work to commence on West Africa's biggest mall, to be built in Kumasi. We've heard this before. But we hope this one will come through. I'd recount some of the submissions from that #bcksi ( Barcamp Kumasi ) session in this blog post. We discussed the Kumasi Children's Park. Lady Julia, Asantehene's queen , had tried to revive it. She's rather forward-thinking, she partnered with a Google led initiative to work on an IT academy. Kumasi needs playground for its children. Those greens have to be maintained. Interestingly, +Kuukuwa Manful , fresh from leading a group of people to build ...