The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

I am a huge fan of volunteering and naturally I also like sharing about it, and discussing it with others. Whether it is through a Barcamp , a mentorship session, or a community cleanup, the act of giving one’s time is the ultimate currency of social impact . On Thursday, 5th February 2026 , I had the pleasure of joining a group of dedicated individuals for the first edition of the LittleBigSouls Volunteer Circle . At the top of the hour—7:00 PM—we gathered on Zoom to discuss what it means to "volunteer for good". LittleBigSouls is an organization doing incredible work as a charity for premature babies, and their new Volunteer Circle is designed to be a learning and connection space for volunteers to grow, reflect, and serve with intention. I invited GhanaThink members and various volunteers for our local teams and they also joined in their numbers. Here is a breakdown of what we discussed and some of the practical insights I’ve gathered from years in the social impact sp...

Ever since the year 2003, I have  seen  people say I would be the president of Ghana . They must have seen something in me . Some have been saying #Ato4President  for a long time . But that's not the point of this post so we won't get into that. I would rather have people say I am (not I would be) a great leader . I don't think I am a really great leader ( which is what we need to see ) but I am trying and would love to be known as one of the best leaders of all time . The same way Alex Ferguson is one of the greatest managers of all time. Beyonce is one of the greatest singers of all time. Tim Duncan is one of the best basketball players of all time. Oprah is one of the greatest entrepreneurs of all time. The late  Nelson Mandela is one of the greatest leaders of all time. Catch my drift? I have blogged about (my) leading into leadership at KNUST-JSS , Presec , Syracuse ,  MIT , etc. Where am I today? Let's see. One fine day in ...

In May 2018, the  GhanaThink Foundation  ( of which I lead )  organized 10 forums on solving unemployment in Ghana , one in each regional capital. May 1st is May Day and we have since crowned May as the workers' month. These events were called Jobcamps and were funded by STAR-Ghana . We had several great discussions about unemployment, underemployment, gainful employment and entrepreneurship in  Accra ,   Koforidua ,  HoCity ,  Kumasi ,  Sunyani ,  Wa ,  Tamale ,  Bolgatanga ,  Cape Coast  and  Takoradi . A lot of the discussions were on certificates. Such discussions have also occurred in Whatsapp groups, which have become extremely popular in Ghana and in Africa - and where I think Google & Facebook groups should get to so far as discussions. I share some of my major thoughts below. We at  GhanaThink  have had several instances where Ghanaian youth have told us they would not come to our Barc...

When I first heard about BarCamp from my GhanaThink buddy, I was apprehensive. What is this BarCamp that I have never heard of before? I still don’t know why it’s called BarCamp, even after helping organize BarCamp Ghana. What I do know is is that the concept of a BarCamp is excellent. It has almost everything I want in a gathering of minds, hands and people. BarCamp Ghana 08 came off yesterday, December 22nd at the Kofi Annan Center of Excellence for ICT – AITI. Ever since I arrived in Ghana on Tuesday the 16th, I’ve had many ideas of a blog and subject matters to write about, but the excitement that is BarCamp generated for me trumps all. My first real experience with BarCamps was BarCamp Africa. It was organized by a group of people, mostly non-African who were passionate about or had some interests in Africa. Google sponsored the BarCamp, giving us a whole building for free – an auditorium, a kitchen/bar with free food all day (yay!) and more than 10 rooms all with internet, power,...

I've been wanting to write a poem recently. I have a lot to say but I can't seem to bring myself to write it and write it well. After my 'A call to make a difference' poem, I have written about 3 poems, 1 of which I can't even find. 'A call to make a difference' was so good that every time I write a new poem, if I can't outdo it, I give it up and stop writing. This thanksgiving trip I took was my make or break time for writing a new poem so I tried. I tried so hard. I came up with something. While on the train to Rhode Island from Massachusetts, I was thinking. I was thinking about how I am just one person. You know how we sometimes wish we have more hours in a day? Imagine if we were 'two or three' people. 'We' could do more in a day for 'ourselves' and have a few more hands to do plenty things. I was thinking about how I was just one person, with just one vote, one voice, and one vociferous message. Because you are not me, you d...

Whew! I almost missed my flight back to the Bay after a jolly good weekend in the surrounding areas of LA. Well, I didn't go to Universal Studios like I always wanted to, to try and get a cameo in the next big movie, but I went partying in Hollywood. The other big pieces of news other than my trip to Tinseltown is news of Hurricane Gustav (I thought all hurricanes had female names?), transfer deadlines in Europe, and the national political party conventions in the US. Needless to say, Obama has been on my mind lately. I really like Barack Obama. He's a breath of fresh air, he's the kind of leader I adore. He is inspirational, he gives great speeches (would be nice if he threw in a couple of Latin quotes once in awhile), he is young and ambitious, he is a writer, he craves change for the better and he seems concerned about the average Joe and Joana. When I grow up, I want to be like Obama. Totally. We all know he's black (like me) but he also has an African father. As if...