Month: February 2020

I love what I do. I am very passionate about what I do. My work is centered around parenting services with a focus on father’s and male role models.

I guess you are wondering why the title of this article. It is the most gut wrenching feeling to attend a mother’s funeral. I did not attend mine. I would not be writing this article.

Mothers are super wonderful because I have experienced it and still experience same from borrowed mothers. I say super wonderful because of the sweet things everyone says about their mothers. I say super wonderful because they are such. But then they die. They leave this earth. They officially become angels.

In my line of work, I must say I see men strive to be the best at what they do; the sacrifices they make. They are all commendable.

Men are born of women; every human is birthed by a woman.

For nine months, plus or slightly less, women house and feed us as we form into humans. They house us in them. We become a part of them. We even have a lifeline that attaches us. So I celebrate these super women. All mothers.

The pain of losing a mother is simply mind boggling. You go into an emptiness that no one can feel or describe. It is only those that have lost a mother that can attest to this. It can not be equal to losing a father.

Anytime a friend loses a mother due to sickness, I feel a pinch. If the mother is young, I relate and get drawn into that schism again. Circumstances leading to the death and any links that remind me of my own mother’s passing lead down that narrow path that many trod yet it is still bushy. I celebrate my mother and wish she were alive to be one of my best friends.

I write this to encourage any reader. I write this to eulogize all mothers.
If your mother is still alive, no matter the differences, be her friend. Please appreciate her. Do not let little things put you apart. Love her and tell her you love her. Create a relationship; a healthy relationship if you don’t have one. Again appreciate her. Do not wait till she lies in that thing called a casket before you wail and gnash your teeth wishing ….

For you my dear lady whom I never met, as you prepare to go home, may all the dearly departed mothers welcome you with open arms for you have done very well.

To all mothers and women, I say ” You are PHENOMENAL!”

#SIGHlentNoises ~knm

SILENCE

I have been silent.
Having taken a seat
Up high on the fence
Juggling with feet and hand my pence
In all my purview
As I do my review
One thing stands out
Humans no longer are
Vulnerable

©kwasintemmensah

WEEP NOT

I put it out that I had stopped writing. Some congratulated whilst others admonished. Some asked that I carefully rethink my decision.

Occasionally I will drop my thoughts as having reflected. I will be at great variance with folk but then I understand, for society and our norms and practices have set us yardsticks.

We need to break out of the mold and fly free as a butterfly, till we fly into our sunset.

With that being said, I thought and thought. I reflected. In flashbacks awake and even in a half asleep mode, I looked on the lives of relations and friends that have passed on and I asked myself “why do I weep?”

Just as we are cautioned not to judge, so can we never speak ill of the departed. It is only right that we see the good and celebrate lives. For one way or the other they have lived their lives and had an impact (surely some positive) on the lives of the living.

…and so I pray, when it is my time, shed not bucketfuls of tears, neither clothe yourselves in dark colors (I am already a black man) rather, clad yourselves in white and because I believe in GOD, sing and dance to glorify HIM, for if for nothing at all HE gave me the chance to be that SILENTLY NOISY one.

Think about this! Reflect.

#SILENTNOISES

For the ancestors; for their sacrifice.

Singing a Joy unto our Blackness

Black History Month

After all the hustle
You choose to recognize me in a month
After building you up
With my blood as my water
My nudity laid bare for the world to stare
You choose to applaud me in a month
After suckling on your children
And rivers of blood running all over me
Raping my mother for her children to stare
You choose to acknowledge me in a month
The impudence and arrogance
Forget not the hand that fed you
Bible held high in your left
Blunt knife held low in your right
So when I looked to Him
You stabbed me in deep in my belly
You only wounded me for a second
Yet do I still ask
You talk about me in a month?
What you never took and can never have
My soul; my Identity; my story
All the seas and sands
All the synthetic and organic
Will never wash away your iniquities
I will be celebrated all year round
All year round my story will be told
All year round!

©kwasintemmensah 2019

Let those that have ears, see
Let those that have eyes, hear
Let those that have mouths, do what is right.
Let those that have a conscience be guided to guide.
Let not folly make you jolly
Tomorrow is unknown
Yet we plan as though we own.
Short and sweet
Lengthy and bitter.
The end is still the end but it could have been a different ending.
Then, ‘had I known’ swings,
Lip to lip with careless flings
Regrets cascading down the face and spinal column,
With careless abandon as a waterfall.
Sshhhhhhhh.
The whispers of the conscience,
Create a hallow on the brain.
Unfinished.
Finished.
Incomplete?
©kwasintemmensah 110517

Looking into the unknown.
Journeys unknown
New trails to blaze
One with nature
Good health is the 🔑

Can we learn from Tyler P.?

It was somewhere in 2004, when I first heard of Madea. It was a group of minorities discussing one of his plays. Each out of a group of about fifteen guys had something good and positive to say. One had not watched a particular play and another offered to bring him a DVD. The conversation now shifted to how come a play that had just been acted on stage had a DVD. That was very much unlike Tyler Perry , some said. All this while I just listened as I was confused. You see all I had known were my local actors and a few Western actors and actresses whom I held in extremely high esteem.
Now, sharp words of anger rained on this guy for having a DVD that would undermine Tyler Perry’s business. What he had is what is called “bootleg” or fake version.

I am surprised at some of  our own. Some of our very own will pull you down. They will not support or patronize you. They will not even offer sincere criticisms. They will rather seek to benefit from what you have or are doing irrespective of if it will collapse your venture. The sad part is they are in your inner circle and know what you have to offer but be it hatred, selfishness or angst at not being able to do what you are offering , these same who smile in your face like laughing jackals, will bring you down swiftly no nobody’s business. It is sad.

Today, Tyler Perry stands tall among the African American community because of the support of his people. In his interview he stated that his plays and shows and all were geared towards a people who could identify with the surroundings and characters.

Often when we (Ghanaians) and or Africans try to start a business, it is our very own who bring us down. In as much as we might not get it right the first time, it is only with support that we can get it right the second and subsequent times. It is rather sad to see us rain derogatory terms and words on any individual who is in a profitable start up and attribute the success to thievery.

Again, Tyler did not cook his books or steal from his own company. Neither did I ever read about him living large before he could afford it. If he had done so, I bet you he would not have succeeded. So therefore as I admonish the goose, so allow me to do same to the gander.

Hand in hand, honesty and integrity, discipline and principles, let us strive to uphold one another and together change the color of the grass where we stand to make others on the other side see it to be greener.

I am #SIGHlentNoises~knm

I read the message on Facebook. It was short and urgent. It requested me to get in touch ASAP. This was in 2019

In  the last days of January, 2020, while at church, I read the newsflash. I disregarded same. Though not close to me by any chance, it would hit very hard. He was an exemplary father and husband.

No matter how busy we are, there is the need to make time for those we call family and friends. When one is loved or you are loved, time is of no sequence because one would find the urgency and convenience to be in touch. Life is fleeting.

I hardly frequent Facebook these days so when I read the message, I was a day late. I immediately called that night. It was after 11:30 p. m. I went to bed knowing I had called. I was sure the call would be returned.

I drove home after church with tears in my eyes. Why on a Sunday? Why him? Why with his daughter? What would happen to his seven month old daughter? It could have been me. it could have been …

Every human is responsible for their actions and so to blame it on extenuating factors is only a facade. Most people attribute their actions as a reaction to some happening in their lives. There are times we choose to neglect people on purpose. There are times people hurt us in such a way that we ask ourselves why they chose to hurt us in particular?  There are times all it takes is to say SORRY. There are no regrets for then what would you have to say? Had I known … Time is of essence. If only….

I had to go into class the following morning. I was apprehensive and could not fathom why. I kept thinking about the call though. Then my call was returned. My cuz Adei spoke to me with a shaking voice.

I can only imagine the shock as felt by his wife at that moment.  The disbelief. Losing two people you love at a go. This life is not ours. “I will be right back” turned into ” gone into eternity”.  Life is fleeting and is never assured us.

My mother comes from a large family. She had siblings maternally and siblings paternally. It was only when we had grown up and with the demise of both mom and dad that we began to meet and hear about mom’s paternal siblings. They were a lively bunch those aunties that we met. Then of course we met our cousins.

No human is an island and so when you meet family that are welcoming; when you have friends that have your back and wish you well and not your downfall, you want to either return that love fully or to your possible best.

He left a legacy. Everyone is in tears. He inspired. He motivated. He gave back. At 41, he was fatherly. He lives for his imprint is engraved in our hearts.

Cousin Adei did not mince words. Mom, my aunt was gone. She had packed bag and departed suddenly. She had joined her paternal sisters in the bosom of the Lord. She sent me the flyer for the funeral service  in Maryland. I sat through class in silent pain and gut wrenching anguish. I was lost. I cried a sea within me yet smiled when others laughed with me. The blame was mine.

I never met my aunt. She was my mother’s junior sister. I only spoke on the phone with her a couple of times. All my questions will remain unanswered. How on earth do I attend the funeral service of an aunt I never did meet in person? I never really made time. I blame myself. The guilt is mine.

I share this story with you that you make time for true family and true friends. I share this story as a way of making amends so you do not make the same mistakes I committed. I share this story as an apology to my Aunt Veronica and my cousin(s).

I rewrote this piece to incorporate the legend KB and his daughter. May the souls of the departed rest well. Till we meet again, we shall strive to make amends here on earth.

Aunty sleep well. 💋

This is mind boggling. Charley someone define change for me. Or does change mean doing the same thing but in a different format?
Why can’t we face reality and condemn things when they are wrong?
Let me start with the (konumtea) formed to investigate the loss of the confiscated excavators? Do we need a committee to sit and draw allowances while….
Let me ask, what is the use of our CID, BNI, MP, SFO, office of the SP? Not to mention the NS. Why? Are we as a country so rich that we can throw money away anyhow?

Then what is other committee inaugurated recently to investigate and mitigate the free fall of the cedi? What has another committee got to do with this? There are enough brains in the government to deal with strengthening the cedi against the dollar. Ghanaians are some of the smartest and brainiest (is ther such a word) on earth.

1D1F. Please what are the options available to Neoplan? What are the chances of it being fully government owned and managed? Why can we not use the Neoplan services to create long term employment by provision of buses and possible manufacture of spares? Speaking of the Neoplan saga, why cant the educational blueprint be rewritten to focus on a more manufacturing based economy?

It is said that it is not good to compare. I agree when it is in reference to individuals but when it has to do with countries, please I beg to differ. I will say it with a big SIGH.
Let me compare Ghana to Rwanda. What can’t Ghana do right?

Our politicians travel a lot. Everyone loves per diem. I am just asking that when they travel, they should see. They should open their eyes and ears wide. They should go back home with innovative ideas. They should live patriotism and not just mouth it.
Beautiful schools can be built for students in Ghana instead of this double triple track system. Are our children trains to be running on tracks? I was at this school the other day and the tracks and gymnasium were simply fabulous. As for the classrooms simply conducive for learning. This was an elementary school. I wept for Ghana where we commissioned a world class dam fifty-five years ago and in the year 2020 we are commissioning boreholes. Really?

What can be done about these churches whose leaders use foul language and make sex the topic of preaching? What can be done about those churches who prey on the infantile minds of their followers?

Can we as a nation, as a people learn to be responsible for our actions?

For now, until I see otherwise, the value of CHANGE is the same. The players are different though.

Let me board my € 5… ion Airbus. Let me ride in corruption and style. This is the plane that would be used to retrieve the Guinea fowls that flew away and also used as a reconnaissance aircraft to track some 400 missing tricycles.

The value is the same!

#SIGHlentNoises~knm

Would we as a people go to heaven if the call came in today?
Religion is a way of life. Religion is an opioid that is addictive. Now you know when you are addicted to a substance or something you see nothing wrong with that. You will do all to defend its use. So has religion become for some and it is sad to think that the very educated or enlightened who should lead the charge with questions rather defend the most useless of thoughts and actions.

It is sad that some of the so called men of God have taken this myopic fanaticism to heart and in turn hypnotized their church members. The state of hypnotism is so bad that instead of church members glorifying God they tend to worship these leaders. These leaders attribute to themselves unimaginable powers with which they protect church members. No wonder we have names and pictures flying all over the place without reverence to the Creator whom we worship. No wonder these leaders engage in business ventures that invariably fail and church members are left to suffer.

Some of these shepherds have failed for dividing their flock. The spread of wanton gossip and malicious expending of church funds coupled with favoritism is a canker eating away the piety of some of these shepherds. The love of material things has clouded their very ability to be in tune with the creator. When one attempts to point this out discreetly, one is threatened with generational curses, name calling and even possible redeployment from this world.

If the educated, enlightened and even the high and mighty elite will not call a spade a spade and would rather be in bed with these charlatans, thinking that is their way to heavenly eternity, then it falls on us pragmatic thinkers to rise up against this cancerous trend that is steadily eating away at our very core of a people as Ghanaians irrespective of our locus.

It is our God given right to think and ask ‘how, why, and really?’ Bob Marley urges us on with the words “Get up, stand up, don’t give up the fight’

~knm