School Is In!

September 22, 2010

Day 6 – School Is In!

FIRST OF DAY OF SCHOOL!!! Since we still do not have a wall up at Ocean Breeze, the children pass through the yard here to go to school. So we share in all of the excitement early in the am on the first day of school as the youth pass through to school; even though they can take the main road to school. Quiet as it’s kept, we know that word got around that OYC is meeting today, so the youth make the trek up the OB hill to be recognized by “Kojo Bey!” Everywhere we move around you hear young people from 5-25, shouting “KOJOBEY! KOJOBEY!” It annoys Kofi and some of the other Brothers out here; because they say that the youth know that they should be saying “Uncle or Mr.” It is partially my fault because there was another Brother that used to move around the village here with locs and a beard. We don’t favor at all, but to a young child…RASTA looks like RASTA. So, they used to call me “Japhiya! Japhiya!” and I would say, “No, Kojo Bey…Kojo Bey!” So, I guess in a way, it was Japhiya’s fault. He should have corrected them back then to call him “Uncle or Mr.” LOL!!

So today we are to pick up Yuhanna and his Queen, Rosalyn at 9 am and bring them back here for a 10am OYC meeting. The youth and some of the parents started coming up as early as 8:30am. Esi and Kofi came to me at about 7:30 to go over the plan and I decided that I would coach Esi through making the Continental breakfast in case Yuhanna decided to stay over. Since I HAD to be the one to play the guest that would eat the breakfast, I told Kofi to take the taxi that we called and pick up Yuhanna without me. Whenever I shock him with certain duties or orders, he stands there frozen and repeats what I told him to do like 2 or 3 times. Most of the time I just cut him off and say, “Yes, I want you to go….” LOL!!

So I ate my toast with strawberry jam, paw paw (Papaya), pineapples, apples, and orange juice. Very good. We have coffee and tea if they need that as well. Our Continental breakfast is ready for the menu. I told Kofi to call me when he reached a certain place on the way back so that I could call Esther to start on her way here since she too had to be at the first day of school to prepare her classroom. Kofi called from 3 different places on the way back, but I gave him a pass, since I know he was making sure I knew that our guests were fine and the driver was doing well by moving the travels along.

They arrived and I was IN IT with some of our children on their way to school. Hugging my little girls and fussing my boys out for not wearing the uniform; or wearing dirty, beat up uniforms. I know that it was a nice sight for Yuhanna and Rosalyn to see as they stepped out of the taxi. We greeted and immediately they asked, “Is there still beach front land available out here?” LOL!!! I love it! Everyone loves the view from up here and is immediately pulled by the beach and Mommy Waters. I had to go finish putting my crown on, because Yuhanna made it VERY clear that this was the FIRST time EVER that he has seen my locs. WOW! That said something to me. But I’ll hold onto that for another time.

I took them next door to meet Mama Adjoa like I promised her and they loved the vibes of her home. She was so happy to be entertaining them. I got my call from Esther that she is in and everyone is ready for the meeting. So, I had to cut the visit short and was surprised that Adjoa asked “Do you mind if I join, Kojo?” I didn’t actually play it out like Kofi does it, but in my mind I paused and asked, “You want to come to an OYC meeting? Why? Oh, I mean SURE?” LOL!! But my mouth immediately said, “Sure, let’s go Mama Adjoa.”

The meeting was great. I told the community that I was going to be brief and would have them up for another meeting to discuss at length the changes that OYC is bringing to the program. I felt the honor and pride pouring out of Yuhanna and Rosalyn’s pores as I spoke and Esther translated. I finished and gave the floor to Yuhanna. He gave a beautiful message about Pan-Africanism and his role as a Board Member of OBey. They received him and his message with plenty of love. He praised OYC and OBey and promised to do his part in providing resources and support to help with more progress. I asked Rosalyn to speak and she also gave a beautiful message to the community. She is a retired Nurse, so she came from that perspective. She reiterated my point about the parents doing their best to maintain holistic wellness with the youth so that they could have a chance at excelling in school. They loved her message as well. I then told Esther that she could close with the prayer. Then she looked over at Mama Adjoa and asked if she wanted to speak. I did the Kofi thing in my head again…”Oh, you want to speak?” LOL!! I know family, but you know how our children get when a guest comes by the house? They want to get all special and do things that they don’t normally do? Alright, enough said, you get it. But it’s all good in the hood.

We were finished in about an hour and took some pictures and video. Now I asked Yuhanna and Rosalyn did they want to walk down to the beach now or hit the school for a visit…Just chill here? They looked at the beach and then up at the school and said we’ll go to the school. Everyone was a bit shocked. Even Esther said, “You have time for the school you can go to beach.” Now Family, EVERYONE that comes to Brenu walks that beach. It is so mesmerizing and pulling. I was even surprised that they said school, because I knew that they were taking it as EITHER OR. That means that they are in a different mode than most on this trip. So, they answered Esther by saying, “Oh, WE SEE the beach from here Sis, we’re GOOD.” Hmmmmmm. Off to the school. We had a great visit at the school with the Teachers and students. I was told that they have a small farm and animal breeding pen there now, sponsored by a UK school that has adopted the Brenu School. Very nice. While Rosalyn took a seat outside the school to rest, Yuhanna and I had a chance to talk a bit. He asked me some questions that made some things VERY clear as far as his intentions and agenda. He spoke of the Rwanda mission that he is really passionate about and he finished by saying that one of his motivations to be a part of OBey was to learn how I have been doing what I do here in Ghana so that he could duplicate that in Rwanda. That’s flattering and very good insight. Then he asked me, “So what’s the relationship with you and The Kohain?” Alright, here we go! I told him how close our families were BEFORE I knew Kohain through Abishai and the Israelite order. Then I went into our relationship in Ghana. I told him that we have different roles. Kohain is high profile and political. (I know that if Councilman Yuhanna, President of the City Council I Mount Vernon, heard from my mouth one more time “I’m not really into all that political stuff” he was going to jump out of his skin. LOL!!) I told him that I do what I do and when I need to see Kohain I go and pull him away from his fans and call on The KOHAIN. He always answers my call and then he goes back to being Mr. Kohain to the people; and then I glide on off the yard and into the sunset. Yuhanna overstood. And then I told Yuhanna to do me a favor. I want you to ask Kohain to take you to their village, Iture. He was puzzled. I said, “Have you seen the village? “ He said, “Yes, after the bridge and down the road? I said, “No, not Cape Coast, but the village that is right down the road from the house with the people that gave Kohain his land.” He looked at me and said, “Oh, I wonder why he hasn’t taken us down there. Shouldn’t that have been the first place we should have been taken? Come to think of it Kojo, I don’t really like the way they treat their workers, especially the way they talk to them.” I just listened until he was finished. I gave him a brief history about how Kofi and his Brother Papa Mensah helped them get that restaurant going by working there for FREE. They weren’t even paid money for school supplies. He was a bit taken back. Then I explained to him that you see what I am all about, “Do you think I could really be around that energy too long? The only time that they and One Africa would see the warriors and the young people of that village was when I came around to drum.”

It was a good sharing and in the end we agreed that Kohain and I should work together whenever the opportunity presents itself. I told him that “Kohain is family, and I honor, respect and sing his praises for his gifts and follow through. There is no problem with us working together when it is harmonious for us to do so.” Cool, it’s all Good in the Hood! I told Kofi to call the car and we were off to OB to grab some food. I knew that Yuhanna and Rosalyn were anxious to get home, but I wanted to offer them some lunch since Esi had cooked for them. I asked, “What about some fruit?” They said, “We’re good.” They told us that they ate breakfast and that they were good. I had Esie and Kofi bring some water out to them and then some sugar loaf pineapples. I soon went out and that bowl was just about empty. Rosalyn said, “For folks that said they didn’t want some fruit we sure nuff ate this up, huh?” Brenu Pineapples are THE BEST! You can’t refuse it! LOL! So, I pushed it more and asked if they wanted some plantains to go. Yuhanna said, “YES!” Plantains in a bag, to go. Then I brought out some of Kimberly’s homemade vegan oatmeal raisin cookies. I asked them if they ate those types of cookies and Yuhanna smiled and said, “We do now.” I’m not saying that they didn’t feel comfortable enough to chill and eat, but I think I would have had to hold their hands a bit to relax them at OB. I didn’t have the ‘hand holding vibe’ on me because I had to get to some meetings in Cape and Elmina. But we’ll get the great Yuhanna back to OB again in the future. Overall family, it was truly an honor to have Yuhanna and Rosalyn visit OB. I love my family.
So off to drop the family off and then onto these meetings. First we went to KEEA office to pick up our new Board member, Mr. Kwofi. We walked into his office and he immediately ran down our list of runs and said, “Ok, Are we ready?!” Closed his windows and pushed us out the door. He said, “There is no need to waste time.” I LOVE THIS GUY!!! He walks like 3 paces in front of us but constantly looks back for us. You know I have to maintain my cool stride wherever I go; especially when I go to new places. When you don’t know the ins and outs of a place and you rush, you end up bumping into people, tripping, or bumping your body into something, etc…I have experienced that too often in the past, so I learned how to control my pace when walking. But, Mr.Kwofi is already down the hall and around the corner. But he keeps looking back for us. We went to the Director of the Agriculture Department to talk about testing the soil at the farm land that we are considering purchasing. We want it tested to see if the proper type of Mangos will grow there as they do in other parts of Ghana. Cool, he has our mission and is on the case. Mr. Kwofi is OFF and RUNNING. WE’RE OUT! Onto the next meeting in Cape Coast. We traveled to a chop shop (restaurant) where our next contact is having lunch and meeting with someone. He is the Head of the Sociology and Anthropology Department at the University of Cape Coast. He told us to go back to his office at the Univ. and he will join us very soon. While we were at the chop shop, I called our Government man, Mr. Appiah to ask about the type of mango that we should be growing. He’s another one that is very direct and all about getting the job done. He told me Kent and Keitt are the choice mangoes that are being exported out of Ghana to UK. Cool, I’m on it. I will pass this information onto the Director of Agriculture so that he can test for those specific type of mangoes.
We went to the University and met with the Head of Sociology, “Doc”. Doc is cool and somewhat favors Dr. Hayford, for those of us that knows him. In fact, Doc knows Dr. Hayford well and said something about him losing his Wife or something. I wonder if that is why we have not been able to connect with him. Anyway, I’ll search him out when I get back to the States. We were meeting with Doc because we needed recommendations for a Psychologist and Medical Doctor for our OYC program. Particularly, for the rehabilitation program for the child slavery rescue component. He called in one of his staff members who specializes in Psych and she heard all that we had to say and agreed that she would like to be a part of the program. Doc is very interested and agreed to call a well know medical Dr. in the area to be on board as well with us. Nice. Doc even took us to the DVLA equivalent of our DMV to inquire about me getting my driver’s license. Everything went well there and I will go for the license tomorrow. Doc drove us in his car and I am so DONE with public transportation. I move around too much to STILL be relying on public transportation to get me around. I HAVE TO GET ME SOME WHEELS.

So, we left the Doc and headed to Ayensudo, where Kofi and Mr. Kwofi will meet with the Chief and negotiate for the land for the OYC Youth Complex. Hopefully, they will get to view the land. I am still not showing my face in hopes that they will keep the price very low. Not long after I arrived at OB, Kofi comes in asking for 30 cedis for the Chief and Elders to show the land to them. WOW…here we go. “Didn’t we just stop and pick up Snaaps for them?! Alright, so what are we paying for now, Kofi?” Kofi says, “They want to show us the land, but want something for their time.” INCREDIBLE…but what can we do. This is their backward Ass corrupt and beggin’ way of doing business over here. Yeah, you can tell that I don’t do well with that dashin’ bullshit. So, Kofi headed back out with my 30 and don’t you know this guy returns not even 30 minutes later?! I looked at him and knew that we were in for “Another Episode of The KOJO AND KOFI show!!!!” I said, “What happened, Son?” He told me that when he returned the men had gone back to the village and left a boy to take the money to them. They told them that they will show us the land early in the morning. “Oh and Dad, my Uncle said that you should come too.” “Now wait Kofi, we have been avoiding showing my face so that the price will stay down, why would I show my face now BEFORE they have given us a price?” He’s giving me that look like, ‘I don’t know what you just said Dad, but this is how we do things in Ghana’ look. I asked him, “Don’t you think that if they see me, then they will bring the price up?” I SWEAR TO YOU ALL, this young man nodded his head yes but said no out of his mouth. You know I almost grabbed his face. I said, “Son, this is the stuff that I have been telling you that goes on between you and I when you are listening to your Ghanaian peeps instead of me. Why is it that ANY OTHER TIME if I decide I want to go along BEFORE we negotiate a price you tell me that Dad they will bring the price high if they see you. But TODAY you are telling me that the price will NOT go up?” He said, “Because my Uncle assured them that we are doing a community project so they can’t bring the price up now after seeing you.” I told Kofi that he should have stopped at, “Because my Uncle”…..STOP!!! I said, “Because your Uncle told you that I should come see the land so you have changed up your philosophy and the way that you know OBey handles business of this nature.” I told him to call his Uncle and tell him that I WON’T be going with them in the morning and any other time until they come out with a price first. He called and his Uncle agreed and assured me his intentions was so that I could see the land for myself to decide if we should even go further with negotiations or not. I overstood, but keep it moving. So, you all know that now since his Uncle agreed with me Kofi is in for a long night of lecturing and attitude. LOL!!

Isn’t it interesting that right at this point Papa Mensah came in from Kumasi with Kofi’s FIXED laptop and money for me. Family, you know when your mate disturbs you and if you didn’t get that energy off with them then you end up taking some of that frustration out on the children? Well, Papa CAUGHT IT from Kofi. He didn’t thank him for the repair. He just started right in on him about how late he was and how he sat the broken screen of the laptop on the top of the cover of the laptop and didn’t admit that he did the wrong thing. I let them go back and forth because I was doing some research on-line and then I had to get in it. I said, “Kofi, what the hell Son! Did you thank him for riding 4 hours up and 4 hours back and FIXING your laptop?! And he brought back some money for us! Damn Boy, relax.” He told me that it was I that gave him a job and he should have returned straight to me instead of taking on a couple of other jobs on the way home. I said, “Are you listening to yourself?! If it is about me, then let me decide if he did the wrong thing or not. He apologized as soon as he came in for being late, then gave you your computer and me some money. I’M GOOD !!!” He’s complaining that the lighting on the screen is dim and not as clear. The hood is scratched…I was looking at him like, you Damn Baby. His Brothers kept laughing at him and walking in and out of his wrath. It was kind of comical, but sad that he didn’t know how to redirect his embarrassment of the earlier incident with me in another direction besides his Brothers. He continued with the tight energy through pictures that I made him take of me and some of the boys. And you know I had him taking them over and over again. “No, that’s not clear enough…No, that’s the wrong angle…No, you didn’t crop it right.” Then I laughed and said, “It doesn’t feel good, huh? You’d better chill with your Brothers.” I also told him that I wish he would bring some of that fire and attitude when dealing with my business affairs instead of being such a nice guy out there. He tried to tell me that he brings the same fire, but through A LOT of smiling and laughing. So we know the deal.

We ended the night right with our nightly planning meeting. I showed him more family photos, which always gets him thirsty to see them and be in the U.S. I let him go early tonight since we have to start early tomorrow.

There were a LOT of dynamics to this day today that I couldn’t possibly fit in this entry, so I will find ways to bring them throughout the future ones.

Time to reach out to the family and get my dose of HOME.

“I’m awake, I have worked, and I’ve been blessed. It’s Time to Take Me Home!”

Love Family.