ADDRESS BY AUTHOR DURING THE LAUNCH OF "EXCURSIONS IN MY MIND" BY NANA DAMOAH

Chairman, special invited guests, my family, friends and lovedones, I resisted the urge to start this speech with the expression:'Today, marks a momentous occasion in my life, bla bla…', because oneof the ills a writer tries to avoid is the use of clichés and hestrives not to be predictable! Of course, you all know such anoccasion, the launch of one's first book, in the presence ofdignitaries and friends such as you, some of whom I have known sincechildhood, classmates from preparatory school through to my time inNottingham for my masters, mentors, bosses, colleagues, uncles, wife,in-laws – of course, the feelings and euphoria that accompanies suchan event are enough to stir even the cords of the heart of an Ibo man!When you look at the mouth of a king, and the authority that itexudes, you will never think that mouth ever suckled and lay at thebosom of a mother, and mimicked the ways of a father. I dedicated'Excursions in my mind' to two persons, my heroes, two people I haveleaned on for years, save God, two people who taught me to stop,think, act; two people who gave their all. The spoiler of things, thesnatcher of life, the vacuum sucker that continually takes some of thebest from the pages of mortality has ensured the absence of one, butit is with carefully held back emotion that I implore you to assist inacknowledging, with an applause, the gratitude and honour I feel atthe presence of my Mum, Madam Elizabeth Somiah. Mama, nyame nhyira wo!I usually write at dawn, so my room-mate has had to forego times ofcuddling at sunrise! Socrates advised: 'By all means, marry. If youget a good wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad one, you willbecome a philosopher.' I am both happy and philosophical, so it islogical to conclude that I got much more than a good wife. I wish tothank my wife Vivian for all her support and love, she saw a potentialin this Wasa boy when all he had to his name was a promised firstdegree!Mr. Okpoti Manison of blessed memory had structured his schoolProvidence Preparatory in Kotobabi such that on the day before thevacation date, the 'Our Day', the entire school gathered for theentire day for plays, poems and dance. Each class had to perform aplay, and parents and guardians were invited to watch. I loved thedrama day. Knowing one's parents were in the audience was always anadded incentive to perform well. My earliest memories are of recitinga poem in my three-piece batakari, complete with a hat, the attiremade from UAC cloth, where my dad worked as a driver distributingtextiles all across the country. Small beginnings, appreciation of thearts, learning the rudiments of prose and poetry. Special tribute toMr. Aidoo and Mr. Edem (we called him brother), two special teachersin Providence who affected my life for good. I remember being taught,in preparation for the Common Entrance, to answer the question: Writea story ending with '…and the boy learnt a lesson for life, thatobedience is better than sacrifice.' You ever wrote such a story?Small beginnings of creative writing.So why do we despise the days of small beginnings? Why are we afraidto take infant steps? Why do we usually want to move from crawling toflying? I love a quote from Emmanuel Dei-Tumi's book What I wish Iknew before the age of twenty: 'The elevator to success and wealth isalways out of order and one has to use the stairs, one step at atime.' A few friends have asked me how I got a publisher in the UK. Myresponse? I sent a manuscript, responding to an advert in theEconomist. Just that first step.So what I am doing now? I am supposed to give you a speech, huh? Oh,forgive me, I am taking an excursion in my mind!Mr. Thompson and Mrs. Ayiah, two of my favorite English teachers inGhana National College. One for the junior class and the other for thesenior. Mr. Thompson would give me more assignments – essays, debates,etc. - over and above what he would give the entire class, use hisprivate time to mark them and give me constructive feedback. And I wasa Science student. An engineer now, in fact. I cook oil and mixmargarine emulsions for a living. Small beginnings.Burning fire singing and drama group in Ghana National. I recollectour plays. And the mentorship of Mr. Egyir-Croffet (Croffectus) andMr. Johnson Adjei. Literary Wing of the Interhall Christian fellowshipof KNUST, I can't forget the drills of Vero Ayi-Bonte, Tchocho, thetraining of Nii Caulley Caulley; where I started serious writing ofpoems, for presentation and critique, and I tell you, Literary wingcritique is not soft chrife stuff ooo – not even the tsetseflyapproach! In the collection of speeches for an Eagle conference,entitled 'Creating wealth by strategy' and edited by the venerableProf. Stephen Adei, Bishop George Adjeman of Winners Chapel, in hispaper "Innovation as a tool for creating wealth" reflected on thestory of Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Technical ResearchInstitute and stated that one of the influencing factors for successis 'riding on the wings of criticisms.' Literary wing gave me justthat.The trigger for Excursions in my mind was a chance one. I had handedover as President of Joyful Way Incorporated in August 2004. I hadbeen reflecting on which other medium I could serve my God andsociety. In Joyful Way, after crusades, we would distribute the namesof the converts to Christ amongst all members and, in addition toregular follow-ups and prayer, it was each person's responsibility tocorrespond with the assigned converts through letters. I had beenencouraged by the writing ministry of Walter Trobisch, acclaimedcounselor and writer of such bestsellers like I Loved A Girl and IMarried You, to want to have a letter writing/correspondence ministrysome day.At a program at Action Chapel, my Joyful Way colleague and friendBryan Anno told me a group of his friends came together periodicallyas young graduates to brainstorm about their careers and theiraspirations, and they wanted me to speak to them at one suchgathering. I jumped at the idea, and committed myself to prepare forthe talk. The topic given for me to treat was: "Setting targets as ayoung graduate and professional".I was really excited about the invitation, because, as I wrote in myjournal, "I am using this as a launch pad to something I am not clearabout yet, but certainly it will be an era, a career, a ministry ofempowering and encouraging young people." The talk never came on, butjust after the invitation, on an official Unilever trip to Coted'Ivoire, I started writing the notes for the talk. I identifiedtwelve key targets a young graduate should work on.Reading through the notes after some months, I decided that I couldshare them with my friends and colleagues, via e-mail. The first ofthe Empower Series was sent out on Monday 4th of October, 2004. Thecirculation has grown to over five hundred (500) direct recipients andmany of my friends forward them all over the world. There is now anonline weblog (http://excursionsinmymind.blogspot.com/) where thearticles are updated, when they are sent out. On 15th March, 2005, Ireceived an e-mail from a senior Unilever Executive in South Africa,Charles B. Wilkins, who had used one of the series as material forcoaching senior managers in Unilever North America HPC, and stated"Nana …be aware of the power of your thoughts."Then, mails, calls and direct messages face-to-face started coming inabout publishing for a wider audience. To quote one of my dearestfriends and elder sister in the Lord, Dee Willie (Auntie DorothyKonadu), "The gems you've been sharing are too precious and abundantfor a small group like ours, and you should prayerfully considerputting it together for a wider readership." Excursions in my mind isthe answer to those requests!Just about three months ago, I saw at the back of a book I was readingin 2004, by Myles Munroe, ten different options I had listed topublish this book! The seed of the Odum book you see today. Every ideais most vulnerable at the conception stage and no matter how big theOdum tree looks today, it was a seedling yesterday, and a seed the daybefore.Writing this book is in line with my desire to share my experienceswith the youth especially, with the hope that these writings, theseexcursions in my mind, will be a blessing, an encouragement and anempowering agent to you. As indicated on the weblog, "the world is mytarget and my hands are His to use".The youth. The youth of Africa. Are we harnessing the potential of theyouth enough? We the young ones…are we giving off our best to thecontinent, the nation that is giving us so much? Why do we think wecan only contribute something after age 40? Are we not causingfinancial loss to our generation?A group of political friends who had achieved high officecomparatively early in life were discussing their careers. Someoneasked whether they had ever expected to be where they were then. Theyall said, "No", with the exception of Winston Churchill, who was thenhome secretary at the age of thirty-five. "Yes," he said. "Napoleonwon Austerlitz at my age." The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as theBattle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatestvictories, effectively destroying the Third Coalition (made up ofBritain, Russian and Austria) against the French Empire. It was avictory obtained after nearly nine hours of difficult fighting. Thebattle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece.I recently finished reading the 'Alexander - Sands of Ammon', thesecond book in a trilogy written about the famous King Alexander theGreat, King of Macedon, conqueror of Greece and Egypt and Persia andfounder of Alexandria. All the achievements of Alexander were packedinto a compact thirty three years, living from 356 to 323 BC.William Pitt, the Younger, became Prime Minister of Britain in 1783 atthe age of 24, serving a total of 20 years over two terms, before hisdeath at the age of forty-seven, same age as the incoming President ofUSA.Coming home to Ghana, our president, John Agyekum Kufuor, was a deputyforeign affairs minister at the age of thirty one.Two events in the second half of this year, 2008, stand out in my mindwith respect to young persons in high places. On 5 November, 2008, theUnited States of America elected the first African-American president,Barack Obama. He is forty seven years. He is not the youngest to beelected to that office though, John F. Kennedy has that honour. On the3 November 2008, the new Managing Director of Barclays Bank Ghana,Benjamin T. Debra, assumed office. He is thirty seven years, theyoungest ever in the establishment in Ghana. I am proud to say thatBenjamin is a fellow Katangee (alumnus of University hall, KNUST,Ghana) and a former member of the Literary wing of the UniversityChristian fellowship, where we shared the stage on a number ofoccasions.Looking around today, I see a lot of young people who act as if theyhave all the time in the world, and older persons who think thatattitude is alright. Young citizens who still believe life begins atforty and life before that is non-scoring, and older citizens whostill insist that unless you are old, you have nothing to offer,equating age with sense. During the NPP Presidential primaries, didyou not hear the debate about people being too young to stand forpresident? Young men and women who are causing financial loss to theirgeneration, because they are sitting on inert ideas, bottled-uppotential energy and scratching the ground when they should be grazingthe skies and perambulating with the stars. Young people who proceedwithout any urgency in life.Johann Wolfgang Goethe asserted that the destiny of any nation, at anygiven time, depends on the opinions of its young men and women undertwenty-five. I agree with him in toto. What then is the destiny of ournation, of our continent, of our world? Do you hear the opinions ofthe young men and women under twenty five? I don't hear it often. Butwe must hear them, and consistently.One of my favourites verses in the Bible, one that has alwayschallenged me to do more is 1 Timothy 4:12:Let no one despise your youth, but become an example of the believersin word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.Another version states: do not let any one look down upon you becauseyou are young.Please don't. Don't underrate the influence you can have in youryouth. Don't think you have all the time to make a difference in thisworld. Recognize that both brown and green leaves fall to the ground.Just yesterday, a close friend told me he could not be at thisfunction because of the death of his brother-in-law, a young man whocompleted University of Ghana just this year. A couple of months ago,I was touched by the obituary of a thirty-three year young doctor inthe Daily Graphic. Brown leaves fall, green leaves fall too. Don'twait till you have grey hair before you believe people will take youseriously, because scientifically, grey hair is a sign of old age andnot necessarily of wisdom.Don't cause financial loss to your generation! Life is too short to belittle. You have an impact to make on your generation, and the time tostart was yesterday.In whatever capacity you find yourself, you can make a difference, because:It is not the depth of your intellectOr the breadth of your experienceIt is the extent of your yieldingAnd the strength of your passionIt is not the eloquence of your speechOr the sweetness of your tongueIt is the purity of your heartAnd the love for the LordIt is not the qualified that He callsIt is the called that He qualifiesIf you would be available, willing and obedientIt will be you the Lord will useDon't despise the day of small beginnings. Don't kill tomorrow's odumtree today. Please, don't.Allow me, in conclusion, to quote Bruce Barton: "Nothing splendid hasever been achieved except by those who dared believe that somethinginside them was superior to circumstance."I wish to thank both Damoah and Richardson families, my friends Theoand Abena Aryee who gave me seed money for this publication, AceAnkomah, Dr. Sam Anwona, Dr. Sam Kisseadoo, Uncle Sackey Benin, Kofiand Doris Asamoah, Kwaku Boateng, Prince Obeng, Victor Adjei, JosephAmuna and Stephen Larbi for being my greatest cheers leaders andguides on this project, the team that put this launch together (NanaKodwo, Geoff Anno, Joanna Micah, Sammy Ewool, Albert Ocran of Combert– big bro, you are fast becoming a great friend!, Chris Mante [Vadol],my sister-in-law Evelyn Dimado who did the décor and wrapping ofbooks, Sammy Asamoah, Mr and Mrs. David Quaye, Mr and Mrs GeorgeBampoe, Ken the great musician who just warmed to me), Executive,members and associates of Joyful Way and all the recipients of theExcursions series over the past four years (which is the bulk of youhere) – this book is a reality because of your support and input.I thank you all for taking time off to celebrate with me. And I willcovet your continuous support and prayer for the success of'Excursions in my mind'.May the Good Lord preserve us and bless us all.Nana Awere DamoahAuthor, Excursions in my mind (www.athenapress.com/book.php?ID=2693)

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