The Vim Views & Versions - Blogs of a MIghTy African

Ever since we started organizing our +Barcamp Ghana  events, I've wanted the numbers of women attending these events to increase. We started with a huge tech focus, the theme for the first event was "The Business and Tech Renaissance". We had only 2 female resource personnel - +Estelle Akofio-Sowah  who was with Busy Internet at the time and  +Esi Cleland-Yankson  of Afrochic. I believe tech and forward-thinking events held with a focus on women are really important in increasing the network and net work of both interlocking communities. Enter the  First Pan-African Women in Tech Meetup .  It's happening on Wednesday August 2. Some of my friends are involved as organizers or speakers - all awesome young women - +Ethel Cofie   +Enyo Kumahor   +Ella Ethel Mbewe   +Chisenga Muyoya  and  +Barbara Birungi  who I am still yet to meet. Check out this VimTechList post on  #VimTechList: 11 young female African technology leader...

Director at the GhanaThink Foundation which mobilizes and organizes talent for the primary benefit of Ghana. #AskAto pic.twitter.com/yXSLI4zhh6 — Vodafone Ghana (@VodafoneGhana) July 15, 2014 My friend +Ivy Enyo Nam  had approached me about being featured in a series that Vodafone Ghana was going to undertake. The working title was #PowerfulPeople. This is the message I received from them - Based your influence within the Ghanaian community on Twitter. We will like to officially invite you to interact with the Vodafone Ghana social media platforms (especially twitter) under the topic “ Using Social Media for Good” . This happened on Tuesday 15 th  July, 2014. It was to be between 12pm-1pm,  a Q&A session on Twitter with hashtag #AskAto . It was hoped that I would answer all questions directed at teaching Vodafone's followers, amongst others how to use social media more effectively. Well, 1 hour turned out into much more. I had so many question...

From a very reliable source, I hear the Black Stars haven't left Brazil yet. They are back to their base in Maceió in the north east of Brazil where they are based. However, I have some sound advice for each of our Black Stars as well as Kwasi Appiah. Since we're not a serious people & we like joking, I am joining just for today. Hashtag is #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil. If you have more, join in the fun. #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Sulley Ali Muntari @MuntariOfficial is staying to give money out to the poor in #Brazil . Alms giving. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil Jordan Ayew is posing for TV commercials in #Brazil about his 'balls', since Ghanaians are endowed. — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 27, 2014 #BlackStarsReasonsForStayingInBrazil André Ayew Pelé @AyewAndre is doing a pilgrimage to the original Pele's home with his father in #Brazil — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) Ju...

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 ...

Today wasn't a regular Monday. I was extra pumped as the work week started. Maybe it was because the  +Junior Camp Ghana  team had just another event and though I wasn't present, it was successful. I was telling a few respected and famous people in Ghana, how proud I was of the team that executed Junior Camp Armesco. After my conversation with these respected persons at the +Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel Accra , I waited around the hotel to charge my phone. I thought about a number of things, some of which I tell people a lot. There, I reflected on the conversation we'd had and I took to Twitter to post We should be people who are patriotic, passionate, proactive, positive, progressive and productive. #Ghana needs it. #Morevim — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 9, 2014 How do I find all the time to do all the things I do? Two answers- Technology. Teamwork. #mightyafrican — Ato Ulzen-Appiah (@Abocco) June 9, 2014 It's something inside so strong that drives...