It’s time to be seen today. We are headed to Iture to Kohain’s to see Yuhanna and his Queen. Then we go to Cape Coast for shopping. It’s funny how people just start showing up at my door and my phone gets much more active when I finally venture out into the world to ‘see people’.
A young Taxi Driver whom I remember as a young boy throughout my years here picked us up today to take us to the Junction. I have always loved his energy and his poise. We decided to negotiate with him to take us on our ambitious mission next week. He came with some nice numbers and good enthusiasm, so he’s IN. I don’t think he has ANY idea as to what he is getting into, but he is young and this will be very good experience for him.
We traveled down to Kohain’s and wasn’t sure if Yuhanna was staying at Elmina Beach Resort or Kohain’s, but we figured Mabel’s Table would be a good start. They were all at the restaurant having their morning coffee when we arrived. It was a blessing to embrace Yuhanna and his Queen finally. It was good to see Kohain as well. Kohain was IN Pan African Orator mode. Today is a national holiday, Kwame N’krumah Day, so the energy is UP for him. In fact, I learned that Kohain was instrumental in getting this day to be recognized as a national holiday in Ghana. He has the gift and still has that magnetism. When Mabel came in, he usually settles down a bit so it gave me a chance to find out a little about Yuhanna’s journey in Rwanda. It sounds like Rwanda was very rewarding for him and is a place that feeds him. Kohain needed to go into town, so he decided to take Yuhanna to one of the castles today. Cool…We are out. So, we agreed to return early tomorrow to pick Yuhanna and his Queen up to bring them to Brenu to experience Ocean Breeze and OYC.
Off to the CAPE!!! Cape is soooooo much different from a decade ago. The open sewers are closed and people are not so enthralled with ‘foreign shoppers’. It was kind of like how Harlem is today. All ethnicities walking the streets of Harlem very comfortably and the Harlem community is not looking at them the same way they looked at them years ago. It actually makes it much more pleasant to find your flow when you are not the ‘center of attraction’ here in Cape Coast. I never really like going into busy cities anymore, but I do love going on missions. So, we went into Kotokraba market and purchased all that we will need for Ocean Breeze (OB) for about 2 weeks. We headed back to Brenu and I thought about how Nana used to love walking the streets of Cape Coast with young Brothers like myself at his side. He would walk and all you would hear would be shouts of, “ONE AFRICA!” “He Nana, ONE AFRICA!” and Nana would respond, “Hey Soldier, HOW?” “Soldier!” I miss Nana and am very thankful for the training that he provided for me during my early runs out here in Ghana.
Back at OB and it is lunch time. I am reminded by Kofi that our neighbor, Mama Adjoa, has sent over bananas the other day and wants to see me. I didn’t speak with her today because I was eating, but I will have to make it a point to stop over. After I ate I was excited to go out and supervise my youngest Son, Paa Ekow, as he worked on grading steps down the hill for our coming guests. I got my kicks on and you all know that excitement I exhibit when I am about to get into a project. That extra pep in my step. Then it hit me, right as I was exiting the gate. OH Adjoa! Alright, so I have to go change into my sandals so that it’s easier to take off and put back on in the house; change my shirt and find a gift for her. I brought respiratory tea. Not sure why, but I did. It was a great visit. I learned how much she is missing her husband, Kofi, who crossed over last year. She told me that he had lung cancer and was not being treated for it the two years that his condition was at its worse. She told me that she lived with a crazy smoker so she has respiratory issues at times, so the tea…well, I don’t have to say anymore, right? Their home is beautiful and it’s good to see that she is staying there more often now. My phone was poppin’ (for some reason…LOL!) while I was there. There was one call that I fielded that I had been waiting for. A gentleman that does the rescue of the children from the fishing village. I can tell from her reactions that she was feeling the mission and how I was handling my business. You see, essentially with this child rescue mission, the people that do the physical rescue are part of NGOs. They like to meet and talk and talk and go over procedures and proposals for the mission. You all know me and my way. Usually, I am good for a quick meeting to read people and then my ‘stuff’ kicks in to influence things to our advantage. But with this, I have no patience for the meeting stuff. I told them that I am going to Yeji, STRAIGHT AWAY. “Can you meet me at the waters to go get me ONE child?” He was very surprised and gave me a VERY tentative yes; which means that you are throwing me off and I have to find my balance now and see how I can come back to you. So, I allowed him to catch his breath and then he came with “Can you call me on Thursday to talk about the particulars?” I responded with “Yes Sir. We’ll talk on Thursday.”
So, now after years of watching me from a distance, Mama Adjoa is getting an intimate look at Kojo Bey, in her living room. She even told me that she traveled to the U.S. this year for about 6 weeks. One of her destinations was Las Vegas. Alright Most High, I get it! You want me to talk to the Queen. So, she got an earful today and then Esther finally arrived in Brenu and came by the house to pull me out. It was so good to see her 7 month old baby boy Otwidom or Kwabena. He took to me right away. We visited with Momma Adjoa with the baby for a little while longer and then left. Time for OYC meeting.
I caught Esther up on the new direction that OYC is going while Esi cooked dinner. By the time dinner was just about ready, we heard Kofi with a visitor outside. He walked one of our OYC girls to the door. Oh, Theresa. She came in crying. “Hey Theresa, why are you crying? What is wrong?” In fact, everyone knew what was wrong. Theresa is one of our middle school students that had dropped out of school the last term because you got pregnant. She had the baby and after one month the baby died. She was told by Esi to come up and see me and she was feeling so bad to come in my presence with all of what she just went through. Not that she is my favorite, but I always showed extra attention to her as she was coming up in the program. Anyway, I consoled her and spoke with her a bit. She told me that she wants to go back to school and I learned that she has stayed back a few times. She attends after school extra studies often so I am baffled as to why she has repeated so many times. We spoke about this during our meeting and came up with some good suggestions. I walked Theresa out and told her that we will talk about EVERYTHING another day when she is feeling better. She agreed and walked back to the village. I went and relieved Kofi of his painting duties and told him it’s time for the OYC meeting. He came up and we went for about 2 more hours talking about our plan and the changes to the program. We were all nodding to sleep from our long day, but we pushed through. I ended the meeting and tabled some things for another day. We have the meeting with the OYC families and school opens tomorrow morning so we have to get plenty of rest for the next day. As I walked out to take Esther down the hill, Kofi asked me if we were done and I told him “OF COURSE NOT! You know we do late late night meetings to prepare for OUR next day.” LOL! I walked Esther down the hill and came back to meet with Kofi. I broke up some of the business talk by letting Kofi listen to some of my new songs. Kofi is a Kojo Bey fan, so he likes the songs that come through. Even in the raw form that they are in. I have a group of them that he has not heard, so he was excited to listen. I let him listen to about 3 and “Familiar” was his favorite. He, like everyone else that has listened to it, LOVES that beat. He was singing with it and kept requesting to listen to it over again. Very funny. He loved Niaimani’s part and asked if I could record a song with him one day. I told him that I came so close to bringing my equipment this time, but knew that my bags were already heavy. So, I will have to bring some recording equipment here to get some of those concepts out at OB. I have already been visited by two songs since arriving in Ghana. So, I have my little recorder to at least get the idea out. Oh speaking of getting ideas out, I forgot to tell you that Adjoa is working on her book here. As we spoke about my history in Ghana, she interjected with “Oh, I will have to change that in my book. I thought you were here 8 years before us. So, now I know the exact date.” Oh, so that is two people in one month’s time that has talked to me about Kojo Bey being in their book. Imahkus was the first during a conversation I had with her before I traveled here. Alright, I guess it’s time to start thinking about my own book, since others see my story to be worthy of mentioning in their books.
Time to hit the bed at a decent our tonight. Looks like I will go down by 12:30 am tonight. Tomorrow will be a BANGER of a day if we accomplish all that we have on the calendar. But with proper rest, I’m up for the challenge. Time to hit my COLD shower. LOL!!
“I’m awake, I have worked, and I’ve been blessed. It’s Time to Take Me Home!”
Love Family
