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Vol 6 Issue 9
African Community News
African Talents Drawn to Major League Soccer Samuel Inkoom Joins DC United
Pg. 39
Afrikan Post
September 2014
Five Things You Probably Didn’t Know About African Politics Today
From the Editor
O u r G r ea tes t G lor y is n o t in n ever f a llin g b u t in r is in g ever y time we f a ll . We ar e committted to b r in gin g th e commu n ity th e bes t in N ews f r om Af r ica a n d th e D ia s p or a . Yo u may als o vis it o u r webs ite a t www.af r ik an po s t.com f or d a ily n ews u p da tes o n Af r ica . D is cla imer : Th e o p in ion s ex pr es s ed in ar ticles a n d s to r ies in th is N ews pa per ar e th os e o f th e a u th o r s a n d d o n o t n eces s ar ily r ef lect th e views o f Af r ik an Po s t . All co mmen ts a n d s u g g es tio n s a r e welcome.
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D E PA R T M E N T S Vol 6 Issue 9
CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT
Friends of Nana Akufu Addo ( FONAA) Launched in Virginia Pg. 36
TV Producer/Blogger from Ghana wins award in the USA Pg. 7
Charismatic Pastor Chris Oyakhilome Opens Up About Divorce Pg. 18
HER PAGE
Fear? God’s Got It Pg. 20
SPORTS African Talents Drawn to MLS Pg. 39
UPDATE
Influx of African Immigrants Shifting National and New York Demographics Pg. 6
Though much of the media attention on Africa highlights conflict, such as the crises in the Central African Republic and in South Sudan, civil conflict in Africa is on the decline. Scott Straus at University of Wisconsin wrote in 2012: “Contrary to common assumption, major forms of large-scale organized political violence in subSaharan Africa are declining in frequency and intensity, and the region is not uniquely prone to the onset of warfare.”
Looking at the most recent elections, voter turnout is similar in the average African country (66 percent) to turnout in the United States (67 percent). There is quite a range, however. Looking at only African countries classified as electoral democracies by Freedom House, the lowest turnout in the most recent presidential election was in Liberia (37 percent) and the highest was in its neighbor, Sierra Leone (91 percent). Analysis of voter turnout in Africa’s multiparty regimes suggests some of the same political institutions that influence turnout in developed democracies also influence turnout in new democracies in Africa.
are held by women, while in Mozambique, Angola, Tanzania and Uganda over 35% of seats are occupied by women. By contrast, women in the US hold 18% of the seats in the House and 20% in the Senate.” The number of women cabinet ministers and the importance of their portfolios are also increasing in Africa, in some cases rivaling cabinets in mature democracies.
The standard narrative of voting in African countries focuses on candidates buying support from voters, but campaigns in Africa also mirror some American practices. For example, some African democracies have begun holding and televising presidential debates. Kenya’s first presidential debate happened in 2013, and is fully available online, including Twitter hashtags and an in-set of a sign language interpreter. Malawi has slated three presidential debates this year in advance of the May elections. Remittances from abroad are projected to surpass foreign aid as the major source of external funds in African countries – so governments might adjust accordingly when forced to choose between the demands of donors and those of their expatriates.
Parliaments in Africa have greater representation of women than the U.S. Congress. As Aili Tripp (also By By Kim Yi Dionne Source:washintonpost.com at University of Wisconsin) wrote late last year: “… today Rwandan women hold 64% of the country’s legislative seats. In Senegal, Seychelles and South Africa, more than 40% of parliamentary seats
September 2014
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Afrikan Post
September 2014
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We Have Mobile Phones You can Use in Ghana
Countries with the Highest Level of HIV Infection Country Adult prevalence rate (%) Swaziland 25.90 Botswana 24.80 Lesotho 23.60 South Africa 17.80 Zimbabwe 14.30 Zambia 13.50 Namibia 13.10 Mozambique 11.50 Malawi 1.00 Uganda 6.50
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Country 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Source: BBC
Leader and alleged embezzlement
Indonesia Suharto, $15-35bn Philippines Ferdinand Marcos, $5-10bn Congo, Democratic Republic of the Mobutu Sese Seko, $5bn Nigeria Sani Abacha, $2-5bn Serbia and Montenegro(Yugoslavia) Slobodan Milosevic, $1bn Haiti J-C Duvalier, $300-800m Peru Alberto Fujimori, $600m Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko, $114-200m Nicaragua Arnoldo Aleman, $100m Philippines Joseph Estrada, $78-80m
Countries with More Men than Women 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Global Peace Index Iraq 3.341 Afghanistan 3.285 Somalia 3.257 Israel 3.035 Sudan 2.922 Congo, DR 2.888 Chad 2.880 Pakistan 2.859 Russia 2.750 Zimbabwe 2.736
Country Sex ratio male/female United Arab Emirates 2.19 Qatar 2.01 Kuwait 1.53 Maldives 1.41 Bahrain 1.25 Oman 1.23 Saudi Arabia 1.19 Palau 1.12 Bhutan 1.10 Jordan 1.10
Countries with the Most Migrants
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Country Migrant(s)/1,000 population Libya 33 Qatar 33 Zimbabwe 23 Singapore 15 United Arab Emirates 15 Bahrain 14 Cyprus 10 San Marino 9 Luxembourg 8 Spain 6
Countries with More Women than Men
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Country Sex ratio male/female Estonia 0.84 Latvia 0.86 Russia 0.86 Ukraine 0.86 Belarus 0.87 Armenia 0.89 Lithuania 0.89 Zimbabwe 0.90 Antigua and Barbuda0.91 Georgia 0.91
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Poorest Countries in the World
Most Dangerous Countries to Live in
Most Corrupt World Leaders
Country
September
Facts and Records
Afrikan Post
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Country
GDP per capita
Congo, Democratic Republic of the Burundi Somalia Zimbabwe Liberia Central African Republic Eritrea Niger Malawi Madagascar
$400 $600 $600 $600 $700 $800 $800 $800 $900 $1,000
Most Generous Countries
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Country
Luxembourg Denmark Norway Netherlands Sweden United Kingdom Finland Ireland Switzerland Belgium
Donor aid per capita $ 490.59 $ 389.53 $302.51 $241.39 $188.24 $176.08 $162.36 $147.72 $145.61 $103.15
Richest Countries in Africa Country
Equatorial Guinea Botswana Gabon Mauritius Libya South Africa Tunisia Namibia Algeria Egypt
GDP per capita $26,400 $17,100 $16,800 $15,800 $12,300 $11,600 $9,900 $7,900 $7,600 $6,700
Happiest countries in the world
Nigeria
Mexico
Venezuela
El Salvador
http://www.aneki.com/
September
Influx of African Immigrants Shifting National and New York Demographics
Threatened with arrest in 2009, Lamin F. Bojang fled Gambia after publicly contradicting its president’s claims that he could cure AIDS. Now 31, Mr. Bojang lives in Concourse Village in the Bronx with his wife and 2-year-old son and works as a receptionist at Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in Brooklyn, while working toward a bachelor’s degree in political science at City College.
With educational and professional opportunities in Gambia scarce for his generation, “the rest will have to find ways of leaving,” he said, “and African migrants here, just as previous migrants, are likely not going to return to their countries of origin.”
For African Immigrants, Bronx Culture Clash Turns ViolentOCT. 19, 2009 Niat Amare, 28, graduated from law school in Ethiopia where she grew up, she recalled, “watching the media portray the U.S. as the land of opportunities.” She arrived here in 2010, lives in Harlem and said she felt welcome in New York. “Anyone would find one’s countryman here, which eases the strange feeling we all have the first time we leave home,” said Ms. Amare, a legal advocate for the African Services Committee, a nonprofit organization that assists new immigrants. While the migration of black Africans is not new, the number of sub-Saharan immigrants has grown swiftly, an influx that is shifting the demographic landscape across the country, including in New York City.
Between 2000 and 2010, the number of legal black African immigrants in the United States about doubled, to around one million. During that single decade, according to the most reliable estimates, more black Africans arrived in this country on their own than were imported directly to North America during the more than three centuries of the slave trade.
And while New York State is home to the largest proportion and many have gravitated to ethnic enclaves like Little Senegal in West Harlem or the Concourse Village section of the West Bronx, to live among fellow Ghanaians, black immigrants from Africa have tended to disperse more widely across the country — to California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Texas and Virginia — than Caribbean-born blacks.
About a third of black New Yorkers were born abroad, mostly in the Caribbean. Africans constitute about 4 percent of the city’s foreign-born population, but as much as 10 percent in the Bronx. At last count, according to an analysis of census estimates by the Department of City Planning, from 2000 to 2011 the Africanborn population increased 39 percent to 128,000, although other estimates suggest that many more are living here without legal residency.
“They’ve been doubling every 10 years since 1980,” said Kim Nichols, an executive director of the African Services Committee, which is based in Harlem. “There’s a more established family and community network here to come to.”
Some come as refugees, some with work visas or special skills, many to stay and others to hone their talents and eventually apply them back home. The yearly flow can be affected by wars and epidemics.
Continue reading the main storyContinue reading the main storyContinue reading the main story “They’re a self-selected population,” Ms. Nichols said. “They
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have to be the most ambitious and have the means to get here — at least one plane ticket — and a fearlessness about coming to a new place.”
She recalled a boy who was 13 and fluent only in Soninke when he arrived alone from Mali after his family had finally scraped together enough money to pay for his airfare. The young man, now 18, just got his green card.
“His parents saved everything for years to buy a plane ticket,” Ms. Nichols said. “They have this dream. They’re dirt poor and the only way their kids are going to get ahead is to get them here by hook or crook.”
An analysis of the Census Bureau’s latest American In Concourse Village in the Bronx, Sylvester Donkor, left, and Community Survey, which ended in 2012, found that 30 percent of African-born blacks in the city had a college degree, Ataa Serwaa, immigrants from Ghana, waiting for a cab to church. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Time compared with 22 percent of native-born blacks, 18 percent of Caribbean-born blacks and 19 percent of the nonblack foreign born.
Immigrants like Mr. Bojang and Ms. Amare say they still identify more as African than as black or African-American.
“Many black immigrants do not identify with the historical experiences of discrimination encountered by blacks in the United States,” said Kevin D. Brown, a law professor at Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law.
Two generations removed from colonialism and legal segregation, said Dr. Khalil Gibran Muhammad, director of the New York Public Library’s Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, “the younger African immigrants tend to be less consciously ‘black’ and are somewhat reticent to link their fates with the history and contemporary protest traditions of African-Americans.”
“Selma doesn’t exactly cut it for them,” he said.
Kobina Aidoo, director of “The Neo-African-Americans,” a documentary, said, “I’ve heard people refer to themselves as everything from ‘African African-American’ to ‘Halfrican American’ to ‘White African-American’ to ‘Real AfricanAmerican’ to ‘American African” to ‘Just black.’ ”
Niat Amare at her office in Harlem. Crediit Damon Winter/The New York Times
Dr. Muhammad, recalling the shooting by the police of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed immigrant from Guinea in the Bronx in 1999, and of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Mo., last month, said color still trumped place of origin.
“Diversity among African-descended communities remains a black box and a mystery to most Americans,” he said. “Where public safety is concerned, black is all that matters.”
Mr. Bojang, who hopes to study law here after graduating from City College, said it might seem paradoxical that young Africans, who centuries ago arrived in chains, now dream of coming to America — but largely because the educational and economic opportunities are so much better than back home.
“So, if you look at the factors in place and contrast that with the conditions of the continuous struggle of the AfricanAmericans for economic and social justice, it will be an error in judgment to say that the U.S. is becoming the Mecca for Africans. “After all,” he said, “we are all Africans.”
Worshipers, including many from Africa, at the Holy Fire Dynamic Word church in the Bronx. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times
Tv Producer/Blogger From Ghana Wins Award In The USA
TheAfricanDream -- a show produced and hosted by Oral Ofori for WPAATV (http://wpaa.tv a public access TV in Wallingford CT, USA) along with shows of other producers from that station was collated and submitted under the name "The Reel: What we did together" to ACMNE (Alliance for Community Media North east Video Festival) and won Overall Excellence for Community TV station with a Budget of Under $100,000.
The Reel included 16 clips of less than 2 minutes that told a story and demonstrated what respective producers do together to Make TV for the Wallingford community. It was submitted before the June 2, 2014 deadline of the awards event which will be held on October 9-11, 2014 in Nashua New Hampshire in the USA.
The 3rd Anniversary Celebration Of The Ghanaian Way, Newark-New Jersey. September 2014
30th August, 2014 marked the 3rd Annual celebration date of the street named after Ghana.(Ghanaian Way).
On the ” Ghanaian Way ” is the Dream African Market and Restaurant. Behind it is the Heritage Distribution International and African Market.This location is the most popular in the Ghanaian and African community.
It’s been a place to socialize and it’s not only Ghanaians that you will find.The place witnesses people from all African countries(Nigeria,Senegal,Togo,Burkina etc.)
Mayor of Newark RAS BARAKA who happens to be one Besides the team effort 1st place win with other Connecticut based proof the brain behind the street naming of the Ghanaian Way ducers, #TheAfricanDream won 3rd place in the category of Diversity was there to grace the occasion and the Ghanaian commuEmpowerment in the 2013 ACM-NE Region Video Festival for the inter- nity used the opportunity to celebrate his victory as the view of Riaan Oppelt who was guest at the WPAA-TV studios for a con- Mayor of Newark . versation about the Legacy of the late South Africa President Nelson Mandela--Madiba in January of 2014 .
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In attendance were Congressmen and women,City of Newark Municipal Council leaders, Kings, Chiefs, Queen Mothers, Prominent African Personalities and the general public.It also witnessed Africans from all over USA.
This event was ully packed with surprises
Ghanaian Way Council
Source:modernghana.com
By Kwadwo Adu-Ameyaw
NGOZI to Launch FRIENDS OF BABA Campaign.
Mr. Abdul Samad popularly known as "BABA -The Metro Griller" has been diagnosed with Stage 5 kidney disease.
A person with stage 5 chronic kidney disease (CKD) has end stage renal disease (ESRD). At this advanced stage of kidney disease, the kidneys have lost nearly all their ability to do their job effectively, and eventually dialysis or a kidney transplant is needed to live.
Baba is currently surviving on DIALYSIS and looking for a DONOR for a Kidney Transplant. The NGOZI team visited him at the hospital and he asked us to inform all his friends and loved ones of his condition. He currently has no Health Insurance and until he gets a kidney replacement, he will be unable to work.
He is in good spirits though and very determined to fight this disease. However, all the alternatives on the table requires money and he needs financial assistance in order to sustain his treatment and pursue the possibility of transplanting.
BABA has been an active member of Friends of Baffour and donated his services Free of Charge for the Annual Baffour Charity Soccer Tournament. It is in this regard that NGOZI in collaboration with Friends of Baba has decided to launch a new fundraising drive "FRIENDS OF BABA" to raise funds to assist him.
We will be providing further details as the plan rolls out soon and will be counting on your usual generosity once again- please stay tuned and remember him in your prayers.
Thanks
NGOZI- Being A Blessing, www.ngozi.org
September
2014
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Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone Ambassadors in USA Strive For A Collective Fight Against Ebola
By: Pasco Gerald Temple - IA USA on September 1, 2014.
Ambassadors of the three hardest hit Ebola virus disease (EVD) affected Countries of the Mano River Union (MRU) States (Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone) have held a meeting at the 1701 19th Street Washington DC on Thursday August 28th, 2014 aimed at closing ranks and chatting a way forward as an entity to solicit and facilitate help from the diaspora to their respective Countries in a bid to help combat the EVD. (Photo: Amb. Bockari Stevens (Center), R- Amb. Salunteh (Liberia) Counsellor Allie Camara (Guinea), L-Amb Ibrahim S. Conteh, Mrs. Isatu Sillah Minister Counsellor)
In his opening remarks, Ambassador Bockari Kortu Stevens appraised his colleagues about efforts being made by the government in Sierra Leone and on the part of the Embassy of Sierra Leone in the United States on sensitizing the international community and the Diaspora; and further observed that one of the main rationale for meeting is for them as Ambassadors of the affected Countries to come together as “our Presidents have done and adopt a holistic approach which can be used as a mechanism to communicate to our citizens, partners and friends, because the three Countries need nearly the same gadgets to fight the menace.”
Ambassador Stevens recalled United States –Africa’s Heads of State summit and said the three Heads of State of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea held a meeting and decided that one of them should represent the MRU and they were adequately represented by President Alpha Conde of Guinea.
He reiterated President Ernest Bai Koroma’s concern on the tardiness of the international community’s response and said “that is why the government of President Ernest Bai is mobilizing our people and local resources. “We contacted our friends, we have been able to get help; we have
shipped a forty feet container, the embassy paid for the shipment. We will soon send another forty feet container given to the government by the Ahmmadiyya Muslim Mission, the Embassy is going to pay for the shipment.
“We also took some money, and some materials and handed it over to the Ministry of Health.“Other monies we are receiving are in the bank. We set up a task force and a separate PayPal account where people are contributing.
“The embassy has written letters to Airlines to help airlift aids to Sierra Leone at a reduced cost; Together with NOSLINA and SN. Brussels we have air freighted another consignment to government this weekend.” Said Ambassador Stevens. The Sierra Leone Ambassador also attended a meeting at Harvard University to discuss vaccine, medicine and assistance. “Harvard want to hear from us what the real situation is and I am glad to say that we have followed up and they need specifics from our governments by explaining our needs and justify the use.
“The embassy mobilized Doctors nurses and paramedics and we held a very successful meeting. “We now have a task force, and we are meeting again on Sunday 31st August.
On his part, Ambassador of Liberia accredited to the United States, His Excellency Jeremiah C. Salunteh blamed “disbelief and old cultural practice” for the spread of Ebola in Liberia. “Our people denied the existence of Ebola they thought it was a joke.
“Some of the cultural practices – especially the touching of bodies, washing of corpse, dressing of Corps help makes it spread.”As I speak, the awareness is on and everyone is now aware.” Said Ambassador Salunteh.
He said nearly all what the embassy of Sierra Leone is doing, is what they are also doing with the exception of few. He lauded the effort of Ambassador Bockari Stevens and promised better coordination. According to Mr. Allie Camara First Secretary and Consular officer for the republic of Guinea who represented his Ambassador, “the need for collaboration need not be overemphasized, because of the connections between the three countries.” He said there are so many similarities in culture and tradition, that disease in one area will without many difficulties affect the others.
“As from date, we will be comparing notes to identify our faintness and strengthen and our weaknesses. “Where we lack knowledge, we will learn from each other.” Said Mr. Camara.
Minister /Counsellor Mrs. Isatu Sillah lauded the efforts of the MRU Ambassadors in their coordinated drive towards the eradication of the Ebola scourge. She pointed out that the three countries have a potent diaspora and with their willingness and cooperation, she has no doubt, they will impact a positive direction in the fight against the Ebola virus disease. Deputy Chief of Mission Ambassador Ibrahim .S. Conteh thanked the Ambassadors for the meeting, and expressed optimism for success of the three countries over Ebola virus disease. Source:http://www.sierraexpressmedia.com
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September 2014
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September 2014
Derek Discuses Money Matters On Highlife Radio
You know Sikasem-Show is on Highlife Radio (7pm EST Mondays) Let's talk on the Show... Invite a friend, let's talk about our future; are you ready to retire? How are you preparing for your retirement or are you just blowing money on...? The topic of discussion: "Insurance: Benefits", Call in to share your opinion (703) 722-6039. You can listen to the show on your phone (712) 432-5345/(401)3470734 Sikasem on www.highlifetoday.com Email: Info@highliferadio Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/Highlifetoday Phone APP: Http://t.megaradio.ik/projects/linkghana Twitter: https://twitter.com/highlifetoday Highlife Media: P O BOX 11273, Manassas, Virginia 20113
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The Da-Lite Projector Screen is the best rear projector screen consists of a specially formulated optical coating, designed to provide the highest resolution and most accurate color fidelity. Da-Lite utilizes a special coating process which chemically bonds the optical layer to the substrate, creating a very degree of adhesion guaranteed not to peel or strip off. Is definitely the real deal
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September 2014
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Olivia Delali Agyekum Hits 40. Nana Acheampong and Shata Wale Performs at Birthday Bash in Columbus, Ohio
Afrikan
Post
The glamorous 40th celebration for Olivia, an entrepreneur in Ohio was a birthday present by her husband, Mr. Yaw Agyekum popularly known as Akili Bobo. Not only did the live band birthday celebration witnessed performance by thee reigning artiste of the year, highlife legend Nana Acheampong was also at the event to grace the occasion.
Olivia being carried shoulder high by escorts to the party
Mrs. Olivia Dela Agyekum
Olivia and husband dancing to the music of Nana Acheampong
Olivia anf family
Dance Hall King , Shata Wale performing
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Afrikan
Post
Nurse Offers Guide To Financial Success
watched Suze Orman on TV."
Mr. Adjei-Mensah was trying to answer a basic question: What should people do?
"I realized that becoming financially successful is not that complicated" he said. "People who are financially successful are not the smartest guys in the room. I know a guy who is a doctor, a lawyer, and a pharmacist. He has all these degrees. He goes from job to job every single day. He is trying to insulate himself. If his legal practice goes down, he can do something else."
September 2014
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Ancient Royal History From Ghana For Children Launched At Asante Festival
Mr. Adjei-Mensah concluded from his experiences that education has been oversold: "We are taught that education is the key to success — but what kind of success? A medical degree and passing the medical boards prepares you to provide medical service. If you want to be financially successful, you need a financial education."
He also saw holes in the work of the leading financial gurus. "Suze Orman helps people manage what they are already making. Robert Kiyosaki tells people to invest in real estate — but as the financial crisis showed, that is not always a good investment," he said.
When I think of nurses, their ability to give good financial advice is not the first thing that pops into mind. But I do like learning new things. And the story of Ghana native Frank Adjei-Mensah opened up my mind to the possibility that a nurse could be a source of good advice on finances.
Mr. Adjei-Mensah said he believes that being financially successful does not mean making a big salary: "A doctor can make $500,000 a year. But what happens to that doctor if she is struck by a patient and is permanently paralyzed? She has saved $2 million, but she will never work again. How long can she survive? Everyone needs more money outside of their paychecks."
His book, "The American Dream Declassified," argues that more education is not necessarily the answer to financial success. Instead, he argues that people need to create assets Mr. Adjei-Mensah said people need to buy or create that will pay off in case their ability to work ends suddenly. assets: "An asset generates income with or without your physical involvement. One of the nurses I work Mr. Adjei-Mensah came by his financial insights through a with does beautiful sculptures. The chief operating combination of life experience and research. As I learned officer of our hospital saw a picture of a sculpture he from a Sept. 11 interview, he came to the U.S. in 2000 after did of Ghandi and invited the nurse to his house to majoring in law and sociology at Kwame Nkrumah swap his sculpture for any work of art at the COO's University of Science and Technology in Ghana. house."
He struggled for years before getting into the nursing field: "I came to the U.S. in 2000 for economic opportunity. I was reading computer network administration. I needed an internship to graduate, but computer jobs were hard to find. I dropped out of the program and took jobs in customer service and debt collection. I finally decided on nursing."
Mr. Adjei-Mensah explained to the nurse how he could turn his art into an asset. "I asked the nurse, 'Why don't you make more of these?' He said, 'I can't do it the same way each time.' I told him, 'You just have to make one and you can license it to a factory that will make more just like it. You can make sculptures of Obama, the pope, and Mandela and collect royalties.' "
In 2007, Mr. Adjei-Mensah married — his wife's family is in Worcester — and started nursing school. He graduated in 2009 and moved to Cincinnati to work for Summit Mr. Adjei-Mensah wants to encourage creativity. He Behavioral Healthcare, a psychiatric hospital. argues, "Don't just get a job. Look at a problem, find a solution, make a killing." In 2010, Mr. Adjei-Mensah started researching his book. As he said, "I talked to a lot of people — doctors, nurses, nursing aides and other people not in the health field such as students who were engineers trying to become business folks. I read books like Napoleon Hill's "Think and Grow Rich," and Robert Kiyosaki's "Rich Dad, Poor Dad." I also
Source: Peter Cohan of Marlboro heads a management consulting and venture capital firm, and teaches business strategy at Babson College. His email address is peter@petercohan.com.
As part of the Asante Festival that took place in Alexandria, Virginia on August 30th and 31st, the organizers arranged for one of Ghana’s foremost children’s authors to come and launch a book at the event. This 48-page book entitled “Ancient Royal Tales from Ghana for Children” teaches children the history of some ancient Ghanaian Kings and Queens. Osei Tutu I of the Asante, Ntim Gyakari of the Denkyira, Dode Akaibi of the Ga and Ndewura Jakpa of the Gonja are some of the royals featured in this book.
Abyna-Ansaa Adjei is the author of eight books and has a writing career spanning some 15 years. Her first book published in 2001 was a biography of the Asantehene, “Otumfuo Osei Tutu II: King of Gold” and is found on the shelves of universities like Harvard and Yale. In 2006, Abyna-Ansaa was commissioned by the Government of Ghana to write and produce the commemorative book for the celebration of Ghana’s Golden Jubilee of Independence: Ghana @ 50.
She has also published books for children on the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the independence of Ghana, Nigeria and Kenya. In July 2014, she launched ‘Anansesem: The Adventures of Kweku Ananse:
The most cunning spider that ever lived’ which has been very wellreceived. You may find more information about Abyna-Ansaa and her work at www.frangipanibooks.com
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Afrikan
Post
To God Be The Glory Great Things He Has Done. If you are Single there is Hope
September 2014
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September 2014
Discover Cars Made In Africa By Africans
SMATI Turtle- Ghana
The Ramses
The Ramses concept is based first on the British Frisky and then on the NSU Prinz. This was one of Colonel Nasser's pet projects in the 1950s which he claims to be Africas first true car.
The Z-600
Uri.
The Matatu
The (Libyan rocket)
From the Namibian word for "jump", this extremely able 4x4 is The Z-600 was the brainchild of a Nigerian Dr Ezekiel perfect for the real off road path. Made in Namibia and South Izuogu, Africa using a Toyota chassis and engine (underpinnings). who envisioned an all-African car, designed and made in Nigeria from 90% local content. It has a doorbell for a horn, quite a surprising detail, and still remains as an existing prototype.
Laraki Fulgura
This Moroccan supercar concept, named after its founder Abdeslam Laraki was based on the world famous Lamborghini Diablo. It was offically unveiled at the 2002 Geneva motor show
Kantanka SUV-made in Ghana
The car was unveiled on the 30th anniversary of the revolution
This very unique and useful minibus design called a Matatu, which propelled the Libyan leader to power. was originally styled and developed in Nairobi Kenya. The body is fabricated from sheet metal and built upon a Isuzu The Saroukh el-Jamahiriya (Libyan rocket) a five-passenger saloon minibus chassis that is also driven by an Isuzu engine. in a metallic Libyan revolutionary green with tinted windows, was launched at a special summit of the Organisation of African Unity organised by Colonel Gaddafi.
The car has the aerodynamic lines of conventional models but the front and rear ends are rocket-shaped.
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http://www.aada.5u.com/
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Charismatic Pastor Chris Oyakhilome Opens Up About Divorce filed By His Wife, Anita September 2014
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Below is Pastor Chris’s statement on a youtube video.
“Are you hearing me? A man of God is set on a course; there is a type of life that he is given. Then you have a young man, a young prophet; he wasn’t named; he was deceived by another man of God and so he went in a direction that God said ‘don’t go’.
“That is the only kind of thing you find about a man of God when he misses the message of God or he acts beyond what God said. But a man of God settles himself in the fight against the world… like those writing those silly things about me, that I did this and I did that.
“You don’t know who a man of God is. I don’t go in that direction. I wasn’t accused of the things you said, nor did I commit those silly things that you said and I don’t need to go into that level in such discussions.
“Jesus Christ was accused by many – a lot of frivolous charges. There will always be those who would like for it to be true. But you know, in spite of the accusations against Jesus, It didn’t change who he was. It didn’t change him.
“There are preachers and there are men of God. I am not a preacher; I am a man of God and I go in the way I’m asked to go. It may cause some troubles with individuals but that’s not because I have done something wrong and when it comes to Reverend Anita, what I will say to you is ‘pray for her’.
“Don’t act like those people. If you are married to a man of God, it doesn’t make you automatically mature. You can make mistakes; you can do something that is wrong. But some people expect the wife of a minister to definitely be at the level of that minister and so they may be looked upon and the expectation may be like that, but it’s a positional thing.
“If a man of God is married, it doesn’t automatically mean that the wife of a man of God is therefore a woman of God. That’s not the way it is in the Bible.
“That’s why you don’t really find the wives of men of God mentioned in the Bible. How many of them? Who was Peter’s wife, did you ever know her name? You never find that out. Who was John’s wife? Did you ever read the name? What about all the other Apostles? How many of their names are written in the Bible. You never find their names.”
At this point, one of the female pastors sought to know why the names of wives of the men of God were not found in the Bible. Oyakhilome’s response was that she should ask God whenever she finds him.
“Why? You ask God when you find him. Ask God when you find him,” he exclaimed.
“So, they are little things; don’t try to make something big out of them. So when journeying, doing the things that God called us to do, Christians should not have a divorce; it shouldn’t be but you see, that doesn’t mean a Christian may not take the step.
Rev. Chris
Christian Oyakhilome (known popularly as "Pastor Chris") is a Nigerian minister who is the founding president of Believers' LoveWorld Incorporated also known as "Christ Embassy", a Bible-based Christian ministry headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria.
His ministry runs several arms including the Healing School, Rhapsody of Realities (a daily devotional with global reach), and an N.G.O called the Innercity Missions as well as three Christian television channels: LoveWorld TV, LoveWorld SAT and LoveWorld Plus. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome's television programs feature his faith healings, miracles and large meetings which his ministry organizes around the world, with gatherings over 2.5 million people in a single night's event. He is one of the most influential preachers in Africa . Pastor Chris started preaching from his youth, holding large miracle meetings during his secondary and tertiary school days. His grandfather was also a Minister. Pastor Chris' ministry has expanded rapidly beyond coasts of Nigeria and South Africa, and he now holds large meetings in the United States and has Healing school sessions in Canada, and United Kingdom. Pastor Chris has a strong following especially among youths and is notable for organizing the Night of Bliss South Africa at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, and Higher Life Conferences in Canada, United States of America, and the United Kingdom. Pastor Chris Oyakhilome runs a global prayer network using social network platforms to send messages to Christians around the world regularly. His account is @PastorChrisLive on these platforms, he currently has over 1.2 million followers on Twitter, as well as his own social networking website called Yookos.Pastor Chris is also the author of the world's number one daily devotional,"Rhapsody of Realities" which he co-authors with his wife Anita.It is currently available in 322 languages and distributed in 142 countries worldwide.Pastor Chris also hosts the annual Higher Life conferences in the UK,United States,Canada,Nigeria and South Africa.In 2010 the O2 Arena in London overflowed with an audience of more than 25,000 when Pastor Chris hosted the "Night of Bliss" conference.
Source: Wikipedia
“They may do it but [they] have to make things right and we shouldn’t take one another to court. But when it happens, not that we don’t just want to go, it means someone is taking us there. That’s a problem, but be wise and stay focused in the word of God and don’t let those who want to feast on things like this, including Christians…
“There are Christians who like things like this; they want to make something big out of this: ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, we said it’. You said what? Judge nothing before the time. Be wise. Glory to God.
“So we are not working in sin and living in sin and hoping that we can mix sin and righteousness together. We are the manifestation of his righteousness. We walk in that light only, and that’s the way it’s gonna be,” he concluded. Source: peacefmonline.com
Chris and Anita Oyakhilome
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September 2014
Call to Make an Appointment
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Fear? God’s Got It Her Page
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Dr. Miriam C. Gyimah
hat is behind that door that we are so afraid of opening? What is in that dark area where we are afraid of venturing? Nothing harmful, not at all what our irrational emotions allude to. Yet, we are so hesitant, so intimidated, so afraid to make our way there. What attempts to hold us back from going about our lives comfortably and boldly is fear. This ugly emotion has a way of haunting us, preventing us from meeting our potential and experiencing our liberation. However, the truth is that all it is an emotion, a thought, a feeling that has no biting power. But if this feeling is somehow impacting your life negatively, as it can, know that the Lord your God is above it and has made it your footstool. I speak of fear because recently, my four year old twins have come to know this emotion and now they are afraid of doing everyday things that they previously did. While a few months before, they were casually and happily moving about any part of our home, they are now reluctant to go to certain areas, especially if the area is not well lit, and I mean with bright lights. And although I am aware that fear is one of the many things that we naturally face as humans and that my children were yet to come to know it more and more as adults know this emotion, along with all the other joys, pains and disappointments of life, I am still disheartened that at such an early age, they have become aware of fear, that when it is dark, they are fearful to enter an area for fear of the unknown and the possibility that a “monster” might get them. Observing my kids’ discovery of fear prompted me to think about my own experiences along this line and I also began to reflect on mankind’s relationship to fear. In the end, I can only assure myself that even if fear, that intimidating and sometimes paralyzing emotion, determines to make a threat to my well being and my peace of mind, I can shut it out by believing that God’s got it. My knowledge of and belief in God tell me that nothing that poses as a challenge or a threat to my well-being and sanity should stand a chance in my life if I have an advocate such as God, an advocate who tells me to lay my burdens down for Him. Knowing that I can do this, that I can freely allow God to handle the fear and the situations which prompt it is what gives me the boldness to declare that God’s got it. But it
wasn’t always so. I recall that as a child, I was often afraid. Like my children, and I believe all children, I was afraid of the dark and in particular, our basement. I remember that I was always reluctant to and fearful of going there alone. I avoided going there, although it was inevitable. When I had to, I quickly felt for the light switch at the entrance of the stairway and turned it on to eliminate the frightening darkness. When I reached the basement, again, I quickly felt for the thin rope that hung from the second light and yanked it, turning it on. I would fearfully rush to find whatever I needed to retrieve and then quickly exit the basement by running up the steps after I turned off the lights. I clearly remember the pounding of my heart and truly believing that someone, something, might grab me in the dark. I was terrified of the dark and here, I am talking about being between 10 and 11 years old. Somehow, after the age of eleven, I outgrew that particular fear, but as you know, fear presents itself through many and various circumstances, so while we may have overcome our fear of something, such as the dark, we still become afraid of one thing or another. When the dark and the basement no longer intimidated me, fear introduced itself through another means. Throughout my teenage years and into my early twenties, I was on and off faced with an unbearable situation. Somehow mice had found a way to invade this same home and I was terrified of them. I was so terrified that I would be afraid to go to any area of my home where there was evidence of their activity. My fear of mice was so terrible that it was haunting. I remember very well that I would sit up on my bed almost pressed to the corner of the headboard all night long, hugging my legs with my chin on my knees, staking a mouse that I saw quickly dashing into my closet or someplace in my room. I was too afraid to sleep, too fearful to move and even too terrified to step down from the bed and go to the rest room. I allowed a tiny critter which only weighed a few ounces to scare the daylights out of me, to paralyze me. This creature could do me no real harm. In fact, it was rather afraid of me, but I didn’t see it that way and I don’t think I could have cared or truly believed that it was fearful of me, because I myself had simply relinquished power to it and as a result, I was its prisoner. As ridiculous as the image of me fearfully sitting on my bed and keeping wake all night (all because I was afraid of a mouse) seems, too many of us have also kept wake numerous times because of our fear of various things. We are plagued by the fear of the unknown, failure, rejection, loss of income, sicknesses, diseases and death. The problem is that our fear of a situation does not change it. My fear of the mice did not keep them out of my home. It was rather their extermination which took care of that. Being fearful got me nowhere, but bothered, tired and all too sleepy the next day. It was not worth my time, nor
emotion invested, but at that time, nothing could convince me of causally falling asleep on my bed as if the dreadful, repugnant and filthy creature was not there. But that is what I should have done. I should have gathered courage to continue in my daily routine without being so affected by the knowledge that mice had entered my home and one could quickly run by my feet. The problem here is that the various fears noted above cause us to worry and prevent us from living a peaceful and joyful life. We are afraid of the unknown. What will happen tomorrow? Will we still have our jobs, homes, or will we ever achieve the goals and lifestyle we desire? What will happen if we make a particular decision? Will it be good for us or will it be a setback or our undoing? We are afraid of becoming sick, for we worry that when we become sick, what will happen to our lives? Who will take care of our children? We are afraid of death. What does it mean for our unfinished work on earth? What does it mean for our spouses and our children? Who will take care of them? And can they be cared for and loved as they need and deserve? We are fearful of all these things, so we worry and stress ourselves unnecessarily. We fail to remember that in sickness or in health, God’s got it. The world was established thousands and thousands of years before us and although we have come to partake in it, and are in the midst of constructing our lives as we desire, we can be gone tomorrow and yet, the world will not fall apart, because once again, God’s got it. Just as God’s got the whole world in His hands, so also does He have your family in His hands. As much as we are capable of and better suited to care for our own families, we are not more capable and suited for that job than God. The point is that when worse comes to worse, God’s got it. So let us stop for a moment and take in a breath of reality and acknowledge that our fears come to shake us, but the one who has conquered death has in the least, conquered fear. Consequently, there is nothing to fear, not failure, not the unknown, not anything! The Bible teaches us that “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind (II Timothy 1:7). If this is true, and I know it is, then why do we allow fear to take over our lives in exchange for our sound mind? One person who understood that we shouldn’t entertain the emotion or spirit of fear was King David. In Psalm 27:1, King David, despite his many trials and dangers as a king, despite the enemies who conspired against him desiring his downfall, confidently asserts, “the LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When we know and know indeed that the Lord is our light and our salvation, is there truly anything to fear? How could there be when the very idea that God is your salvation means that He has got you and anything that comes in your way? You cannot live in fear. Don’t give it room to possess your time and life. If you give it space, like any bad habit, it will take complete hold. Reject it. Know that there is nothing to fear. Know that in the least, fear is an intimidation tactic that the
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devil uses to cause us to doubt ourselves or God, hinder our progress and, at worse yet, paralyze us. Finally, let me share one more personal narrative of fear with you. When I was pregnant with my twins, each day was a day to be afraid. While I looked forward for the next day in pregnancy and took it a day at a time, the end of each day was a triumph for me, because I had made it through one more day, that is, I had not miscarried. However, the reality of the fear was there to begin the next day with me as soon as I woke up from bed. Each day, I would wonder “is this pregnancy going to make it through this day? Is this the day that I would miscarry and lose the lives that I am carrying as I have previously?” My days began with fear, but ended with thanksgiving and hope. However, living the entire day in fear was not healthy and so I begged the Lord to speak to me. I needed Him to assure me that I would successfully carry the twins to term. I prayed and yearned to hear some assurance about the pregnancy from Him. I would desperately plead, “tell it to me in a dream, in a vision, in a prophesy. Please Lord, I need to know, to hear from you that this one will not end up like the others.” I could feel and, when I was silent, I could almost hear my heart’s palpitations. It was my fear speaking, because I was so afraid that once again, my body would ring true as a death trap for these innocent ones I was carrying. It was truly an experience plagued with fear, but God did speak and because He did, I held on to His word and gradually let go of the fear. Just as God spoke to me, so also does He speak to us all in one form or another. Most significantly, He has provided what He wants to tell us in the Bible. But we have to make time to see what He says in His word and also be still enough to listen to Him as He speaks to our hearts. But we really need to let go of fear, because fear of anything and everything just makes us sick with worry, high blood pressure and even heart disease. If we give fear a prominent place in our lives, we give it power to drive us to an early grave. The Lord tells us in Isaiah 41:10 that we should “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” These are the words we need to know in such times. When we are fearful of a circumstance, we should remember His words and hold on to them. Fear may attempt to shake you and turn your reality upside down, but God has got you firmly in His hands and assures that there is nothing at all to fear.
Some Ghanaian Pronounciations
Junction - Janshin Gang leader - Gangaliya Traffic indicator - Traffigator Balloon - Buyloon Chewing Gum - Chingam Hands up - Ans up Brazil - Braizay Bloody fool - Bledi full Here you are - Oyiwa Belt - Bellet Town council - Tankas Round About - Ran About Film - Frim Hearts of Oak - Has of Oaks Get away - Gelaway Screw driver- school driver Coal pot - Cropot Spectacles - Spɛss Kerosene - Kresin Spaghetti - Taliya Underpant - Dross Tea bread - Team bled Old lady - Olady Old man - Oluman Teacher - Chicha
How Some Nigerians Pronounce certain words Curse/cause/course-Kos Castle-Kas-Tul Safe Journey-Save Johnny Happy Birthday-Apy Betday Husband-Ozzband Google-Gugu Barbers-Ba bas Arsenal-Ass Na
Joke Center
September 2014
Ebola
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A man went to church this sunday and gave a testimony that he was affected by ebola but God healed him and when he had finished he gave the mic to the next man but he refused saying "am ok give it to the pastor" and the pastor also refused saying "am not in charge of testimonies anymore so give it to the Senior pastor" the man was shocked when he heard the senior pastor saying "the mic is all yours my dear take it home Its a gift from the church"
Only in Africa
September 2014
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List Of African Scientists, Inventors, And Scholars
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This is a list of African scientists, inventors, and scholars who were born or active on the African continent.
North African
Rachid Yazami (1953-), a Moroccan and French Scientist, the inventor of lithium ion batteries used in portable phones, PC, I-pads, ... Imhotep (fl. 27th century BC), an Egyptian polymath Euclid, a Greek mathematician active in Hellenistic Alexandria during the reign of Ptolemy I (323–283 BC). Muhammad Abduh (1849–1905), an Egyptian jurist, religious scholar and liberal reformer, regarded as the founder of Islamic Modernism. Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam Sameera Moussa (1917–1952), an Egyptian nuclear scientist. Al-Jahiz (781 – 868/869), a Afro-Arab scholar of East American desert. Arius (AD ca. 250 or 256 – 336), a Christian priest from Alexandria, Egypt. Saint Cyprian (died September 14, 258), was bishop of Carthage and early Christian writer. Abbas Ibn Firnas Nur ad-Din al-Betrugi Tertullian (ca. 160 – ca. 220 A.D.), a Christian Berber author and writer of Christian Latin literature. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430), a Bishop of Hippo Regius and Romanized Berber philosopher and theologian. Al-Idrisi (1100–1165 or 1166), an Andalusian geographer, cartographer, Egyptologist and traveller. Al-Suyuti (c. 1445-1505 AD), an Egyptian writer, religious scholar, juristic expert and teacher. Muhammad al-Maghili (died c. 1505), an Islamic scholar from Tlemcen in modern-day Algeria.
Sub-Saharan African
Gebisa Ejeta (b. 1950), an Ethiopian American plant breeder and geneticist who won the 2009 World Food Prize. Noah Samara, an Ethiopia American scientist and Chief Executive Officer of WorldSpace Corporation. Andries Van Aarde professor of theology at University of Pretoria. Cheick Modibo Diarra, (b. 1952), Malian-born aerospace engineer who contributed to several NASA missions such as Mars Path Finder, the Galileo spacecraft, and the Mars Observer.
South African
Thebe Medupe (b. 1973), a South African astrophysicist and founding director of Astronomy Africa. Allan McLeod Cormack (1924–1998), a South African-born American physicist, who won the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Aaron Klug, (b. 1926), a Lithuanian-born British chemist and biophysicist, who won the 1982 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He moved to South Africa at the age of two and studied at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town. Sydney Brenner (b. 1927), a South African biologist, who won the 2002 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine. Christiaan Barnard (1922–2001), a South African cardiac surgeon, who performed the world's first successful human-to-human heart transplant. Mark Shuttleworth (b. 1973), a South African entrepreneur. Himla Soodyall, a South African human geneticist, known for genetic research into the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.
Chinua Achebe, a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor and critic. Author of highest selling book in Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia modern African literature, Things Fall Apart. He is often referred to as the father of modern African literature. Ibrahim Njoya, a Cameroonian King credited with developing a semi-syllabic Bamum script which evolved from the rudimentary pictographic script to a more advanced logo graphic script, which he later refined to the famous semi-syllabic script known to the world today. Arthur Zang, a Spanish Engineer has pioneered the first Medical tablet PC of Africa that would enable cardiovascular examinations to be performed remotely and transmit the results to the surgoens. With only 30 surgeons in the major cities of Yaounde and Douala this innovation save patients the hassle of having to travel to the major cities from other Cameroonian cities. Dr. SIMO, Ernest, a distinguished Cameroonian scientist was a Finalist to NASA astronauts’ selection process in 1994 and 1996. In 1994, His co-finalists included space Heroes Rick Husband and William McCool who were respectively Commander and Pilot of the Space shuttle Columbia which was tragically lost in Feb-2003. Mohammed Bagayogo (1523–1593), an eminent scholar from Timbuktu, Mali. Modibo Mohammed Al Kaburi a scholar, Cadi and Jurist, and university professor, from Timbuktu, Mali. Cheikh Anta Diop (1923–1986), a Senegalese historian, anthropologist, physicist and politician. Ahmad Baba (1556–1627), a medieval West African writer, scholar, and political provocateur. Felix A. Chami, an archaeologist and university professor from Tanzania. Berhane Asfaw, an Ethiopian paleontologist. Giday WoldeGabriel, an Ethiopian scientist geologist. Haile Debas (b. 1937), an Eritrean who achieved national recognition as a gastrointestinal investigator and made original contributions to the physiology, biochemistry, and pathophysiology of gastrointestinal peptide hormones. John Ogbu (1939–2003), a Nigerian-American anthropologist and university professor. Douglas Osei-Hyiaman (b. 1964), a Ghanaian-American endocrinologist and geneticist who was the first to establish a role for endocannabinoids in fatty acid synthesis and oxidation in the pathobiology of liver disease, obesity, and diabetes. Wangari Maathai, (b. 1940), a Kenyan environmental and political activist who won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize. Seyi Oyesola, a Nigerian doctor, who co-invented hospital in a box. Trefor Jenkins, a human geneticist from South Africa, noted for his work on DNA. Mo Ibrahim, (b. 1946), a Sudanese-born British mobile communications entrepreneur. Bisi Ezerioha, (b. 1972), a Nigerian engineer, racer and pharmaceutical executive who has built some of the world's most powerful Honda and Porsche engines. Thomas R. Odhiambo (1931–2003), a Kenyan entomologist and environmental activist.
Afrikan
Facts about Africa Africa Geography Facts
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Number of Countries in Africa - 54 and a couple of disputed territories (Western Sahara and Somaliland). South Sudan is Africa's newest country, officially born on July 9, 2011.
Tallest mountain - Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania: 19,340 feet / 5895 meters. See what the climb is like in pictures.
Lowest point in Africa - Lake Assal in Djibouti which lies at 515 feet (155m) below sea level.
Largest desert in Africa is - The Sahara Desert which spans almost 3.5 million square miles (9,000,000 square kilometers). It stretches across North Africa and makes up a large part of a dozen countries.
Longest river in Africa - The Nile which is also the longest river in the world. It runs from Uganda all the way to Egypt for 4,132 miles (6650 km).
Largest lake in Africa - Lake Victoria in East Africa, bordering Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. The Lake is the second largest in the world, at 26,560 square miles (68,800 square kilometres). It is the main source of the Nile River.
Largest island in Africa - Madagascar off the East coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean is the largest island in Africa and the 4th largest island in the world. Madagascar is just over 1000 miles (1580 km) long and 350 miles (570 km) wide.
Largest waterfall in Africa - The Victoria Falls on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Victoria Falls are just over 1 mile wide (1.7 km) and 355 feet (108 m) high. During the wet season over 500 million liters (19 million cubic feet) of water plummets over the edge into the Zambezi River. The spray can be seen from over 30 miles away.
The Equator - In Africa, the equator runs along for almost 2500 miles, passing through 6 countries: Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya and Somalia.
Facts About Africa's Population
Most populated country in Africa - Nigeria is the most populated country in Africa with an estimated population of 125 - 145 million people. (Population statistics are politically loaded and that's why these numbers vary so much). Egypt is second with over 76 million people.
Least populated country - The Seychelles has the lowest population of any country in Africa with around 80,000 people. But Namibia is the least densely populated country in Africa.
Most populated city in Africa - Cairo in Egypt is Africa's most populated city with an estimated 17 million residents living in the metropolitan area.
Least populated capital city in Africa - Maseru, the capital of the Kingdom of Lesotho has a population of around 14,000.
Number of Ethnic Groups (tribes) in Africa - Difficult to estimate but there are at least 3,000 distinct ethnic groups in Africa. A large country like Nigeria has more than 370 recognized tribes.
Africa Travel Facts
Most Visited Country in Africa - Egypt is the most popular tourist destination in Africa. In 2007, Egypt attracted around 10 million visitors. The Pyramids have been a prime tourist attraction for the past 2000 years. South Africa came a close second with 9 million visitors in 2007 (based on figures from UNWTO).
Most Visited East African Countries - Kenya and Tanzania are the most popular East African countries for visitors. However, in 2008 Kenya's tourist numbers declined drastically due to political instability. Both countries tend to attract visitors interested in combing a safari with some beach time.
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Most Visited Country in Southern Africa - South Africa is by far the most popular country in the region. Visitors are attracted to its cities, beaches, wildlife parks as well as niche tourism like bird watching and medical tourism. Mozambique is the fastest emerging tourist destination in the region.
Most Visited Countries in West Africa - The Gambia and Senegal attract the most tourists in this region of Africa (which along with Central Africa draws the least amount of tourists on the continent). Both The Gambia and Senegal are popular beach destinations for Europeans fleeing the cold winter weather.
Most Visited Countries in North Africa - Egypt is the most popular tourist destination in North Africa, but Morocco has seen the largest growth in its tourism industry (14% in 2007 according to the UNTWO). Tunisia is also extremely popular, particularly with Europeans.
Fun Africa Travel Facts
Over the years running this site , I've compiled some fun Africa travel related facts. Here's a sample ....
When you visit Eritrea's capital Asmara, you can sip a perfect macchiato in an outdoor cafe and enjoy some lovely 1930's, Italian architecture.
Lake Malawi is the cheapest place in the world to get your open-water diving certification; enjoy more than 500 varieties of tropical fish while you're learning.
The original Star Wars movie sets in the deserts of Tunisia (a.k.a. planet Tatooine) are very well preserved and you can even stay in Luke Skywalker's home.
Sudan has more Pyramids than Egypt. The 223 pyramids are smaller and steeper than their Egyptian counter parts, but the Nubians were obviously very busy people around 4 BC - 3 AD.
Languages
There are literally thousands of indigenous languages spoken in Africa and many more dialects. Every African country you visit will no doubt be home to more than a dozen (if not several hundred) languages, even the smaller countries. But because of the sheer amount of linguistic diversity, every African country has an official language (or 11 in the case of South Africa) which acts as the lingua franca for (at least) a reasonably sized region.
Since almost every African country was at one time a colony, speaking English, Portuguese, or French will also help you communicate. Many Africans will speak Creole or pidgin versions of these European languages and they may not be so easy to understand when you first hear them. Arabic is very handy in Northern Africa and Swahili will help you get by in much of East Africa.
Learning a few phrases in a local language will do much to endear you to the local population and help you get around. If you're spending more than a few weeks in a country it is definitely worth buying a phrasebook.
Number of Languages Spoken in Africa - There are over 2000 languages spoken in Africa. Arabic (in various dialects) has the highest number of speakers with over 170 million speakers, mostly living in North Africa and the Horn of Africa.
Africa's Capital Cities - There are 54 official African capital cities.
September
Source: http://goafrica.about.com/
Afrikan
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An African Chief in Cabby’s Clothing Many immigrants in New York lead double lives: restaurant dishwasher in Queens and family patriarch in Mexico, or manicurist in Midtown and financial provider back in China. But Mr. Osei’s story is far more extreme. It’s as if he spends summer vacation with the hybrid responsibilities of a mayor and a royal, said Richard Rathbone, a professor at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies who has done research near the towns Mr. Osei oversees.
As Ghana has grown more stable in recent years, Professor Rathbone said, emigrants are returning and accepting these chiefly roles. They have many of the social responsibilities of politicians, but they also carry the historical gravitas of a royal title.
Isaac Osei, who owns a taxi fleet in New York City with his wife, is also a Ghanaian chief who wears a crown and oversees five towns. By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY
“He’s connected with the past and he symbolizes the past,” Professor Rathbone said of Mr. Osei.
Mr. Osei, one of 19 children, never expected to be a chief. The title, which passed through his mother’s family, had been given to an older brother, and Mr. Osei BEFORE dawn, when most New Yorkers are fast asleep, Isaac and moved to New York three decades ago to carve out his Elizabeth Osei have already been working for hours. On a recent mornown life. He started driving a taxi and bought a medaling, Mr. Osei drove his wife from New Jersey to the half-abandoned outer lion in 1982. Within a few years, he had gotten married, blocks of Midtown Manhattan to oversee the 4:30 a.m. transfer of their had two daughters and had opened a restaurant in fleet of 50 taxis. With Ms. Osei leading the way and a sliver of moon still Harlem. But he soon divorced and found himself wiped hanging in the sky, they scouted three square blocks to make sure all of out financially. their taxis had been picked up by drivers. Then, over the screeches emanating from auto-body shops and the smell of gasoline wafting from a Mr. Osei saw Elizabeth Otolizz for the first time when Hess station crammed with cabs, they surveyed their troubled taxis just as she stopped to eat in his restaurant in the late 1980s and sunlight faintly appeared over Manhattan. he pointed out that she had spilled okra on her blouse. At 6 a.m., they drove to the Upper West Side, reconfigured the spare tires She moved to New York in 1986 and worked as a home they keep in their trunk and picked up clothing, a mirror and a table, health nurse, a newspaper deliverywoman and a taxi which a friend was donating to a charity drive organized by the Oseis. driver. She spilled out stories about the celebrities she The couple, who are immigrants from Ghana, struggled to tie the mirror had met, like Snoop Dogg, and the times she had been to the roof of their car, then drove back to their Chelsea office lined with beaten up by customers. She carried in her purse masses worn-out wood paneling and faded carpeting. of wires that she used to make emergency taxi repairs.
By 7:30, Ms. Osei had taken her place in her thronelike office chair — she is the president of Napasei Taxi Management Corporation, after all — while Mr. Osei, who is vice president, took a more modest seat nearby. Then they prepared for the next 12 hours of fighting parking tickets, getting taxis inspected and helping drivers who came in to pick up their cash.
When Mr. Osei went back to driving a taxi, he would occasionally spot Elizabeth at airport taxi stands and chat. Then, when he saw her driving her taxi, he would ask her for her phone number at stop lights. But Elizabeth, who was getting over a previous relationship, demurred.
“Here we are very busy — but at least I don’t have my people around me here, because I am more free,” Mr. Osei, a stout and succinct man more prone to chuckles than words, said of his life in New York. He nodded at his wife and added, “At times, she gets angry because she can’t even see me.”
“They spoil you,” Ms. Osei said of her husband’s staff members in Ghana. “When you get to J.F.K., they don’t pick up your suitcases.”
But the Oseis call this grueling schedule a vacation compared with the real holiday they have ahead. On Wednesday, when they board a flight to Ghana, their roles will suddenly and drastically shift. As they cross the Atlantic Ocean, Mr. Osei will become Nana Gyensare V, a chief of the Akwamu people, who oversees the residents of five towns across the Eastern Region.
September 2014
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responsibilities. At 8 a.m. on a recent day, after a long morning of checking on their taxi fleet, the Oseis sat down in a diner in Midtown and ordered breakfast. Just as Mr. Osei began to eat, his cellphone started to peal with calls from Ghana. While Mr. Osei finished eating, Ms. Osei answered the calls and started relaying the details of work that lay ahead, like funerals, charitable walks and social projects. (The Oseis are especially proud of having installed toilets in some Ghanaian towns.) She seemed to have made peace with the coming journey.
“When I get to Africa, I have to worship him,” she said with a hint of frustration in her voice and a broad, mischievous smile. “When I get back, he has to worship me.” Source:New York Times
Mr. Osei with his wife, Elizabeth, who is president of their company, Napasei Taxi Management Corporation. Julie Glassberg for The New York Times
In 1991, Mr. Osei’s taxi medallion was about to fall into foreclosure, and Elizabeth offered to go into business with him. She borrowed $1,500 from an African grocery store owner and alternated with Mr. Osei driving his Chevy Caprice in 12-hour shifts to help pay off the loan. Soon, Elizabeth decided she was ready to take their friendship beyond a trade-off of taxi keys. In 1995, they After arriving in Accra, the capital of Ghana, he will don a delicate gold wed in New Jersey, had two sons and slowly and steadicrown, take a seat on his throne or stool and work 20-hour days out of his ly built a small taxi empire. 10-room palace. Rather than focus on taxi tune-ups and inspections, Mr. Osei will assume judicial and other powers, like mediating family disBut in 2006, after his brother died of complications putes. Ms. Osei, who is happiest talking about chassis and alternators, related to diabetes, Mr. Osei was called back to Ghana will have to fulfill the responsibilities of a chief’s wife by running to assume the title of chief. Suddenly, Mr. Osei was women’s groups in each town and helping with preparations for a 1,000- being carried on a palanquin, conducting judicial hearperson banquet in September, at which Mr. Osei will bless the yam harings and officiating at festivals. Ms. Osei still laughs vest. Residents are waiting to eat the yams until after Nana Gyensare’s when she describes the expression on her husband’s face arrival. when he returned from that first trip back to Ghana.
But Ms. Osei seems to have embraced her husband’s
Courtesy of Isaac and Elizabeth Osei Mr. Osei is also known as Nana Gyensare V. He became a chief in Ghana in 2006 and was introduced in his new role to Ghanaians in Newark.
Afrikan
Friends of Nana Akufu Addo ( FONAA) Launched in Virginia Post
September 2014
Gabby Otchere-Darko Swearing in the New Executives of FONAA Dr. Phillip Barnor-Coordinator, Asha Salifu-Deputy Coordinator, Kofi Nsia-Pepra, PhD-Secretary and Prince Osei Bonsu-Public relations Officer
Friends of Nana Akufo-Addo (FONAA-USA) was officially inaugurated on Saturday, September 13, 2014 at a heavily attended fundraising dinner at the A & C Banquet Hall in Woodbridge, Virginia, USA. Within 25 minutes of making appeals the event had raised $35,000, with others making pledges. As you can see the gathering here is not just NPP members and sympathisers, but we also have in our midst many Ghanaians here in the US who ordinarily care very little about partisan politics in a Ghana. But they are saying today, 'Our nation is going down. We have heard Akufo-Addo's vision for Ghana and we want to help him succeed," said Ms Aisha Salifu, the CoCoordinator of FONAA-USA. The audience were inspired by motivational speeches by speakers who flew into the US for the programme, London-based business consultant and founder of Danquah Institute, Gabby Asare OtchereDarko, NPP Ashanti Regional Chairman, Bernard Antwi-Boasiako, aka Chairman Wontumi, Ms Freda Prempeh, Member of Parliament for Tano North, and her colleague, Ms Adwoa Safo, MP, Dome Kwabena. Ghanaians flew in from various states to be part of the programme and to contribute towards AkufoAddo's push to rescue Ghana on the ticket of the NPP in 2016. The NPP holds its primary to choose its presidential candidate on October 18. Akufo-Addo is the clear favourite. Co-Coordinator of the fully incorporated group, Dr Philip Barnor of Tennessee, said of the event, "People were donating as much as $5,000 each. That is remarkable and a very positive start. What was even telling was a student who contributed $50 saying, 'I don't have much but I want to play my part to get rid of the NDC and get Ghana working again under a competent government that will come in to serve.' I think that is the kind of spirit of volunteerism which will be driving the NPP onto victory in 2016. Ghanaians are sim-
ply fed up and they all want to get involved." He added, "It is not all about raising money. It is also about adopting constituencies and supporting them. FONAA-USA want to play a strategic role in pushing Nana Akufo-Addo's message of building a One Ghana. We want to de-tribalise politics in Ghana and will come up with strategies and programmes to help the candidate achieve this goal. We want to help go to the grassroots to reach out to all groups and let them know why Akufo-Addo will be good for them and their children." Ms Salifu stressed, "We believe Nana showed this One Ghana thing by putting the country before his party when he acted quickly to calm the nation down and announced that there will be no review of the election petition case. The next step is to support the process of helping Ghanaians to vote according to their needs and issues and not according to their prejudices or propaganda." The influential chief and respected community leader in the Washington Metro Area, Nana Kofi Boateng, who chaired the function, admonished members of FONAAUSA to adopt a “win win� approach and open their doors wide to every Ghanaian and be proactive in reaching out to everybody. The successful chartered accountant described Nana Akufo-Addo as the man with the plan and commitment to transform Ghana and that Ghanaians are clear in their minds he can bring the nation back onto the path of prosperity if given the chance. It is the work of his campaign people to help make it happen. He said there were always people who want to support candidates without necessarily wanting to be tagged as partisan and he hopes groups like FONAA-USA can help in that process in helping candidates to reach out wider.
Nana Kofi Boateng-Chairman for the occassion
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Nana Agyei-Yeboah, Chairman of NPP USA
Ashanti Regional Chairman of NPP-Antwi Boasiako AKA Wontumi
Co Chair-person, Mrs. Stella Greene
Special Guests: Mohammed Iddis, Maxwell Amoako, Dr. Agyeman Duah, Rev. Frank Dwomoh, and Atta Krufi
Hon. Freda Prempeh MP for Tano North, Charles Cann Williams, Parlimentary aspirant for New Edubiase and Hon. Adjoa Safo -MP for Dome Kwabenya
Dr. Phillip Barnor exchanging pleasantries with Steve Opoku Kwarteng. Looking on are Chairman Wontumi and Gabby Otchere Darko
America School of Nursing & Allied Health
Afrikan
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September 2014 Page
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Afrikan
Post
Grand Opening of McDoris Fashion and Fabric Store in Takoma Park, Maryland
September 2014
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McDoris Fashion is the one stop shop for all your African fashion needs. The wonderful family owned store with fabulous jewelry, laces, African prints , shoes and assorted fabrics is located at 7635 New Hampshire Ave,Takoma Park, Maryland. Tel : (301) 326-2254
Takoma Park Councilman Fred Schultz speaking at the opening ceremony
Mrs. Doris Agbasi decorating a customer with Ibo traditional regalia
A minister delivering a prayer before during the opening ceremony
A variety of African prints
Councilman Fred Schultz and Takoma/Langley CDA Executive Director Melanie Isis attend the ribbon cutting
Mrs. Doris Agbasi, owner of the store with friends, family and customers
September 2014
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KINGSLIGHT CHAPEL CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL DAY 2014/FOOD TASTING EVENT
Afrikan
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S e p t e m b e r 2014
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Kingslight Chapel by the grace of God is a proud family of at least nine (9) nationalities. The nationalities beautifully represented in KINGSLIGHT are as follows; CAMEROON, NIGERIA, GHANA, SIERRA LEONE, IVORY COAST, LIBERIA, KENYA, TANZANIA AND THE USA. As an annual tradition to celebrate this awesome diversity, Kingslight Chapel held the 2014 edition of KLC INTERNATIONAL DAY 2014/FOOD TASTING EVENT as part of the 5th anniversary celebrations of the church. It was a colorful display of culture and heritage so beautiful to behold. CONGRATULATIONS TO KLC ON THE OCCASION OF THE 5TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE CHURCH. KLC -WHERE ALL NEEDS ARE MET! VISIT US AT SHEBAH TEMPLE -14348 Jefferson Davis Highway, Woodbridge, VA, 22191. Website:www.kingslightchapelva.org. Email:kingslightchapelva@yahoo.com Telephone Contact: 5713379185
Rev. and Mrs. Ahia- Armah sampling some of the dishes in their traditional wear
Rev. Dr. Ahia-Armah led the diverse congregation to pray for the eradication of the Ebola disease from West Africa.
Exhibition of African Traditional Costumes
Tasting of Dishes from various countries
West African Traditional Dances
The kids were not left out of the celebration
S e p t e m b e r 2014
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International Calls Being Routed As Locals Calls
Afrikan
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By Emelia Ennin Abbey
(CID), Commissioner of Police, Mr Prosper Kwame Agblor, said the suspects were arrested on August 26, 2014 by a task force comprising officials of the National Communications Authority (NCA), Telecoms Chamber and Ghana Police Service. Electronic devices retrieved from the hideout of the suspects included 55 different routers, three laptops, two switches and a voice gateway. According to the CID Director-General, 1,006 used SIM cards were retrieved from Two persons who described themselves as students the suspects. These included 308 have been arrested at their hideout at Dome Pillar Vodafone; 150 Airtel; 283 Glo, 257 MTN Two in Accra for allegedly diverting international and eight Tigo SIM cards. phone calls. The task force also recovered 954 unused Through the illegal operation, the suspects were said SIM cards of the five telecommunication to have raked in an estimated $836,000. operators and 100 unused MTN and Glo The government and the telecommunication operators recharge cards. are said to have lost about $50 million revenue Suspects arrested so far through such illegal activities since October 2010. Between October 2010 and August 2014, The suspects, identified as Evans Agbenyo and SIM box fraud cases recorded are 13, Georgia Vera Mensah, are said to have been operating resulting in the arrest of 17 suspects made for six months in a three-bedroom apartment with up of Ghanaians and foreign nationals. some electronic equipment installed in one of the One of the kingpins, an Italian arrested in bedrooms. connection with SIM box fraud, has been Two persons suspected to be the brains behind the sentenced to five years’ imprisonment, illegal operation, identified as Christopher Jojo while the other cases are pending before Ewusie and John Owusu are currently on the run. the courts. Items retrieved Briefing journalists in Accra yesterday, the DirectorGeneral of the Criminal Investigations Department
Brazilian Woman Discovers Her Husband Is Also Her Brother
Bijan Stephen
The two have been together for 10 years
A Brazilian woman on a quest to find her long-lost birth mother recently received the shock of her life: After locating her parent with the help of a radio program that specializes in finding lost relatives, she found out that her husband of seven years was actually the brother she never knew she had.
Adriana and her husband, Leandro, had known they’d both been abandoned by their birth mothers at a very young age. Adriana, 39, hadn’t seen her mother since she was 1, and Leandro learned at 8 that the woman he thought was his mother was, in fact, his stepmother.
The two got together ten years ago, after Adriana moved back to her hometown in the wake of a failed marriage, and had a child together; neither of them, however, gave up the quest to find their birth mothers, and last month Adriana reached out to Radio Globo’s “The Time Is Now”. On air, Adriana’s mother disclosed that she’d also had a son whom she’d left—Leandro.
Adriana apparently told Radio Globo that she and Leandro planned to stay together. “Only death is going to separate us,” she said. “All this happened because God wanted it to happen.”
September 2014
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Meet New York City’s Safest Yellow Taxi Driver
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By Andrew Tangel
A New York City yellow taxi driver who was crowned the city’s safest cabbie listens to soothing jazz as he dodges pedestrians, cyclists and other cars.
“I try to relax,” said Fred Amoafo, 46-year-old. “You get there when you get there – don’t force yourself. That is the key.”
Mr. Amoafo, who lives in Queens, found himself ranked highest among his peers on Tuesday for driving the longest distance without injuring passengers in crashes, and without incurring the wrath of authorities.
The Taxi and Limousine Commission, which regulates yellow taxis and other for-hire vehicles, said Mr. Amoafo had driven at least 50,000 passengers more than 190,000 miles without a blemish on his record.
The taxi commission released, for the first time on Tuesday, what it called its “Safety Honor Roll,” as a way to draw attention to safe driving. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration aims to curtail traffic deaths as part of its so-called Vision Zero plan.
The commission, which licenses more than 115,000 operators of taxi, livery and other for-hire vehicles, bestowed safety honors to 295 drivers. The TLC found drivers who it said weren’t involved in a crash resulting in passenger injuries and had records without traffic violations or regulatory missteps.
But Mr. Amoafo said he was cited by police about two months ago for improperly turning on Sixth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. He said he was trying to get around what he thought was a parked car that blocked him turning from the left-most lane. “Once I was going around him, he started moving,” he said.
(The taxi commission did not know of the ticket because it had not been adjudicated and did not appear on his driving record.)
Other than that, does he ever exceed the legal speed limit? “Maybe,” he said. “But I try not to.”
When rushed passengers get antsy, Mr. Amoafo says he tries to accommodate them. “But you don’t have to kill them and kill yourself,” he said. “Once you get them [there] safely, that’s when you get a reward.”
A native of Ghana, Mr. Amoafo began driving a taxi in 1995. His most recent collision occurred about eight years ago, when another drive rear-ended him on a snowy street. He recalled a few fender-benders over the years – none with any injuries, he said.
The father of three said pedestrian safety has hit home: Two years ago, his teenage son was struck by a vehicle outside Brooklyn Technical High School, where he is a student. While his son wasn’t injured, Mr. Amoafo said he was nonetheless alarmed.
“That was very, very scary, “ he said. “He could have died.”
Source:blogs.wsj.com
THE JOY OF HOME OWNERSHIP nation fees paid on loan. • You can deduct a room in your home if it is solely dedicated for home business use. • The biggest advantage, though, is the fact that the principle you pay on the mortgage is like putting money in the bank, in the form of equity. Other Advantages of Homeownship • Owning your home gives you an individualized approach concerning landscaping, decorating, and curb appeal, which in the process can add value to the home. You do what you please when you please to your home which renting does not provide. • If you have children, they will find stability in knowing that they aren't going to have to change schools, which can be traumatic for younger children. They won't have to make new friends, and a sense of place becomes very real to them. Disadvantages of Renting • When you rent, you do not have the flexibility to make aesthetic or cosmetic changes to the place as you please. You may be able to paint a room, but need to repaint back to the original color scheme when you move. • You cannot make major structural changes or ground changes such as adding flower beds or even rock gardens and waterfalls to reflect your taste. • You put up with an obstinate landlord that refuses to repair things in the apartment, or just "doesn't have time." This can build frustration and stress. • You help the Landlord build equity on their Anita A. Bediako- REALTOR® –Licensed in the Common property and gain tax write off while you are left with Wealth of Virginia nothing at the end of your lease term Prince William County-Local Expert I hope you enjoyed reading this article and it has providCONTACT 571-229-6694; Email: abediako@pwrealty.com ed helpful information in making your decision to home ownership a smooth one. It is a known fact that the best single investment one can For more information about your real estate needs (buymake is owning your own home. Homeownership promotes ing, selling, leasing/renting a house) call me at 571-229a sense of achievement, positive self esteem and pride. It cre- 6694 and I will help you get started. Thank you. ates a sense of accomplishment and freedom! The Biggest Benefit of Homeownership For more information about your real estate needs call Homeownership makes good sense because there are tax me at 571-229-6694 and I will help you get started. privileges when tax time rolls around: • You get the benefit of deducting the interest paid on the mortgage throughout the year. Thank you. • You deduct any points paid, either discount or origi-
Facebook Reaches a Landmark 100-Million Users in Africa Through Mobile September 2014
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Thanks to mobile connectivity, half of Africa's 200-million internet users were accessing Facebook on a monthly basis in June 2014, indicating that the social media giant's efforts at penetrating emerging market are paying off.
There's explosive growth and incredible momentum across Africa.
"We now have 100-million people coming to Facebook every month across the African continent with more than 80% using mobile devices," says Nicola Mendelsohn, Facebook vice president for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Mobile is the way to go
It's no surprise that in regions such as Africa, where bandwidth is trailing behind the rest of the world, that mobile is the way to go. "People in high-growth countries want to be connected to the world around them. In countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Turkey, and elsewhere, mobile devices are increasingly becoming the way in which people find new information, and share their experiences in the world. How people experience the world is also unique, especially in high-growth regions," she says.
Therefore it's obvious that brand and advertising strategies have to be tailored to meet the expectations of that particular audience. "A one-size-fits-all approach doesn't necessarily work when it comes to building products and solutions that address diverse local needs, which is why Facebook is committed to crafting solutions specifically for high-growth markets. We are partnering with clients and agencies to test these mobile-first solutions and work together to deliver rich brand messages at lower data costs through solutions such as bandwidth targeting or new products," says Mendelsohn.
Beating high costs
In India, voice call costs are high so consumers drop calls before they are answered to convey their messages. (Image: Biswarup Ganguly, via Wikimedia Commons)
For example in India, the cost related to voice calls is high so consumers drop calls before they are answered to convey a message such as "I'm waiting outside". Taking this phenomenon into consideration, Facebook developed 'click to missed call' where consumers can send a missed call to advertisers when they wish to engage further with them. The situation isn't that dissimilar in Africa, where the practice lead to the development of the 'please call me' mobile service, thereby indicating that 'click to missed call' is an option for advertisers in this market.
"In Africa, we are seeing explosive growth and incredible momentum across the region. At the same time, when you look at the staggering cost of connectivity in many countries, mobile services need to deliver maximum utility on the biggest range of devices and consume the smallest amount of data, which is exactly what Facebook provides," explains Rob Norman, Chief Digital Officer of international digital agency, Group M.
From testing new ad units based on how people connect with each other, to enabling advertisers to customise campaigns depending on devices and connection speeds through bandwidth targeting, Facebook is learning, testing, and optimising to provide the best experience for the next 100-million customers.
Afrikan
5th annual Ghana Parade and Festival held in Crotona Park
Post
The Christian Journal, Bronx NY – Ghanaians in the Bronx, New York came out on August 9 2014 to attend and support the Ghana Day Parade in Crotona Park in the Bronx. “It was great to see the picnic well attended and beautiful display of the Ghanaian culture with Kings and Queen dressed in their traditional regalia.” The rich colors of kente and the elegance of gold which transformed the picnic from a gathering of the community into a colorful rich display of Ghanaian culture. The theme of the parade this year was “Ghana Cultural Festival and Picnic. The parade had performances by several Ghanaian artists, including Kwesi Selasi. Catherine Cudjoe, a member of the organizing committee said “We had a great representation of the youth who represent the future and that was very good By watching the crowd at the festival, one could tell there was a good feeling of connectedness. God bless Ghana! Watch out for 2014.
September 2014
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Afrikan
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Asante Kotoko Association Celebrate 32nd Anniversary
The Asante Kotoko Association is as a nonprofit, nonpartisan, educational, voluntary and charitable organization in the Washington Metro area with the aim of organizing all Asantes and others interested in the Asante culture, custom, and tradition in the Washington Metro Area into the Association, Also to promote a common forum for the exchange of ideas among all people interested in the Association and the Asante Culture and to assist in the socioeconomic development of Ghana, particularly, the Ashanti Region of Ghana, The Association also seks to develop a close relationships with other sister associations that seek to protect and defend the Asante culture and institutions, and assist in the socioeconomic developments in Ghana, particularly, the Ashanti Region of Ghana.
Membership in the Association is open to everyone and especially to all Ashantis in the Washington Metropolitan Area. In January 1982, a group of 13 individuals formed the Asante Youth Association (now the Asante Kotoko Association). The Association was formally inaugurated on June 19, 1982. On October 23, 1984, the Association hosted Asantehene Otumfuo Opoku Ware II at the Embassy of Ghana, Washington, DC. In December, the Association adopted "Ward C2" of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana, for rehabilitation and donated $3,000 towards the project. On November 17, 1993, the Association donated additional $5,000 toward the Ward C2 rehabilitation project at KATH. In March 1997, the Association made another donation of $15,500 towards the Ward C2. On June 15, 1999, the Association established a scholarship program for dancers in the Association's Cultural Troupe. The Association sent a delegation to Kumasi, Ghana, to paid homage and attended the final funeral rites of Otumfuo Opoku Ware II on March 28, 2000. On May 29, 2001, the Association hosted the Asantehene Otumfuo Osei Tutu II at Washington DC and donated $4,000 to the Otumfuo Education Fund. On July 5, 2005, the Association donated 10 orthopedic beds and other items valued at $9,700 to KATH. On October 5, 2007, the Association donated one (1) Hot Air Oven and two (2) Hot Air Sterilizer valued at $4,000 to the Kumasi Children's Hospital.
September 2014
Dr. Aaron Adade-Chairman of the occassion giving his address
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Mr. Jojo Bruce Quansah-Head of Information at the Ghana Embassy addresing the Association
Ghana Embassy Officials
Mr. Henry Adu, President of the Association
Members having a good time
Winners of the Kaba and Adowa Dancing competitions receiving their prizes
Swaziland’s King Mswati Takes 14th Wife
Afrikan
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Tens of thousands of Swazi girls danced before King Mswati on Monday in the annual Reed Dance, and a newspaper owned by the royal conglomerate used the occasion to announce that the king had wed his 14th wife, who he had selected from among the maidens at last year’s reed dance.
The new queen was seated among some of Mswati’s other wives. By wearing traditional attire reserved for royal wives, she signalled a wedding ceremony had taken place.
The wedding has not been publicised and confusion over the number of Mswati’s wives has had some palace observers numbering the new Queen LaFogiyane as Mswati’s 15th wife.
But Monday belonged to Swazi maidens, one of whom may become the next queen. The palace announced that more than 80 000 had danced, but observers said the number was probably less than half that.
exposed.
While no speeches were made at Ludzdidzini royal residence, 20km east of Mbabane, both King Mswati and King Zwelithini had given speeches at the weekend at a trade fair in Manzini.
Zwelithini, a frequent guest of Mswati, has two Swazi wives. He spoke strongly in support of Mswati’s absolute monarchy and condemned South Africa’s labour union activities.
Cosatu is strongly critical of Mswati’s autocratic style of government and is an ally of the Swazi union and political opposition.
In a speech broadcast live on the country’s only TV station, which is run by the government, Zwelithini warned that Swazis would destroy their country if they followed South Africa’s example.
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"I couldn't have launched this book if I was the only person on the planet," he said.
Strict enforcement of photography was observed and one photographer who tried to take pictures from a low angle to show the girls’ frontal nakedness was ejected from the ceremony.
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, who was in the country for the weekend, and expected to attend the Reed Dance, had suggested that schools in KwaZulu/Natal “Do not burn your country, because be closed to maximise participation at investors will run away if you do so. the Zulu Reed Dance. Strike actions do not bring money into a household. Strikes bring hunger and sufIn Swaziland, all schools were closed for fering. I have seen this happening in my the dance, and the day was declared a country,” Zwelithini said. national holiday.
Topless, the girls wore little more than beaded belts that concealed their frontal private parts but left their buttocks
Meet the Eight-Year-Old Kenyan Author September 2014
The son of former Laikipia West MP Ndiritu Muriithi and East Africa Tourism Platform Co-ordinator Waturi Matu didn't leave his best friend Ryan behind either. "I couldn't have done it without him," he testified. Undertaking to collaborate with him on his next book.
By Olive Burrows
Nairobi — It wasn't the guard of honour Kenya's third President Mwai Kibaki probably got used to when he was Commander-in-Chief of the Kenya Defence Forces. The boots weren't spit shined or the uniforms ironed sharp but then again it wasn't your usual kind of ceremony; it is not every day that an eight-year-old gets published.
And so the girls and boy scouts of Kilimani Junior Academy mounted a parade and the preschoolers sang songs in honour of their very own: Ngure Ndiritu.
Ngure has written a collection of short stories compiled under the title Out of the Box by Phoenix Publishers, making Ngure one of the youngest - if not the youngest - published Kenyan author.
And it wasn't hard to see why when he stood in front of the Kilimani Junior Academy student body and Kibaki to speak on his book.
He did not shake, stutter or miss a beat. Instead the "writer, pianist slash actor," took over as his own master of ceremony. Unexpectedly calling on his music teachers -- who helped him write the book -- and his family to share in the spotlight.
Out of the Box, Ngure explained, chronicled their adventures, "when we were younger," he said to much amusement.
But writing a book is no laughing matter as his mother acknowledged. "I haven't even finished an essay I've been working on," she said.
But his accomplishment, Kibaki said, was her accomplishment. She and Muriithi, he explained, had after all allowed the 'governor' of his Standard 3 class time to play and explore his talents.
"Unless children are allowed to live their childhoods to the fullest, the society can easily condemn its future to a waste land of maladjusted men and women... Stop telling them to wait until they're older to realise their potential. I'm sure Ngure wouldn't be the exception then," he stated.
And to Ngure -- who could qualify as Kibaki's grandson given Muriithi is his nephew -- he wrote 'Best of Luck in your endevours,' on the first page of his book.
Endeavors that not only include authorship, Ngure shared, but becoming a pilot and maybe even president. "When he met President Kenyatta," Muriithi relayed, "he told him he intends to do that job."
And if his most recent accomplishment is anything to go by, Ngure could very well one day be the one inspecting the guard of honour.
John Dumelo’s Foundation Wins Award In America John Dumelo Foundation.
"Another great award! African Heritage Award for promoting Africa and also for touching lives through the John Dumelo Foundation,” the actor posted.
Some celebrities had reasons to smile, which made them to end the month of August on high notes.
While some Nigerians and other African entertainers were busy celebrating, Ghanaian actor, John Dumelo, also celebrated as he got an award at the African Heritage Awards Festival Entertainment held in Nashville TN, USA, in recognition for his service to humanity through his
John had his primary education at Christ the King International School in Accra, Ghana, where he was selected by GAMA Film Company to play the role as a pupil in the movie ‘Baby Thief’. He had his secondary education at Achimota School and further studied at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology where he read Civil Engineering.
He featured in the television series, ‘Sun City’ and ‘About To Wed’, where he started to become a household name in the film industry. Source:ghanaweb.com
Afrikan
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Asanteman Council Of North America (ACONA) Celebrates-Asante Day
September 2014
Nana Kofi Boateng ,Washington Metro Asantefoohene and Asantefoohema, Nana Ama Achaa
Denver Colorado
North Carolina
Canada
Nana Adusei Atwerewa Ampem, Tepa Omanhene , Asantehene’s representative sitting in state
Columbus-Ohio
Houston and Dallas
Chicago
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Nana Acheampong Tieku, Asantefoohene of New York
Nana Adu Poku and Nana Abena Obi Yaa - Cincinati-Ohio
California
African American Royalty
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Yaw Boamah and Ruth (Adwoa) Exchange Vows
September 2014
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Mrs. Susan Kodua Brobbey, keynote speaker addressing the gathering
Dr. Phillip Bannor-Chairman for the occassion giving his remarks
Mr. Samuel Agyeman, Chairman of Asanteman Association of Washington Metro
Asona Royalty
Virginia Based Community leaders and Chiefs
Nana Mensah and friends
Queen mothers from the Washington Metro
Kete Drumming and Dancing
“Congress Ladies�
African American Guests
Business Exibition stands
Don Beyer-Domocratic candidate for Congress addressing the gathering
Afrikan Algeria
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History of Africans Players in MLS
• Raïs M'Bolhi[1] - Philadelphia - 2014 Angola • Edgar Bartolomeu – MetroStars – 2003 • Fernando Fernandes – MetroStars – 1999 • Jerson Monteiro – Chicago – 2007 Botswana • Dipsy Selolwane – Chicago, Salt Lake – 2002–05 Burundi • David Habarugira - D.C. United - 2009 Cameroon • Stephane Assengue – New England – 2009 • Yazid Atouba - Chicago - 2013 • Samuel Ekeme – Kansas City – 1996 • Charles Eloundou - Colorado † - 2013– • Matthew Mbuta – New York – 2008–09 • Alexandre Morfaw – Vancouver – 2011 • Alain N'Kong – Colorado – 2005–06 • Joseph Nane – Toronto, Colorado – 2010–12 • Marius Obekop – New York – 2013– • Franck Songo'o - Portland - 2012 • Yann Songo'o - Kansas City - 2013 ‡ • Tony Tchani – New York, Toronto, Columbus – 2010– • Yomby William – Kansas City – 2008 Cape Verde • Paulo dos Santos – New England – 1999 • Jair – New England, San Jose, Tampa Bay – 1998–99, 2001 CongoDR • Ange N'Silu – D.C. United – 2009 • Danny Mwanga – Philadelphia, Portland, Colorado – 2010– • Steve Zakuani – Seattle, Portland – 2009– Côte d'Ivoire • Levi Houapeu - Philadelphia - 2011 • Jean-Martial Kipré – Salt Lake – 2007 • Guy-Roland Kpene – D.C. United – 2007 • Arsène Oka – New England – 2007 • Olivier Tébily – Toronto – 2008 Ethiopia • Dahir Mohammed – New England, MetroStars – 1998, 2000 Gambia • Mamadou Danso – Portland, Montreal – 2011– • Emmanuel Gómez – Toronto – 2009–10 • Mustapha Jarju - Vancouver - 2011 • Omar Jasseh – San Jose – 2010–11 • Pa Modou Kah – Portland – 2013– • Kekuta Manneh - Vancouver - 2013– • Abdoulie Mansally – New England, Salt Lake – 2007– • Sainey Nyassi – New England, D.C. United – 2007–2013 • Sanna Nyassi – Seattle, Colorado, Montreal – 2009– • Amadou Sanyang – Toronto, Seattle – 2009–12 • Sainey Touray – New York – 2009 Ghana • Aminu Abdallah – Vancouver – 2013– • Joe Addo – Tampa Bay, MetroStars – 1999–2004 • Junior Agogo – Chicago, Colorado, San Jose – 2000–01 • Kalif Alhassan – Portland – 2011– • Aziz Ansah - Dallas - 2010 • Samuel Appiah – Houston – 2010 • Richard Asante - Toronto - 2007 • Sumed Ibrahim – Chicago – 2004 • Louis Ken-Kwofie – MetroStars – 1996 • Gershon Koffie – Vancouver – 2011– • Nana Kuffour – D.C. United – 2004–05 • Patrick Nyarko – Chicago – 2008– • Anthony Obodai – Houston – 2010 •Dominic Oduro – Dallas,New York, Houston, Chicago, Columbus – 2006– • Emmanuel Osei – New England – 2009–10 • Seth Owusu – Chivas USA – 2011 • Salou Ibrahim – New York – 2010–11 • Michael Tetteh – Seattle – 2011–2012 . Samuel Inkoom - 2014 Kenya •Lawrence Olum - Kansas City - 2011–
Liberia • • • • • • • • • •
Michael Butler – MetroStars – 2001 Louis Crayton – D.C. United – 2008–09 Francis Doe – New York, D.C. United – 2007–09 Sam Forko – MetroStars – 2002 Willis Forko – Salt Lake – 2006–07 Chris Gbandi – Dallas – 2003–07 Otto Loewy – New England – 2011 Darlington Nagbe – Portland – 2011– Zizi Roberts – Colorado – 2003–04 Musa Shannon – Tampa Bay, Colorado – 1997–99, 2002
September 2014
• Adam Smarte – San Jose – 2008 • Melvin Tarley – Salt Lake, Colorado – 2005–06 Mali • Kalifa Cissé - New England - 2013• Daouda Kanté – New England – 2002–04 • Ibrahim Kanté – New England – 2003 •Bakary Soumaré – Chicago, Philadelphia, Chicago – 2007–09, 2012– • Djimi Traoré – Seattle – 2013– Morocco • Mehdi Ballouchy – Salt Lake, Colorado, New York, San Jose, Vancouver – 2006– • Monsef Zerka - New England - 2011 Mozambique • Chiquinho Conde – New England, Tampa Bay – 1997 • Tico-Tico – Tampa Bay – 2000 Nigeria • Ade Akinbiyi– Houston – 2009 • Fanendo Adi - Portland, - 2014 • Michael Augustine – New England – 2011 • Celestine Babayaro - Los Angeles Galaxy - 2008 • Perek Belleh - New England - 2004 • Kasali Yinka Casal– D.C. United – 2007 • Bright Dike – Portland, Toronto – 2011– • Connally Edozien – New England – 2005 • Emmanuel Ekpo – Columbus – 2008–11 • Michael Emenalo – San Jose – 1996–97 • Benedict Iroha – San Jose, D.C. United – 1996–97 • Obafemi Martins – Seattle – 2013– • Obi Monome – Columbus – 1996 • Manny Motajo – Los Angeles, New England – 1996, 1998–99 • Uche Okafor – Kansas City – 1996–2000 • Francis Okaroh – New England, Chicago, Miami – 1996–2000 • Patrick Olalere – New England – 1997 Senegal • Bouna Coundoul – Colorado, New York – 2006–11 • Mamadou Diallo – Tampa Bay, New England, MetroStars – 2000–02 • Birahim Diop – MetroStars, Kansas City – 2001–02, 2010–12 • Macoumba Kandji – New York, Colorado, Houston – 2008–12 • Joseph Niouky – New England – 2010 Sierra Leone • Abdul Thompson Conteh – San Jose, D.C. United – 2000–02 • Kei Kamara – Columbus, San Jose, Houston, Kansas City – 2006– • Ibrahim Koroma - D.C. United - 2008 South Africa • Derek Backman – Tampa Bay – 1996–97 • Shaun Bartlett – Colorado, MetroStars – 1996–97 • Danleigh Borman –New York, Toronto, New England – 2008–11 • Richard Farrer – Dallas – 1996–2002 • Neathan Gibson – Colorado – 2001 • Doctor Khumalo – Columbus – 1996–97 • Thabiso Khumalo – D.C. United – 2008–10 • Ivan McKinley – Tampa Bay, New England, Miami, D.C. United – 1996–2002 • Toni Nhleko – Dallas – 2003–04 • Brian Sebapole – San Jose – 1998 • Ty Shipalane – D.C. United – 2010 • Davide Somma – San Jose – 2008 Swaziland • Mfana Futhi Bhembe - Salt Lake - 2009 Tanzania • Nizar Khalfan – Vancouver, Philadelphia – 2011 Togo • Abbe Ibrahim – MetroStars, Toronto – 2005, 2007 Uganda •Tenywa Bonseu – Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, MetroStars – 2000–04 • Peter Byaruhanga – Kansas City – 2000 • Joel Kitamirike – Columbus – 2006 • Eugene Sseppuya – Colorado – 2005 • Robert Ssejjemba – D.C. United – 2006 • Brian Umony – Portland – 2011 Zimbabwe • Mubarike Chisoni – Los Angeles – 2005 • Kheli Dube – New England, Chicago – 2008–2012 •Joseph Ngwenya – Los Angeles, Columbus, Houston, D.C. United – 2004–07, 2010–11 • Vitalis Takawira – Kansas City – 1996–99
Source:wikipedia.org
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