Bentsifi’s Tattle. A guy about town
I am not in a good place today. In fact, I am annoyed. This is where we have come to. I just received an alert on one of my social media platforms on terrorism. My word! I never imagined I would live to see the day when we would be looking over our shoulders like this in Ghana.
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We all have to be most vigilant, going forward. This has been necessitated by the recent attack in Grand Bassam in Cote d’Ivoire! Gunmen just went to a beach resort where people were relaxing, innocent unarmed people, I must add, and just sprayed them, killing 16 of them!
West African sub-region
It is just so senseless, when you think of this. In the West African sub-region, we first heard of such killings in a hotel in Mali, then Burkina Faso, near Cote d’Ivoire. We can’t help but ask, “Where next?” and become more vigilant in our personal and community security in the wake of these atrocities. I am dizzy!
Let me share what the message said with you: “Terrorists aim at soft targets where people congregate in large numbers. Their aim is to cause colossal damage. Soft targets are unguarded places like shopping malls, places of worship, sports arenas and places of entertainment!
“Folks, be vigilant at such places and always look over your shoulders. The person next to you in such places could be a terrorist. Don’t think the terrorist will come dressed like a bearded, turbaned ISIS chap. It’s a lie! Your neighbour may be the architect. Watch word is ‘Vigilance’!”
I am quite outraged that I cannot live as freely as I used to. That, now, I have to be so “vigilant” going about my normal daily life! And particularly, as there seem to be no solutions to ending this kind of activity! Now, more than ever, we have the need for prayer to get through the day!
Prayers
Speaking of prayers! This week did not start off well for me at all! My dear OAA 87 nation mate Amy, a Miss Afful, now a distinguished Dr Awuku, lost her dear husband, who only a few weeks ago, we met at Amy’s birthday party!
When we – my year group mates at the party – saw the two of them together, we understood why Amy has been able to be her lively fun self! Kweku was a good mate for our extroverted Amy, and as they goofed around during the cake cutting, to much admiration and cheer, we were happy that we had an ‘in-law’ we could easily admit into our fold as an honorary member – for we ourselves are quite a crazy bunch!
Our honorary ‘in-law’, who works in Obuasi, apparently, as par his normal routine, called on Monday morning and spoke with his wife, making no suggestions as to being ill. Between that call around 6.30am, and 7.30, he suffered a cardiac attack and died!
We were due to celebrate Kweku’s 50th birthday in two weeks. The recent spate of deaths has, however, claimed our friend as part of its statistic and has left us all rather bereft! Now, like the great family we are, we have pulled together and are comforting Amy with actual visits and prayers on our Whatsapp page! One of the positives of social media!
WangoWango
Another positive of social media is how it helps to propagate good news also. Like the news that this Easter Saturday, the WangoWango wagon which has been promoting domestic tourism since last year, will be heading for the Kwahu Mountains for great adventure, with a sightseeing excursion to Atibie for the annual Paragliding Festival by the Ghana Tourism Authority!
Now, imagine gliding through the skies assisted by a qualified paragliding pilot! Or join the group as they hike up the Enkofieho Warrior Caves and feel a great sense of achievement when you are able to trek through the rather narrow caves.
It is quite an experience, going through those caves and I wouldn’t mind having to do it all over again! And the group will end up at the Beige Village Spa and Golf Resort in New Aberim for frolics! This is part of the ‘See Ghana’ crusade to stimulate domestic tourism.
Fatoumata Diawara
So, I went to the opening show for the Francophonie festival at Alliance Francaise last Saturday and the main concert featured Fatoumata Diawara of Mali! What a bundle of energy the woman has! What coordination! She sang, span and gingered everyone at the premises to do a jig.
She infected every person, even those outside of the amphitheater and in the adjoining restaurants. It was indeed a great celebration of womanhood as the preceding acts, which also included our own Sherifa Gunu and Suga, all jammed the venue very well. I couldn’t help shaking myself quite a bit.
Ghana Month
This weekend, climaxing their Ghana Month celebration, the Multimedia group comprising Joy FM and others, are ready to face Afadzato and will be climbing Ghana’s highest summit tomorrow, Saturday, March 19 at an event aimed at challenging Accra’s residents to tour the country more. Sign up to go on the Afadzato Climb. See you!