Which   would you go for boafowaa orboadiwaa?

The early months of every relationship can feel exciting and effortless. A successful relationship involves efforts and compromise by both partners.

Healthy and long lasting relationships thrive on the building of a good foundation of respect, appreciation, mutual understanding and support.

However, relationships these days have become a business entity where people engage in to make gain personal needs. This is very particular about girls.

In this 21^st century there are two types of ladies in relationships basically in the Ghanaian society. This I term“ boadiwaa” and “boafowaa”. No need to explain these because I am sure we all understand them not as names but in the context it’s been used.Bofowaa girls supports you whiles boadiwaa girls helps you chop the Muller.

Boafowaa girls are ladies, not just ladies but real ones every man should look out for in any relationship being it intimate or casual. Emotional support a spice in a good relationship is what a boafowaa lady offers his man. That is, they accept their man′s differences and don’t insist their needs are met always. Something a boadiwaa girl will never do because she is only interested in what she gets from you regardless your situation.

Whiles a boafowaa girl listens to his man by not interrupting when he is speaking, focusing on what he is saying and not her responses, a boadiwaa girl will not allow his man say a word rather would want to be listened to even if she is talking trash.

Distinguishing between wants and needs is another quality of a boafowaa. She wants bags, shoes, nice hair and all the girly stuff but cool if you don’t always give her those because she can live without them but needs you to love and respects her as she is because she can’t live without you. Sister Boadiwaa also knows wants and needs but in her case she wants Brazilian hair like those of Kim kardashian, shoes from atmosphere and Victoria secrets under wears and can do without you once she has all the wants.

If she pick up fights with you and accepts her responsibilities for her mistakes which i term “fair fighting” then go for her because she is a boafowaa lady not boadiwaa who will always blame you for all the ups and downs in the relationship

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Changes happen in various aspects of life with relationships being no exception. When the table turns and things are no more the same as it were during the initial stages of the relationship a boafowaa girl will  respect the change and stick with you, come out with ideas to make things good but a boadiwaa girl will leave you for another person once things get ugly.

 Whiles a boadiwaa girl will be like “Baby can we order for koko king for breakfast, pizza from Eddy’s pizza for lunch and shrimp rice from Rhapsodies for dinner” Boafowaa goes like baby today am going to cook something delicious for breakfast lunch and dinner”. Boafowaa will at all times want to be your woman and boadiwaa will want to be your chic.

My guys charley you must look sharp and do the choosing well if you haven’t but if you already have which one is she if its boafowaa keep her and treat her like the queen she  is but if its sister boadiwaa then let her go wai.

                         
                                 GOOD ATTITUDE, BETTER LIFE.

Life has numerous elements to both make and unmake it. Having all that life has to offer without a good attitude is worthless.

An attitude is an expression of favour or disfavour toward a person, a place, a thing or an event. Attitudes can also be explicit and implicit. Explicit attitudes are those that we are consciously aware of and that influence our beliefs and behaviour. Implicit attitudes are unconscious but have an effect on our beliefs and behaviour.

This expression of favour or vice versa in the definition don’t just happen in a day or two, rather they are formed gradually or directly  based on a person’s past or present experiences. These experiences may be personal experiences, through observation and based on social roles and social norms.

Personal experiences are moments in one’s life and awareness of both internal and external events i.e. events that we partake in or know which affects both our inner and outer being hence forms a particular attitude in an individual.

Observation, an active look out for events and occurrences in ones environment forms an attitude in a person. A child who witnesses his parents fighting will grow to posses such an attitude through observation.

Attitudes formation cannot be devoid of social roles and social norms. Social roles are the parts we play as individuals in a social group. Each social role a person adopts one way or the other forms a particular attitude in the person to fit the role he or she has adopted. If a person decides to be a leader of a group he adopts leadership attitudes to fit the role he has chosen.

Social norms on the other hand are rules that govern a person’s behaviour in a group or society. These norms include saying“please’’and “thank” you at the appropriate time, helping the elderly when needed just to mention a few.

Not only are attitudes formed but are also learnt. According to research, there are three ways attitudes are learnt and these are classical conditioning where adverts influence ones attitude, operant conditioning where an individual’s attitude may learn an attitude based on positive or negative feedback and observing the people round them.

 John Maxwell said something about attitude which i find very interesting and vital. He said “attitude is the“ advance man” of our true selves. Its roots are in ward but its fruits are outward. It is our best friend or our worst enemy. It is more honest and more consistence than are words. It is the thing which draws people to us or repels them. It is never content until it is expressed. It is the librarian of our past and speaker of our present. It is the prophet of our future”. Based on this i strongly belief a good attitude is all one needs aside God to be a better person in life. Once you have this all the other elements come with it automatically.

Having a good attitude have various impacts on one’s life. A good attitude colour everything you do, say and think. It can also make you accomplish your goals and overcome your setbacks.

A good attitude also affects those around so much that it helps build a good and cordial relationship between you and those around you. It also enables you to relate well with people at the various social classes in the society.

Charles Swindwill said “life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you respond to it”. For a better life respond to events with good attitudes. A bad attitude only destroys your life and that of those around you. Remember people will remember you mostly for how you made them feel.

            The Recreational Dance Kpanlogo

This is a dance among the Ga people of Ghana. This is youthful dance that was created  by Otoo Lincoln in the Sakumo Tsonshi area of Accra in the early 1960s.

Klanlogo is a fisherfolk dance, with most of its gestures and movements reflecting message  depicting the fishing trade.However the dance is based on the story of  triplets and their rich father who was over protective of them.

The dance is often performed low to the ground with bent knees and bent back and frequently features sexually suggestive motions.Gome,oge and kolomashie are Ga drums that accompany kpanlogo.in addition kpanlogo music uses three types of  instruments;nono(metal bell),fao(goud rattle) and kpanlogo drums.

Kpanlogo like most traditionl dances is danced in pairs thus a male and a female.the males are dressed in a funny coloqual  way and the women in cloth with big buttock that is enhanced with pieces of cloth.currently kpanlogo is danced at various places for entertainment.

                                           KLAMA THE PUBERTY DANCE

KLAMA DURING DIPO

Klama is the dance among the kobo’s of the eastern region of Ghana. It is a puberty dance learnt by the‟ dipo yo” (dipo woman) during the grooming session of the puberty rite. Dipo is a puberty rite that transits young women into womanhood. These  rites performed are believed to make young ladies very good wives once they come into contact with a man afterwards.

The movement made in this dance is aimed at bringing out the beauty of these young women. It also highlights the movement of the hands and feet to rhythm. The young women are dressed in beautiful ‟ agu” a special cloth or any other beautiful cloth coupled with beads.

KLAMA DURING NMAYEM.

 The young women normally do this dance when they are in their menstrual period and any girl who menstruates during this period will be given to the priest for marriage.

More so, at the end of the dance men who are potential for marriage and observed these young women as they danced will approach the young woman and the family for the necessary marriage rites.

However, today klama  is danced during the celebration of the Nmayem festival to thank the gods for a good harvest in millet. The festival is celebrated  yearly in the month of September. But here, the dancers are dressed in nice cloth including kente with nice beads around the neck, waist, arms and legs making the dance more entertaining and beautiful unlike during the dipo.

                           THE BEAUTIFUL ADOWA DANCE

SOURCE:GHANA WEB.COM

 Dance is a type of art that generally involves movements of the body, often rhythmic and to music. Dance may also be regarded as a form of non-verbal communication between a people.

Dances are performed in many cultures as a form of emotional expression and social interaction.it forms an integral part of life. We dance during naming ceremonies, marriages, festivals and, religious ceremonies etc. Dance also teaches us customs and traditions.

 The Adowa dance is  dance that is widespread among the Akan in Ghana.it originated from the movements  made by the antelope which was  captured for sacrifice to save the queen mother of the Ashanti kingdom Abrewa Tutuwa years back. These movements made by the antelope amazed the Asafo Company as they watched, hence the name Adowa to the dance.

The dance was then started by the asafo company and later picked up by the elderly women making the dance aligned to women. Women perform this dance in several Akan communities. However, the few men among the adowa ensemble handle the equipments.In present day, the adowa dance can be located in the Ashanti, Brong - Ahafo,kwahu,Akim and Abuakwa.

S0URCE:GHANA WEB.COM

The dance makes use of signs and movements. The dancers use a symbolic language and movements of the hands to tell different stories. The ‟atumpan”, ‟apetemna” drums with the ‟dawuro” are instruments that put the cherry on the Adowa dance. The atumpan drums are played with two hooked sticks. These drums are sometimes warped in red cloth. The ‟apetemma” drum figure in the form of triplets and it’s struck by the hands. These instruments make sounds that give nice rhythms to the dancers as they make the moves. The bell also plays a significant role in the music danced to in the Adowa dance.

The lyrics of the song express values including social and moral values such as sympathy for the deased, prominent people who have passed away and the Akan faith. Adowa is largely performed during funerals, festival durbar of chiefs etc. The dance is led by an elderly female known as the Adowa Hema (Adowa queen).

 

THE FOUR TEMPRAMENTS WHICH, DEFINES GHANIANS?

The four temperaments describe the patterns of personality and are based on the description of an individual’s behavior. It tells us the ‟why ”of our motives and sources of our psychological stress.

Knowing our temperaments tells us our core needs and values as well as the talents we are more likely to be drawn to develop. The four temperaments are sanguine, choleric, melancholic and phlegmatic.

The sanguine temperaments are sociable and charismatic. They enjoy social gatherings, making new friends and tend to be boisterous. They are quite creative, talkative, compassionate, sensitive and thoughtful .Often they pursue a new hobby and lose interest as soon as it ceases to be fun. Sanguines tend to be forgetful, sarcastic, have shameless nature and very confident.

Cholerics on the other hand have temperaments qualities like being ambitious and leader like. They have a lot of aggression, passion and energy which they try to instill in others. They love to be dominant over others. Most great charismatic military leaders are cholerics.However; cholerics tend to be highly disorganized and essentially very much prone to mood swings.

The qualities of a melancholic temperaments include being introvert and thoughtful. Melancholics are often perceived very considerate, pondering, getting rather worried when they are late for events. They can be highly creative in poetry and art and are preoccupied with the tragedy and cruelties in the world.Moreso, melancholics are self reliant and independent; one negative part of melancholics is selfishness.

People with the phlegmatic temperaments are fundamentally relaxed and quite warmly attentive to being lazily sluggish. They tend to content with themselves and kind. They are accepting and affectionate. Most phlegmatics are shy and receptive and prefer stability to uncertainty and change. They are relaxed, calm, rational, curious and observant. This makes them administrators.

Based on this description of the four temperaments, we can draw a conclusion of the patterns that defines the 24million Ghanaians .we might have shades of all the four but we are more of the phlegmatic temperaments. We are lazy and accept things as they are rather than embracing change.

It is amazing how we make noise about social, political, and economic a issue suggesting various solution yet we make no efforts to inculcate these in our way of life. Am not a prophet of doom or criticizing anybody but I can say for a fact that if we continue with these attitudes we will be left with nothing as a nation in future. Ghanaians are fond of stability to uncertainty.

Ghanaians love singing the same chorus ‟nyame b3 y3”when we encounter problems. There is no doubt of God being the ultimate solution, but if we sit with our arms between our tights will our problems be solved?

In this era of‟dumsology”and ‟tweaa”economic crises, what have done as a people than to criticize those in office. True they are to be held accountable but what have you and I as individuals done to help ourselves and the nation as a whole.

Its time we embrace change, be creative and innovative. Its time we stop being lazily sluggish and be problem solving. Now is the time we become independent of external hands as a nation and on government as individuals.

 

 

What happened to our traditional games‟ pilolo” ‟ alikoto”,” ampe”?

If any of you didn’t play this game let that person stand to be counted.‟ Pilolo” ‟ampe”, ‟ alikoto” just to mention a few were games that every Ghanaian child in the late 21^st century played

Ampe to girls though some boys tried playing this game. This game required a lot of energy since one had to jump, clap the hands and throw the legs in to the air and ensure it moves in the same direction with the opponents. If it does you become the winner and the loser had to be hit at the buttocks with the knee.

More so, ‟alikoto” in my opinion was the game that put the cherry on our cakes as kids. All you needed to play this game was a device made from the top of the tiger head dry cell or any other cell. The pen top was pushed in the whole in the top of the dry cell with the elongated out and you are ready to play this game.

In the playing of this game, all you need is a heap of sand on which the ‟alikoto” would be spine. Whiles it spins, you must ensure it turns upside down with the mouth down and the elongated part up to become the winner. If it doesn’t and that of the opponent does then hmmm you should be ready to receive some serious‟ gaa-­ing” (a knock with the‟ alikoto” at the back of your palm).

The‟ gaa-ing” thus the punishment was what made the game interesting and fun. All these games made the Ghanaian child more sociable, active and healthier.

However, it saddens me how these games have become a thing of the past due to technology. In this era known as the 21^st century, the Ghanaian child plays PSP (play station portable), soccer, zuma, temple run and the likes. These games have made our traditional games less of importance to Ghanaians us a people.

Today unlike before, most kids are obese at tender ages and diagnosed of diseases due to lack of exercise and other related issues.in most homes today especially homes that are well to do, the kids are not allowed to play with their friends rather they sit indoors  behind these computer games.

Most kids today know nothing about our customs, tradition and heritage because story telling is no more about ‟ananse” but about snow white, Cinderella, ben10, bat man, spider man etc.

Why can’t we develop these games into more attractive forms to tell our story and also to gain income for developmental projects. It’s about time we stop copying blindly and accept what we have as Ghanaians.

This blog seeks to discuss the culture of Ghanaians in general and how far we have come as people in the use of culture to better our lives negatively or positively.

Culture is the way of life of a people.it includes values, beliefs, languages and traditions .culture is also reflect in people’s history, heritage and how the people express ideas and creativity.

A people’s culture measures the quality of life, the vitality and health of the society. Through culture we develop our sense of belonging, personal and cognitive growth and the ability to emphasize and relate to each other.

Some directs benefits of our culture includes health and wellness, self-esteem, skills development, social capital and economic return.