6 Ways To Conquer Your Fear of Public Speaking

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For a lot of people public speaking or anything that has to do with expressing a thought or opinion to a group of people is a big no-no for them. But truth is people who have strong communication skills and 'charisma' are naturally thought to be leaders even if they are incompetent. Therefore being an above average speaker is key to getting ahead. These are four ways i believe can help you conquer your fear of public speaking.

• Keep your presentation as simple as possible. By simple i mean keep only  the relevant facts on your slide. Try and memorize the simple facts of the topic and the whole presentation 
• You know how a picture is worth a thousand words, well graphs and statistics is a story written with numbers. A simple bar chart can save you a long explanation and that extra 2000 words you would have used to explain a certain point. No matter how lively you are, at a certain point you begin to sound boring (its called diminishing returns). Even if you're not mathematically inclined. you can start with pictograms and simple bar charts and graphs. A great example is demonstrated by Bill Gates here
• Adding rare information to your presentation makes it enjoyable for example did you know Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis is the longest English word according to Wikipedia? Incorporating these little "did you know" facts into any presentation can breath some new life into a topic that can otherwise be boring or repetitive.
• When you are asked a question during question time. Listen carefully to the question. Do not listen to the question and think of the response you are going to give simultaneously. In most cases the answer to someones question is embedded in the question itself therefore if you listen carefully the answer will be clear to you. It might not even be a question but someone seeking clarification or opinion but because you did not listen, you start beating about the bush. An audience notice when you are not  paying attention to the questions therefore be attentive as possible. After carefully listening to the question and you still need some time, ask the individual to repeat the question. This will permit you to listen to the question again and respond appropriately. After asking for a repetition and you are not sure go with your guts and say what comes to mind but stress the fact that you're not sure therefore you will cross check and get back to him or her if they can leave a contact.
• Don't hide your quirks. When we are preparing to speak in public and make a presentation, a lot of us try to be as rigid as possible. But then we have little quirks that makes us stand out for example the way we lift our eyebrows when excited, how we gesticulate, your smile and your general demeanor. Don't try to suppress these quirks and weirdness. Rather take advantage of them because you might not know who will find it attractive.
• Miscellaneous: By miscellaneous i mean all other things you have to do before the presentation/speaking these are

1. Be adequately prepared. That is get your notes, power point, flash cards ready whiles you practice at least 3 times with a friend or in front of a mirror. This is how you nail the first point above
2. Sleep well the night before your big moment. On the day exercise, eat and dress well
3. When introduced to your audience take deep breaths and don't be in a rush to speak right after the applause. You can smile, make a thoughtful comment about how on time the program started and other general remarks which will allow you to stall a bit and organize your thoughts. Tip: You can say "thank you" "thank you" many times like President Obama of the U.S does after an applause when he's about to make a speech.
4. Maintain eye contact no matter how weird this may seem. A lot of people seem uncomfortable with eye contact therefore end up looking on top of the heads of audience. Fix your gaze on the audience but no one in particular and put your points across. 

There you go, these are ways you can reduce and maybe eradicate your anxiety for public speaking and making presentation. Hope this helps you.

The Xylophone With Wise Words

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Whiles in Bolgatanga on my backpacking trip, i spent some time at the arts and crafts village  to view some of the amazing hand woven artifacts the craftsmen have made. Whiles perusing the stores (purchasing a craft was not in mind). i came to one shop and saw a nice little xylophone i couldn’t take my eyes off. I therefore asked of its price from the shop attendant who told me it cost 20 cedis (about $10)  but she was not really sure of the price. She claimed she was watching the shop whiles the owner is away for a funeral so i should come the following day. When she requested i come the following day, i was quite happy because i felt i was ready to buy it on impulse.

But back at the guest house, i couldn’t get this xylophone off  my mind so early the following morning armed with 20 cedis in my pocket, i marched straight to the crafts store. Upon arrival i didn’t meet the attendant but rather a guy with dreadlocks. After the usual pleasantries i informed him of why i was there and he said he was informed of my coming to the shop and yes the she lady i met yesterday quoted the correct price.

So I defied all my backpacking rules that is 

• Buying a xylophone is not part of the budget
• This was going to be “extra excess”  luggage (emphasis on extra and excess because for the time i started backpacking i was already carrying this huge sweater which I wasn’t wearing)
• I had a few destinations and tourist sites to go

I still broke the rules and bought the xylophone anyway. Mr Dreadlocks went ahead to tie a few strings on the xylophone and  tune it properly. After that he played a wonderful tune on the xylophone. That was when it occurred to me i didn’t even know how to play a xylophone.So I panicked and informed him how i was eager to buy a xylophone but didn’t know how to play it. He said 

"that’s the nice things about xylophones you learn how to play it by creating your own tunes. Very much like life, you have to dance to your own rhythm"

 This statement reminded me of a blog post  i wrote a few days ago about how not talent but hard work will make me successful. I smiled

What Startups Can Learn From Youtube

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courtesy: Youtube.com

As an entrepreneurship geek and youtube fan, i have noticed startups and entrepreneurs can get ahead by emulating these 3 things from youtube to build a strong brand.

• Collect Consumer Data

Google owns youtube and google is fundamentally an advertising company. Just like advertisers use data  for targeted marketing, startups and entrepreneurs can find simple ways to collect client data so that they can better mold products for customers needs.  This can be done by keeping the tinniest record available on the consumer. These tinny records become big data and enough data of a consumer allows you to make informed decisions about consumers wants. When you open youtube the videos you find in there are always somehow greographically, politically or culturally relevant to you. As you click on more videos, youtube uses your history to find more videos that are relevant to your intersest. That is how you end up watching 16 related videos instead of the 1 you originally planned to watch. Likewise, startups can create an information curating model that will always inform their decision into making products and services 

• Customize Products and Services

One of the key things i like about youtube is how relevant videos associated with what you're watching pops up, this is as a result of the you viewing history. The more you indulge in the videos, the more they are able to better suggest videos for you. Likewise entrepreneurs can tailor make their products and services to better satisfy the client. The one size fit all approach to business does not work.  Notice how youtube reiterates "your account history is visible to only you" when you're clearing your search history? This shows how important entrepreneurs can take advantage of consumer data to make specific products for a specific market. Because think about it, if the Pareto 80/20 rule is anything to go buy 20% of your clients would contribute 80% of your startups revenue. It just makes sense to pay more attention to your repeat clients whiles on the look out for other custormers

•   Build a community

10 years ago i don't think there was anything like a youtube 'star' but now there is, and there a few of them who are even breaking into mainstream media. Sometimes i log on to youtube not just because of the video but rather for the comments because some of the comments i see on there make my day.  Just like youtube stars have a strong following/subscribers who would not allow any troll to say something negative about their favourite star or icon, building a community around your product will help your startup get free publicity and gain fans who would be willing to evangelize the product both online and offline. These loyalist can serve as a focus group for the entrepreneur to test new products and ideas. Just like how youtube encourages conversation and replies, entrepreneurs can take advantage of feedback and encourage consumers to have conversations to help them gain maximum feedback.  

A Case For The Donkeys

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Since i started backpacking, i have come to realise how important donkeys are as a mode of transportation for people in the Upper east region. Granted there are donkeys in Upper west  as well but the numbers here cannot match that of the Upper east. These donkeys usually cart a varied range of things from farm produce, firewood to goods meant for the market not forgetting the occasional lazy human being. Doing all this at a graceful speed of 20 kilometres per hour. The cool thing about donkeys is that they do their work with so much grace and i couldn't spot " i am sad because God created me a donkey" look on any of their faces. But  later in the night my theory of  "donkeys have no regrets" was to be put to shame. Apparently donkeys have this really whinny high-pitched sound they make when they have no work doing. The noise they make is quite similar to a horses' whine but this one was on another excruciatingly annoying level. Imagine sleeping at 2am whiles a donkey stand behind your window making such noise.

But whiny noises or not i have grown to like them i wouldn't mind getting one myself. Because think about  it. You don't have to buy any fuel, you also need no mechanic and all the pain that comes with owning a car.  all you need is a stable shelter some forage and water and you're good to go. It wouldn't be a bad idea as this will be how in my own small way reduce my carbon footprint and help reduce global warming besides things does not look good for my country Ghana economy wise and fuel prices are going through the roof therefore my donkey would be how i would help my country depend less on fossil fuels. Throw back, (Jesus sat on a donkey)

From Bolgatanga i made my way to Bawku where i stayed less than two hours because i was in a hurry to see my friend from university who is based in one of the towns near Bawku called Garu. These are samples of  pictures from my stash of donkey pic collections. Enjoy

Tumu

Navrongo

Such a beauty this one- Garu Tempane

Arts & Crafts in Bolgatanga

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My previous post was about how i spent a few days in Bolgatanga, which is the capital of the Upper east region of Ghana. One of the places that is not supposed to be missed when in Bolga (as is affectionately called) is the Arts and craft centre which is near the Bolg-Navrongo highway. There are many stores doing really nice work of art in the form of drums, masks, talismans, necklaces, baskets, bags and what have you.

Hard Work Trumps Talent

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Whiles growing up, asking me what i would like to be in the future was always a hard question for me to answer. This was because i was interested in one thing now and the next moment i was interested in another. It looked like i could never make a choice. The only thing that i consistently did was reading and watching television. Usually when people ask you what you are going to be in the future, they expect you to choose a career based on your talents or skills that come naturally to you. But if you are stuck in a situation what you couldn't identify what you were good at like me, there was a problem because lets face it, watching television and reading is not a talent. So what is talent?
I have tried defining talent and here is my definition "Talent is the ability to do something so well people try to emulate that same thing but they can't". As i grow up i have realised that the excessive reading and television watching that i did as a kid has influenced a lot of my choices as to what to do with my life. Apparently, reading a lot expands your vocabulary and makes you an above average communicator. I enjoy enlightening conversation and debating not because i am controversial but i always wanted to hear others view. Therefore back in my college days i was frequently called upon to speak, make presentations and do a lot of public speaking. As a teacher, i get to talk almost everyday which i think is good training if i want to build a career in anything communications related.
Don't really be bothered if you do not know what your talent is. Just experiment with as many hobbies and activities as possible. Definitely one of those hobbies may become an interest and when you're willing to put in the time and efforts to develop your interest you will be blown away by how good you will become at that particular interest. If that hobby or interest solves a need or a societal problem, people will be willing to pay you to put you interest to work. This is how you gradually carve a niche for yourself.. The interesting part is that hobby might not even be your 'talent' but because you were willing to put energy, time and effort into it. You will excel more than those who call that particular interest their talent. Hard work will forever trump talent.
 I opened this blogger account in August of last year and after my first post, i never posted till May this year.. I developed cold feet because i felt no one would be interested in what i wanted to blog about. But i have heard many times that "to be a good writer, just write". I applied it to my situation that is "to be a good blogger just blog" and after blogging consistently for the past one and half months, i have began to see a change. A month ago, writing a blog post took me 6 hours. This blog post took me 5 hours 30 minutes.

Bolgatanga: Statues and Colourful Baskets

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Bolgatanga the land of  colorful cane baskets and statues that is what i noticed about the place. From Paga i made my way to the taxi station where for six cedis i shared a taxi with three other passengers which was en route to Bolga as its called. After passing through villages and other little hamlets we gradually made our way to Bolgatanga. The road for this part of the trip was very good and i enjoyed the taxi ride so much i wish it didn't end. But after riding for about 30 minutes we entered Bolga. As we entered the city i was grinning from ear to ear because i have finally made it to the capital of the Upper east of Ghana and have made it to half of my backpacking trip which i felt was phenomenal.
Bolgatanga is much bigger than Wa and has a nice hilly backdrop very much like Nkawkaw another town in the eastern region of Ghana. Upon reaching, i went guest house hunting to find a place to stay for the time i was going to be there. I found an affordable guest house called Kings & Queens where i lodged. The  bathroom lights at Kings & Queens was working ( the first actually functioning bathroom lights) since i have been on the road.

Wow!!! Accra is so far away

                             

                           
My guest house was close to a catholic church called 'Sacred Heart' and one of the things that i did everyday for the three days i was there was to go statue watching around the church. There are many statues along the church road and the main highway all  the way back to the church. Waking up very early every morning to walk past the statues was such a pleasure.

Another one of my favorite statues

Street views of Bolga

My room at the guest house

One of the popular trades in Bolga and surrounding villages is the making of baskets, there were many women carrying baskets to the market for sale as well as brisk trading of nicely woven baskets in various shops in town. Baskets seem to be a big deal in Bolgatanga. My time in this nice town passed away so quickly that i wanted to stay some more. Soon enough my stay came to an end and it was time to move on to Bawku another town on the backpacking list . But i would definitely return someday. 

Don't Hit Snooze: My Top Five Reasons

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Early risers are good planners and night owls are creative. Which one will you prefer the good planner or creative. I strongly advice you to choose the good planner. About a month ago, i wrote a post about how the Islamic call to prayer makes me time conscious and this time management hack from Islam has been helping me till now. It is gradually becoming a habit, these days as i wake up 3 or 4 minutes ahead  of the first call to prayer which is around 5am. Being an early riser has been having a good impact on me and is really making me relaxed. These are a few of the changes i have seen.

1. I don't feel rushed anymore. As a teacher, my first class is at 7.45am during my non-early rising days i would typically wake up at 7 which leaves me with 45 minutes to cram taking a shower, ironing, having breakfast, trying to catch up on the news and making reviews of lessons i have to teach into those 45 minutes. I was always never on time to class. I was usually 10-15 minutes late for classes. I also realised if i don't take time to savor my breakfast and i just gulp it down in a hurry, i became extremely hungry an hour or two after eating it. These days waking up an hour earlier has made all the difference, i am always on time for classes.
2. Waking up earlier allow me to do a few of my interest before heading for class. Since i have some free minutes, i can indulge in things that i'm interested in. Going on twitter, reading a book, write a blog post, put down more ideas for a blog post, watch a few funny clips on youtube i mean things i do with that extra time are endless. For me catching up on the news whiles eating my breakfast before work is my most precious moment.
3. I am able to plan my day and the probability that i would follow through on my plans are usually high. Why waking up late might derail your plan is that, you don't have any time for yourself. Others have woken up as well they expect you to listen to their conversations, respond to their texts and your business and employer expects you to be productive so you end up trying to shove your interest such as checking your favourite soccer teams position on the league table or watching facebook pictures of the brunch you couldn't attend into your productive hours which makes you slack. Throwback: preaparing lesson notes and listening to hiphop does not work.
4. Waking up early makes you a step ahead of competition. Let's face it this world is a very competitive place to be. From co-workers to fellow economics teachers (in my case). For startups and entrepreneurs, the competition may be more pronounced and cutthroat. Therefore waking up early gives a clear head start to study, make proper research and analysis, add an extra touch to your project, presentation, product or whatever it is you're working on. Clients and employers notice when you put in that extra touch. 
5. Finally there is the healthy eating and livestyle bit. Waking up early allows me to put a thought into what i'm eating because i don't use time as an excuse on why i didn't prepare an oatmeal for breakfast but ate the leftover of last nights khebab. As a recovering excessive meat eater i realised i have to cut back on my meat and protein intake and spare sometime eating fruits, nuts and vegetables if i want to live past age 60. What about exercise you may ask? For that bit it turns out i enjoy writing more than exercising so i swapped my exercise time for writing this blog post.

So there you go. These are my top five reasons for you to wake up early today. If doing it daily is too hard for you, start with two days a week then build up gradually. I bet you will enjoy the free time so much it would be a daily practise. Even if you call your self a "creative night owl" i encourage you to try it because the problem with pushing a task deep into the night is that you don't know what will set you back. 

A Legend and A Border

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There are indeed many thing to see from at Paga, from the crocodile pond to the slave camp. The number of  fuel stations and how close they are to each other is even a tourist attraction. Whiles returning from the slave camp, i was informed by my tour guide Abedi Ayew one Ghanas' all time best footballer and a football legend comes from Nania. It made sense, he owns a football team called Nania FC. The tour guide showed me Abedi Ayew's house and a school the family had help put up for the village of Nania.

Dede Ayew is Abedi Ayew's son, he also plays for the Ghana national team. Football runs in the family.

Paga is the last town in the north eastern part of Ghana, the Ghana-Burkina Faso border is a few kilometres away from the town so i went there just to be sure for the second time, i have reached another end point of Ghana. 

Crossing this border takes you out of Ghana into Burkina Faso

After making sure that all my curiosities have been satisfied, i headed to the taxi park to board a taxi for Bolgatanga. Due to the border and Burkina Faso being a french speaking country, i noticed a lot of the taxi drivers could communicate in english as well as french and the local dialect of the people of paga. As an aspiring polyglot, this made me real jealous.

With Entrepreneurship, Losing is Winning

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Statistics on startups and entrepreneurship does not look very favourable. A lot of startups fail in their first year of operation, many more are forced to close down by their second and third year. By the fifth year 95% or 8 out of 10 businesses have failed. That is the major reason why a lot more people will stick to the traditional corporate sector and have a regular income. But for the few who go into entrepreneurship  it is one heck of a journey. For all the time i have been reading and studying entrepreneurship i have come to realise that failure is some how good for the entrepreneur. It always clear that those who didn't give up on their dreams after they failed but somehow found a way to get back to their business are the extremely successful ones. 

When you start a business,  it's about you, your ideas, your desire to make a change in your society, community or country in the hopes that someone will be willing to pay you for the change or product you have created. In every startup, entrepreneurs represent their own brand and therefore have to play many roles. From marketing, operations to sales and accounting.When an entrepreneur decides to do it all, clearly the skill set that she's strong in comes to bear. The other skills that she does not possess or comes naturally to her, she  fumbles with them (that is why i encourage partnership). Whiles trying to do hold a startup together out of stress, fear or whatever the problem is she crashes and burns. But the good thing is when you fail as as an entrepreneur you learn how not to do things like you did before. This is the entrepreneurs advantage. Being an entrepreneur makes you a strong analyst. You get to bounce ideas off your head as many times as possible always reviewing and making judgement of these ideas, your mind now is a repository of ideas. Every great product or service you see around began as an idea. From a personal experience you know what works and what doesn't. Which on hindsight is not a bad thing because its like paying for school just that this one is more hands on and your failure makes you learn  a lot about yourself. 

 Entrepreneurship is fundamentally about taking risk, and i guess you have read how life is not "fun" for those who do not take risk and what not. But no matter how cliche these quotes are, they are true. Successful entrepreneurs are happy because they now have a leg up on something we are all breaking our backs to have that is time, money and freedom to do whatever they want to do be it travel, charity etc. So if you're considering entrepreneurship, go for it. Take that risk today. Your first startup will fail, the second too might fail, the third one might not really fail but you will sell it before it goes out of control, your final startup will be google.

PS: I leave you with another cliche quote "I have not failed. I've found 10,000 ways that won't work."-Thomas A. Edison

Nania Slave Music

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I made this short video when i visited Nania Pikworo a slave camp in the Upper East region of Ghana. It is a video of tour guide demonstrating the drumming and singing that went on at the slave camp when the slaves were forced to make merry.

If you like this video and you would like to visit Nania click for all tourism information...

A Problem And A Niche

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Three years ago, I heard a motivational speaker talk on radio. He was giving a motivational talk on how to be successful, one thing that he said that struck a chord with me is that. ´the most successful people solve the most difficult societal problems’. This really got me thinking, how does solving societal problems make you rich or successful. With time i came to realize that what this man said is a truism and that people who are solving simple societal problems are the ones who get a large chunk of society’s resources. Therefore the more problems you solve, the more society is willing to devote resources for your work. Entrepreneurs who have built  successful businesses started by solving a problems in a niche market.

Capt (rtd) Prince Kofi Amoabeng is a Ghanaian entrepreneur who owns UT Bank, one of Ghana's premier banking institutions among other financial services related firm. In the 90's where there was high interest rate and getting a loan from a bank was like chasing a unicorn. This entrepreneur set out to give quick loans to those who needed it with no hassle. He even dared to say your loan will be ready in less than 48 hours. This tagline undoubtedly drew the attention of the public especially those who badly needed loans. Now UT financial service is one of Ghana's top banks. After buying and rebranding another bank. 
Sarah Blakely is the youngest self-made women billionaire in the world according to Forbes. She produces undergarment and her flagship product is pantyhose. Producing pantyhose on the surface might not seem like a 'genius' idea as compared to making a pill that cures cancer but it looks like society was willing to reward her for her undergarment brand. The people who are solving problems do not need a cut throat product to excel, they do normal products with an extreme edge.
Social media allows us to connect in an extra ordinary way that is why we rewarded Mark Zuckerberg and his friends so much for facebook. As a social media user and a tech fanboy, i have realised news that spark national conversation and rumor was heavily featured on social media. To take this further, i  observed that, when news sites, magazines and other forms of traditional media share a post on their social media webpage they receive more comments and reactions than their own website. Now take a look at all the popular social media sites twitter, (have a conversation with people in 160 characters or less) and instagram, (put highly filtered pictures online and let people like and comment). The fundamental idea behind these social media networks are clear and very straight forward. So instead of hoping from one site to another to catch up on your favorite content, you can simplify this by following the social media pages of all these sites (problem solved). 
So now as an aspiring entrepreneur i have been looking. I have been looking for little problems that i can solve in my community, my country Ghana and Africa. I must say there are so many problems to solve, maybe you should also start looking for problems people will be willing to pay you to solve, who knows we all might greatly reward you...

Nania: A Tale of Slavery

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I don't know about you but anytime i hear 'Nania' my mind goes back to C.S Lewis classic fantasy (almost magical) book "The chronicles of Narnia" and its hero Aslan. But for the people of Nania-Pikworo which is a small community near Paga (a major town on the north-eastern border of Ghana) their "Nania" was a story of real pain. If you follow my blog post, i announced a one week backpacking trip. Now that i am back, i am doing series of blog post on the places i went. The last post being my visit to a crocodile pond and how i'm battling herptophobia (don't ask).

Nania was a slave camp during the era when the slave trade and slavery was at its height in Ghana. Nania means "a place of cows or cattle" whiles Pikworo means a place surrounded by rocks. The slave camp was started in 1704 by a slave master whom the people called "Baggaw" which literally translates as "bush man" because they did not know his real name since he was not from the community. Baggaw was suspected to have dealt in slaves in his hometown but the slave business there had tanked. Hence his relocation into the community of Nania to continue his 'craft'. In Nania, Baggaw was still having problems setting up his slavery business because a lot of people in Nania suspected him to be a slave master therefore families were unwilling to let their loved ones go with him because he tried to convince the locals he was going to train the people he took to his camp . He therefore invited two of his friends Samori from Burkina Faso and Babatu from Mali. This gang of three now convinced the chiefs (with gifts in hand) of these local communities to take people especially able bodied ones to their camp where they will receive training and after that sent abroad for further studies. This is how slavery started in Nania.

The families got a little money for allowing their ward to go with Baggaw and his friends. To the three slaves masters their business was not growing to their liking which made them employ local people as slave raiders so that they could capture more people. After many years of taking the people to their camp (20 years and over), the local chiefs were alarmed none of the people taken by Baggaw and his friends under the pretense of training had returned. This is where their initial suspicion of slavery was confirmed but it was too late. Baggaw and his friends had already built a slavery empire which included majority of the locals acting as security, raiders, body guards, cooks etc, From that point no one dared go near the camp for the fear of being captured or being killed.
                                 

Slaves were chained to trees at the camp from dusk till dawn

                       

In the evening, slaves climbed these rocks to have supper

The slaves ate from the carved craters in this rocks

The slaves were fed once a day, in the evening they ate from little craters mad in the rocks after super they were made to drum and dance and make merry. To keep their spirits alive and send signal to those outside the camp that the camp was an enjoyable place.

The only source of water at the camp. It runs quite deep as a test i dipped a stick which was more than 10 metres long in it. The stick went all the way down.

An elderly tour guide demonstrating the songs slaves used to sing.

                               

Highest point at the slave camp, camp security could see very far from this point

This part is the where the security guard of the slave stood to watch out for slave who tried to escape as well as intruders. Slaves who tried to escape were brought back to the camp and taken to the punishment rock. Those who were out of reach were shot. As deterrent to other slaves one of every fresh batch of new slave was killed as a warning for what will happen to them when they try to escape.

At the punishment rock slaves who tried to escape had their hands and feet tied and were beaten to pulp while they sat on the rock with their face upwards.

There is a close proximity between the punishment rock and the cemetery for dead slaves. 

When the number of slaves at Nania reaches a satisfactory limit, the three slave masters take them to Salaga a major slave trading spot which is in the northern part of Ghana. At Salaga, the slave masters sold their slaves for  commodities such as sugar, whiskey, bacon etc. Slave masters from neighbouring countries such as Burkina and Mali also came to Salaga to buy slaves. These slave were then moved to Cape Coast and Elmina both coastal towns in Ghana where they were then taken abroad.
Slave trade ended in 1845 and all the three slave masters were killed. Samori from Burkina Faso was killed at Yendi. Baggaw was also killed at Navrongo. Whiles Babatu was captured and killed at Sandema. Slave trade has no doubt had a dent on African history, but we can blame greediness and deceit on the part of European colonial masters. But as an African, it still beats my mind why we traded each other for sugar.

If you enjoyed this blog post and would like to visit Nania, click for information on the location, contacts, accommodation and dinning available at the slave camp.