Lessons at my Granny's knee

I started a series on the people that have been very instrumental in shaping and forming me into the person God planned for me to be.I am a work in progress,but I can definitely look back and see the impact that specific people had on me without even realizing or knowing it.One of such people was my maternal grandmother, or Dada as we called her.

Dada was one tough old lady.Having grown up in one of the remote portions of colonial Ghana, she grew up without formal education and learned to farm and to trade.That was what she did to take care of her family of five children,my mom being the second.My earliest memory of her would be her sitting on her little stool out in the sun weeding( yes weeding!) or cracking nuts or some such thing,and this was no mean feat for someone who was almost 70 years old.She was always doing something.If there ever was a firm believer in hard work.it was my grandmother.No idleness for her!That is one thing I have come to appreciate about her.She knew that there was so much to do and so she didn't believe in wasting time.

Perhaps the one thing I will always remember her for is the fact that she insisted on me learning to speak my mother tongue.I was about five or so and couldn't speak it very well, and she came and said I was going to learn to speak it whether I liked it or not.I am really grateful for that because otherwise I am pretty sure I would be lost if I had to go to my hometown!

Some of the best memories I have are of her telling us stories about growing up in her time and the things they did.She would also tell us all these parables and riddles that set us thinking till we could solve them.She would always give us kids a piece of meat from her bowl because where she grew up that was the culture.One of the most valuable cultural lessons she taught me had to do with honesty.She grew up in a large family, and this was fairly common in those days, so whenever the kids were eating together they had to find a way to split the meat fairly among them.What they would do was pick one person to split the meat into equal pieces and then everyone would take their share, but in order to ensure that the person doing the splitting up did not cheat ,he/she would be the last to pick their piece of meat.Morale of this?Be fair otherwise you get stuck with the smallest piece of meat!That was just one of the many things she taught us and I am grateful to have known and spent time with such a grand old lady.When she died I was devastated, but she was pretty old by then.I was in college at the time and she had already been ill for a while.She would always be complaining about being cooped up and so sick she couldn't do anything.She just hated being idle but I guess she had no choice then.It was tough on her and on all of us to see this feisty lady confined in such a way, but through it all we remembered that it would only be for a short while.

I thank God for her life,( because otherwise I wouldn't have been born)!But seriously, she taught me the importance of respecting your culture and the need for hard work.For that I will always be grateful.I do miss her, especially running to her whenever I got in trouble with my mum or auntie, knowing that she would be there to listen and protect me.It is an honor to be her grand daughter.
(image courtesy: jonathanpritchard.co.uk)

Inspiring People Episode 1

Hiiiii! I hope you are all doing great!Its been quite a while.I have been working on so many projects that it has been tough to stay in touch, but I am back now(hopefully for good…lol).
Over the next few weeks I would like to share some information and inspiration with you in the form of real life stories about real people who have challenged me to become more than I was and I am now.These people may not seem too extraordinary to you who may know them, but they have helped form me with the help of God into the person I am now,and I believe you can also let their example challenge you to excellence.
I will mention the names of those who have given me permission to do so and will leave out personal details for those who would prefer to remain anonymous.Also keep in mind that some of this stuff will be just one time encounters or ongoing ones, but it is the effect they had on me that I am trying to capture on paper.
The first person is a man who has changed not just my life but countless others.He is a motivational speaker,a philanthropist,miracle worker,a change coach and refresher of life.I met him when I was very young and my life has not been the same since.He changed the way I thought, behaved and walked.
So many things about him challenge me,but the one thing that has totally revolutionized my life is his non selfish nature.He is such an epitome of love that he gave up all that was important to him in order to ensure that the dreams of others would become realities and their lives would be changed.I have decided to model my life after his because there is no better role model for me to follow.He is the person who challenged me to dedicate my life to helping others with my whole self.The One Cedi Foundation would not be in existence if not for this man.Everything I have done and am doing, I can say, was because he motivated me to dream of these things and to take action to see those dreams come to pass.
I used to dream only of making my family proud.That wasn’t bad in and of itself, but it was self centered.After meeting him I realized there was so much more I could do,so much that I had that could change the world, if I would only dream of making an impact, and he was right.I cannot imagine how mediocre my life would be if I hadn’t changed my dreams to those I have now.
I am grateful to him for so much and to day I would like to say thank you to him.This man is none other than Jesus Christ himself.With his life teachings,he transformed my mind.With his death and resurrection,he transformed my heart and my soul.I salute you,Lord!

In the Beginning....

Wow!It's been such a long time!I guess I have some explaining to do and we will get around to that shortly,but I cannot wait to share a little something with you.
One of my favorite things to do is to curl up in bed with a good book or watch a funny movie when I am ill.I watched a great movie a while back and I learnt such an amazing lesson from it that I decided to share it with you.It was a hindi movie and as far as hindi movies go,one of the best I had ever watched.The story line of Bhootnath(that's the title) was basically about a small boy who moves into a haunted house with his mom.The ghost living in the house had succeeded in scaring away all previous occupants of the house,resulting in a large house nobody was willing to live in.When this small boy and his mom moved there and the haunting began,he got scared initially.Then his mom told him that ghosts did not exist so the person he was seeing was an angel.He believed his mom and from then on,any encounter with the ghost was to his favour because he was no longer afraid of his tricks.Eventually,he and the ghost became friends and the ghost stopped terrorizing his family.
This movie was a funny and interesting movie to watch,but it was the lesson I learnt from it that was really important to me.That little boy had more courage than me!
No seriously!I know some of you will laugh at that but he did!It was just amazing watching him face the ghost head on and laughing at all his antics.The ghost would do something crazy and he would imitate him even though he couldn't really do the same.He just would not back down until he had the ghost eating out of the palm of his hand!
That boy taught me to face my fears and challenges head on and not hide under the covers.I learnt to deal with my issues immediately instead of running away from them(like I normally do).
Sometimes in life we need to have this child's perspective.View the things that would normally scare you out of positive tinted glasses and you will see them as opportunities to grow.So today do yourself a favour and face that challenge head on.After you do,don't forget to tell me all about it right here!Maybe its time you asked that girl or that guy out....or told the truth to a hurtful person......or cleaned under that bed(lol)..or..I don't know what it may be,but time to stop being a coward about it!

Yvonne Nyavor

Yvonne Nyavor: "Yvonne is a not for profit fundraiser with experience working with several Charities and Not for Profit Organizations.Currently,she is the projects director at the One Cedi Foundation,a Not for Profit Organization she founded in late 2010.The Cedi project which raises funds to support several charity and social change projects also conducts several projects which aim at impacting society positively.Yvonne also volunteers as a business consultant,helping to grow and nurture several start up companies.
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Personal branding in the Global Village

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Personal branding in the Global Village

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If I had a million dollars....

I spent some time a few weeks ago asking several friends what they would do if they had a million dollars. Quite a number said they would quit school or their jobs, buy houses, cars, settle down and invest the rest of the money. Some said they would simply travel the world and then set up their own businesses. A very small proportion said they would continue schooling and get their PhDs.

Listening to all these views, one thing became clear to me: a lot of us have tied total achievement and fulfilment in life to money. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but there is more to achievement and fulfilment than money. What about family, relationships built over time, moments of laughter and fun, the shared times of pain and sadness? I could go on and on, but for the lack of space ( and your time..) I’d like to just touch on one- the import of making an impact on the world around us.

We seem to always be concerned with ourselves, our dreams, our plans and our lives, but we forget that we live in a world full of more people than ourselves. After school, after getting that good job, after settling down to enjoy our wealth, what next? Is that really to be the sum total of our existence? Is that to be all our lives would count for at the end of the day? What about the children who are dying? What about the poor and hungry the world over? What about that family just down the street who needs someone to just come speak a few good words to them? How about that young lady with a low sense of self worth who just needs someone to tell her how beautiful and lovely she is? What about the dying love deprived world waiting just for you to show some love? What about all the corruption and injustice in the system you can do something about? What about.......?!

The list is just endless. There is so much more to life than just you and your desires. We are living in a society where we are becoming increasingly self absorbed and self-ish. We seem to be only interested in what we can do for ourselves and our families ( if they are lucky!).That is why we need to be asking ‘What about...?’

So what would I do if I had a million dollars? Probably end up giving most of it away, but hey, life isn’t all about ME! What about you? What would you do if you had a million dollars?

Garbage In, Garbage.......?

(Cartoon by Rob Rogers, originally published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Two guys(Kofi and Kwaku) were walking along one day when they came across a big pit in the middle of the path they were taking.They stopped and looked curiously at each other, wondering what it was doing there.Suddenly, a genie appeared and said, 'I am here to grant one wish to each of you.All you have to do is jump in the pit and say what you want as you jump and it will be yours'.The guys were a little skeptical but decided to give it a try. Kofi took the first turn.He went back a safe distance, came running at full speed and jumped into the pit, shouting 'Gold!' as he jumped.Instantly the pit was filled with Gold and Kofi was a rich man.Now it was Kwaku's turn and he smiled excitedly, knowing exactly what he was gonna ask for.He went back a little distance and began running towards the pit.However, he failed to notice a rock embedded in the way and just as he was about to jump he stumbled.Hence the one thing he shouted when he jumped was....?Can you guess?If it were you what would the word be if suddenly, out of nowhere, you stumbled while on your way to attaining your dream?What is the first word out of your mouth when something unexpected and bad, in your opinion, happens suddenly?Well, like most of us, Kwaku said 'Shit!' just as he jumped because he stumbled, and the big pit was filled to the top with,well,shit!(sorry to use such language).
So what is the moral of this story?Well first off when you see a pit in your way it is not necessarily bad news.You could get a genie!
But seriously, I told this story because it illustrates so well the principle that we should be careful what we say because we just might get it. But you know what we say is a direct result of what we listen to, read and watch?
That means if you watch a lot of stuff with cussing and swearing(all the s and f words you can think about) you end up cussing and swearing.In computer language, garbage in, garbage out.
So you are walking along and stumble and you are likely to say 'S**t'.You are going to get what you say, so feed your thoughts with the right things.That way you can still shout 'Gold!" when you stumble.After all, you don't want to end up in a giant pit full of poop, do you?