The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Research who has shown that those who volunteer live longer. Volunteering is important because it is a low barrier entry into leadership and shows a great demonstration of what people can do. It also puts smiles on the faces of many and joy in the heart of many others. A lot of companies are organizing volunteer activities as part of the corporate social responsibility. Here is the volunteer activities in Ghana calendar. This calendar would list as many volunteer activities that you can participate in. The calendar would also be hosted on calendar.ghanathink.org. Expect to see multiple volunteer activities and events there. Of course, the date to circle in this calendar is September 20-22, a stretch of days around September 21st which is National Volunteer Day, which falls on Founder's Day. The concept was born last year and proved successful. There were over 40 activities for National Volunteer Day last year , with over 300 volunteers participating. Their work directly benef...

People normally say that there are not a lot of positive or educational programs on television and radio in Ghana. We clamor for more of such programs and shows to change mindsets in Ghana for the better and equip people with information and skills to do more and better. Well, there are a few of these programs and they are gaining in stature. The  +GhanaThink Foundation  seeks to ensure that people are aware of all these programs, no matter where in Ghana they can be accessed. I'd like to single out a few programs. The  +Mpwr  show on +Y1079FM  run by  +Emmanuel A. Gamor  &  +Amma Aboagye  is a signature show so far as this calendar is concerned. The show highlights many young Ghanaians who are doing great things in Ghana and is building a collective audience that is inspired and motivated. I've been on the show a couple of times to promote  +Barcamp Tema  &  +Barcamp Accra . Many other things I am involved in, ...

I see a lot of events happening around Ghana, shared via my network. The  +GhanaThink Foundation  seeks to ensure that people are aware of all the great things happening in Ghana, especially with youth and around the broad areas of entrepreneurship, leadership and technology. Our Online team is working on particular calendars to meet the needs of various people in our communities. While we wait to get this up online at calendar.ghanathink.org, I'd like to present them one by one on my blog. Starting with the re-worked Calendar of forward-thinking events & things happening in Ghana (mostly Accra) . This calendar would have +Barcamp Ghana  events,  +Junior Camp Ghana  events, various workshops and motivational events, TEDxs, etc. There are even +Barcamp Ghana  events going to be run by non-  +GhanaThink Foundation  team members. This year has seen the launch of the Accra Discourse by the  +Global Shapers Accra  of which I am ...

While getting breakfast at the Best Western Island Hotel this morning in Lagos, a guy called my name and called me over. He was wearing suit with 2 other guys also wearing suits. The face looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I knew him from. Then he mentioned "Barcamp!" Anthony Fesu. Oh yeah, you are  +David Nikoi 's friend from Ecobank. " E-Process ", he said.  I remembered that he mentored at  Barcamp Sunyani  2013. Anthony was in Sunyani then attending the anniversary for Catholic University College in Fiapre. He's part of the class of 2006 and an alumni like +Kofi Kafui Kornu  &  +Yaw Adu-Gyamfi . He'd been invited to +Barcamp Sunyani  as a speed mentor. told his Ecobank colleagues, "you need to know this guy, he's doing an awesome job". He gets people to mentor others. His colleagues were impressed. Anthony went on. " There were a lot of junior high school students there". We had over 70 students from Du...

Many thanks for all the support you have all given my blog over the years, especially last year. I set a goal to write 233 blog posts and I met it , even though it was extremely hard.  I have set the same goal for myself this year and though I am behind schedule I shall meet it again. I hope you enjoy the ride, get inspired, learn a few things, have a number of laughs and become an avid reader, and commenter, and sharer :-) I have been nominated for the Blogging and Social Media Awards organized by  +BloggingGhana . This is happening as part of their +BlogCamp Ghana  event. I am nominated for best male blogger - (Ato Ulzen-Appiah), best blog (mightyafrican.blogspot.com + +Mighty African ) and best Google+ profile (+AtoUlzenAppiah).  Kindly go to  www.blogcampghana.com/voting/  and vote massively for me to win. It's a fairly easy process to do so.  It's interesting to see how I have almost 3 times the number of followers on Google+ as on Twitte...

I don't know much about Northern Ireland. I do know that they have their own 'national' football team that's not really good and they've not been to the World Cup before. That said, why do they have their own national football team? Because the British invented soccer. It's true. As in, that's the reason . Anyway, Northern Ireland could have benefited from playing from a British soccer team cos I don't see them going to the World Cup anytime soon. It is the home of George Best and also where the great Jonny Evans who plays for  +Manchester United  hails from. I expected Northern Ireland to be crazy about football but it was not really meant to be. Every country should have  #Supersport . Including Northern Ireland. And then  #ESPN  because of the  #NBA .  #sportsfanspeaking . — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco)  February 19, 2014 I am a huge fan of sports, especially watching, and studying soccer aka football and basketball.  +SuperSport ...

While in Belfast last month, I stayed at the Europa Hotel. When the taxi driver was dropping off my boss Ehi and I at the hotel from the airport, he said "this hotel is the second most-bombed in the whole world". It didn't look it. The hotel was a little expensive though and I was going to have to cough up a little extra to stay there 3 nights. So I decided that after the 2nd night, I'd check out and find a cheaper place to stay. Enter +Airbnb  aka Air Bed & Breakfast. I went to airbnb.com and started looking for a place for a night in Belfast. Knew friends who'd used the service, nothing to be scared off. It would give me a story to tell anyway :-) Why does  @Airbnb  take your money before verifying your ID? This verifying your ID can take a lot of time too. Sigh. Not cool.  #airbnb — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco)  February 21, 2014 Okay, this scared me. I knew I had to pay for the accommodation, thank you GT Bank Visa Card. But I didn't think that I...