The Normality of Corruption.

This article was written by a semi-deranged girl running on 4 hours of sleep and having just written a morphology paper. If there is any resemblance to anyone, dead or alive or tweeting (let's face it, twitter is a world on its own), maybe its them, who knows, life goes on.

Now that we've got that out of the way, back to business. A few days ago, that was on the 8th of December, there was a Ghanaian bloggers meeting and the issue of Corruption came up. What then is corruption? thefreedictionary.com defines it as "the state of being corrupt" and it says that Corrupt means "lacking in integrity; open to or involving bribery or other dishonest practices"

So that is what they say corruption is. Now let me give you the GG definition of corruption, in an easy to ubderstand prose. leggo!

1) The class was noisy again, the teacher had come in to warn the class prefect that if he came and there were no names of talkatives, he would recieve the punishment on behalf of the class. Kojo pushed his glasses up his nose as he scribbled down names adding Dp and Tp liberally, he didnt want to be punished. The class realised too late what was going on, taking out books and pretending to read, Kojo just smiled when they'd ask "is my name there?"

Of course it was there, did they think he was going to be lashed because of them?

"Mr. Andoh is coming" the class lookout whispered.

The message travelled to Fiifi's ears in a matter of seconds, he knew his name was on the list and he knew if Mr. Andoh got him again that day, sitting would be a thing of the past to him.

"Kojo, clean my name and i'll let you read my Ebony graphic"

Kojo feverishly rewrote the names out, making sure Fiifi's name wasnt there. He'd wanted to read that paper all day and he was not going to miss his chance, one ommission wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Are these the names?"

"Yes sir"

"If you hear your name, come here"

"ei, fiifi's name was there, why isnt he infront" was the muttering floating around in the class.

No one had the courage to stand up and speak up though, so fiifi and Kojo got away with it.

2) She smiled as they opened the gates for her, she didnt have authorised permission to use those gates let alone that route but there was a lot of traffic and she couldn't afford to wait. It's surprising what 1gh cedi and a few sweet words could get you.

3) The swings were full and break was almost up, she was desperate for a ride. She walked up to Serwa forcing her to slow down from her frenzied swinging. Her feet had been kicking up and down as she went higher and higher, her school skirt fluttering in the breeze. She held the chains of the swing and asked Serwa in the sweetest tone she could muster,

"Please let me have a turn, break is almost over"

"No" Serwa shouted.

Everyone started to look their way, and Ama was begining to feel uncomfortable, she hated being the center of attraction.

"i'll buy you fanpop" "No, ah. what is wrong with you, I said I won't let you use my swing"

People were watching now but Ama had started seeing red, how dare Serwa, all she wanted was a ride and now she was being insulted.

"If you don't let me ride, i'll tell everyone what you wrote in your diary about Kwamena" She whispered.

the look on Serwa's face was priceless, it was beyond a Kodak moment. She quickly got down and stood behind the swing.

"Let me push you, what are friends for"

Ama got on the swing and smiled, finally she got her turn on the swings and someone to push her as well. She was very lucky.

What am I trying to say here? Corruption is everywhere and until we can accept the fact that everyone of us is corrupt and make the effort to enforce a change,there will be nothing new in that area. Say no to corruption, let's all do our part.

Writing this is killing me, it means I have to do my part, it means I have to stand in line like everyone else and not use shortcuts when i'm buying stuff, I have to do independent work on all my assignments and not "compare" my work. There are so many corrupt activities that we have come to see as normal but until we step up and kill the seedlings, they'll grow into something much worse.

Navigating the music player

The player is up. I decided to use the adventure time skin because Finn and Jake are awesome. The play button is Finn, Jake controls the sound and the logo opens up the playlist. easy as pie. if you have any songs you'd want me to put up email the URL/Link to me so I add it. And if you encounter any problem with the player, its all Lemon Grass's fault. (lol, i'm just kidding)Email me with your complaints and i'll get on it right away Enjoy reading fam..xoxo datworshiper@gmail.com hoping to finish up the trotro series soon as well as the 12 collaborations of christmas, its end of semester season so it will be difficult but it shall be done. ~Fighting *in my korean voice*

Music player Launch

COUNTDOWN CLOCK WIDGETS

Fanfic!!!

They dragged her mercilessly through the streets, she barely had time to put on her garments and her bare feet were suffering greatly. She knew she should be terrified and find a way out, she'd been caught in another man's bed and the law clearly stated that she was to be killed, and at the hands of these ruthless people whose hearts were harder than the stones they'd soon be throwing at her.

"Yahweh, I know I have no right to ask this of you but please, have mercy upon me, if I am to die let it be a quick death"

The wind rushed out of her, emptying her lungs as her arms made contact with the hard ground. They'd reached their destination but this was a far cry from what she expected. 

she was lying at the feet of the prophet, the man all of Israel had been talking about; at the wells, the markets, even in the privacy of their homes, Yeshua. She could hear snippets of their conversation, the scribes and Pharisees had malice in their tones, as if they wanted to trap the prophet with their words, they were well versed in scripture and it was their greatest weapon against those they deemed uneducated. She looked up from the ground through the curtain of her hair to see Him writing on the ground with his fingers.

 He made eye contact with her and she  was ashamed. Ashamed of everything she'd ever done, realizing  that no powder or paint of any kind could hide her filthiness, he did not look at her like other men, including those Pharisees, did. He looked right into her, as if He could see her innermost being, he looked at her as if he knew her even before her mother had borne her, he looked at her like a long lost child.

She began to weep, not out of self pity for her approaching death, but because of the overflow of the emotion in her heart. The love she saw and felt in that split second directed to her was so pure. So pure that she was made aware of just how unclean she was.

"let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her"

His voice sounded so familiar, like a voice she heard long before anything else, it was so comforting, it sounded like home. She had forgotten the kind of situation she was in until she heard the first stones fall to the ground. They kept falling till all her accusers were empty handed, traces of dirt from the stones they'd been holding mere minutes ago clinging to their palms. They turned to go, begining with the older ones and the youngsters following suit, till she was left alone with the Rabbi. She rose to her feet dusting off  her clothes. She stood there awkwardly, the tear streaks still visible on her face, was she to leave now or wait for him to go? Was there something expected of her now that he had saved her life?

"Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

"No one lord", she barely managed to whisper

"Neither do I condemn you; go and from now on sin no more" he said softly.

Embarrassing *cringe* Moments.

Annyeonghaseyo (that’s hello in Korean) yup...i’ve fallen in love with the country that brought us Ullzzang (if you don't know what it is, google it. That's your assignment). Anyway, I'm sure you've already guessed what relatable post is coming up today. So lets jump in

Now many of you may assume that I'm this cool, calm, collected girl who's got everything together (laughing so had I slipped out of my chair)

*getting back up* OK let me just tell you how wrong you are then.

see, I can't tell you an embarrassing moment because half of the time, my life is an embarrassing mess. Like seriously, if there was a category in the VMA's called "most embarrassing act" I'd win it hands down. In school, I was that kid with the funny shoes, glasses, weird walk, with my nose always in a book, and discussing the best method to raise my Pokemon...i was a nerd, coming to think of it,  *pushing my glasses up my nose* I think I still am. So anyway...embarrassing moments:

1) one time, in school, i was running around, as I used to do and i fell (as usual) and instead of just leaving me to lie there quietly, fate caused me to slide across the ground, and *ahem*the back of my school skirt raised and it was just a horrifying free show and the boys were playing four corners there and they started laughing and calling me "superman" and people started to gather and i was  still lying there (up until today i don't know what i was waiting for) and i finally managed to drag my shameful self from the scene.

2) In junior high, there was this boy i had a crush on (we all know you have one so stop pretending, and surprisingly, we are in the same university and same hostel, his room is below mine ~nya ) and he came to visit me at home. It had rained so the road was muddy and i don't know what possessed me to suggest we go for a walk, but I did so we did and in typical Ghanaian girl fashion, i was doing “too known” and swaying my hips like i had some loose bolts in them. Unfortunately for me, the ground seemed to have missed me because i slipped in some mud and fell into even more mud...it was a mud fest, after all my too known. I wanted to vanish, puberty and yawa do not go well together. When i finally got out of the mud, my crush pretended he didn't see anything and went to get pure water so i could wash off some of the mud. If dark skin was capable of blushing, I'd have been brighter than a tomato.

so he's walking...all hot and stuff

and I'm feeling on top of the world...

then, wham! oh cruel fate

3) before plimsolls became the in thing, my dad got me a pair to take to school (my mum said i looked good n them so i wore them to school with vim, I've stopped trusting everything she says, everything looks perfect in a mum's eyes) and everyone, i mean everyone, even the head master laughed at me all day, it was horrible, and all the teachers kept making me come to the board to answer questions so my shoes were on display. I never wore them again (except the day it had rained and my mum made me wear them because it was better than sandals for walking in the muddy terrain) Even when they became the best thing to happen to skinny jeans I never wore them.

what I saw

what everyone else saw

4) Whenever I wear a dress, the wind is always against me. like seriously, the four winds are always on the lookout for me on my dress days. (now you know why I'm always in jeans)

what I think I look like

what I really look like

Before i leave you all, i want to announce two things:

1) I'm working on a story series with my friend and fellow blogger Simeon, or as you all know him A Crazy Ghanaian. Its called the #TrotroSeries and it will be available on our Facebook pages as well as on our blogs.  Look out for them.

2) One blog, in my opinion is not enough to showcase the modern culture and life in Ghana (at least from my view point) so i'm going to create a sister blog ( this blog will still be up and running, they could be like an extended family with aghanaiangirl.blogspot.com as the Abusuapanyin {family head}, GH things). That blog will involve only pictures of styles we see in the country and on the continent as a whole, we are all one family. From both boys and girls, men and women, hair, clothes, shoes,accesories whatever graces your lovely body we want to see it, no matter what gender, shape or size or color you are. Take a pic of it, and email it to datworshiper@gmail.com. Original images only and a brief description of the outfit must be given,. and yes, there will be giveaways so stay tuned.

For more Ghanaian girl shenanigans, ff on Twitter and Instagram @aghanaiangirl 

DISCLAIMER: none of the pictures used are my property.

A lot of egos (mine especially) were bruised in the making of this post

~nya

Skills we all have

Hi guys, I’m sorry about the late post, been swamped with school stuff but its all settled so chill, I’m here for you.

Today I want to share some skills I developed living in an African home, in my very own Ghana. And we all know that once you live in Ghana, wether you are brown, white (Is that racist?, now everything is racist so I have to be careful ;p), green(cheers Hulk) whatever sexy shade you are, once you grew up or spent some time in Ghana, you have them. If you don’t, you are in denial (its true because I said so, so there!) And yeah, we no longer do most of these because we are  “mature” but if the situation demands  it, these skills will resurface:

1)      Using church offertory to buy gum then telling your parents you dropped it in the basket during Sunday school with a straight face

2)      Dodging flying objects and quick aerial maneuvers:  in Ghana, there is no law (that I know of) that prohibits the beating of a child (sensible corporal punishment not the sadistic stuff that happens on the internet) if you talk back *smack* , do what you’ve been told not to do, *smack*, caught stealing meat  from the soup/stew (keyword here “caught”) *smack*, rolling back into bed on a school day after the sheets have been pulled off you *smack, smack* (usually accompanied with a waterfall of how you never sleep early like you are told to because of your phone and now you can’t wake up) Now 80% of the people I know have had something,( usually a slipper) thrown at them because lets face it, parents are getting old and they don’t want to stop their favorite past time and all those people, including me, know how to dodge them, and do some acrobatic skills to dodge the hand that will try to grab you after since the IFO (identified flying object) was just a decoy. Now two things happen at this point that will determine the next few minutes in the house. You can choose to run out of the house, and we all know you have nowhere to hide because parents are very patient (it takes a lot of patience to raise a child like you, yes you), they will wait for you in front of the gate. Or, you can “allow” them to catch you, either way your  a** will be whupped.(at least the second part applied to me at a point in my life when I was a sissy)

 we've all been here before

if my mum had this...

3)      Running after trotros : no matter how much you lie to yourself, you have chased a trotro before, if you really haven’t, my heart goes out to you, you’ve missed out on a great part of growing up(go and stand at a bus stop and chase one, after that come back and join us, we’ll be waiting). See the thing about Ghanaians chasing cars is the basic rule you learn after day one “every man, woman and child for himself” no mercy for the cripple (bad joke…sorry *smacking the back of my hand, “naughty girl, shame” ) Make no mistake though, it’s not always like this, chasing cars only happen when its late and there are no cars, or when there are a lot of people waiting for them, especially when people have closed from work. Now after you get in the car, hopefully all your friends made it in, then you all sit on one person and when the mate asks how many you are you say one and pay for just one seat (because you spent all your money on sweets and gum and fanpop ) and ignore the mate’s glares all through the trip.

ok this is just too much, i had to share it...look at the woman  in the middle,  has anyone experienced this before?  

4)      Bargaining:  almost everyone I know knows how to bargain, and the greater your bargaining skills, the deeper my respect for you.  In Ghana we bargain for everything that isn’t in an air conditioned store with security cameras and price tags fixed on it and trotros, we don’t bargain for trotros,( you just complain about the price but pay anyway). What I really love is the stories people can come up with, especially when you are bargaining with a taxi driver, it’s like a contest to see who has the best sob story, winner gets their preferred price, most of the time though it ends in a truce and you pay half. Now if you don’t know how to bargain, I got you, will give you a quick tutorial (its all in English so my non twi speaking  readers can understand, but I prefer doing all this in twi,its more fluid so twi speakers, you can translate):  

Me *stopping a taxi*: I’m going to the Tigo office at Accra, how much is it

Driver:  How much do you want to give me

Me: you have to tell me the price so I can decide if I can go

Driver: GHS 15

Me: what????!!!!! GHS 15, why don’t you want me to go home today? Do you want me to sleep there? (I have more than enough to pay but this is GH, you don’t just agree, you bargain)  I’ll give you GHS 5, it’s not that far and there’s no traffic.

Driver: oh, I can’t, it’s too small, you know the price of fuel has increased, and these politicians aren’t doing anything about it so we are suffering (going on and on with his rant)                                     

Me: ok I’ll give you GHS 7, its all I have, if I give you anymore, I will sleep there today (at this point, I make a sad face and start sighing)

Driver: oh GHS 7, hmm it’s not good oo

Me: then it’s ok, thank you very much, God bless you (pretending to step away from the car knowing he will call me back)

Driver: ok, you sit down and let’s go.

(When we get to the place, I give him a GHS20 bill and take my change, like a “bawse”,)

5)      Chimp3/ Kyemup3 and Kyindanho : this is a game we all played in school, it was a game that never ended, in the words of one of my crazy friends Jim :” Kyemup3(equal division of whatever you have) is a game in Ghana played by children where if you are found eating food or ice-cream or anything of interest,  you will be told Chimp3 and you’ll have to share it equally with the one who said the chimp3. To avoid this, you have to hide from them and eat or say ‘no chimp#’ in their hearing or with witnesses around”

 “Kyindanho (go around the house) is another type but in this case if you are caught with the food, you give it to the person who caught you, and you go round the building as fast as you can whilst the person eats as fast as possible. If you get back on time, you reclaim your food, if not, sorry for you”

Disclaimer: 1) the taxi driver may leave you behind and pick someone else

2) not all parents will wait for you at the gate, some will employ your neighbors, neighborhood boys and even the woman in her shop you just run by to catch you and whe you are caught...you don die.

3) playing Chimp3 may leave you hungry
4) I do not own any of the pictures  used, found them and decided to share, if they belong to you and you want them taken down, let me know via email. 

When roaches attack!

Sometimes a little nonfa goes a long way to make someones day, let me make yours. I hate roaches, and if I do come across one, I will run. Run for the hills and never look back. Run like the Ex-laxed Finch. When I happen to come across a piece of it, like a wing or leg or something (my skin is crawling just typing this) that  vicinity will be deleted from my daily route, even if it’s the shortest way to wherever I’m going , that’s just how bad it is. (Quick question, are shrimps the insects of the sea?)

Now when ending the existence of such creatures, you cannot just squish them, there’s much more to it than that. You have to plan ahead and be at least six steps ahead of those nefarious creatures. All escape routes must be open and free of anything that will slow you down because when your slipper or other available weapon of destruction misses, that roach will come at you like Miley’s tongue, its going to go all out.

And you know the scariest part about all this? When you look away for a moment and it disappears. You can’t find it anywhere, that’s when you know that s**t just became real, because at that point, you’ll be playing multiple conclusions in your head, and if your brain is filled with cartoon violence and horror movie data like mine, then you keep looking behind you to see if a giant momma roach is behind you or you start rubbing your nose like a coke addict hoping nothing is going to crawl out. And let’s face it, if you meet it again later in the day, you will run screaming because you know it’s coming for revenge and to those who say;

“You are bigger than it, it’s more afraid of you than you are of it”

“You are bigger than e-coli”

Suck on that.

Disclaimer: Being a vegetarian, I do not endorse meat, but if you do eat it, please make sure its cooked well.

No roaches were harmed in the making of this post.