MEET KAFUI PRAISE; GHANA’S BUDDING QUEEN OF PHOTOGRAPHY

via MEET KAFUI PRAISE; GHANA’S BUDDING QUEEN OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Re-Birth

MORE THAN A PHOTOGRAPHER

Valerie, miss you. Lets catch up soon.

CHAYIL

This piece is about one of my favourite icons in one of the creative paths I’ve chosen.Photography

Out of the Six photographers I follow keenly,Two are women!one?A Nigerian(TY Bello) and the other A Ghanaian (Kafui Praise! )

And today I write about her.The first day I met her, my feet melted in the sand and my tears became ice;)??Na Lie!I’ve not even met her yet.I only spoke to her on phone!thanks to a bosom friend (Rhudy).I was in a public transport,what we call trotro in my country, I practically teared up in the bus.My eyes were watery.it was like speaking to Ban Ki Moon!Because trust me,I was over the moon.

The call came through as (Rhudy Brown Calling)I picked and all of a sudden he goes like someone is on the line to speak to you.I asked who?like the curious George I am.then he said ‘KAFUI PRAISE’.!

I…

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The Photographer

kofilarbi

We all take pictures but some people take pictures and you wonder what is it they see that you don’t see when they capture the images so close to whats on your mind’s eye. These days with the availability of high resolution camera lenses and photo editing it has become how abundantly clear that God is wonderful in creating the human being and how we process our sensory functions.

But yes that aside, photography has taken a new trend especially in Ghana where several people have taken up photography not only as a hobby but also a profession. There are several names I can mention here and these are my friends. Percy Osei aka Mutombo and his Fotombo, Kobe Subraiman, Theo Ofoli-Kwei, Nii Kwei, Yooku Ata-Bedu, Yaw Pare, Qwarme Erzuah, Kwame Genesiz, Nii Kpakpo Thompson, Sena Mr Two, and several others. These people are taking Ghana places with the photos…

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COMPASSION

One Saturday morning on my way to work, I decided to buy some waakye.  All l had on me that day was ¢10.00, l held it and a tissue l had in my hands so after buying the food and had to pay, I realized l had thrown the ¢10.00 away and held on to the tissue instead of it being the other way round. Honestly, l was so well dressed that day that, l wondered if the Waakye seller would believe me if l told her the money just got missing. I searched and searched all around yet to no avail, even  people around decided to help me search, still could not find the money, l stood there with my shades in my hands, still holding on to that tissue l mistook for my money as if it was going to turn into money, l could not bring myself to believe that l had in exchange threw away my money instead of the tissue.

 

As I stood there in a sad and confused state thinking of what to do, a young man offered to pay for my food, and he went on to ask me if l had enough on me for transport to go home, l was speechless and could hardly speak, with some difficulty l managed to say Thank you.

 

That a stranger would have compassion on me to help me at a time l needed it the most, left me in a state of shock. I was really touched.

 

The young man went on to say that the reason why he came to my aid was that he had also been in that situation before and someone had compassion on him and helped him out. I also learned from that experience to be there to help others as the Lord strengthens me.

 

 

Compassion is defined as the understanding or empathy for the suffering of others and helping them to come out from the suffering.

Compassion is what brings tears to my eyes anytime l watch helpless children on television in desperate need of help and love.

 

Compassion is what moves Dumega Courage Ahiati to embark on a social media campaign to collect 1000 books to set up a Library for the children of the King Jesus Charity Home in Kumasi.

 

Compassion is what makes Rita Pasini-Sanford to leave her country and move to other countries to meet the needs of homeless children and poor widows.

 

Compassion is what moved Jesus to heal the sick, raise dead and meet the needs of His followers.

 

You may not know the impact your compassion on others will have on others and their future generations.

 

 

 

Take these homeless children for instance, just the knowledge that someone out there cares and loves them, gives these children a sense of belonging and a feeling of love.

 

Just imagine the joy and smile on their face anytime they see you walk into that children home to visit them and spend some time with them. How the children would run to meet you on the way with so much joy.

 

This is what compassion made more effective with action can achieve. You can make a difference if only you would take the step to be a blessing to someone and to lend a helping hand to someone in desperate need of it.

BECAUSE YOU ARE AN ANSWER TO SOMEONE’S PRAYER. Don’t hinder it.

FROM DECEPTION TO LOVE

Growing up in an Occult family, we were told by the head of the Occult group that if we turned away from the group, we would die or loose our minds and out of Fear, we remained faithful, even when deep within we wanted out.

Every dawn, men and women of God would pass by our house preaching “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand. Heaven and Hell is real”. They quoted Biblical verses like John 3:16 and many more imploring us to come to Christ. Even though our membership of the occult group was a secret known to only us, we felt quite guilty and feared missing heaven. We would sit up at night when the ministers of God were doing their dawn broadcast and listen to their gospel.

Even as a young girl of eleven years, I always knew anytime l look at the clouds, the moon, the stars, and the sun, that there had to be someone greater than what we were serving who was in charge of all these. l desperately wanted  to know Him.

The amazing thing was that, the head of the occult group actually advised us to attend church (he chose some churches saying we can only go to these churches) in order to remove suspicion of our membership of the occult. So on Sundays, we would go to those Churches and come back to our old life. Those churches had no impact in our lives. All we did was listen to hymns and some few bible verses, take our offerings, then we were out!

Today, i understand why the Head of the occult group advised we go to those Churches; there was no revival, the word was not living, the fire of the word did not burn there.

l can say many were and are still living this double life to cover the things they do in secret.

Even though my mum told us she initiated us to the group for protection against so many things happening in the family, there was no night l slept in peace. It was evident the enemy had control over our lives. Nightmare after nightmare, sleepless nights and poverty were like a tag on our forehead. Life was hard. There were times when all we had to take school was bread. Mum would fall sick every now and then and no matter how hard she worked, problems kept rising.

Then one fateful day, a missionary from South Korea, Michael Lee, came to rent a room in our house. Even though the building was incomplete, he still wanted to pay mum his rent so we could complete it for him to move in. Mum did as he requested and he moved in. l despised Mr. Lee. I was appalled at his simple dressing and plain slippers. HA! Now l can’t help but regret ever despising him. We were quite amazed that a missionary would come all the way from Korea, just to bring us the gospel, and that made us give him our attention.

We began to live like one family. We listened to his sermons, even though l found it hard to understand him. Mr. Lee was not fluent in English but managed to get his messages across through the few English words he could speak. I remember him telling me that now l may not understand what he is teaching me, though l have a learning Spirit, but l would understand later. So my whole family became his assistants throughout his missionary work in Ghana. He would cook his native Korean food and share with us.  He would show us videos of sermons of heaven and Hell, pray with us bless us with various gifts. We had never experience love like this. We saw the God of love come alive in our lives through his actions. Through Michael Lee, my whole family gave our lives to Christ. My mum went inside, packed all the pots and concoctions and threw them all away. She broke the breakables and burned what needed to be burnt. A new wind blew in the family. Mr. Lee advised we go to a Bible Believing Church, which we did, and were taken through a series of deliverance sessions. We never missed church for anything. The head of the occult would come to the house and issue various threats. OH, but Jesus has been Faithful. To date, nothing has happened to us.  Our live in that occult group was a deception from the pit of hell.

Thank God that even while we were still in darkness he loved us and reached out for us in love.

Now l don’t know what you may be going through, what may be holding you bound or what you may be carrying inside. It could be it pain, anger or an addiction. I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT HE WHOM THE SON SHALL SET FREE IS FREE INDEED. Surrender it all to Christ and let him work on you. Whatever it is that may look or sound impossible to you is possible with God. Jesus is the way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the father except through Him. John 14:16.

Enough of the DECEPTION of the enemy! Let Christ in and watch him turn it all for your good. He is still calling out and reaching out for you ,please listen to His call and open up to Him

.

MAV-KAF WRAPS

The name Mav-Kaf wraps is the name of a hairstyle derived from the names of two women with the same hairstyle: Mavis and Kafui.

l woke up with an awesome idea one day to do a “unique or exquisite” hairstyle.

It took several days for me to finally decide on a style that would appear “unique or exquisite”. I decided to schedule an appointment with my hair stylist for my hair-do. I was extremely excited, but unsure about the journey I was about to embark on.

I went to the Salon around 10am on a beautiful Saturday morning with no expectation of learning a God lesson.

The hair stylist washed my hair, dried it, and started to braid a portion of it with the weave. During this process, l felt pain and whenever l felt more pain, l involuntarily pulled my hair away from her.   However, the stylist always asked me to sit upright and not pull my head away so she can complete the hair-do on time. By always pulling my hair away, I unwillingly delayed the stylist, thus doubling the amount of time I spent in the salon.  I quickly began to realize that it would take me 8 hours to complete my hair instead of 4.  It was uncomfortable for me to sit still for 8 hours despite the fact that I was allowed to stand and stretch my body.

When the stylist was half-way through, I utilized the short break she offered to examine the progress of my hair-do.  When l finally made it to the mirror, the first thing that came to my mind was, “How on earth did l get myself into this?” l was worried because it was not a good sight to behold. Honestly, if l had an option or an instant wish l could make, l would have wanted my normal hair back. In fact, I wanted everything to disappear.

Looking back, I realize I wanted to bring the hair project to a halt because l lacked vision and I did not see an expected end.  l could not envision what the hairstyle l had in mind would eventually look like.  I wondered how a beautiful Masterpiece would be the result of what my eyes were seeing.  On the contrary, l knew I needed to trust the hairstylist to do a splendid job.

You may wonder why l’m sharing all this.

God will always hide what is pleasing in what is painful, and if we are not willing to un-wrap the pain we won’t find the pleasure. – Rev. Tom Bright-Davies

l don’t know what you may be going through now. Those 8 hours of hair styling felt like 8 years. Your insurmountable situation may seem like it will never end or that change can’t come.  Also, when you’ve waited for something all your life, it gets to a point where the enemy wants you to feel and think that you’ve wasted your time and that the waiting was not worth it.  There are times he makes you feel like you are left out, forgotten and deserted.
However, from experience, l’m telling you that you are at the peak of that breakthrough you’ve been waiting for all your life. If you will hang on and hold on to God, His word, and His promises; you will see His Faithfulness. No matter how much the devil wants you to reason with him and deceive you with lies; never listen, delete his words, and treat it like an un-decoded message. Can darkness contend with light?

Even when l could not see clearly during the time my hair was being braided, was unsure about the possibility of a desirable outcome, and the pain making me feel like giving up; l chose to trust and believe in the abilities and expertise of the hairstylist.  Similarly, we must choose to trust and believe in God’s faithfulness, potency, and expertise to accomplish and bring to pass that which He has said concerning our lives.  Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For l Alone know the Plans l have for you, “declares the Lord, (Declare: – To announce something clearly or loudly). He made it known loudly to all of creation that He has a plan for your life. This alone should tell you how precious and significant you are to Him.

If we can stop and sit in a taxi we don’t know, tell the driver where we are going and in faith expect to get there, how much more God? We can also trust Hairstylists to design wonderful hairstyles for us, a Chef to cook the food we order, a Doctor to see what’s wrong with us and recommend a cure, a School to train us to excel in this world, a mobile network to give us the services we need, our employers to give us our monthly pay checks; WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO BELIEVE IN GOD AND TRUST HIS WORD.

Remember it is God who has promised to bring you to an expected end. It should not be your mission to uncover how He will bring you to the land flowing with milk and honey, but to believe in Him.  The Bible says God is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent (Numbers 23:19).  This suggests that if it is in His Word, He will surely accomplish everything.  I don’t know how God is going to fix my mess, but it’s not my problem.  If He wanted me to fix it He wouldn’t have made me a promise in His word in Proverbs 3:5-6 to ”Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Below you will see the picture of the end product of the hairstyle. Indeed, it was worth everything l went through. Bless you.