My bank account is anemic, and so what?

Credit: etsystudio.com

I have always struggled when it comes to savings. I am a financial illiterate. I. Need. Help. I am at a point where I live from hand-to-jaw – not even close to hand-to-mouth.  :-smile

Anyway, whenever I find myself in dire need of money to survive, God comes through – through fellow human beings. Good people exist in this wicked world. Believe that.

This morning I woke up with no with electricity. The power units had run out. The 10% reserved on the card is what is powering my laptop as I type this. Well, this afternoon I joined a number of my Club members to visit an ailing member. After the visit I decided to go eat fufu and come home to rest. After all I won’t eat in the evening. Just when I got to the restaurant, the member who owns the place ensured I ate to my fill, without paying. She has no idea of my situation.

Good people.

After thanking her, I boarded a taxi and handed GHS5 to the driver. There was a gentleman by me who also handed GH5 to the driver. The driver then explained he had no change for both of us. We we told him to get some when he gets to town and we alight. This other gentleman implored the driver to take GHS2 for both of us instead of the GHS3.2 for two passengers. The driver saisd no, so I brought out GHp50 and handed it over to the driver to add to my GHS5 so he gives me the GHS3 he had in his hand. I will alight first in any case. He refused. I got to my destination and the gentleman took my GHp50 and asked me to keep my GHS5. He will pay for me.

Good people.

You see, I am not saying it is alright to have an anaemic account. Get help. Get financial literacy training. I. Need. Help. I need to plan my finances. There are good people, but you can also be one. Don’t always be at the receiving end. Be a giver too. Be good people.

What is design thinking?

My sketchnote of the keynote address at #DTGC2017

Design thinking to me is a methodical way of critically understanding a problem, and crafting creative solutions to them. It relies more on expressing empathy with your clients, understanding the root of their need/problem, and prescribing innovative and sustainable solutions to them.

At yesterday's Design Thinking Conference in Accra, organised by the Ashesi Design Lab and the Ghana Design Network, participants were introduced to the concept of design thinking and the steps involved in harnessing its simple but effective ideals in solving problems. 

After the introduction, participants were then put into four groups: service design, product design, policy design, and program design. In teams of 5 - 8 people, participants were to design a solution to solve the plastic waste problem Accra faces.

Chart used by my team for our pitch.

My team, A-Z Recyclers (from the service design group), proposed a behavioural change as the solution to the problem. This change would be ensured by distributing dustbins to homes, offices, and at vantage points across the city to be used solely for the collection of plastics. 

These would then be collected by employed individuals/volunteers. Consumers are given incentives (bags/cartons of water, recycled plastic products).

We collect the plastics, recycle them into pellets, and sell them to makers of plastic products such as @trashybags.

My friend Julius (@juliussap) recorded this video of the pitch. 

Voter experience: #GhanaDecides 2016

Showing off my political manicure

Today's elections went on smoothly as expected.
I got to my polling station at 8:47am and voted at 10:12am.

I had misplaced voter ID card and therefore went to the polling station with my passport.
I initially didn't want to vote, but decided to test the system and see if I could really vote without my voter ID, especially as I didn't partake in the verification exercise.

My polling station in the Brong Ahafo region -- Mmredane -- was really organised.
This year, there were two queues. One for those whose names fell within the A-G alphabets, and the other H-Z.
This allowed for the smooth election process that took place.

An observation though is that voters sometimes got confused as to the correct queue they had to join. Most thought the queues used first names, others thought their surnames had to be used.
We however discovered that the EC officers were using the very first name on the voter ID card and not first names or surnames.

I was disappointed because we registered by filling a form that explicitly asked for surnames and first, and middle names. I therefore expected the cards to be printed with the same template. Anyways...

I left the polling station immediately after voting as I wasn't playing any social media reporting role as I did for GhanaDecides in the 2012 elections.

I have been glued to my TV set since.