Opportunity Messages

So for the past few days, I’ve been getting prompts about making use of opportunities that come my way. Also, my silent wishes are coming true! The opportunity messages are coming in different ways; WhatsApp messages, Skype, emails, lyrics of a song, facebook statuses and a message from the President of my University when he spoke to my class! These messages are coming either directly or indirectly (pointing me in particular directions). They are saying "go out there, Neina and do your thing. Don’t slack!"  Or maybe I am just “seeing” these messages even when they aren’t there. I’ll probably look up into the sky and see the clouds shaped into something that suggests that...do you ever see those clouds? I remember when I was younger, I once saw Santa Claus in his sleigh with Rudolph and his nose ( though it was not red J)

Okay....rewind! Back to opportunity. So...I’m “seeing” all these messages and I get the feeling God is trying to prepare me for that opportunity that is coming. I can’t miss it! So I’ve initiated a couple of things I have kept on –hold for a while now. First is my blog....and a couple of other things that will pop out of my magic hat when I’ve perfected that trick.

Today, I got a call from my aunt who I had hoped would be visiting me this long holiday in school. She says she’s coming tomorrow! I can’t wait! And this reminds me that I’m in God’s Heart. As I am still smiling with that thought in mind, my phone vibrates. It’s a message from Vodafone! And it reads...

Easter Sunday is your lucky day!!! You have received a special HELP from Vodafone to win 1 Hyundai Santa Fe (GHC 75,000)! Send Easter to 4141 to win BIG!

So I’m thinking. This might be it, you know? I don’t usually look at these messages twice. I just delete it. But I get the feeling...so I follow the instructions. And wait. In no time, my phone vibrates. I take a peek and it reads...”You don’t have enough credit to send this message.” I smile and think. I don’t? Lol! Guess I won a good laugh, no? I’m still waiting God, as patient as ever!

Neina

Survival- a poem dedicated to Kayayei

I am currently writing my thesis on the viability of setting-up an agency for Kayayei (female head porters) I wrote this poem  a few days ago as I was transcribing the  interviews and focus group discussions I used for my data collection. Take a look!

Survival

You laugh, point at me and insult me down to the last article I have

You walk further and faster as the load gets heavier and I pant harder

I feel the weight of your wares travel through my spine

And re-awaken my pains of the previous days

I shudder when I see the looks on the faces of the men

When they strip me naked as I walked through the market

And watch me with spite

But I know I can’t go back

Baba and my many mothers await my return with the good things of the city

My yet to be decided suitor also awaits

I need to break my spine over and over again to purchase the few utensils

That would decorate my room after my marriage

Each passing day, I earn less and less

And spend more and more for a place to rest my aching body, to feed and wash down

For yet another spinning day in the heat or with the lashing of the cold whips of the rain

Of the days when I know you value your wealth on my head than the entirety of my being.

Neina.

Blog Camp 2013 Baby

My big sister Jemila and I. She's held my hand right from the beginning

Welcome!

Neina’s Memoirs is about anything and everything that drifts into my thoughts. In case, you are wondering, Neina is my middle name which is in Dagbani-a northern Ghanaian dialect. The closest meaning I can give to is ‘it has brightened or something has brightened.’

After years of gentle nudges from my ever-loving sister, Jemila Abdulai of www.circumspecte.com, I have finally started to take baby steps into my blogging journey. My mom tells me I begun to walk at my first birthday party after I saw all the other toddlers walking! By the end of the day, I was a pro...and I haven’t stopped walking since. Alhamdulillah! That is probably what gets me ticking and growing-seeing what others do motivates me. This is the inspiration for Neina’s Memoirs. This is a Blog Camp 2013 baby. After interacting with all those great bloggers from Ghana on the 23^rd of March, 2013 at the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT and hear them speak with so much enthusiasm about what they do, I could only gather up the courage to get up from my crawling position to start my baby steps without my walker.  So join me on my journey as I begin this exploration. Please don’t hesitate to remind me that it is one foot after the other or to catch me when I stumble. I’ll be more than grateful when you encourage me to stand up after I have bumped my knee because we all need prompts once in a while. I’ll love it if you put a sweet in the distance and encourage me to walk to it. :-) Let’s make this blog as it interactive as possible.

Neina.