Hello Osagyefo,

A lot has happened since I last wrote to you. Chief among them, the Beijing Olympics just ended over the weekend. I share in your disappointment; our beloved country failed to win a single medal. Either our athletes are not good enough to earn our national anthem some airtime on the world stage or we are not investing enough in various sports disciplines so that we can be counted amongst countries with medals. We went there to make up the numbers. But we didn't even have the numbers - our contingent was less than a score (Ha, always wanted to use this expression). In the meantime, our current president handed out a ton of medals recently to about 200 people who have served our nation in various ways. Each 18 carat gold medal cost 33,000 pounds. Here's a good debate Kwame: should we have spent this gold medallion money on our athletes instead to save face at the Olympics? Are the Olympics that important or we should rather cherish celebrating our national heroes?

Here comes my first non-museke/music related blog post, say yay! Post is from my blog (that I just started) - Why so serious - blogs of a MighTy African

The Olympics is totally the biggest sporting event. Some may argue for the World Cup, but even though the Mundial is grand and is centered around the passion of the nation (aka football), all other sports have some different fans who pay attention to the Olympics. For instance, I have a couple of friends who could care less about football but will stop work to watch Michael Phelps and the 100 metre sprint.

I didn't catch the opening ceremony, it's always the greatest spectacle of celebration. Ghana's contingent was very small and they were clad in kente. I've heard people complaining about the choice of attire, about how kente has been accepted by the greater Black community and we can't claim it anymore. Nonsense! People should know we are the originators! :-) The Ghanaian contingent held their own, you can't miss us, we are colourful and we stand out.

How well do you think new technology can be implemented in Ghana? Waiting for new gurus to emerge? You can be part of the design team. Mail to nanapee2@hotmail.com

What do you think hampers the patronage of Open Source in Ghana?

...Sounds on da ground and seens on the see-ins

There has been a lot of controversy in Ghana lately about the recent National Honours Awards and who deserves awards and who should be giving them out. Naturally, we would want 'Ghana' to give out these awards and not the president of the nation or a bunch of people with various interests. So what if Ghana was a person? What would Ghana have to say to its people? If Ghana was a monarchy, the king would be Ghana. We don't have that. My buddy, Okyeame Kwame personifies Ghana in his Kwame Ghana song and tells us what Ghana has to say to its people. 6th march 1957 was a Wednesday while July 1st, 1960 was a Friday. Maybe Kwame Ghana's message sums up the thoughts of Okyeame Kwame, who after all is a Ghanaian as well.

Do you think the advent of Linux/Open Source will help Africa caught up with technological advancements in the "West"? Let me know your reasons?

Hey Osagyefo,

Please don't put me into your bad books due to this long silence. I have been thinking about you but I was preoccupied with thinking about my classes rather than dedicating time to preparing a letter to you. After all, no one is paying me to do this, but my classes are supposed to get me paid in the future. Eventually. So appreciate my efforts, Kwame, I am not being corrupted. I surely don't need any brown envelopes to share my thoughts on our beloved nation. Now think of those who are actually supposed to serve our nation. It's their job to do it. They are the ones whose jobs have been clouded in the controversy called corruption. It's a canker, but what can we do about it?

We all do know that unique problems call for unique solutions. Africa, being unique, could only be saved if Africans could think outside the box when solving the problems of the land (Text book knowledge only provides complementary guidance!). In their quest to relieve the continent of fake and substandard drugs, Ashifi Gogo et al. (AKA Mpedigree) have provided an African-viable mechanism to help the sick ascertain the genuineness of their prescribed medicine. Ashifi et al. realized the popularity of cellular phones in Africa and thus came up with a simple mobile technology that would enable almost every Ghanaian (rich or poor, rural or urban) verify whether or not a medical product is fake. Their approach is indeed a TROPICAL SOLUTION FOR A TROPICAL LAND!

The GhanaThink call to action is "Less talk, more action" and over the years I've been personally motivated by this call. It has forced me to re-evaluate what it means to do more and talk less. In fact, it is a lot harder to take action than to talk about taking action. And I have found that until you take action, you do not really know what you are talking about.

Talking is good, to some extent. It exercises your mind and forces you to articulate your ideas. But to what end? I believe, talking should only serve the purpose of convincing others to join you in taking action. i.e. talking is a recruiting tool. Any other use is probably a waste of time for both the speaker and the audience.

Do you really think that open source will make an impact in Ghana? I will lke anyone interested to get back to me so we can start discussion on it. Thanks.

i have something rare to offer, a natural and raw talent. i ve always loved to act. writing scripts come to me naturally. the movie industry needs me. i dont want to be one of the many disappionted people who never had the oppoutunity to discover their dreams. i want to be helped. i know i have got what it takes. the ghanaian movie industry needs a face lift. we are trying hard but not hard enough. there are so many talented people out there and those who can help us are not making the efforts to. my contact is +233244875678, my email, sandybaby5526@yahoo.com.

...Sounds on da ground and seens on the see-ins

Countless people have asked me about my three month stay in Ghana. Everytime the question is asked, I give a slightly different answer. The default thing to say is - it was great. I normally prefer pointed questions - my indecisiveness cripples my answers to such general questions. My stay in Ghana inspired and taught me a lot, it made me understand how various things work in Ghana (especially in industry) and how comfortable or uncomfortable I could find myself in my own land. Most people seek out my opinion on going back, and my answer is always the same - eventually I will go back and soon. Why would I? My friend Becca would help out here with her song called Ghana.

Warning: Objects in this article may appear farther than they really are!

Hey Osagyefo,

I've been back in Yankee for about two weeks now. I am sorry for not notifying you earlier, I wanted to settle in first. I am happier about being back now, a new quarter has started, I've spoken to a number of friends and loved ones, enjoyed fast internet for a while now, you know. I don't think I know much about what's going on in Ghana, even though there are countless media outlets to keep me informed. It just doesn't look the same you know. A discerning Ghanaian abroad may hear people making a big deal about one political party threatening fire and brimstone if an election goes a certain way on radio, but to the Ghanaian at home, there is nothing burning and no signs of smoke. but I never paid much attention to these popular news outlets online when I was home but I am stuck with them now. Where did the other sources of news and information go?

‘Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid’. John 14: 27

One thing every individual wants to obtain in this life is a sense of security and happiness. This is where peace is very essential. Without peace we can never feel secured and happy. But finding ourselves in a peaceful environment does not guarantee us this inner peace that gives true joy.