Life Amidst Covid-19 - Maintaining Balance prt. 1

 Hello there, I must say I really appreciate you taking time to come read my unofficial blog. It has been a while I posted something on here but it feels so good to be back behind the keyboard haha. 

What has life been like after the lock-down for you? Do you feel like you have lost it all and cannot get it back together? or you just really can't take it anymore? Well, today I am writing as Dulce, and she has got some bitter coffee to be sniffed.

I am no motivational speaker. God knows how much i hate those people haha. You know they give you this super exciting confidence which sometimes seem so effortless, well i like realist like Mrs Ibukun Awosika. Life has been super tormenting for me this year to a point i actually did not think i could make it past the first quarter, but look who is here now.

During the outbreak, most of my friends lost their jobs. Those who were lucky to be employed had between 25% to 75% salary cut. I don't know how you take bad news on behalf of your friends but it was tough for me, so tough it begun to hurt as though i was the victim. I had to do everything to support them in any small way I could but at the same time I tried to give them the space to think about whatever they want to think about. 

I started finding solace in my room, since i could no longer go out and hangout with friends. I got a Netflix account and watched some amazing movies, like really great African movies. I will go ahead and list my top three favorite African directors and my top ten movies amidst the covid on Netflix.

Kunle Afolayan makes top 1 on my list. He is versatile, true to his roots and tells the story not only from the African perspective but with unbiased African eyes. Some good movies directed by him are; Figurine (Araromire), The CEO and other amazing ones.

Second on my list is Shirley Frimpong-Manso from Ghana with A Sting in a Tale, Adam's Apples, Perfect Picture and many others. Shirley is a strong woman and you can tell that from the choice of characters and the location she picks to shoot her movies.

Last but definitely not the least is Kemi Adetiba. I do not want to say much about this amazing woman because she rocks so much it hurts. Go see Fifty, The Wedding Party and others to ascertain what I am talking about.

I used movies to cool down during the lock down,what was yours ...

                                                                                                                              ... to be continued

Importance of Education

My ESL Class in Volgograd-Russia @Go! English Centre for Foreign Languages

Education can basically be defined as acquiring knowledge. Some individuals do not understand the significance of education, therefore, do not try to give their wards and themselves the advantage.

The reason most colonies decided to fight for their independence stems from the education their leaders obtained from their colonial masters. It is often heard from elderly people that during the Dr Kwame Nkrumah era (the 1960s) every child had to be in school otherwise their parents were held as culprits by social welfare workers. It is non-excusable to deny anyone of education as it spearheads them for success in this day. The more reason why it has been factored into the constitution of Ghana from her alliance with the Commonwealth of Nations ­­– the right to education. Avenues one can acquire education include homes, schools, palaces, places of worship and all agents of socialisation.

Nelson Mandela once said, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Mandela said this because he knew with education, people could improve on their quality of life and live a more fulfilled life. With education, one is able to secure a good job and afford to make ends meet. When third world countries are compared to countries like Switzerland and Sweden, the vast difference spotted is the literacy rate of the citizens. For instance, the adult literacy rate of Ghana at the moment stands at less than 60% compared to her colonial master England who stands at 99%.  Lack of education contributes towards the challenges facing the country such as the rise in urban-migration, illegal migration to Europe, increase in teenage pregnancies, practice of obnoxious culture such as female genital mutilation, tribal mark scarring, dehumanizing widowhood rites among despicable others.

Furthermore, education helps to realize innate talents and skills. When talent is refined with education, one is able to deliver his or her utmost best. People often realize what they are good at when they are young and decide to pursue them as careers, those who go for education or apprenticeship turn out to be very good at what they do; altering and making notable adjustments to what seemed to be the status quo. Dr Don Shirley became a star pianist by learning to play the piano from his mother (a clear example of informal education). Today he is celebrated as one of the world’s eminent pianist.

Nevertheless, education has its pitfalls. Some flipsides to education are: it is very expensive, the pursuit of education sometimes kills talents, parental pressure over education leads to suicide worldwide, it contributes to the high unemployment rate in many countries etc.

It is, however, an inevitable fact that the benefits of education outlive its downside. Education has significantly helped with poverty alleviation, busting myths and superstitions, safety and security against crimes, helped in commerce and trade, improved law and order and helped significantly with communication. According to John Dewey, education is not preparation for life, education is life itself.

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ARE YOU IN THE RIGHT CHURCH?

MOB 171- INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS CLASS OF VOLGOGRAD STATE UNIVERSITY

Being saved has to do with inviting Jesus into your heart and accepting Him into your life as your Lord and Personal Saviour. This is the most important part of the whole message. Now lets us analyse the life of an imaginary friend called Joe. Joe gave his life to Christ at a very tender age; he has practically known Christ all his life. As he grew, his friends begun to make fun of him because he was a virgin and too honest. Then it came to a point where no one wanted to be his friend even the boys in the Christian groups thought he was too honest. 

Joe then thought to himself that if he needed to make any friends then he would have to lower his godly gospel pure standards, a little sin could not kill anyone right. So, Joe first of all decided to have a girlfriend named Lucy. Lucy was friends with most of the cool guys and that made Joe very cool and popular in school. Now Joe clearly could not keep up with the cool kids in school so he had to take money from his mom’s purse to afford the kind of food and lifestyle the cool kids were living. When his mom inquired about missing money from her purse he lied about it and swore he never took it.

His mom believed him because at home he acted very well. Soon he started lying to his mom to get money. Joe got a fake ID and went to a club little did he know that was a Sodomy (gay) club. His friend Mike and his girlfriend Lucy dragged him along. When they got there, he took some shots of very strong liquor and got tipsy. Lucy then inquired from him what he thought about making out with strangers, he wanted to belong to gave in. He saw Lucy making out with an older woman and she asked him to try it too with the older men. He hesitated at first but she insisted. A few moments later, he could not find Lucy nor Mike and was left with the man (Lance) Lucy pushed him to. Lance took Joe to his five-star hotel apartment and had sex with him. Because Joe was too drunk, Lance took advantage of him, called three other friends and had their way with the poor high-school boy. The following day Joe woke up and there was no one there.

A few weeks later, Mike came to see him and apologize for the other time with all sorts of stories. He made Joe understand that being gay is fine and has got nothing to do with hell. Mike and Joe started seeing each other and in n time they had done a lot of things the bible would consider filthy. Mike had to travel at a point so Joe became alone again, he started entertaining himself with porn and masturbating to get satisfaction. He will use money given to for airtime to watch porn and hook up with people who wanted to have sex.

Joe was very cool now in school; he had his own clique, a boyfriend and Lucy as well. His body count for both sexes was high and he felt good about himself. One day, Joe was going to see one of his rich boyfriends in the expensive hotels when he heard a voice saying, “come back home Joe, I love you”. He did not pay heed and went ahead. When he got there, his host was very kind to him and when they were prepared to have each other a group of men of about 7 came out all wearing white robes with red headbands. Fear gripped Joe and wanted to escape but there was nowhere to run. They wanted to kill him and use him for sacrifice when the doorbell rang for room service. 

After many futile attempts to make the attendant go away, the stranger finally opened the door and slit open the throat of the attendant and that was how Joe escaped. Because of how scared he was, he ran on the stairs and fell with a concussion. He was rushed to the hospital and did not want to call his parents when he regained consciousness because he did not know what to say. He called Lucy and his other squad members. The doctor, later on, broke the news to him that he would not be able to walk again because of the breakage in the spinal bone area and worst of all that he had AIDS. Joe was devastated and crushed in spirit. His friends left one after the other till his mom was finally called. Joe’s mom loved her son so much but loved her job more so did not for once pause to think about the whereabouts of his son.

Deserted Joe was back I church in his wheel-chair feeling so sorry for himself. He could not narrate the true story to his fall to anyone because he knew he could not answer why he was in such an expensive hotel in the first place. Joe started trying to kill himself on three occasions but did not succeed. That was when he met a new friend in the church called Zack. He was able to confide in Zack, narrated everything to him and added why he wanted to take his own life. Zack never judged Joe for any of the things he said he has done but rather saw Joe’s life from a different perspective. The devil has seen what a great person Joe would be and wanted to destroy him any way he could. 

Zack prayed with Joe consistently, visiting him and taking him for rides in the park after work. Zack became Joe’s new best friend and Joe’s love was being restored back to Christ. One day, Zack, Joe and his mom went for a healing conference. Zack encouraged Joe to believe in the healing power of the holy ghost, he did and received his healing that day. Zack and Joe have been friends till this day and greatest of all, when it was time for the altar call, Joe saw Lance among the crowd and his heart rejoiced. Since then till now, Joe and Zack have been evangelizing to lost and confused souls in order to prevent them from making the same mistakes he did.

We cannot be in Christ and be in the world at the same time because sin flows like water and leads in little drops. Joe could have died. You might not be lucky to receive a second chance, therefore, this is your second chance to learn from the mistakes of someone else to better your life. Do not take this likely. The devil is busy waiting for you to mess up so he can take advantage. Also, Jesus Christ does not care about what you have done or what you did. He is more interested in claiming you back than judging you. If your friends are judging you and telling you to stay away from them why don’t you come to me? I am ever ready to start a new squad and every soul is important.

BY KWESI

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LACKING LOVE & FEELING GUILTY? READ THIS..

In life, we go through many times and trials. There is no other feeling more depressing than the feeling of guilt and shame especially when you did not mean to hurt anyone. Most times when we do terrible things everyone turns their backs on us and tell how disappointed they are in us. I have been in this position countless times and thought of crazy things I could do to escape the shame.

Suicide, I say, cannot be left out in the feeling of guilt and restlessness. I would like to share a bit of myself to help anyone who is in this position now and is considering doing harm. The answer really is not in the harm you are going to cause to yourself, however, the fact is that, no matter how mad people are at you and despise your presence, they still would not be happy should you pass on today.

I use to condemn myself a lot because I thought that was the only way no one would get something to say about me in the negative since I already portray a negative countenance. You will often hear me using phrases like; 'I am the worst person on earth", I am not a good person, better not count on me buddy", etc. What I did not realize was that as I was uttering all these negative statements they were working out exactly how I put them. However, I had this friend who would always say nice things to me. He would say things like; "Brother, I do not care about what you have done. I do not care about your shame, all I know is that you are a wonderful person and I do not care about what you have to say to debunk this statement. I love you and nothing can change about that.

These words always uplifted my spirit and helped me want to become a better person. Secretly deep within my spirit, I felt deep down that I was bad because of some of the things I have done. I would share with you some of the terrible things I did which made me feel I had lost out of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As I grew up, I was an adorable kid, very brilliant in school and helpful at home. I was a typical upright child until I felt I was not loved. I joined very bad company. I, who never could stand the scent of smoke could smoke down a packet of cigarette and bags of weed and funny enough I thought it was cool.
I single-handedly drunk myself to stupor on up to tens of bottles of alcohol every time I was sad or facing a downtime. I had become an alcoholic and a social deviant. But through it all, God still had his eyes on me. I had three perfect jobs and lost them all in less than three months. I could never finish probation before I received my sack letter. I had picked up behaviors God considers abominable in Leviticus and was using them to satisfy my lack of love and my feeling of guilt.

At a point, I felt committing suicide was the best answer since no one cared about me. I spent hours thinking of ways to commit suicide then top it all up with sexual immorality. I was so in bondage with sexual sins that I could not live a day without doing something sexual. I kid you not, I literally was involved in something sexual every single day no matter where I found myself. Even after I had done something terrible to someone and felt guilty, the only way I could calm myself down was to get involved in sexual sin.

I had so many reasons to justify things of the devil than defend the things of God. I spent hours convincing myself I did not have to be in the church nor pay offertory nor give my tithe. What I was forgetting was, If you steal from God, He takes whatever He gave you back. The devil gave me reasons to believe I was totally His however, I could go to the club and be in the church the following morning. I recall moments where I went to church totally hanged over. I didn't care about what I wore to church nor what people had to say about my appearance. There was a point I contracted a painful Sexually Transmitted Disease. That was supposed to be my turning point, however a cue from the experience. God healed me and in no time I was back at what I knew how to do; destroy lives and that of mine.

Well, I guess you feel how I feel now. You might have been in this position or worse but what I have to say to you today is that no matter what you have done there is that one friend who is ready to receive you and still stick around even after all your evil deeds and all the atrocities committed by you. He does not care if you killed, He does not care if you stole nor you defrauded someone. Your past is none of His concern. He is ever ready to receive you. He is ready to keep you in a new company, refresh you, provide you with a new job and start a new chapter of your life. Whatever thing you have become addicted to, He is ready to cleanse you and never remember any of it.

If you have been inspired by this and would like to give your life to Christ or re-dedicate your life to Him I would be glad to assist you. Kindly say this prayer after me, "Dear Father Lord God, I thank you for this encounter with you. I thank you for sending your only begotten son to come to die for my sins. As of today, I ask you to forgive me and come live in my heart. I declare today that you are my Lord and personal savior. In you I have life and no one can take that from me. Thank you, Jesus, for making me a new creation. Amen."


If you just prayed this prayer, you are welcome into the family of Christ. If you would like to contact me to help you in prayer or share your story with me, you may reach me via mail on nanaquacyantwi@gmail.com  or owusuansah1918@yahoo.com. One thing I can assure you is that, if Christ did not give up on me and did not judge me when I returned to Him so will He not judge nor remember your wrongdoings ever again. It really feels good to know someone loves you deep down and no matter what the world says against you He is ever ready to take you back and love you beyond your faults.
Jesus Christ loves you.


Written on 5th February 2019.
By Kwesi.

THE INDETERMINATE INFANT By Nana Antwi Owusu-Ansah.

THE INDETERMINATE INFANT

I smiled, it indeed felt like the best
The best feeling of all time in my chest
The chest that use to feel pain and not rest
The rest of my lost one who claimed to be honest
The honest son of a king who never wore a crest

I laughed, it was so loud and sincere
I felt like it was the first time in my sphere
I could not remember the days of my tear
I have not felt this way all year
I know for a fact this will last and go nowhere

Then I thought to myself, would this joy last?
Is it one of those feelings from the past?
Will I again be an extra, far from the cast?
And not even remember I was part of the last?
No matter what happens, I will enjoy the blast.

So this is my own piece of assurance
It is from myself, unlike an unexpected occurrence
My soul prides in itself; the joy of my perseverance
That surely, one day, the truth will lead to the observance
Of the one name that was far from remembrance.


By: Nana Antwi Owusu Ansah
On: 20th August, 2018
08:38am
At the Best Western Premier Hotel. Airport- Residential, Accra.

©️No part of this literary piece would be used or altered without the prior consent of the poet. This poem belongs to Nana Antwi Owusu-Ansah and it is his original work.