Mondays are special days for me whenever I am in Healing House mode. Las Vegas was where I decided that Mondays would be my special “Sabbath”. When everyone else was going back to work, I would be celebrating on Mondays as if it were a Saturday or Sunday. Kojo means Monday born, so I said, hey, why not? Then there was the time when I was in Las Vegas at a major career crossroads in my life, I shut down and went inside myself to find my answer. It was 1993 and I took one week off from the world, including work and social interactions. I only came out of my room when I needed something to drink or had to use the bathroom. I fasted, prayed, listened to Stevie Wonder’s “Innervision” over and over and over for days. When I ‘came out’ of my ‘Innervision fast’, I channeled a vision of this Healing House that was hovering off of the ground on top of a mountain and it was surrounded by Divine Warriors. Yes indeed, I found my answer. Oh, the question?! Corporate or Self Employment? It became clear to me. There is a healing house somewhere inside of me waiting to be born. And it will be on a mountain or hill protected by Divine Warriors. Yes family, that in fact was the vision of Ocean Breeze.
So today is Monday and I am a bit annoyed that I actually scheduled meetings today. But it’s turning out to be easier than I thought. Esther went back to Accra and was too tired to travel to Brenu with the baby. Kofi was not able to reach our Surveyor to come and meet. And it was getting towards noon before our KEEA office Representative showed up with Kofi’s Father, Mr. Eghan. I was making my rounds at the different Chalets and making notes of tasks to be delegated when they found me. We met and I found out that this is another Government resource that will be very helpful for any and all of our endeavors. Mr. Kwamena Kwofi. Literally, his name means Saturday born Friday born. We had a good laugh about that, because he didn’t know I knew the meaning of the names. And then we laughed about him carrying two surnames. He is a childhood friend of Mr. Eghan’s and has taken Kofi and the brothers as his Nephews. He has worked with KEEA for over 25 years and is in a position where he links businesses together to create Cooperatives. KEEA by the way is our Regional Government Office. The acronym is a combination of the different districts in the Region. By the time we finished the meeting and he directed us in the proper direction, I asked if he would be interested in joining our Board of Directors of OBey Foundation (Most likely the Ghana Chapter ). He accepted and will give me his CV tomorrow. He moves fast and told Kofi that as soon as we finish this meeting he wants them to run to the next village called Ayensudo to speak with the Chief about negotiations for land to build the OYC Youth Complex. I Love this Guy! Anyway, he listened to all that I had to say and gave some very good insight and took plenty of notes. I could see that he was a bit surprised at all that came out of the ‘Rastas’ mouth. Yes family, it is virtually impossible to escape being called or thought of as a Rasta. Locs and beard…RASTA! Anyway, if he follows through with all that we have to get done this week, then he is going to be a VERY valuable resource for years to come. He is also a Certified Accountant, so he offered to lead the training of the individuals that we decide to offer micro loans to.
So off to Ayensudo they went; Mr. Kwofi, Kofi, and Mr. Eghan. I will wait behind for the reports. In the meantime, Kohain called me to tell me that Yuhanna had arrived at his house in Elmina. NICE. I spoke with Yuhanna and he was even more thankful for the efforts after dealing with Accra traffic and the long ride to the Coast. I told him that we are family and that I am very happy that he and the Queen made it safely to Elmina. I told him that we will pick him up on Wednesday to include him in the OYC meeting. He’s in the hands of the Kohain. LOL!
As I am eating lunch today, I went to my calendar in my Outlook and discovered that my Outlook was downloading my emails. I first thought it was just old emails that were just sitting and just showed up in my inbox. But NO, more just came in. So, I replied and WHAT?! They ‘sent’ and I received ‘replies’…WHAT?!!! My OUTLOOK IS ALIVE!!!! I live in Outlook and did not realize that I could use my outlook with this space modem in Ghana. But I get it and can’t believe that I didn’t realize it sooner. So, please excuse my excitement, those of you that kept getting my “WHAT?! My OUTLOOK IS ON!” messages. LOL!!
Anyway, I went to Outlook to plot our runnings on my calendar. As I plotted obligation after obligation, my month was looking shorter and shorter. In fact, it made me a bit anxious about possibly not getting everything done. So, I started making calls to set appointments up and made strong decisions about my travel plans. Next week is looking serious, but will be filled with adventure if we can pull it off. No need to talk about the miles that we will cover until we are IN IT next week. So stay tuned.
Kofi returned and gave me a good report that the Chief is interested and invited us back on Wednesday to meet with his Brother that handles most of the business and land dealings in the village. It looks good that we may get the 20 acres or more for the Youth Complex in Ayensudo. This is different from the 40 acres of farm land from another neighboring village. With the help of our new Board Member, we will have a Representative from the Agriculture District Office go out to take samples of the farm land to see if it is feasible for us to grow Mangos there. They grow everything out there but in order for us to be part of the future game of farming in Ghana; we have to get into the Mango business. This bit of advice came directly from our friend, Mr. Appiah , Minister of Trade and Industry for Ghana. Who himself has invested in a Mango plantation to live off of once he retires. So samples and testing it is. If the land and environment is good, then we’re good because the numbers look good. If not, then we have one or two villages to travel to take a look at their land. These are sites where we KNOW there are mango plantations around.
As I am typing this, I am thinking about Kohain inviting me the other day to a social gathering in Dutch Komenda where there is a community of Returning African Descendants living there. Anytime they invite me out to these social gatherings, I always feel like “am I becoming anti- social?” Because family, I have never gone to these things unless someone is doing something and I drum there. Then I snap back to myself when I think, “I don’t do social gatherings in the States!” Unless I am DRUMMING. PLUS, DO YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I HAVE ON MY PLATE?! LOL!
I’m laughing right now because I am bored with stringing today’s event in ‘story like format’. I am going take a page out of my family’s books. They always have a lot to tell me when I have been running around, so they write down bullets of ideas and events. I laugh, but it is effective. So here are mine:
My Voltic water has a bit of an after taste now. I’m not feeling that since you all know that is MY WATER. I will travel to the market tomorrow to test out some other bottled water. I think they changed the bottles, which may have changed the taste.
Kofi, my Son, is wearing so many hats here for me. He was overjoyed when I told him of our new plan for OYC and Ocean Breeze. He is going to start going to school at the University soon for a distance learning course. He is in pursuit of a diploma in Business per the advice of Mr. Kwofi. I think it is a good idea and will help to stimulate his life. He is doing it all to better himself for the family business. Good Job Son!
Kohain has stepped it up with the Yuhanna stuff as he has been following through with reaching out to me to give me updates. He even gave me some insight on his movements this week and invited me to move with him. Maybe Yuhanna has something here with the “Can’t We All Just Get Along” philosophy. LOL!! Anyway, it’s good to be in touch with Kohain.
Esi and I started preparing a list of dishes for the Ocean Breeze menu. We were working on the concept of the Continental Breakfast today. We will go shopping tomorrow to pick everything up to put it into practice.
Papa Mensah called me from Kumasi and told me that he has a buyer for the laptop and they will pay 300 Cedis. Cool. That will pay for the repair of Kofi’s laptop and give us a little more money to play with.
Yes family, we have invested well here in Ghana. We invested in GOOD PEOPLE. You make SELFLESS investments in Good People and your returns will be Divine. Did you happen to get your OYC solicitation yet? We need an automobile out here…LOL!!
“I’m awake, I have worked, and I’ve been blessed. It’s Time to Take Me Home!”
Love Family
