Author: gertrudeasumadu

Hello everyone.

I hope you all are doing well. Within the past one year and some months, the world has been chaotic and with this, I am referring to the Covid 19 pandemic. This has left a lot of people in a devastating state in terms of job losses. loss of loved ones, mental health struggles among others…EVERYONE has been affected in one way or the other, for some people more than others.

Today’s blogpost is just a little reminder that irrespective of the circumstances or how bad you have been affected, do not beat yourself up too much. This may sound rich coming from me but the truth is we have been built in a way such that irrespective of the problems we encounter in life we are meant to be strong and find a way round it. This is rather unrealistic especially when you are going through it…you will realise that ‘STRONG’ or ‘BEING STRONG’ is just a word..

Sometimes it helps to vent; but then again be careful who you vent to because human beings can be a bit funny; they attack you with your vulnerability when you least expect it (it is what it is). Thankfully, I have a few good friends that I can do this to and being a very private person, this can be sometimes difficult especially also keeping in mind that everyone has their own problems so you dont want to feel like you are dumping your problems on them when they also have theirs to sort out.

On another note, I usually take walks in different parks in my neighbourhood just to clear my head and also to have an exclusive opportunity to be away from all the noise and have a ‘me time‘. This really helps me think out aloud, meditate and also to talk to myself and to God. It is refreshing to say the least and having done this for about a month now I’d say it has become a part of my daily routine and I am going to be doing this for a while. You could try this and see if it works for you..I bet it would!

Like they say tough times don’t last but tough people do..so to whoever may be reading this, I do not know what you might be going through but I am positive that it will get better…but whilst waiting for that breakthrough, try and take care of yourself also (your mental health especially). Depression is REAL so seek help if the need be! Do whatever it takes to stay happy or OKAY because like they say whatever it is ‘Problem no dey finish inside this life’ meaning ‘there will always be problems to be faced in life’.

I do hope that this message speaks to someone one way or the other. Keep believing. Keep praying. Keep pushing. Your time will come. Your breakthrough is near…but before that find calm in the midst of all the chaos.

Have an amazing weekend ahead!

Love,

Gertrude.

Hello everyone!

It has indeed been a while! Hope everyone is doing well! A lot has happened within the past year and globally especially with the infamous Covid-19 pandemic.

Phew! I cannot believe we have been dealing with this for a year and more. It has been a tad bit of emotions. Personally, this whole thing started just when I was finishing up my Masters Degree in the Netherlands at Leiden University. It was a fulfilling one year experience and if I had to do it I will do it all over again! (without Covid)

This was a tough time for me really as I was just about to start my third Block and then start my thesis process. But of course, what had to be done, had to be done! With hard work, determination and of course support from friends, I was able to finish and hand it in by the first deadline! Of course, it IS A BIG DEAL completing a Masters Degree specifically in a pandemic! It was no easy feat especially when I had no choice but to be stuck in my apartment all the time without the luxury of having a change in environment (be it the library, or somewhere on campus). Worse off, I would not see my coursemates nor my friends in a while or get to work with them!

But the good side is, I could also get more time to myself to do a bit more reflection and have some time alone which could be daunting but personally I am used to it! After handing in my thesis, Ican now focus on other things like JOB HUNTING! Pheww!! We all know this isnt the prettiest thing to do even without a pandemic so you could just imagine how worse off it will be in a pandemic especially with some companies laying off their workers and other shutting down! So what will then be the fate of fresh graduates??

Truth be told it hasnt been easy and this is unfortunately the fate of many people in this our ‘new normal’ (I might tell the FULL story one day) but with few good friends and taking care of my mental health religiously, I have been taking each day as it comes. As the days go by, we continually believe and hope for the best.

But I hope you are well and taking care of yourselves too. I am and you should too! Whatever the situation is, this too shall pass! Sounds rich coming from me but that is the truth! I am looking forward to blogging more often and try and keep you updated on what happens in the next few months!

Have a great weekend and happy New Month in Advance!

I understand I have not been frequent with my blog these days and again, I apologise! I have been very busy these past couple of months as I have began a new phase in my life; pursuing a Masters Degree.

Though tiring, I am thankful for the opportunity to do this especially at this stage in my life; there could not have been a better time. More importantly, I get to pursue a programme I am very much interested in a country of my choice. I have always wanted to experience life in different countries and have been doing so for the past few years and I am very much thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to do so!

Life in the Netherlands has been so great and as a person who is very much interested in personal development I am taking the opportunity to be involved with quite a number of things as I can whilst giving much attention to my studies and my career thereafter. I am so excited about this phase and the things to come….Are you excited about your current phase or what it is to come? The excitement comes with challenges which is all part of life and makes it worth living…we get to embrace the good, bad, ugly…learn through them and move on.

I plan to maybe blog more often about my postgraduate study experience once in a while focusing on different aspects. Hopefully, someone out there can benefit or especially anyone planning to study in the Netherlands anytime in the future.

Praying that everything works out for us all in the end. Once there is life, there is hope! Have a fabulous week ahead!

Gertrude. 🙂

Hello everyone,

Hope you are all doing well. I have been off here for a while and I am excited to back here again. A lot has been happening! (Travelling, studies, work etc.) I can’t wait to share with you all what I have been up to and what is coming up next for this blog.

Please stay tuned for more and get ready for some exciting content!

Take care and have an amazing week ahead!.

Hi everyone. I was actually supposed to blog yesterday but for some reasons I could not. Anyway, my birthday is in about a month’s time…I am actually more excited because it is the BIG 25! Phewww! Where does the time go? So looking forward to it…

Anyway so anyone who knows me very well knows I love movies, specifically African movies (Nigerian movies to be specific)…I hardly do Hollywood movies (don’t ask me why). Due to this in my spare time and when I am bored, I go to Iroko TV, Ibaka TV and other movie platforms to watch movies. Mostly, when ‘popular or hyped movies finally come out on these platforms (after weeks of being in the cinemas), I like to discuss it with friends who are also movie lovers…I like to dissect the movie, what was good, what was bad and how it could have been better.

I am Ghanaian by birth and you would ask why do I watch Nigerian movies mostly. Well, the Ghanaian movie industry at the moment is almost dead if I am to be completely honest. There is no need trying to defend this or whatever. It is even a good thing that some of the actors have admitted it meaning we can start solving the problem as we have now identified the problem. So my dear Ghanaian actors…the ball is in your court….Let us start producing better and quality movies because the ones I see these days….(lips sealed).

So, from next month onward, I will be officially adding Movie Reviews section to my blog to dissect various movies I have watched and my thoughts about it. So stick around because it is going to be exciting.

The Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards (AMVCA) was just last weekend at the Eko Hotel and Suites in Lagos, Nigeria and as usual there was a buzz concerning the outfits etc. Though that is undoubtedly one of the aspects of this ‘Oscar type red carpet event’, my concern was that the only two Ghanaian actors (Adjetey Anang and Lydia Forson) who had been nominated in Best Actor in a Drama and Best Supporting Actress in a Drama will win their categories. And yes they both won! I was soo happy! Adjetey was not there to receive his award but Lydia was. So proud of both of them!

And they happened to be my two of my four favourite Ghanaian actors! You should watch them in Keteke and A Sting In A Tale.

Okay so…watch out for my movie reviews soon…and happy new month in arrears! STAY TUNED FOR MORE! 

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To begin with, I think that when it comes to things like Giving, people should be allowed to do whatever they deem fit. This is because one size does not fit all!

With the emergence of social media, it is very popular to see Celebrities, Private and Public Organisations and even individuals making donations….(of course with the donors putting it on their social media handles or having bloggers put it on their pages)…On one of these occasions, I happen to find such on my explore page on Instagram especially and when I go through the comments section, I find many people expressing their disgust and disappointment as to why they have to show their kind deeds to the world. Some point out ‘Didn’t the Bible say our left hand should not know when our right hand does something good or kind?‘ But then I pause to think, ‘Did these people say they were Christians in the first place and as such believe in what the Bible say and did not say?’…..Furthermore, ‘How many commandments or rules in the Bible do we follow ourselves and yet think we can castigate others for disobeying one?‘

On some occasions, I see some people jump to the defence of these celebrities to say mostly they do so to encourage their colleagues to follow suit or sometimes to tell the public that they are not all about the ‘slaying on social media sturvs’ but they also do their bit in order to have a positive impact on society. That is a valid point but then again…do they owe anybody any explanation or need validation from anybody as to how they should spend their OWN money or live their lives? NO! Because guess what, if you bring your good deeds to public people will talk, if you don’t, they will still talk anyway…So do YOU! Choose one! 🙂

Personally, I am a very private person and as such if I were to donate to an orphanage home or an individual home among others, I would not want even my friends to know because it is not necessary. It is between me and the person or people involved and that is it. Another person would also choose to show to the whole world what he/she did…..To him/her, it makes them feel accomplished or proud that they achieved something…SO BE IT. We need to stop dictating to people how to do things ‘the right way‘…..*what is the right way anyway?*

I would also like to add that, whichever way you choose to give, it is the motive behind that is the most important…but then again whether for personal reasons, selfish reasons or whatever, that is entirely up to the individual. In a nutshell, let us all learn to do good to each other in any little way we can…whether in private or public the most important thing is we put a smile on someone’s face, hence blessed someone in one way or the other…

I hope you enjoyed this post. What are your thoughts on this issue? Let the discussion begin! Have an amazing week ahead. 🙂

In late 2017, it was in the news that there was an ongoing ‘slave trade’ in Libya and as usual, I expressed my views on it via a Human Rights Blog I used to write for. I decided to throw it back and feature it on here too. These are issues we should not just talk about when they arise, it should be something that should be in our conversations every now and then with the aim of abolishing it.

Slavery is in the strictest sense of the term, any system in which principles of property law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals, as a de jure form of property. According to history, slave trade in Africa existed for about 200 years in Africa and in Ghana it began in 1533 when the British arrived on the shores of the then (Gold Coast) which led other colonies such as Portuguese, Swedish, Danes and other nationals to also involve in the then booming trade. This act had devastating effects such as displacing people and separating people from their families and countries forever.

At least this was decades ago and at this time we are convinced that such things are a thing of the past though some people I have had conversations in the past assume that there is a modern-day form of slavery in terms of mental slavery whereby people of colour still prefer products produced abroad to those produced in their country and prefer to school outside their countries other than in their own country. This is a very interesting angle which will be tackled in another post, but I would comment briefly that this would not be up for discussion if what they had made them better off.

Well, in this scenario, human beings, better still Africans are being sold for an average of $400 by Africans who end up going through treacherous routes to European countries for a better standard of living. These slaves are from African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana who have left their countries because they are not enjoying the necessities of life which include access to good shelter, food or accommodation because of the inability to secure jobs. The conversation now becomes what got us here in the first place? Why will people leave their countries for an unknown destination where they have no idea what is waiting for them if they were comfortable in their countries?

As an African, I can say that our leaders have not helped and are mostly responsible for situations like this. Whenever I hear foreign media depict Africa as a poor continent, I find it amusing because they only report what they want to. If the resources Ghana alone was utilised very well and every single citizen enjoyed the proceeds from the abundant gold, cocoa, diamond and oil nobody would even think of leaving for another country unless of course it is for vacation purposes. What is happening in Libya depicts the selfishness and greed on the part of our leaders which has forced citizens of one country to be slaves in another for the sake of greener pastures.

Many of these slaves do not get to their destinations. Those who do are subjected to harsh conditions of living which contradicts the purpose for which they left their countries in the first place. Libya is being used to tell us all that indeed there is more work to be done. African leaders international organisations, human rights activists, you and me. If it means posting on your social media handle, do it. If it means signing a petition, do it. Even if it is something little, do it. Because it will go a long way.

However, for this canker to be eroded from the surface of the earth, it should not be all about talking. It is time for the welfare of citizens to be the topmost priority for African leaders especially and corrupt activities should be done away with so that these will be a thing of the past.

This was rather brief…but I hope the message has been delivered duly. Slavery in this day and age should NOT be encouraged. We need to do better for our current society and future generations. Stay tuned for another blog post real soon! Have an amazing week ahead!