Dear Freshman
University admissions are out. Freshmen are getting set to read a variety of programs; the feeling can be great or disappointing. In my first year at the University of Ghana, I was disappointed in myself for being offered Geography, Sociology and Chinese for my undergraduate courses. Don’t blame me, at least most people I met on campus made me feel mediocre. You’ll hear someone say, ‘ah! So what will you use the Chinese for?’ Another will say, ‘so what will you do after completing school?’ Some tried to console me by saying, ‘oh don’t worry. You can drop the Chinese after first year!’ I already dropped the Chinese and Sociology in my mind before I started my journey to acquire a degree so I was confident that after first year, I could boldy mention my course of study when asked (at least, Geography and Resource Development sounds more pleasing to the ear) The feeling is different today! I have completed my undergraduate course with a combined major in Chinese and Sociology, and I am so proud of myself! Today, I speak, read and write Chinese fluently. I’ve worked as a Chinese translator for some Chinese companies already and I am so proud of myself!Studying Sociology has also changed my world view of a number of key societal issues. Drop me in any part of this country or overseas and I will survive. Dear friends, do not mock freshmen when they tell you the courses they are reading. Allow students to enthusiastically approach their field of study! Dear Freshman, congrats on your admission to the university. Study hard, explore your strengths and maximize it!
Life Takes Time
When you ask the question “what can I do with this course when I graduate?”, what do you mean to say? It is great to read courses that society currently knows will provide ready market for employment in the future. But do you realize you are a brand on your own terms? Have you heard “your qualification can get you the job but your attitude will help retain it” yet? The employment Eco system all over the world keeps changing. This means that if you begin your studies with a do or die attitude of getting employment offers based on the courses you read in school, you might end up frustrating yourself. There are not many undergraduate courses that train students in Shea butter processing, batik tie and die, bread baking, wood and furniture works, make-up artistry, youtubing, blogging, fashion and digital marketing. You can add to the list in the comment section. But I know you know so many tertiary graduates creating employment and providing goods and services in these sectors. Anytime I hear people ask, “what can I do with with this course when I graduate?”, I murmur to myself, “life takes time”. If you’re currently reading a course that does not promise you a ‘job’ after school, don’t worry yourself so much about getting an answer to the question. In my blog post titled………….. I mentioned how I was mocked because of my undergraduate courses and how the story changed even before I completed my 5-year course. 2. It’s okay not to have a clear picture of the office you’ll occupy after you complete your tertiary course. You’ll end up worrying less if you focus on doing these while in school: Volunteer your skills and time with organizations that will help you grow. Sign up to join membership groups and attend conferences, seminars and workshops to build your social capital. Be open minded so that you don’t miss out on any opportunity to be creative, innovative or entrepreneurial. Use your skills to build your personal brand. For example, if you are a writer, get a personal blog or website where you can share all your works. Now that the global pandemic has made digitization more real than ever, I hope I never get to hear you make statements like, “as for me, I’m not a fan of social media” or “these people like social media, I wonder what time they get to do ‘real work’. A lot of people make a living off the internet and you should allow them or perhaps you can join them cash in on some good money. Show up on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and give value. You don’t need to stay active on all platforms. Choose one or two that works best for you and grow your personal brand from there. Get a physical or virtual mentor. Read autobiographies of renowned men and women. Be curious. Ask questions. Ask for help when you need it. This is one of the areas I’m still struggling in. If you’re like me, you might want to figure everything out on by yourself. But do you know you can avoid so many mistakes and grab a lot of opportunities just by asking a more experienced person for help? I think we can make good progress in this aspect if we put our minds to it. So let’s ask all go on and ask all the questions we want. Excel at your studies. Put great effort in your studies and you’ll stay proud of yourself forever if you do. 3. I feel you are less worried now. So the next time you hear the words “what can I do with this course when I graduate?”, Ask yourself how visible you are to the world and all the opportunities available. Then, remind yourself that life takes time.
My Smartphone Wasn’t Smart Enough
.I was using a ‘yam’ when I gained admission to study Geography, Sociology and Chinese at the University of Ghana in 2013. In a community where major announcements and information is shared digitally, you can imagine how I missed out on most them while using that ‘yam’. From not getting accommodation on campus to missing registration deadlines for some University of Ghana Required Courses (UGRCs). Being a non-resident already sets you up for non-inclusion and less-integration into a number of campus events and opportunities. So in my second year, when I was privileged to finally own a smartphone, I was excited, an answered prayer. But I had the backlog of the Level 100 UGRCs I missed. In addition to my Level 200 courses, I had to find time to make up for the Level 100 courses I missed. Later in 2019 when I nurtured the idea of bringing young people together to visit orphanages and hard-to-reach schools to promote basic quality education, I wasn’t well equipped. I needed to create flyers and posters. I had to create social media pages for this new dream. But I wasn’t well equipped. The smartphone I had at the time wasn’t smart enough to help me make the best out of this new dream. I needed a more advanced one. This was when I was serving as a Teaching Assistant at the University of Ghana Chinese Section during my National Service. The monthly allowance was not enough to sort me out for the month and buy a new phone in addition. But I had a skill that could fetch me the money on the side. I could work as a Chinese Translator for Chinese companies working with Ghanaians here in Ghana. Good news! So during the University of Ghana’s long holidays, I took up a Chinese translation job to earn extra cash to afford the phone I needed while putting less pressure on the monthly allowance I earned from NSS. Before school resumed, I had worked and earned more than enough to buy my dream phone. I used that phone to design Spring-UP Global Network graphics when I started the not-for-profit in 2019. This new phone didn’t frustrate me when I wrote and saved articles on it like the old one. Unlike my old phone, the battery had a longer battery life. I could create and manage multiple social media accounts with less stress with this new phone! Such a relief! I had a dream to mentor children through outreaches, and this phone was of great support. It was this phone that gave me the luxury to create the popular #akorfashotit images. After 3 years, I realized I could do more during the outreaches I embarked on. Like taking high quality videos and pictures with my phone. A higher capacity phone was needed. So I dedicated some months of savings towards it. After months of saving, I’ve got my new phone now. If you see me sharing more pictures and videos of the work I do, now you know why. Our big dreams need a push. It could be money, an office space, a mentor or even a high capacity phone. I hope your dreams find that needed push in this month of February. #littlebigissues #akorfaakoto Image source: https://simpletexting.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/przemyslaw-marczynski-oCfkSnqZ0SI-unsplash-e1566231541197.jpg
My Little Left Hand
In life, people choose to take different lessons from what happens to them. My childhood memories are characterized with living away from my biological parents on many occasions. The earliest one I remember was when I was in kindergarten. I lived with my extended family; grandparents, uncles, aunties and cousins. We all lived in the family house. That was when my school teacher succeeded in forcefully making me use my right hand in writing although I was more comfortable using my left hand; I was born a southpaw! No one noticed my struggle with using my right hand. No one noticed how I often did my assignments in tears. No one noticed any changes to ask me “why”? Maybe everyone thought children have no issues so they did their best to give me all they thought I needed. So I enjoyed all the “fan ice”, “nkosua ne m3ko”, new dresses and all the material gifts that came with living with an extended family. No one knew me well enough to notice I was left-handed. The one who did (my teacher) considered it wrong, and so she gave herself the challenge of changing which hand I write with. When I moved back with my parents later, they were unhappy with my ordeal. I just wished they had also forced me to use my left hand to write. At least I used my left hand with greater skill than my right. As for the teacher who forced me to stop using my left hand in writing, I’m just waiting to meet her in heaven so I ask her questions. I wonder the number of lives she affected with that habit. Interestingly, my younger brother, Kafui is left-handed too. His story is different, maybe because of mine,maybe not. At least he didn’t stay away from home when his teachers started forcing him to use his right hand so they were not successful with him. Either ways I’m glad he got the right to use his left hand without restriction and suppression. The forceful change has affected me in varying degrees. Whenever I see a left-handed person writing, I hear an inner voice, “this could have been you”. Can I call it jealousy? I read somewhere too about how such forceful change affects our brains. I just hope this is a myth. Moving on, I choose to pick the positive lessons from my story. I appreciate the childhood period more. I believe that a lot of important occurrences that happen during our childhood affects us later in life. Always look out for changes in children. Children have issues too. They look out for an elder who would listen and help them. Be that person! Be that hope!
Her Allergies and COVID-19
In 2010, when I was admitted to Holy Child School, I was oblivious of all the changes that awaited me. The morning mass, morning assembly, taking turns to serve at breakfast, lunch and supper, the compulsory siestas and having to take my evening bath when the sky was still bright, all felt so new and difficult to adjust to in the beginning. Of all these, my health wasn’t left out, the cold weather on the Angel’s hill made me discover something. The cold weather exposed me to easily catch a cold. In the beginning, I felt it will get better as my body adjusts to the weather. But I was wrong. It persisted. I had to put in drastic measures to help myself. I tried a lot of remedies. I stopped using any highly scented soap or perfume. I avoided sitting or sleeping under the fan and I avoided crowds and people who love to use strong perfumes. Tissues and handkerchiefs became my close allies in the fight. I only used guardian soap, took the seat far away from the fan and also avoided the top bed in the dormitory. On days when I mistakenly hugged someone who had used a strong perfume, I had to weep in anticipation of all the pain I was going to have.On other days when I woke up with a difficulty in breathing because someone had put the fan on in the middle of the night when she was feeling hot, I felt I only had to endure. On such days when I had to blow my nose, cough, sneeze, use up my tissue and the ones my friends gave me, I knew I was making those I sat in class with uncomfortable.I felt more concerned about them than I did to myself because I had given up on myself. I had come to accept that could try to minimize the number of times I had a cold but I could not avoid it because of how I contracted it. So as much as possible, I try to self quarantine. This ‘self-quarantine’ does not mean I stayed in the dormitory o. I couldn’t afford to do that considering how often I had a cold. My ‘self-quarantine’ here means I tried to avoid contacts with people and items as much as I could. As I tried to make all these adjustments, once a while, I encounter a student who expresses displeasure at how often she saw that I had a cold. Such a person will go at lengths to recommend all the precautionary measures I was already painstakingly observing. During my first holiday in senior high school, I traveled to the new district my parents had just been transferred to. Finally I was away from the cold weather and all the ‘dbees’ who used all the highly scented perfumes you can imagine. Day one was exciting. I ate my favorite food and started sharing my Holy Child School diaries with my family. Day two and three were amazing too. I could wear all the beautiful clothes I hadn’t seen in months. Then came day four and I caught a bad cold!!!! I was so angry. Loool Now I had to carefully remember how it started. What did I bring close to my nose? What did I inhale that could cause this?Then I remembered I had done a thorough cleaning and dusting of the house the day before! So the dust here too has caused this? I felt so frustrated and I had to carefully observe precautionary measures at home. On days when I wanted to clean and dust, I used a nose mask hoping and praying I do not inhale any droplet. Our world is currently hit by a pandemic. Ghana, my country, recorded its first case a week ago. Just two days ago, the president, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo announced a four-week suspension of most activities and cautioned we stay home as much as we can. As I spend my time social distancing today, I’ve been thinking of all the patients infected with the virus and the pain they could possibly be going through. I know it’s difficult to suddenly adapt to change, but let us all abide by all the measures the World Health Organization has outlined. Remember to stay away from large gatherings for your health and the health of our community. Let me share my plan for this season with you. Maybe you could share yours in the comment section too. BreatheIntentionally grow a deeper relationship with my Creator.Write more in my journal.Complete my reading list.Drink plenty of water.Drink warm Cinnamon waterTake more online courses.Reflect on creative ways to build my side-hustles.Complete my writing tasks.Stay in touch with the my team and carpenter in Yevi who is working on our shelves for our library project.Learn something new each day.Constantly call my family and friends.Organize my room space.Eat healthy.Pray for all health workers and frontliners fighting this pandemic.13. Stand strong with deep faith as I pray and hope our earth heals soon.
