It’s one year for my Nuha

 

 

Today, on your first birthday, I want to wish you a happy birthday, my calm princess!

You were born on that special Friday, February 18, 2022, at 10:20 a.m., to the sounds of Quranic recitations from my phone, in the same hospital and room where your elder sister was born.

So far, it appears that this is the only thing you have in common with her. Well, the forehead too. How can you not have big brows when your father has mountains up there:)

As a second child and the second daughter, you have your big sister to learn from and it’s already showing though with a touch of your uniqueness.

For me, your birth was simple and relatively "painless" (though mummy thinks otherwise, hehe). You began to descend and were out in a matter of hours.

I could tell you had a calm personality from the moment I held you in my arms. You had a lighter complexion as well. You appear to have inherited some extra fair genes from your maternal side.

Mummy is trying to turn you into a mummy's girl. Please do not fall for it; I have more seats for you and your sister on my fun train. Be a daddy's little girl!

Tinyom is your name because "we're grateful" to God for giving you to us.

As you turn one today, I'm sorry I'm not there to carry you on my chest, where you've always found comfort. Daddy is out there trying to improve your world. I will make amends to you if God grants us both good health and a long life.

I want to wish you a very happy birthday! God bless your journey, and may you grow up to make us proud of your accomplishments.

As you grow, I want you to pay heed to Prophet’s Luqman’s advice to his child:

Establish prayer, encourage what is good and forbid what is evil, and endure patiently whatever befalls you. Surely this is a resolve to aspire to

And do not turn your nose up to people, nor walk pridefully upon the earth.

Qur’an 31: 17-18

To my Husna; on your first birthday

To my little and beloved Husna, your birth brought us so much joy, we became parents of a lovely child like you. We named you Husna because you're "the best", "the most beautiful".

On November 10, 2018 you were born as a first year anniversary gift for our wedding on November 11, the year before.

You actually developed full term just so you can come at the right time.

In the face of anxiety over your sex, you arrived, a baby girl. Our early scans told us to expect you but later ones let us down. Your coming brought big joy to us especially your paternal grandmother. Grandma didn't have a daughter and until your arrival wished for a granddaughter.

So you see, we were very excited to receive you. You're special, that's why we call you "Ubweisei (Princess)".

Mummy's pain in bringing you to the world is one that is hard to describe. From about 8pm on that blessed Friday when the active labour started to few minutes after Fajr prayers on Saturday when you were born, she journeyed on the death road. Alhamdulilah, she returned.

In pain, your mum could not hide her excitement, she screamed out of joy with your first cry.

You arrived just few minutes after Fajr. I hope that means you offered your dawn prayers before arrival. Remember this whilst you remain in this transient world.

From that Saturday when you arrived to this Sunday when you're a year old, we like the person you're becoming. A very observant young girl with a strong will.

I am also happy to see myself in you. That you have my big childhood forehead and do not like going to anybody else besides us, your parents. Like father, like daughter.

That you feel like a Princess is traced back to your maternal grandfather who called mummy Princess as well.

I hope you grow up to make us proud of your achievements.

On this day, I leave you with a slightly edited part of a poetry by The Game:

"I hope you grow up to become that everything you can be
That's all I want for you Husna, like Father, like Daughter

But in the end I hope you turn out better than me
I hope you know I love you Husna, like Father, like Daughter"

God bless your path. Happy birthday my Husna.

Mummy and Abba loves you.

I Will No More Regard Manasseh as a Reliable Truth Teller

Manasseh Azure Awuni, one time Best Journalist and a popular figure in the Ghanaian media landscape has many strengths as a journalist but unfortunately, he is losing it as a reliable truth teller in my eyes. I am not saying he has stopped telling the truth but rather that, whenever he tells some supposed truth, I (as Abdul) will not regard it as reliable until further validated.

Why is he no more reliable?

Well, in his recent articles, he made some revelations that have caught my attention.

For instance, in the article "Rebecca Akufo-Addo’s 'strategic mistakes'”, he wrote this:

" ... Someone told me you don’t want to be flown around with state aircraft or helicopters. I’m told when you went to Kumasi to cut the sod for this project, you went with Africa World Airlines and came back by road. That’s bad. See, this is your time o."

and this

"Your husband is also one year into office and I have put my ears on the ground, but I am yet to hear that you are running things, assigning roles and contracts. ..."

Again, in the article "Yesterday’s jog on the tarmac, today’s walk in London", he wrote the following:

"I had kept in touch with someone close to the second family and anytime I asked, the response was, “Oh he is doing very well.” On Friday night, however, I was alarmed. A journalist I trust so much said credible information from a top member of the NPP said Dr. Bawumia had been paralysed. I almost believed him until Dr. Bawumia’s video and photos came up. For me it was timely and helpful."

and

"... Not long after the swearing in of President Akufo-Addo, I became alarmed at the number of official events he was attending each week, from Monday to Sunday. I remember once telling Gabby Asare Otchere-Darko to tell the President’s handlers to slow down because it could be detrimental to his health, especially at his age. There is a lot of mental and emotional fatigue with such jobs and adding physical stress to it could be deadly."


The above statements betray Manasseh as:

1. A gossip/rumour lover and believer

If you read the statements again, you'll come to the realization that, one of our respected Journalists is someone who loves and believes in gossip. This is a bad trait to have as an ivestigative journalist as it has the power to affect how an investigation is carried out.

See how he nearly believed our Vice President was paralysed if not for the videos and pictures that got released?

See how he puts his ears to the ground to hear stuff?

See how he is quick to spread whatever he picks on the ground without verifying if true?

The current Pope once said journalism based on gossip or rumors is a form of terrorism.

2. Someone who can be used or manipulated

I have pointed out how Manasseh loves and spreads gossip, let me add that this trait of his can be used for political mischief.

In the above statements, we know Manasseh is close to such people as Gabby Asare Otchere Darko, someone a section of the political divide describe as the 'real man in charge'. With his weakness for gossip, if Gabby should deliberately pass on some information as the truth, Manasseh is likely to believe it and run to town with it.

If Manasseh had the habit of separating rumours from truth, he wouldn't have written this "Someone told me you don’t want to be flown around with state aircraft or helicopters".

In a political society like ours where politicians are looking to appear better than their opponents, many things will be said but those things need to pass through some verification or checks to ascertain their truth.

If Manasseh had done his checks, he would have said this rather "Someone told me (and I have confirmed that) you don’t want to be flown around with state aircraft or helicopters."

3. Someone who is looking to appear friendly with the current administration

I might be wrong with this but my small psychology borrowed from my wife tells me, one of our top Journalists is looking to be friends with the current administration.

There are so many reasons why he may want this; he feels responsible for getting the former administration out so he doesn't want this administration to fail because indirectly he is also responsible for bringing it in power, the people he socializes with are top members in the current government so he doesn't want the awkwardness that comes with being true to his journalism and being true to his friends and so on.

If this is true, it's not necessarily a bad thing but it has the potential to water down his professionalism. And one of the evidences of a watered down professional writing is to portray gossip as fact.

How can Manasseh say "... I have put my ears on the ground, but I am yet to hear that you are running things, assigning roles and contracts." or say "... Someone told me you don’t want to be flown around with state aircraft or helicopters." and smartly imply a better difference.

What if he was yet to hear anything because he was putting his ears to the wrong ground or that whatever he was willing to hear has been well concealed?


I have stated my reasons why I will no more consider Manasseh Azure Awuni as a reliable truth teller. I expect an investigative journalist to do more with gossip than quickly pass it on.

Whenever I read something from him, I am not going to disregard it and at the same time, I am not going to regard it, I'll keep it in a 'yet-to-be-true' state until further verified.

My Experience with Lite Learn Version 1

We live in an information age. Proof is that, you're bombarded daily, oh no, every second with all kinds of information, useful or not. This leads to what is termed as information overload.

Well, information is good but information overload may just be unhealthy to the human mind. Exposure to too much information, will leave your mind always processing for the most useful. We all know what happens to any system that continuously processes, it'll eventually break down. The mind is complex so it may take longer to 'break down', but it will at some point.

You don't want a broken down mind trust me.

That's why I was happy to hear of this new app called Lite Learn. Lite Learn believes that you can learn practical and useful things in 5 minutes or less to help you to improve your career everyday.

I'm a career person, I work in the positions of marketing and product management at a thriving startup. What's more cool to have than an app that can teach me something I can use to be a better worker in 5 mins.

So I have been using the app for about 4 days now and so far, I have learnt tips on sending cold emails, managing anger at work and negotiating my salary. There are a few more courses I have found relevant that I plan to consume soon.

In all this, one other thing I like about the app is its user experience. The information they provide comes as if you were having a chat with an expert. It uses the experience of the Whatsapps and Messengers, as if the expert was on the otherside helping you out.

Let me not spoil the fun of exploring the app for yourself. But if you're serious about getting career information, that's already processed, you should check out Lite Learn.

Get the Lite Learn app on the Play Store here.

The World of Work is going Remote, Are you Prepared?

I’d like to make a bold claim. Ten years from now, the world of work as we know it will drastically change. More than half of the jobs that will be advertised will give you the opportunity to work remotely.

Yes, more than half of the jobs.

What do I mean by work remotely? To work remotely is to work from whatever place you think will make you more productive, most of the time outside your employer’s offices.

Many people who work remotely usually work from different countries other than their employer’s country. This remote working practise is very common in the software technology industry.

Let’s bring this home. If I have the chance of working out of my bedroom or community center in Tamale for a company based in Accra, I would be said to be working remotely.

The shift from the way we work (having to be physically present in the offices of your employer) is as a result of the expansion of access to the internet, rise in software technologies that aid remote work and the ability to monitor an employee’s output no matter where he/she is working from.

Today more than ever, an employer can assign tasks to an employee, communicate with the employee throughout the course of the work and track the performance of the employee all without meeting the employee.

Interestingly, many employees favor working remotely because it presents them the opportunity to work when they really want to and to rest when they feel like it.

Starting businesses also favor this because they do not need physical offices before they can run a team to achieve an objective.

But if companies and employers are going to allow you to work remotely, they expect to be able to monitor your performance, this means, they expect you to know how to use certain tools. How many of those tools do you know?

Let’s take a look at some of them. If you want to remain employable going into the future, you’ll need to spend some time learning the tools that are mentioned below.

Though these tools are loved by remote workers, it’s important employees at physical offices know how to use them as well.

— Task assignment tools

Asana, Trello

Task assignment tools enable your employer to specify tasks of the week/month for you and monitor which ones are being worked on or have been completed.

— Communication/Messaging Tools

Slack, Hipchat

Communication tools give you a medium through which you can communicate and exchange ideas with your employer or fellow employees as you carry out a task.

These are not all the tools you need to be fully productive whilst working remotely, but they are essential and knowing them will help you a great deal.


This post was first published on naaninche.wordpress.com.