.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
