City Living

Before I get into how life has been for me during the many weeks that have elapsed since my last few feeble posts, let me make you a promise that I will try to get a more substantial post up in the next week or so and apologize (though without any guilt whatsoever--it couldn't have been helped!) that I have not been posting regularly.

The latest update from our Ghana cohort, a sketch of our life in the village of Oguaa written by Kathleen Ryan, one of the five of us in Ghana, is available here, if you care to peruse and get a better picture of our daily life in there. Now that I am sharing it with you, though, it is a bit outdated; on April 17, we moved from Oguaa to Kumasi, Ghana's 2nd largest city, where we have begun working at orphanages and creches (nursery schools). It is good to be back among some of the more familiar things in life--I missed my commute to work by tro-tro, and internet access is more convenient now--but I miss Oguaa and its people. I miss Nana, the grandfatherly chief whose constant refrain is "Come and chop!" (Come and eat!) and "Afriyie, wodaa yie?" (Jessica, did you sleep well?). I miss Sewaa, the chief's sister and constant presence in my daily life who makes me wish only to be that energetic, caring, and lively in my old age; her tears of goodbye triggered mine when she wept, "Yerenfere mo; nrefere yen." (We will never forget you; do not forget us.) I miss Akwasi, my 14-year-old (or 9-year-old, depending on who you ask) friend whom I would help every night with his homework and who would sometimes bring me mangoes or call me to check in when we went on trips, and who still calls me almost every day. I miss Malia, my 4-year-old host sister, who would come grab my hand and say my Twi name, "Akua!" when I emerged early each morning from my room. These are people I will never forget.

And yet, as I said, life has moved on, and now I am getting to know Nana Amma, my 32-year-old host sister, her 18-month-old son Kofi, and her mother Ma Afia and my new route to work at Swift Montessori (catch a car to Kotei, then from there take one to Tech Jct, where cars are waiting for passengers like me who are going to Anwomaso). But more on this later! For now best wishes as we close out April, and greetings to all!