May 2014 ~ newaccra magazine

Friday

Maya Angelou; 5 things most Ghanaians don't know

Hours ago, Maya Angelou said goodbye to this earth.
Here are five things most Ghanaians don't know about this phenomenal woman and her connection to Ghana.

1. Maya Angelou lived in Ghana for three years between 1962 to 1967.

When she left the USA, she went to Egypt with her partner. When they separated, she came to Ghana and started working in the administration office of the University of Ghana, Legon. She also worked in the National Theater and freelanced for The Ghanaian Times!

2. She met freedom fighter Malcom X in Accra.

Thanks to Nkrumah, Ghana became an attractive place to a lot of the leaders of the day. Heavy weights like Martin Luther King Junior, US Vice President Richard Nixon, and Lee Kuan Yew all came to Ghana. Maya's meeting with Malcom X in Accra moved her to return to the United States to join the civil rights struggle that was going on there at that time.

Maya and Malcom in Accra. Photo from Facebook

3. Maya Angelou actually spoke Fanti !

She really picked up Ghanaian culture. This is how she described an incident when dancing healed her wounds.
"I danced for bad judgments and good fortune .... and for the sound on ceremonial fontonfrom drums waking the morning air in Takoradi "
When an interviewer asked her how she handled criticism, she replied with a Ghanaian saying, “An elephant is rarely seriously bothered by a flea”

More details of Maya's time in Ghana can be found in her book 'All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes' (1986).

4. Maya is forever stamped in Ghana's history

Ghana loved her so much we issued a postage stamp in her honour

Maya Angelou postage stamp. Credit twitter @BlitzAmbassador

5. Maya was multi-talented

So multi-talented that some young people on social media think she was a musician. It is unclear why they think so, because even though Maya recorded a calypso album, music was not where she shone brightest. We speculate that her name 'Maya Angelou' sounds close to Angeli Kidjo, Mya and Miriam Makeeba - three grammy winning singers from Benin, USA, and South Africa respectively.

So who exactly was Maya Angelou? Barack Obama's answer is close to the truth -"Maya was many things – an author, poet, civil rights activist, playwright, actress, director, composer, singer and dancer. But above all, she was a storyteller – and her greatest stories were true".

May her beautiful soul find rest.

calypso album cover- credit Youtube

Did you learn something new? share with your friends and leave a thought in her memory

Remember to check back in a few days for our new website!

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THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA – PART I

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Apart from updating your status, posting comments, and uploading pictures, what else have you been able to use social media for?

Obviously the main reason behind these media platforms was to help us hook up with friends and family, however in today’s competitive marketplace, it has gone beyond simply hooking up with friends and family to something more concrete and tangible. In this article, we'll take a look at how we can get more out of social media.

1. Build a personal reputation

With an interest to speak positive words into people’s lives, and to challenge them to do better than they could naturally do, I turned my Facebook page from a contact platform into a personal-reputation-building one. I often updated my status with excerpts of books and audios of renowned writers and speakers that I thought would serve my readers well.

In less than two months, the producer of Nash Radio, one of the most influential online-only radio stations in Moscow, Russia, contacted me and expressed his admiration for my status updates; that was the beginning of my journey to becoming the host of the station’s flagship motivational radio talk show dubbed ‘Motivational Arena’.

What reputation are you building for yourself? Are your statuses reflective of a purposeful intent to building a reputation or do you just write anything that comes to mind because Facebook asks, “What’s on your mind ?” If we’re to review your statuses over the past three months, what trend are they going to follow?

A real but rare opportunity is here, let’s use it wisely!

2. Find a job

In recent times, other social media platforms such as LinkedIn are monitored 24/7 by employers to find prospective job seekers.

According to a research by the Society for Human Resource Management in April, 2013, the number of employers who use social media and social networking websites to recruit job candidates continues to rise. According to the research, 77% of the respondents said they currently use social networking for job recruitment.

This is a clarion call for all prospective job seekers. Apart from uploading your CVs or resumes, your statuses must be in a certain taste to attract employers to you. Will you ever want to employ someone on whose social media page you find sexually-explicit content? Your guess is as good as mine.

3. Showcase your talent and establish yourself as an expert.

Is it not amazing that people who are very active users of social media keep complaining that they have no avenue to showcase their talent? I have seen a few people who have effectively utilised their Facebook pages to display their talents by way of publishing articles, poems, and uploading videos of their songs. Others put up pictures of their handicrafts for friends to see and know about them.

Remember there is always a way to display what you have to offer the world, but until you do that, no one will come to you for what you have. Use your Facebook page to project your image and expertise in whatever you do.

Are you a writer? Write excerpts of your articles and books. As a singer, you can upload demos of your songs on social media platforms like YouTube and Spotify. Are you a banker? You can turn your Facebook into an investment consultancy. Give sound savings and investments tips. These will go a long way to enhance your future career progression.

Social media has come to stay, as far as we can see into the foreseeable future.

The mandate is ours to use these platforms as avenues to do great things. Updating your status, liking and commenting on others’ statuses, and uploading your images are good, but you can use these platforms in better ways. Find them and use them the very best way you can!

To see the second part of this story, kindly click one of these buttons;

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On Mothers' day 2014, don't forget this..

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May 11, 2014 is mothers' day. Some women will be celebrated by their children, others will be forced to remember the painful memory of the child they carried for months but lost in delivery. Some families will celebrate mothers, others will remember women who went into labour and never came back.

Each year, the lives of thousands of mothers are lost before, during and after child birth. The deaths, termed maternal mortality, are related to severe bleeding (mostly after childbirth), infections, high blood pressure during pregnancy, adolescent pregnancy and malaria and anaemia, among others.

Ever wondered what you can do to reduce or prevent maternal mortality? Here are 10 simple things you can do to make sure there are as many mothers holding and caring for their babies as there are many babies experiencing the love of a mother.

When she becomes pregnant;

1. Encourage the pregnant woman to seek antenatal care. This gives her the chance to receive the services of skilled health professionals, who will provide her with relevant information, give her important instructions and identify any risk as soon as possible for immediate attention.

2. Give the pregnant woman special attention during pregnancy, childbirth and the weeks after childbirth. By doing this you can help identify any complication and bring it to the attention of a skilled health professional. Untreated infections after child birth can lead to the death of a new mother.

3. Help the pregnant woman to watch their diet. For example encouraging her to eat low-salt diet, more fruits and vegetables. For some women, pregnancy causes cravings for unhealthy foods like high-salt diets. High-salt diet is a risk factor for high blood pressure, which has been identified as one the causes of maternal mortality.

4. Encourage pregnant women to sleep under treated bed nets and use mosquito repellent creams to prevent the occurrence of malaria. Malaria is also associated with maternal mortality.

5. Join the advocacy for more skilled attendants to be trained, health centres to be built in every town or rural community, and more equipment to be installed in these health centres.

6. Join the call to end premature marriages and teenage pregnancy.

When she becomes a mother,

7. Encourage her to exclusively breastfeed her baby for the first six months to start the baby on a healthy growth path.

8. Support her in the role of shaping the healthy lifestyle choices of the children. Mothers play a key role in the adoption of a healthy lifestyle by a child. A healthy lifestyle ensures the child will realize their full potential.

And as mother’s day is around the corner, let’s all be reminded

9. To encourage and support girls and women to be educated and economically empowered.

10. To say no girls and women abuse. Let’s all join the call to #BringBackOurGirls.

Happy Mothers day!

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About the author

Olime Health, a total health brand on a mission of enabling people to choose and live healthier lifestyles. The brand advocates for an environment which encourages and supports the health and nutritional wellbeing of people. Twitter @Olimehealth or Facebook.com/olimehealth

Newaccra Magazine is a positive lifestyle magazine for the young and driven. Our goal is to inspire ambitious young people to achieve their big dreams. We do this by providing high quality content on personal development, success lessons, positive mindsets, healthy lifestyles and current sports and entertainment. Follow us on Twitter @newaccra [] Facebook.com/newaccra

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Maya Angelou; 5 things most Ghanaians don't know

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THE POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA – PART I

On Mothers' day 2014, don't forget this..

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