Dusting off the new house with stories of its own

So after a story like this last one, I had to move it fast, chale! It's happened, as of Easter this year. For the first time in my life, I have an address I own (if even for two years). My home will always be Kumasi, there's just something about it that Accra doesn't quite have for me, but my house is now officially in Accra. See me in chambers (like Ghanaians say, I have no idea where the phrase came from) to know where the address is. Since this is a monumental thing (moving into my own home), there had to be some story and drama behind it. I finally have three distinct ones to share so here's the blog entry.

Because I am care-free, I am sometimes careless. "I don't care" just started playing in my head. Before I could actually spend a night in the house, I actually managed to lose the key (at the airport no less). But because I am such a lucky person, I found it after a day. I had gone to buy a ticket for a local flight to Kumasi to spend the Easter weekend with my family (as in parents & siblings, not the one yet to come). I had just collected the key for the house shortly earlier that day and because of my excitement or naivety, I kept the key on one of my fingers (not the middle one) and was spinning it around endlessly. So after buying that (name of airline withheld- no advertisement for them) flight ticket and ending up at my work desk, I realized the key was not in my pocket. I don't even remember why I was looking for it then. The key was not on my desk, in the restroom, in my bag, or in the car. But I never freak out so I kept on acting like nothing serious had happened.

It struck me that I might have left it at the airport, courtesy a stone thrown by my buddy Ali. I googled to find contact info and started calling the airline, Kotoka airport but they had closed from work just like me. I went home to my aunt's and spent zero time hatching a plan to find the key. And then the next morning, bullish old me went to where I was storing my shipped "life earnings goodies", picked them up and proceeded to go drop them in my new home which has a lost key. Because I would pass by the airport, take the bull by the horns and find it. If for some one reason, I didn't, I will bulldoze through the house's front door and life will go on. Or the whole wall as seen below :-)

I arrived at Kotoka, walked straight to counter for the undisclosed airline and asked if they have a "lost-and-found key. 2 of the 3 ladies at the counter the previous day were there, when they said they had no idea, I asked them to call the 3rd one. I proceeded to ask some of the workers who look like they are generally helpful with luggage and upkeep of the area if they knew about the key. They didn't, and directed me to the lost-&-found folks. Nothing had been logged recently that screamed "bunch of keys". It was then that I asked them to make an announcement and decided to ask everyone who works in that area about the key. I asked those at the baggage check-in, and asked them to call their colleageus who were working the previous day too. That helped. Someone had seen the keys the day before but they weren't sure who they were given to. Upon recommendation, they asked me to ask the counter people. The keys were with a competing airline's counter people. That airline is Antrak Air! Yeah, they deserve some publicity ;-)

Because I love food so much, the first purchases for my party furnished home had to be the food-related ones. After doing plenty window & store shopping, I settled on some random store near MENLEO entreprises near the Makola area. Never mind that at least 2.33 days passed before either was used. I transported the items using a taxi (yeah, imagine). While we were on our way, this taxi managed to 'short' fuel on the Kanda Highway. I've been back in Ghana since August 17, 2011 and I never was in a taxi that couldn't move because of fuel. If it did, I'll count my losses, have the driver sort me out and I'll go get another taxi. The one time it happened, I had a fridge, cooker, microwave, gas cylinder and other things I'd bought in the taxi. I could go nowhere. I had to wait for the driver to walk, go buy petrol, come work some magic and then I can move. The waiting took more than 23.3 minutes. I had him drop me and my goods at my aunt's after which I used another means of transport to get my boughtments home. And then populated my kitchen like this :-)

Because 3 is my favorite number, here's a 3rd story. I have a separate meter from my landlords (yes, they live in my compound). You should always have a separate meter, or else you will pay some electricity bills you can't fathom. I was thought to use the pre-paid electrometer but I didn't follow the thing by the book. So, on a fateful Africa Day in May, my electricity run out and buying more "credit" wasn't solving the problem. What made it worse was I was going to travel to Kumasi that day to spend another long weekend with my fam. I went to the ECG (yea, those guys) office in Legon, visualized the problem and was handed a solution. It didn't work. I called them to come over which took another while. When they did come, the problem befuddled them as their concoctions didn't work even after the first guy called for support. They left to go get some "mastercard" and then their juju worked. This was great, except it was past 4pm then. So I stayed at home (with light, thank God) and left at dawn for Kumasi. Leaving my place like this below ;-)

There shall be more stories like this. Just because. I will share some. Just because. Just because I'll be in this house and this experience is new. Not all stories can be shared and don't come spy around looking for some. I have security :-)

My Kenyan alter-ego

Ever since I went to Kenya for the first time, I have been imagining what my Kenyan alter-ego would be like. I have many Kenyan friends, most of which I met in the USA. I actually have more Kenyan friends who've returned to Kenya after sojourns abroad than for all other African countries. Like one friend said, "As for Kenyans, we move back". "I'm coming home, narudi nyumbani". So after Ayooluwaato Eze from Nigeria and Richard Nshuti Mayanja from Uganda, I introduce to you all David Ochieng Mwangi.

Yes, you heard it right. What a strange set of names? Kweli. Lakini kuona. My father is from the biggest tribe in Kenya, the Kikuyu. During my time abroad, most of the Kenyans I met were Kikuyu too. We're a proud people but you will always see us speak Sheng to feel as Kenyan as possible (instead of Kikuyu). Mwangi is a popular name you say. Yes, I am related to every popular Kenyan Mwangi you might know. We run deep mabibi na mabwana.

My mother is Luo. My father didn't mean to "raile" up any Kikuyu family members by marrying a "Luya", he wanted Umoja. I inherited my "umbwogable" nature from her. The violence after the Kenyan election was a trying time for our families but the aftermath and the unity goverment was a joyful time for us as well. But enough with that, because my parents did the impossible, they gave me a first name they thought summed up the possibility of doing the impossible, David. Yeah, remember Goliath. I have some bullish attitude that says I can do anything, and my Kenyan people share that on various levels.

Because I haven't lived in Kenya for most of my life, my Swahili is not that great and my Sheng is almost non-existent. I might be one of 254 young Kenyans whose Swahili is better than his Sheng. If you are like me, you need to spend more time in Nairobi and Mombasa.

I can't speak Swahili that well because my father is a diplomat and I didn't stay in East Africa too long to learn the language. If you are asking about my Luo, you are too demanding. You're talking like I lived in Kenya and Nakumatt sells Kenyan language "teach-yourself" packs. Or do they?

The only school I attended in Kenya was GreenSteds International School, before my father's travels sent me to Tanzania, South Africa, and Ghana. All these places had varying levels of Kenyans but my time in the US saw the most Kenyan engagement for me. I remember those "nyama choma" gatherings, the pombe competitions, and the marathon watching parties. My college tried to get me to run long-distance for them. I didn't want to embarass my people. The college authorities didn't seem to understand that these "runners" were busy earning "shillings" all over the world and were not trotting near any American tertiary institutions.

But yea, you also know we do love our Tusker. It's lovely to see how far Tusker has traveled, it stands as the official African beer in the Diaspora. We've taken our drinking prowess everywhere. I'm surprised we don't have as many Kenyans in Ireland and Germany. Maybe they deny the beer-drinking competition visas ;-) Don't see us as drunkards at all because we can get pretty serious. Learn about things like Kuweni Serious where #KenyaDecides to show love for the nation. We love supporting Kenyan business. If This Country Burns, We Burn With It.

Nairobi (when it's not Nairobbery) is surely the best African city to visit. Yes, because you can see antelopes running near hotels. But that's not why I want you to "safiri hapa". Safaris and game parks are nice, but the social scene in Nairobicity is great. "Huku Nairobi, we like to party". If you are a carnivore, you will love Kenya. We have "game" meat of various kinds, you are sure to taste some meat you never got in your country. Yet still, vegetarians can still find a Harambe home in my country since it is home to many tourists and mzungus from all walks of life.

There is also so much ingenuity in Kenyan people. Nairobi is Africa's innovation capital. There are always stories of new inventions, innovations and ingenuity. Why trouble about never taking Kenya Airways when we can build planes in our front yards? Our youth redefine "African electronics". You might have heard how cows are especially important in Kenyan culture, so tracking them with mobile phones is a service that's extremely important. Stories such as this make the iHub in Nairobi a very important tourist destination if you love technology and innovation. Kenya is full of tech people, so it's no surprise I am a computer programmer. :-)

if (location is Kenya)
{
person.say("Ninaitwa David Ochieng Mwangi!");
}
else
{
person.say("Mimi, ni Ato");
}

So next time you meet David Ochieng Mwangi, that will be me. And I'm not on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+. I normally use some other guy's profile to stalk all the pretty Kenyan (and Somalian) girls from time to time. Kenyan ladies rock my socks. You can catch always me here on this blog. Kenyans move back like quoted here, so "I'm coming home, home where I belong" like the musician who will remain Nameless sang.

Participate in Barcamp Sunyani happening April 21 #bcsyi #bcsunyani

I have been to Sunyani maybe two times in my life. The first time I went there, I fell in love with it. It looked so green, fertile, clean, peaceful and welcoming. Since I like to dream, especially about Ghana, I have some big plans. Sunyani factors very much into that. For me, I hope this weekend starts the process of starting to realize that dream. Don't sleep on Sunyani. If you are there or know someone who is, get them to come to Barcamp Sunyani on Saturday. More about Sunyani to come.

BarCamp Sunyani 2012 is a FREE networking event to bring people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue about Sunyani, Ghana and beyond. It hopes to assemble Brong-Ahafo Regional stakeholders to network, build a supportive entreprising community and partner. BarCamp Sunyani 2012 will take place on April 21, 2012 at the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology on the KNUST Sunyani Campus. The working theme is "Harnessing our potentials and resources to cultivate positive change in our community".

Through 13 BarCamps in Ghana (Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tamale, Ho), Barcamp Ghana has brought together over 2000 young changemakers, doers and entrepreneurs. Barcamp Ghana is a project being run by the GhanaThink Foundation, an NGO based both in Ghana and the USA. The events have showcased Ghanaian ingenuity and networked people interested in Ghana to continue creating business and content.

Barcamp Sunyani 2012 will be organized in conjunction with local groups in Sunyani. By partnering with these groups, this Barcamp will focus on engaging the youth in Sunyani, especially the students around how to create more value for their localities and shape the development agenda in this election year. Like all Barcamps, there will be user-generated sessions and discussions where attendees get to set the agenda and topics for the day. Local experts will share knowledge on different technologies and successful entrepreneurs and innovators will share their stories to serve as models for participants.

The Barcamp will feature a panel or keynote touching on Agriculture. It will also have a speed mentoring session where participants get some efficient quality time with selected mentors and resource personnel. There will also be a social media session(targeted at the elections) led by BloGh aka GhanaBlogging. Some of our resource personnel will be Robert Mensah of Eusbett, George Agbozo of Catholic University, amongst many young and successful changemakers in Ghana.

Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Sunyani eventbrite website. You may also contact the BarCamp Sunyani team through this website for sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs. BarCamp Sunyani 2012 is sponsored by the Faculty of Forest Resources Technology BloGh (GhanaBlogging), GhanaThink Foundation, Fienipa Group, Dinpa FM, etc.

http://barcampghana.org/contact or barcamp at ghanathink.org

A Ghanaian prayer on the occasion of #Ghana's 55th birthday

I had a strong feeling to blog today on the occasion of Ghana's 55th birthday. Ghana has been trending, which is great, and folks have thoughts on social media all around and in conversations all around.

Me, I just prayed this prayer within the last 23.3 minutes :-)

"Almighty Lord, the mightyafrican needs a house, please help me :-). Help me to become independent like Ghana became independent 55 years ago. One year for every African country eh?

Help us Ghanaians realise our potential. You know we love you. Our hearts might not be set right, but we adore you. You keep us going, please, keep us going even further.

Give us unyielding faith, communal purpose, unflappable belief, focused hope, and unshakeable drive. Send us flashes of examples of hard work and stories of inspiration, that we might see that success and progress is not far from us at all.

Help us not get ahead of ourselves, give us perspective but also give us vim. More vim to help us as we help ourselves. Let us preach what will cause us to do better and let's practice what we preach.

We can achieve the Ghana we want in this lifetime. God, make us a testimony unto Yourself. Let us be a shining light for our neighbours and our friends.

Help us to think big, think smart, and think #Ghana. Because if Ghana succeeds and becomes what we want it to be, we will enjoy the fruit of our labour and rewrite history.

So help us God. Tell each and everyone of us that we are the ones we have been waiting for. Bless us abundantly on our birthday. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray with thanksgiving, Amen"

I think the prayer took about 2.33 minutes to say :-) #233moments

Make addition onto Google + and create applications in Accra, Lagos and Kampala! (#googleplus)

GH Developers, Programmers and coders? Where you dey? Come show the world what you fit build.

Hello Ghanaian developers! After the successful Hackathons in South Africa and Kenya which saw some amazing applications built, we want to continue spreading the love!

A hackathon is an event when programmers meet to do collaborative computer programming. Hackathons focus on either a technology tool/product or a topic to collaboratively build programs and applications. Hackathons are typically between a few hours and multiple days.

There will be a one full day Google+ API Hackathon with the support of the Google Technology User Group (GTUGs) in Accra (Ghana). If you are ready to wow us with your application, please apply for the event using this form: Accra for the event on the March 21 from 9 to 6 pm at the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST). The deadline to sign-up is March 3!

Remember to start today on getting those creative juices flowing! Familiarize yourself with the API and review these resources. Begin gathering ideas and coding a little. Use the Hackathon to perfect your application and win one of the multiple prizes we will be awarding - including a ticket for the overall winning application to Google’s premiere developer event, Google I/O!

Any updates relating to these Hackathons will be posted on Google+ (of course!) using the hashtag #hackgplus. Stay tuned!

Similar hackathons happening in Lagos and Kampala. Learn about them here.

Move it fast, chale!

"Chop my money! Cos I don't care... cos I get am plenty". "Amanda, Amanda! Sɔkɔdɛ! dɛ, dɛ! Sɔkɔdɛ!" These are the two songs dominating 'inside my head' recently. What is Sɔkɔdɛ? I hear it is about 4play. No, not for play but foreplay. Foreplay is not always about sex, it could be a forbearing of what might happen next. And what happens next might not necessarily outdo what just happened. But anyway, you can judge if these songs are relevant to this blog post after you read to the end. Cos I'll try hook you so you do. If you skip a bunch of lines, leave a comment so I do better next time. "Pushaaaa!".

So some context. At my age, I live with my aunt and I don't have my own place. If you went to Accra and asked for rental rates & agreements in and around where the 'action' is, you might understand why. So let's not delve into that. I love my family. I get to support them and be useful by being near and available. As I live with others, I have to live under rules. The world operates like that. If it doesn't do so somewhere, show me, lemme see if it might work for me. As part of these rules, I have to be home 'around' 9pm because things shut down at home. Folks go to bed (Ghanaians sleep early - bad news for primetime tv & night clubs), gates are locked, German Shepherd must be released, etc. It's Airport Residential Area alright, arguably the most expensive place in Accra, but armed robbers like challenges. These rules are precautionary. I have and need to live with them, for my own safety and reasonably.

Yes, I have a curfew. It's better than what you see in various countries that have unrest. Or maybe not. I've overstayed it a few times. Last night, I overstayed it again. I left a Barcamp Takoradi planning meeting late, chatted up some Legon students about their future plans that I missed giving the taxi driver directions, missed the relevant turns, so had to alight and light up another taxi driver's wallet back in the direction of where I stay. On my way, I realized I didn't have phone credit (yes, I know the telco wishes I will mention its name but I won't) so I stopped to buy some. This made me reach home later, circa 9:45. "Ato, the gate is locked, orders are that they shouldn't be opened". The German Shepherd starts barking as if it needs more beer. Because even though it's seen me in friendly conditions since August, it still barks at me like am a stranger cos I've never given it food at 2:33pm.

When this has happened before, I've been able to lyric our security guard to lock up the dog (who will chew me up with the first opportunity) and my 20-something cousin who I wish was on my side more. This time, I'm not ready to do the convincing cos it looks like a 'lost case'. E don spoil. Where do I sleep tonight? Hotel room? I could sleep at Villa Monticello (the most expensive hotel in Accra) for a night and beg the owner (who I am related to) to not charge me. "Long thing, e go turn long story". Screw the hotel option. Which Good Samaritan will save me? Nearest haven option happens to be a work colleague who is a nice person. I call her up, she gladly accepts to host me and she lives a 5 minute drive or 23.3 minute walk away. Wait, the phone credit I bought is lost. Now, I've lost my bed, dinner, etc plus my phone credit. I'm not prepared to lose 'more money' chartering a taxi. And 23.3 is a great number, so I'll take the walk.

Walk for 23.3 minutes in the dark alone? This is +233's abode aka Ghana aka Ogyakrom. It's dangerous to walk alone in Airport Residential Area in the evening. Motorbike rider lowlifes/riffraffs/thieves ride around robbing people. It's documented. But maybe because I love Ghana so much and chose the walk because I've lost money, love the number 23.3 and have time to burn, no one will rob me. It's gonna be a routine walk. Heck, I never really felt safe doing such a walk in unknown places in the USA so why worry about doing it in a known place in Ghana? Good to go. Start the highlife playlist, listen to Ghanaian music, sing it aloud, maybe someone thinks am a mad man and doesn't mess with me. Or maybe someone thinks I'm walking alone, have a laptop, listening to music that's on the radio and is wearing a nice shirt. Merry christmas for armed robbers. Yeah, like joke like joke.

So I start the walk. I keep on looking back making sure no one is following me. I did this when I was walking in Hillbrow, Johannesburg with a friend in a heavy human traffic area anyway. No one is following me. No motorbikes are coming through. All cars passing by are too busy speeding and if they are slowing down, they hope I pay them to give me a ride. At some point, I thought, upon all my plenty friends and folks who know me, can't anyone drive by (and not shoot or rob me but) and help me? Oh wait, I could have announced that I needed help on Twitter. Why did I even forget that? Anyway, I feared maybe the cars passing by might be like... "rich-looking young man walking long distance is looking for trouble walking alone at night and needs to be taught a lesson". So they might call up the motorbike robbers anytime soon. Walk fast, Mighty African. You have 3 junctions to go. Keep on singing. "Ɔdɔ mmɛtu me awɔ yi mu, wɔ yi mu, Ɔdɔ mmɛka me ho hye, Ɔyɛ ɔbaa pa, ɔbaa pa, ɔbaa pa"

At some point, I saw a shadow coming towards me. Kai! I was so scared, I stopped, stood by a gate, waiting to see who this dude was. I didn't see anyone. Shit! It was my shadow, magnified by some bad driver's car's headlights. Whew! A few motorbikes come by but they are speeding so fast. They are not riding this late because they want lonely folks to rob, they want to dodge the traffic. But yeah, that scared me too. I am shameless but I try to be fearless too. But why should I be scared? I love Ghana and God, Ghana and God won't let anything bad happen to me in Ghana. I don't watch horror movies. If I watch one with you cos you love horror movies, I really have to love you. It's around this time that I was singing 'Otoolege'. Ei, mepɛ no o nti, nanso ɔfa me sɛ otoolɛgɛ (otoolɛgɛ).

Soon enough, I had finally made a left turn and was a javelin stone throw away from my destination. I started singing louder. "Why the heck are all of you asleep while I am not and looking for a place to lay my head?" Wake up and hear me sing, I'll tell you my name too so you vote me when I appear on Vodafone GH Icons. I passed by some dude sitting on the street and made sure he heard me singing. When I finally got to the apartment complex where my colleague lives, I sang a few more lines and asked the security guard if he knew what song I was singing. "Ofori Amponsah". Yes, correct for 2005 points. He had to call my colleague to see if she's around, expecting me, blah blah blah. "Do you do this procedure for everybody who comes here?", I asked him. Cos if you are doing it because I am dark and it's dark, then "fire burn you!". He let me in, and led me to my colleague's apartment. Thankfully, she was expecting me so I was let in with no trouble.

So then I told her the short story. Now you have the long story. And the morale of the story is, "Mr. Mighty African, move it fast! Move out into your own place. Get a move on with your life". Yeah, I get the point. I should get someone to chop my money (proper). Get my own place so women can visit me easily and chop more of my money. Get my own place so I can set up for the lucky lady who actually get to really chop my money. Because if I don't, this story will be 4play for worse things to come. "Bedadabe". "Wobɛte sɔkɔdɛ! dɛ, dɛ! Sɔkɔdɛ!". Does this story have something to do with the songs? Hope you read thoroughly enough to decide. More vim to us all as we pursue our agendas and endeavours without fear or shame or risk.

Participate in Barcamp Takoradi happening March 3 #bctdi

This happened at Barcamp Takoradi 2010. Help us make Barcamp Takoradi 2012 a success.









More info below

BarCamp Takoradi 2012 is a FREE networking event to bring people together for a day of discussion, demos and dialogue about Takoradi, Ghana and beyond. It hopes to assemble Western Regional stakeholders to network, build a supportive entreprising community and partner. BarCamp Takoradi 2012 will take place on March 3, 2012 at the Takoradi Polytechnic. The theme is “Empowering the emerging middle class in a budding economy: efficient use of technology in entrepreneurship”.

The BarCamp Ghana team has successfully organized 11 BarCamps in Ghana - in Accra, Kumasi, Takoradi, Cape Coast, Tamale and Ho. Barcamp Ghana is a project being run by the GhanaThink Foundation, an NGO based both in Ghana and the USA. The events have brought together over 1500 leaders and change makers. Barcamp Takoradi 2012 builds upon Barcamp Takoradi 2010 which was held at the Takoradi Technical Institute under the theme “Leading & Entreprising in an Oil & Technology Fuelled Economy”. on November 27, 2010. The event showcased Ghanaian ingenuity through the MIT fabrication lab (fab-lab), sharing of ideas, and had presentations and panels on how to leverage the burgeoning oil industry.

This year’s edition will be organized in conjunction with local groups at the Takoradi Polytechnic. By partnering with these groups, this Barcamp will focus on engaging the youth in Takoradi, especially the students around how to create more value for their localities and shape the development agenda in this election year. The Barcamp is keen to build upon the community from 2010’s event, take stock of what’s happened so far and continue building the Western Region.

The Barcamp will feature a speed mentoring session where participants get some efficient quality time with selected mentors and resource personnel. We will have a keynote speech by a surprise guest. There will also be a social media session (targeted at the elections) led by BloGh aka GhanaBlogging. Like all Barcamps, there will be user-generated sessions and discussions where attendees get to set the agenda and topics for the day. Local experts will share knowledge on different technologies and successful entrepreneurs and innovators will share their stories to serve as models for participants.

Register/RSVP today at the BarCamp Takoradi eventbrite website. You may also contact the BarCamp Takoradi team through this website for sponsorship opportunities. If you are interested in organizing a breakout session, let us know, especially if you have special needs.

BarCamp Takoradi 2012 is sponsored by the Takoradi Polytechnic, BloGh (GhanaBlogging), GhanaThink Foundation, Fienipa Group, etc. Our media partners are ModernGhana.com and Melody FM.

http://barcampghana.org/contact or barcamp at ghanathink.org