This emotion we call LOVE is very powerful, so powerful that it can make you lose sleep, lose your appetite and most of all lose your head (no pun intended). Yes even in history we read that quite a few men and women, lost their heads, literally for love.
LOVE is a great feeling and as human beings we all need love in order to thrive. We need to give love and to receive it also. The sweaty palms, the loss of speech (sometimes) and the fluttering of our hearts are all signs that we are in love. We see the person we love walk towards us and a huge wave of warmth and happiness fills us. Even when we see old friends whom we grew up with, there is a warmth that fills us also. It's a combination of times we shared, funny incidents in the classroom or lecture rooms, getting stuck in the snow, or making a mad dash for the nearest Coffee shop as the rain suddenly came down.
I know there are different types of love but I am not going to list and define them because they all are an integral part of life. Even from what I describe above, one should be able to know that I am combining all the different types. Sometimes love is just sitting together and not saying anything in particular..smiling at intervals at one another and yet carrying on reading your novel or playing a game of chess.
Love is walking in a park, admiring the flowers, trees, birds and truly appreciating how much we need to preserve our environment. Love is helping someone less fortunate than yourself and ensuring that they too have someone to mentor them.
Last but not the least, tell someone that you love them today! Don't wait for tomorrow or next week, tell them today.
Tuesday, 28 August 2012
Wednesday, 8 August 2012
9.63 secs
On Sunday evening, we all sat transfixed in front of our flat screens whilst the Men's 100 metres race at the ongoing Olympics was about to begin. Who was going to win it? Would Usain Bolt lose out like he had during the past meets or was he going to show he was still the world's fastest man?
These questions raced through my mind, as the runners took their places at the start line. "Runners on your marks" and my heart started beating faster, my mouth went dry and my eyes widened as I did not want to miss a movement.. The gun was fired and they were off! It did not appear as if Usain had the best of starts but suddenly as they neared the 30 metres point, he burst forth and was ahead of the pack. Asafa Powell looked like he had pulled a muscle and hobbled to a stop, whilst Yohan Blake was in second place. As Bolt got closer to the finish line, he could be seen looking at the clock: he looked once, twice and the third time, he had crossed the finish line! First the time keeper posted 9.64 secs on the screen but then changed it to 9.63 secs.
WOW! What a rush that was and Bolt is still the world's fastest man!
These questions raced through my mind, as the runners took their places at the start line. "Runners on your marks" and my heart started beating faster, my mouth went dry and my eyes widened as I did not want to miss a movement.. The gun was fired and they were off! It did not appear as if Usain had the best of starts but suddenly as they neared the 30 metres point, he burst forth and was ahead of the pack. Asafa Powell looked like he had pulled a muscle and hobbled to a stop, whilst Yohan Blake was in second place. As Bolt got closer to the finish line, he could be seen looking at the clock: he looked once, twice and the third time, he had crossed the finish line! First the time keeper posted 9.64 secs on the screen but then changed it to 9.63 secs.
WOW! What a rush that was and Bolt is still the world's fastest man!
Wednesday, 28 March 2012
Ghana's Biometric Registration of Voters
Last Saturday, I stood in a queue for 2 hours 45 minutes just to get my biometric voting card. This year, Ghana wants to use the biometric method for the general elections which will be held on 7th December 2012 so anyone from age 18 and above should endeavour to register as a voter. When the current government was in opposition, they kicked against the biometric registration. Ironically they had a change of mind when coming into office and decided to implement it. However with every new thing, brings its challenges and on Saturday, did they have their challenges!
I arrived at the registration centre which thankfully was just 5 minutes walk from me. I overheard the Registration Officer, tell someone that around 11am, the machine's battery "died" and they had to wait for 2 hours before someone brought them a spare from Head office. I shook my head in amazement. As if that wasn't bad enough, the officer responsible for keying-in the bio data of each registrant seriously needed to have had a 4 week course in keyboarding! His handling of the computer keyboard showed how unfamiliar he was with it, and his slow tying (with just 2 fingers) slowed down the whole process. I wondered if these people were serious!
Typically the registration centre opens at 7am and closes at 6am however, the officers began to educate us on how the timing that had been announced on both the radio and television announcements, were incorrect. The centres were to close to the public at 5pm in order for them to count the number of registrants as well as write their operational reports etc. What irked me even further was their insensitivity on allowing 9 of us who had been there for over 2 hours to just register, especially as it was 5pm as the lack of a spare battery had attributed to the snail pace of the registration.
The registration officer made the mistake of bellowing out loud that it was 5pm and that we should all go home. Now anyone who knows me would tell you I am not the sort to start an argument or quarrel but honestly my tolerance at the whole display of their lackadaisical attitude set me off. I shouted back saying we will not go home until we had been processed. She looked at me in surprise as I had been well behaved throughout the time I was standing in the queue. I then repeated my response and she looked back at the officer who was filling out the forms and chuckled. In local parlance she told her colleague, she was shocked at how I had said we were not going to go home, until we had been processed. So in return the officer filling out the forms said she had seen me standing in the queue all this while and she thought I really did deserve being processed. So the 9 of us were all allowed to go through the process and indeed we got our cards. The rest of the people who had queued up behind me were told to return the following day. I certainly was not going to give up until I had gotten my Voters ID and in the end I did. For a simple process, they had made it complicated. In my view, they need to do the following:
I arrived at the registration centre which thankfully was just 5 minutes walk from me. I overheard the Registration Officer, tell someone that around 11am, the machine's battery "died" and they had to wait for 2 hours before someone brought them a spare from Head office. I shook my head in amazement. As if that wasn't bad enough, the officer responsible for keying-in the bio data of each registrant seriously needed to have had a 4 week course in keyboarding! His handling of the computer keyboard showed how unfamiliar he was with it, and his slow tying (with just 2 fingers) slowed down the whole process. I wondered if these people were serious!
Typically the registration centre opens at 7am and closes at 6am however, the officers began to educate us on how the timing that had been announced on both the radio and television announcements, were incorrect. The centres were to close to the public at 5pm in order for them to count the number of registrants as well as write their operational reports etc. What irked me even further was their insensitivity on allowing 9 of us who had been there for over 2 hours to just register, especially as it was 5pm as the lack of a spare battery had attributed to the snail pace of the registration.
The registration officer made the mistake of bellowing out loud that it was 5pm and that we should all go home. Now anyone who knows me would tell you I am not the sort to start an argument or quarrel but honestly my tolerance at the whole display of their lackadaisical attitude set me off. I shouted back saying we will not go home until we had been processed. She looked at me in surprise as I had been well behaved throughout the time I was standing in the queue. I then repeated my response and she looked back at the officer who was filling out the forms and chuckled. In local parlance she told her colleague, she was shocked at how I had said we were not going to go home, until we had been processed. So in return the officer filling out the forms said she had seen me standing in the queue all this while and she thought I really did deserve being processed. So the 9 of us were all allowed to go through the process and indeed we got our cards. The rest of the people who had queued up behind me were told to return the following day. I certainly was not going to give up until I had gotten my Voters ID and in the end I did. For a simple process, they had made it complicated. In my view, they need to do the following:
- have move than one person assisting with the form filling
- have a more competent person on the computer
- when there is a backlog of persons in the queue, the other officers should assist instead of sitting around doing nothing.
I really do hope they get a greater part of the population to register, as this exercise would then have been a waste of taxpayers money.
Monday, 26 March 2012
In Remembrance of Trayvon Martin
Many times and in different cities, I have had a group of 4 to 6 chaps who practically took up the entire side walk or road I was walking on but I didn't draw out a gun and shoot! This law in Florida, Stand your Ground, is the most preposterous thing I have heard about. It practically gives vigilantes and other radicals, the permission to draw out a gun or other weapon anytime they feel threatened.
We are still to hear all the facts on this matter, but the fact that the young teen lay for 3 days on a slab without the police making with his parents is just incredulous! When is the senseless killing going to end? And when are tougher laws on gun control going to be made?
My son and I wore our hoodies as a sign of respect for youn Trayvon Martin. I do hope, justice will be served and expedited quickly.
RIP Trayvon Martin.
Thursday, 22 March 2012
Poor Customer Service
If you have a problem, it seems no-one but the person you first spoke to about it, is the only one who can help. What do I mean? Well here is my story. I went to the bank to collect some money sent to me via Western Union. Somewhere between the bank and where I went, I misplaced my voters identification card.
Luckily for me, I still have the Western Union receipt slip which has the details for my Voters Identification card. So I went to the bank and met a banking officer who told me she could help. She told me once I had the receipt, she would be able to retrieve my picture and details from their database. I was pleased and promised to come back the following day.
I did go back but unfortunately, the officer was not there. She had not gone to work that day so I asked if another officer could give me some assistance. I was told there was no-one else, except for that lady so I had to come back another time.
You can imagine how I felt. Why should one person be in charge of something that could be retrieved by anyone who had access to the database. I looked around the branch and something struck me as quite odd; I saw 3 customers sitting at different points of the banking hall had been waiting for a while for their respective officers to report back to them. It seemed like it was taking forever and felt like the various officers had "disappeared" at the same time. Two of the poor chaps were tapping their feet and the third had bent his head and was staring at the floor. I felt sorry for them and then later that emotion vanished. Perhaps if they had been a bit more assertive, the would have been seen to by now....or then again I may be mistaking.
Generally in Ghana, customer service hardly exists and for me if you are providing a service, you have to really cater for all your customers in a manner that will make them return again and again. Every now and again, you meet a bright "star" who makes you smile or nod your head in agreement that the way they looked after you at your dinner table, or at the car wash, was special. However that is rare and there is so much room for improvement amongst those who provide services/products.
I hope I can write another piece about having received great customer service soon.
Luckily for me, I still have the Western Union receipt slip which has the details for my Voters Identification card. So I went to the bank and met a banking officer who told me she could help. She told me once I had the receipt, she would be able to retrieve my picture and details from their database. I was pleased and promised to come back the following day.
I did go back but unfortunately, the officer was not there. She had not gone to work that day so I asked if another officer could give me some assistance. I was told there was no-one else, except for that lady so I had to come back another time.
You can imagine how I felt. Why should one person be in charge of something that could be retrieved by anyone who had access to the database. I looked around the branch and something struck me as quite odd; I saw 3 customers sitting at different points of the banking hall had been waiting for a while for their respective officers to report back to them. It seemed like it was taking forever and felt like the various officers had "disappeared" at the same time. Two of the poor chaps were tapping their feet and the third had bent his head and was staring at the floor. I felt sorry for them and then later that emotion vanished. Perhaps if they had been a bit more assertive, the would have been seen to by now....or then again I may be mistaking.
Generally in Ghana, customer service hardly exists and for me if you are providing a service, you have to really cater for all your customers in a manner that will make them return again and again. Every now and again, you meet a bright "star" who makes you smile or nod your head in agreement that the way they looked after you at your dinner table, or at the car wash, was special. However that is rare and there is so much room for improvement amongst those who provide services/products.
I hope I can write another piece about having received great customer service soon.
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