In 1997, I can remember waking up one of my first mornings in Ghana and sitting in the backyard of Kohain’s house watching the waves through the coconut trees crash against the rocks. I hadn’t even met Kofi yet. I remember wondering if I could ever own a property like this ANYWHERE, never mind Africa. Today, during one of my brief visits to the veranda, I looked out to Mommy waters and watched the waves through the coconut trees gently settle on the shore. The way that water looks against the blue sky can make you feel as though you are dreaming. I guess in a way, it is a dream, huh? A 13 year old dream.
So, today I chilled at home in Chalet 1 to get myself fortified for the upcoming week. I ate all day, so that means I spent a lot of time with Esi, who we hired as our cook. Esi is one of our OYC youth from at least 6 years ago. She was one of the students that we supported each year in school. She is preparing to go to cooking school in Takoradi soon. Esi’s sponsor is Isis, but still she is nervous that she will not be able to meet her school fees once she has started. I told her to focus on finishing up everything to get in so that we can know the exact fees. I think she feels better today about her opportunity.
I started off with fresh pineapples and oranges. Then moved on to soy beef chunks and brown gravy, rice, and carrots for lunch. Kofi was out getting gas to fill the tank for the stove, so she prepared everything in one pot on the small charcoal grill. It wasn’t the quickest meal, but it was very good. By the time Kofi returned in the evening, it was time for her to prepare dinner. She did curry potatoes, fried soy chx strips, carrots, and oranges. I had to coach her a bit, but for the most part, she remembered most of her steps and ingredients today.
My memory brings me back to a famous scene that only 3 people share from 13 years ago on the back veranda of Kohain’s house. It was to be my last meal in Ghana after 29 days of paying for each and every meal. And each meal was not that good. You see Kohain’s home had a restaurant at that time called Mabel’s Table, named after his Queen. It was a small and modest establishment with limited Vegetarian items on the menu. So we had to help them to create different meals for us. His property is called Mabel’s Table today and it has grown from that modest restaurant to a full scale guest house and motel with a two level restaurant. So, after a month of paying for each meal, I asked if we could get a complimentary “Welcome Home to Africa’ meal. They agreed and then went to prepare it for us. What that woman Suzie came back with folks… was the greasiest plate of fried rice I had ever seen. And when I tasted it, it tasted like FISH. Now family, you know I am not a violent person, but I can be dramatic at times when I feel like someone has disrespected me and/or my family.
The scene was me sitting, facing the ocean and eating. Suzie the cook was standing in between Kofi and Franchone facing me with their backs to the ocean. After tasting that fried rice, I saw myself, so CLEARLY, picking up that plate as if I was going to mash a pie in someone’s face and hurling it in between the cook and Kofi. Just clearing her that pie face of hers. I kept telling myself to exercise restraint Kojo and DO NOT THROW THIS PLATE. I asked myself, “Do you know what the family will say about you once they hear what you did to Kohain’s Cook?” Then I would think about the bill that we would get after EVERY meal and I would see me throwing that plate all over again.
I would calm myself down again and then taste that nasty fishy taste in my mouth again and the vision of the ‘flying plate’ would reappear. Now this all happened in a matter of about 2 minutes but it seemed like an hour of contemplation. I finally allowed for some wisdom to come in and decided that I don’t like this meal but Kofi would probably LOVE it. So I asked him if he would like it and he excitedly said, “YES!” But of course I did not let the meal go without me giving a little ‘tongue lashing’ to the cook. I told her how bad that meal was and that I can’t believe that she cooked my rice in USED FISH OIL. “AND you didn’t even give me my LAST meal for free. I gave you some of our clothes.” So it was bartering situation. She didn’t know what to say.
Franchone was quiet because she saw my eyes and heard the tone in my voice. She knew that Kojo was going to bring a little stinging energy tonight, but didn’t know exactly how. We laugh today about that scene because we both know that my reputation would have been much different had I allowed that ‘flying plate’ to leave my hands. LOL!! A decade later, I am training a Cook to prepare my meals EXACTLY the way that I want them. AND without giving her the clothes off of my back. LOL!
Today, I got caught up in emails and communicating with the family on-line. The communications are all a part of the fortification process. It’s good to feel that family love; even through cyberspace and across the Atlantic. Speaking of family, YUHANNA MADE IT TO GHANA. He was even held up at Immigration in Ghana with that VISA issue. So, I will have to speak to him and get clarity on what exactly happened. Anyway, he will spend the night in Accra and then head down this way to the Coast tomorrow am. I spoke with him and he sounded very good. He was very appreciative of all of our efforts to ‘WILL’ him here to Ghana and the string of communications to make sure someone would be in Accra when he arrived. He told me that Kimberly was such a blessing to him. He said if felt like she was a Mother making sure her Son was getting home. She called him at each airport (Ethiopia, Togo, and Ghana) making sure that he got on his flights on time. At one point, she gave him HIS itinerary of the flight plans. Yuhanna told me that he sent a special message to her home phone to thank her. Don’t even get me started on MY first flight to Ghana on Air Afrique. Anyway, thankfully Yuhanna had his phone with the Global plan in full effect. I am ON THAT my next trip here. Aba telling me that he reached Yuhanna on his phone in Rwanda was the start of easing our spirits about Yuhanna’s travels across the continent.
I met with Papa Mensah today to talk about some business ventures. We bought another refurbished laptop here to replace Kofi’s laptop since Kofi said he had fallen with it and it is not working properly. But when I got here, I learned that it just needs the screen replaced. So, I told Papa that I want him to go up to Kumasi and sell this refurbished laptop and use the money to fix Kofi’s. Hopefully, he will come back with extra monies for me, but I’d be happy with it just paying for the repair. We were going to bring it back into the states and get it repaired, so let’s try this. I decided that before I would spend this OYC money on the farm land, I will try to make some extra money every chance I get. Papa is my Computer Tech Son and has stayed true to his craft. I also told him that it appears like our dream of having a computer lab will be reality soon with the contributions from our new West Coast volunteer/supporter. We will talk more on that later. But I’m sure you all could imagine Papa’s excitement about that dream manifesting sooner than later.
Kofi and I met tonight about our Monday movements. We have multiple meetings and I need to show my face in the village tomorrow. It’s not that I will be moving a lot, but meetings and dealing with people’s agendas require energy. Everyone that I meet with always comes in with their own agenda. So, it is like taking on a new project with each person that sits down with me to talk. But you all know how much I enjoy getting inside of people’s heads so, there’s my balance. LOL!
Pull ups, shower and time to hit the bed. I love traveling but it’s always so good to be HOME. And HEY, it’s only 2 am; an early bedtime for me tonight…LOL!
“I’m awake, I have worked, and I’ve been blessed. It’s Time to Take Me Home!”
Love Family.
