Talk:Samuel Koranteng-Pipim/Why and Excellence

"Why" and "Excellence" Bible lectures
In his contribution to the moral and intellectual transformation of the African people, Pipim conducts regular Bible Lecture series on major African university campuses, both secular and religious. Among these are his “WHY” and “Excellence” series. These lectures grew out of presentations he first gave to different groups in the United States, but which he now adapts for students, faculty, and staff on African university campuses. Believing that the “African mindset” is the problem, and not the “African mind,” Pipim's lectures his audiences to think differently, take responsibility for the destiny of their lives, their institutions and their nations. He frequently tells his audiences to “change the world, by first being changed.”

Imploring students to be part of the solution in transforming the African situation, Pipim insists that there is no reason to wait until after school. “If not now, we're late,” he says. He believes that the change that he thinks Africa needs today can be (or must be) brought about by its young people. But he argues that the first step in changing Africa is to clearly understand the nature and true cause of the problem. This step calls for critical thinking and the asking of some relevant “Why” questions. Hence his “Why” lecture series. The titles of the “Why” lectures are rhetorical in nature, providing biblical solutions to everyday questions he considers relevant to students and to the larger African society.

The change Pipim is promoting is one which moves Africans from the “chicken mindset to eagle mindset,” from mediocrity to excellence. He derives the chicken/eagle metaphor from the statement by James E. K. Aggrey (1875–1927), one of his esteemed African role-models: “My people of Africa, we were created in the image of God, but men have made us think that we are chickens, and we still think we are, but we are eagles. Stretch forth your wings and fly! Don't be content with the food of Chickens.”

As the title of the “Excellence” series suggests, Pipim invites Africans to aim high, to strive for excellence in all aspects of life—academic, professional, and spiritual. For example in his lecture titled "The Need for Excellence" or “Shine Like Gold” (here, “gold” is a metaphor for such desirable virtues as diligence, integrity, selflessness, simplicity, compassion, patience, kindness, and others), he urges his fellow Africans: “Don't lose your gold; don't substitute brass for gold; and don't be content with anything less than gold.”