That “It”

Sure, it’s in you! You can do it! You are greater than who you now are!
Over the years, I guide my life with a set of principles.This is one of them and as I watch the Olympics, I cannot help but see that principle in every instance. That is why I love watching the games and I bet that is why the majority of you do too.
Sure, patriotism, nationalism, girls in bikinis playing volleyball, girls with six-packs so tight you wonder if they eat, the swag of Bolt, the indomitability of the Phelps…sure all that but at it’s core, what draws us to the games is the chance to marvel at the fact that these athletes found “it”. They surely found it and it made them believe they could win, break that record, jump as high…that “it” that said, “You are greater than who you think you are so go for it!”
So we watch them and realizing they are just as human, somehow gloat in the feeling that just maybe, we can find that “it” too. We return each night to take a toke from that joint of “it” and revel in the high of knowing, it might be in us too after all, and it is. As sure as the fact that the sun will rise tomorrow, so is that “it” in us and if we look, we can find it.
Thus in spite of all her troubles, Brazil found it in herself to stage the Olympics Games for the world, Phelps did it again, Ledecky left everyone behind, Bolt accelerated and Biles soared.
So in spite of whatever, you can find it in you to quit smoking, get that degree, stop drinking, spend more time with the family, listen more, be empathic, appreciate, work out, kiss your wife more or just smile.
You can! It’s in there! Find it!

Olympiosis

I am suffering from severe case of Olympiosis.
Symptoms are quite prevalent in the mornings but are felt all day long – tiredness, yawning, red eyes, arthralgias, headache, deafness to alarm clocks and gross irritability. It can be confused with a hangover. The difference is found by measuring the blood alcohol level in most patients.
Cause is thought to be inability to extract the human mass away from a television set during the Olympic games. It was first described in the 1970s.
Most experts attribute the pathology to pure wonder at athletic prowess. Game and his team in a seminal paper postulate that the sheer determination exhibited by the athletes induces heightened admiration leading to insomnia. Track et al measured the level of light emitted from the medals the athletes receive and noticed a high correlation between the amount of gold won and the severity of Olympiosis and laryngitis.
Cases of Olympiosis spike during the Swim, Track and Beach Volleyball events. Men seem to be particularly afflicted during the Beach Volley Ball events. This year, the CDC is reporting that doctors are seeing a spike around the Ladies Gymnastics events too.
Four years ago, researchers in London isolated two viruses called the Phelps and the Bolt that might play roles in the severity of Olympiosis. This year, scientists in Rio de Janeiro have isolated two more viruses – the Ledecky and the Biles. A group outside Rio reported on a variant called the Manuel. A team at the NIH is working on vaccines.
Olympiosis might be contagious, a fact that the experts cannot seem to agree on.
Treatment is avoiding television sets. A good televisionicide will do the trick. Also, one should avoid contact with the internet in all it’s forms. Symptoms usual subside after about 3 -5 days of avoidance.
Failure to treat leads to a chronic state that is incurable. The long term prognosis is dire. It seems to lead to sundaynightfootballiosis, modaynightfootballiosis or even EPLiosis. Most chronic patients end up in rehabilitation centers, where they spend the rest of their lives watching TV and drinking beer or knitting.
A select group of patients seem not to progress to the chronic stage and I think I belong to that group so for now, Olympiosis, bring it on!

The Mad Doctor

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
– Matthew 25:35

I dedicate today’s post to an amazing man and physician that I only recently heard about and for that, shame on me!
Dr David Fuseini Abdulai.

Dr Abdulai, born in the Northern Region of Ghana, was one of 11 children. He is the only one still alive. His siblings and parents died from poverty-related diseases. His dad contracted leprosy (Hanson’s Disease) later in life and his mum had to beg for food for the family.. After he lost his family, he lived on the streets where he often went without food. That experience proved critical in what he was going to devote his life to.
Through the help of the Catholic Church, he managed to go to school and then to Ghana Medical School. After graduation, he practiced at Korle-Bu and 37 Military hospitals till 1989 when he decided to move back to the Northern Region to give back.
And has he given back!
He founded the Shekinah Clinic for the indigent and the destitute. He founded the clinic to serve the Very Important People (VIPs, like he calls them) in his life – lepers, the mentally challenged, the crippled, in short any one who society had cast out. In parts of Ghana, lepers, the mentally challenged and the crippled are often homeless. From his childhood experience, he remembered how hungry these people were so he fed them. He still feeds them, houses them, clothes them and treats them when they fall ill.
They come to him in droves, willingly and he goes out to find them too.
All the care is for free, financed by donations and volunteers. His mantra is “God Will Provide”. He hasn’t ever drawn a salary.
He also operates a “meals-on-wheels” service that feeds the destitute and homeless in a 65-km (40 mile) radius. His target here also are the mentally challenged, who live on the streets and are often hungry plus poor families who do not have enough to eat. He has been doing this since about 1992 and has never missed a day.
Every Christmas, he has a party for every destitute person in Gurungu, where his clinic is, and it’s environs.
He has since opened a second clinic.
Besides his VIP patients, he also takes care of the poor who need medical care – for free.
He is assisted by 27 volunteers and serves about 120 people daily.
What a man!
For his efforts, he was affectionately called “The Mad Doctor”.
Life sometimes calls upon us to serve our fellow men. Few recognize this challenge and even fewer are able rise up to this challenge. To the few who can, it is forever an honor and a blessing. To us who can only look on, it is a constant source of amazement and awe and it forces something out of us. It forces our better selfs to the surface, forcing us to rise and be better people.
Most of us became doctors hoping to one day heal the world. Along the way, life gets in the way and we forget our ideals. Dr Abdulai never forgot his ideals. He is out there healing the world.
Dr Abdulai, thank you!

The wonderful story of Dr Abdulai has however taken a sad turn. In May, he was diagnosed with advanced thyroid cancer and is now reportedly fighting for his life. It sounds like he hasn’t had any form of treatment since his diagnosis and is having complications. He was recently flown down to Accra for radiation therapy. He may need further medical care. Also, his work needs to continue. To these ends, a GoFundMe campaign has been started for the dear doctor and his clinics. If you care to donate, please go to:
https://www.gofundme.com/2xbgkzac
His story came to my attention through FB posts of friends and people I follow.
To Pakwo Shum, Kobby Blay, Nana Awere Damoah, Nana Ama Agyeman Asante, Ama Opoku-Agyemang and Christa Sanders, ayekoo!
To President Mahama and Dr Victor Bampoe for facilitating his transfer, thanks!

Words Matter

Words…they matter!
Sure, maybe you did not intend to carry out the threat but how was the threatened supposed to know? Maybe you only intended to disrupt the lives of those you threatened through the fear your words induced. Maybe not. Maybe you were just mouthing off!
However, to the threatened, that was intimidation and in the context of what happened in 1982, that was living in terror!
We all value Freedom of Speech but for speech to stay free, words should matter!
#WordsMatter
#TheConscientiaCampaign

The Rant

“Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes”.
– an Old saying of controversial origin.

Somewhere in Middle America….

What the heck is going on here?
I can hardly recognize this place anymore! Everywhere I go, I hear and see strange people! Where did they come from? Walk down Main Street. Half the stores have names I cannot even pronounce.
Thirty years ago, we were 85% of the population. Now we are only 60%! Let that sink in – 60%. At this rate, we will be an endangered species in 50 years!
They are coming from everywhere, taking our jobs here and shipping the rest out. Look at our towns – deserted landscapes of boarded-up homes and factories!
Together with those bleeding hearts, they even made one of them President and he wasn’t even born here. Consider that! Even worse, I hear he worships differently! And he is President!
He wants to take our money and our guns. He wants to weaken us so he can rule forever.
Now they march around openly claiming they matter more than we do. The nerve! The absolute nerve!
Even scarier are those who want to kill us off, change how we worship and replace our laws. I say, stop them all from coming in. We need some law and order now!
We built this country with our sweat and blood. We fought for it. Our ideas made it what it is. It is ours. We want it back! We need to take it back! We used to be the greatest. Now, we are but a shadow of who we are. I say, we need that greatness back now!
I sit and listen to all theses clowns wanting to be president and wonder if any of them sees things the ways I do and has the guts to say what needs to be said!
I wonder, I really do…