Circumspecte

Dear Ladies, So yesterday at the bus station, I asked a young lady whether I could borrow her phone. She lent me her phone and after my call, she asked: "Can I ask you for some advice?" and then proceeded to tell me how many people in her life - and especially at work - whisper behind her back saying she looks like a man, she is too dark, is she sure she isn't a guy, she's not good looking, blah, blah, blah. Mind you, I had just met her. Obviously, the issue was really bugging her! My first impression of the girl was "nice lady in braids, beautiful big eyes!" Anyway, we had a good conversation and it hit me that these are the real things we don't talk about even though we all experience it in some form or another: feeling insignificant or not [insert word] enough. Ladies - you cannot let people get into your head to the point of eroding your confidence and/or belief in yourself. "Beauty" is only skin deep. Sure, life might be relatively ...

Want to take your career to new heights in 2013 and meet phenomenal young female professionals in Ghana?  Attend the Young, Fabulous & Savvy event! Thursday, January 10, 2013, 6:00pm-8:30pm, 15GHS, Golden Tulip. See below for full details. -- Young, Fabulous, & Savvy Event Series Event Details: An exclusive reception and panel discussion where leading female achievers in media, entertainment, technology, and entrepreneurship inspire and motivate young women with their life stories, sisterly advice, and honest perspective. Date: Thursday January 10th, 2013 from 6:00pm-8:30pm Venue: Golden Tulip Hotel, Liberation Road, Accra Featuring: TV Personality Deborah Vanessa, Helena from Aya Morrison, Abena from MultiTV, Renee from ReneeQGhana, Kuorkor from Twists & Locs Salon, Safoa from Sa4a Designs, and Claudia from Glitz Africa Magazine along with other special guests. Attendees: Limited seats available for young professional women. Company Overview: The Savvy Madam...

Originally published on the blog Women Change Africa -- As the Ghana elections get closer, we thought it would be great to hear from one of our fabulous, smart and beautiful friends of WCA Ms. Jemila Abdulai. Jemila is a woman who is  definitely changing Africa. Amongst her many hats she wears, Jemila is a attaining her Masters in International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, owns and operates a very highly read blog titled Circumspecte which focuses on various issues in Africa, and of course is part of the Ghana Decides team working to help engage youth in Ghana to get involved and vote pre and during elections.  We hope you enjoy and learn about Ghana's elections and women, and be inspired the way we were with Ms. Abdulai. Enjoy!   Like its predecessors, this election is important for young Ghanaian women. The obvious reason is that women form the majority of Ghanaian society and being excluded from the political process could result in polici...

Dear [Insert Name], The thing about life is that there is no certainty about it. Sure, we humans (try to) follow some sort of order or structure in order to prevent or rather reduce the propensity for insanity, but when it all comes down to it, sometimes things don't go the way we expect OR go way beyond our wildest imagination. Kind of like how I've been meaning to finish up and post two blogs on the World Social Forum and my insight into self-sustainable villages at Salim Sarr for the past month or so. Or how you've always wanted to do that one specific thing but never did  because one thing or another - life, as we like to call it - happens. Maybe even how, on some level, we know that in order for us to achieve world peace, development, or any other large scale endeavor or cause we believe in, we need to first of all apply ourselves, and be willing to look past differences. The thing about life is that it is life. Unpredictable to its very core, and despite all the chal...

Design By Sughey Abreu Salut Tout le Monde! I hope each of you is having a restful Sunday wherever you are in the world. It's been a minute since I wrote a personal update on here and I think today's a good day as any other to resume that. So, I've been pretty busy over the past couple of months, and particularly this last month, preparing for the Young Women's Knowledge and Leadership Institute (YOWLI) 2010. I've generally been set on "GO" such that even when I'm sleeping, I find myself dreaming about YOWLI and which partners we're supposed to be following up on, whether so-so and so got their visa already, whatever happened to this or that. It's a whole lot, but I'm loving every bit of it as what was only a vision a few months ago is beginning to take shape. I'm SUPER excited!! The "Little" Things YOWLI 2010 is going to be a bit smaller than YOWLI 2008 which had over 100 people living together for a month on Goree Isl...

Inspired by Ntozake Shange's Somebody Almost Walked Off With Alla My Stuff in "For Colored Girls (Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Was Enough)". See: http://africaknows.com/mu/blog/2010/01/destroyed-illegal-settlements-4/ Disclaimer: It's meant to be a parody, so please, don't take it too seriously lol. [Originally posted on Facebook on Nov. 8] -- Somebody tried to walk away with alla my stuff Expected me to sit there, smile sweetly, and just GIVE them alla my stuff Figured since they'd done it time and again, it would be as easy as pie Ha! Little did they know they had another thing comin' Somebody tried to walk away with alla my stuff But THIS time, I chased them down that street and beat them on the head Latched my non-existent claws into their shoulders and hang on for dear life Balled my fists into sledgehammers and hammer away I did For the first time, second, and oh for thinkn' there would be a third Somebody tried to walk ...

My anticipation about writing a post on international women's day (March 8) has been building up so much, but now that I'm here, for some reason, I can't decide which route to take. I kid you not when I tell you that I have written and rewritten this at least 3 times! First, I was thinking of talking about feminism. But I think that deserves a post on its own. Then I thought about writing about how exasperated or "overdosed" I've been feeling about all this "woman" or gender business in development, but that started sounding too textbookish. So now, I'm just going to go with the flow. I'm going to talk about what being a woman means... to me :)  Growing Up...Against the "Norm" Going with the norm, I probably shouldn't be here. I should probably be married by now, maybe onto my second, third, or even fourth child. I shouldn't be living alone, miles away from my parents and family. Heck, how dare I make certain "importa...

Yes, I just went there. I dared say that it's time to tuck away our beloved Kwame Nkrumah , the Big Six, and all those other valiant Ghanaian men and women who have done more than their part in Ghana's development. We've lauded their deserving work for over 50 years. But guess what? It's a new decade, and whether or not we have things to celebrate in Ghana's future now depends on us. YOU and I. Each one of US. So yes, I went there. And guess what? I'm only getting started on the "ridiculousness". Why Ghana? Have you ever stopped to think, why Ghana? And I'm not talking about why Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to gain independence, or why our Black Stars were the first African football team to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. Like I said, this is about you. Why did you end up Ghanaian or in Ghana? Why do you have these ties to a relatively small West African country, instead of the big shots like the US, UK, France, China, India and so on...

Thought I was done blogging for the day -- until I came across this BBC photo feature on Ghana's market girls or "kayayo". When I was back in Ghana, I would occasionally go to the Madina market in Accra with my mum and I remember seeing them every time. I often wondered why they weren't in school, why they were doing what they do and why they didn't bargain how much money was paid them. My mum would lament about their situations and each time she patronized their service she would ask them how come they were doing what they did. Unlike my mum, most patrons of the Kayayo's services are not as considerate and don't think twice about having them carry things twice their weight! This is a very sensitive topic to me, because the way I see it, a twist of fate, and I could have been one. I've been meaning to blog on this issue, but somehow it escaped me. Not about to let that opportunity slip by again. Alors, voila. Here's a youtube slideshow (by the s...

[Something I've been working on. I intended to use it for something else, but I feel like I'd rather share it with you guys! Everything in it's own time. Dedicated to YOWLI 08ers! Thoughts appreciated. Enjoy!!] -- Amsatou detested it. Not the weight of the aluminum bucket on her head after it was filled, or the fact that they’d been walking for hours in search of  water. No. Those she could handle. Those were part of life.  What she could not tolerate was the feeling of guilt that nibbled at her conscience every time they reached a station, only to be told there was no water available for sale that day. And here it was playing itself out again.  Amsatou loosened her orange and blue tie-dye cloth from her waist, grabbed a corner of it, and raised it to her sweaty, round face. “Oh, uncle. Even this small bucket? Won’t you give us water for this small one? Me pa wo kyew.” Amsatou looked up towards the partly blue, party grey metal gate with peeling oi...