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Ghana Association of the Capital District of New York State
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JAK LEADS AFRICAN UNION TEAM TO SUDAN

A former president of Ghana, John Agyekum Kuffour, is expected to leave Accra, Saturday evening for  Khartoum, as the head of a high-power delegation from the African Union (AU), to monitor and observe elecetions in that country. The General elections in Sudan is scheduled for April 11th - 13, 2010. 
The delegation which also includes the First Deputy Speaker of Ghana's Parliament, Honorable Edward Doe Adjaho, who is representing Pan-African Parliament, will join other electoral monitoring and observer teams from China, the European Union and the United States. The African Union (AU) team led by the former President is expected to make an independent and impartial observation of the electoral process in line with the Union's current guidelines on elections and observation.
 The guidelines require the team to determine and report on whether conditions on the ground existed for voters to  freely exercise their voting rights. They are also expected to report on the level of of fairness in terms of access to the media by all the contending political parties.
The general elections in Sudan is to elect a President and representatives of the people to form the Sudan National Assembly. 
As an African, I am very proud that another African country has decided to choose the path of democracy and to put the welfare of it's people at the fore, and to end the civil conflicts and wars that has deprived most of these countries and it's people of basic neceesities of life and development. As a Ghanaian, I am even more proud that we can give back to our sister nations no matter how small, in contributing to peace and stability and showing by example that it can be done and that we Africans can have democratic governance. I believe once there is stability there will be development, and with development comes the eradication of poverty. 
N'kosi Sikeleli Africa. (God Bless Africa) God Bless Our Homeland Ghana.

TIPS FOR GOOD HEALTH AND FITNESS

Life and health, will seek to discuss very simple ways to keep healthy and enjoy life without the cost or drag that is believed to be associated with keeping fit. Many people take their lives and health for granted and take very little care of themselves, until they are very sick or wake up one day,and look into the mirror and see what they have become and then run to their doctors or to the gym and physical trainers and expect instant miracles. As the old saying goes, " a sound mind duels in a sound body".  Therefore it behoves on every person to take very good care of his or her body, so as to to have a sound mind. A person's ability to function and perform at his or her best is dependent on how they feel physically, psychologically and as some people believe spiritually. It is only when a person is well balanced or when all three are in sync at the right levels that he or she performs  at his/her best. The African believes that 'man' is  made up of a body and soul and the two parts have to be in harmony for the individual to be healthy.  
Although the human body is almost the same in 'blue print' among all races and cultures, people are very different and unique in every way as science has proved through fingerprinting and DNA.  It is this uniqueness that has to be taken into consideration when it comes to one's life and health needs. What works for one person might not necessarily work for another. There are however some very basic and common ways of taking care of one's self that is common to all humanity.. In order to be able to take very good care of one's self, stay healthy and enjoy life, there are three things that you have to or should I say need to know, do, and understand. 1. Know who you are. 2 Love 'you' or yourself.  and 3. Know exactly what you want for yourself or body and be committed enough to a regimen that will help you achieve it.
1. Why do you need to know yourself?. 
The answer to this question is simply that, you or your body is different from the next guy. What works for the other guy might not necessarily work for you. Our bodies' metabolic rates are very different. One person might eat all the greasy junk food and not put on a pound. The other person only needs a burger or two and they may look like an inflated teddy bear. There is also the issue of lifestyles; what a person does for a living, how active they are and other things that go into their daily routine. What a person eats and how much of it also affects a persons life and health. Dieticians and the United States department of Agriculture advise the eating of a well balanced and healthy diet or meal. A balanced diet is defined as a diet or meal that has in it all the food groups in their right proportions- the food pyramid. (Food groups being, Carbs, proteins, fats and oils, minerals and vitamins).  We will delve into how to eat right sometime later.  However the main purpose of eating is to provide energy for everyday activities and the building and repair/replacement of worn out body parts, such as the skin. Therefore any excess food taken into the body is only a waste. A healthy body only makes use of whatever protein needs that it has and gets rid of what it does not need. If the body is unable to rid itself of the excess protein, it becomes toxic to the body. There is therefore no need to over eat a lot of protein, especially in adults, unless one is diagnosed of protein deficiency. Similarly, the body requires energy for everyday work, and this it gets from the sugars produced from eating carbohydrates. However any excess energy that is not used up is converted and stored by the body for it's future need. Some of this stored energy if not used, is later converted to fat and stored for insulation. Therefore if one keeps eating a lot of carbohydrates, fats and oils without the corresponding work to burn these food nutrients and energy, one risks gaining weight. (We will discuss the risks of weight gain and obesity later).
2. Love yourself:
Principally people take good care of the things they love. In the same way, a love of oneself will make a person take better care of their body and health. This is not to imply that one has to be obsessed with one's looks or appearance. It is just to say that one has to care about one's self enough to be careful about what they put in their body and their health. It is this love of one's self that will make a person make the choices and decisions that will lead to a good life and healthy living.
3. Know what you want and be committed to it:
Knowing what one wants and staying committed to it, is a necessary ingredient in every aspect of life And since been healthy is a necessary requirement to enjoying a good life, one has to make being in good health a number one priority. 
It doesn't take much to stay on top of one's health, if you start making the right decisions very early in life and stick to them.
A number of things have been identified to be dangerous to our health and yet we still do them. Smoking, excessive drinking, eating a lot of junk food and very little physical excercise. Just eating a simply balanced diet, abstaining from some bad habits such as smoking and excessive drinking and a little bit of everyday exercise can go a long way to keep a person in good health.  Simple exercises such as walking up the stairs instead of taking the elevator, walking to the corner store instead of driving or taking the kids to the park to ride your bicycles and enjoy the outdoors instead of sitting in front of the TV set or playing video games will help keep one healthy. 
If a person indulges in or can't quit completely some of the habits that are dangerous to their health, the word for them here will be moderation. Taking good care of yourself through some of these small steps will go a long way to save you trips to the doctor and a lot of expenses.






Ghana National Anthem
God bless our homeland Ghana,                                                 
And make our nation great and strong,                                                                                                               
Bold to defend forever                                                                             
The cause of freedom and of right                                                            
Fill our hearts with true humility                                                             
Make us cherish fearless honesty                                                          
And help us resist oppressors' rule
With all our will and  might for evermore


Hail to thy name  O Ghana
To thee we make our solemn vow
Steadfast to build together
A nation strong in unity
With our gifts of mind and strength of arm
Whether night or day, in the midst of storm
In every need whate'er the call may be
To serve thee, Ghana, now and evermore


Raise high the flag of Ghana 
And one with Africa advance
Black star of hope and honor
To all who thirst for liberty
Where the banner of Ghana freely flies
May the way to freedom truly lie
Arise, arise O sons of Ghanaland
And under God march on forevermore
 
 
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