Christmas is always a fascinating time of the year in Ghana. Mainly because a lot of the Ghanaian people resident outside of our fair nation tend to come down to spend time with friends and family.
There are the Londoners, New Yorkers, Canadians all of whom are Ghanaian. Occassionally there are the German burghers, Italian burghers, Amsterdam burghers...all illustrious countrymen and women living in that fabled place called "abroad". You can always tell the Ghanaians coming in from "abroad" at this time of the year. As the plane touches down at Kotoka International Airport, they emerge usually clad in a winter jacket and can be often heard lamenting about the shocking levels of heat being emitted by the Ghanaian motherland.However, there is a small but undocumented breed of Ghanaians who are often overlooked; they are the Southern African Ghanaians (SAGs). SAGs are individuals who have spent most of their lives outside of Ghana living specifically in various countries in Southern Africa. You would be surprised at how many SAGs there are out there. Some grew up in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, some in Namibia, others were born in Lesotho or even Swaziland. This group remains widely unknown in Ghana because they tend to either live in Southern African or migrate to the US or Europe completely bypassing Ghana! These are my peoples! Well, this particular end of the year I'm excited because suddenly, it seems we' re invading Ghana en masse.
It all started with my big sis. announcing last week that she would be coming into Accra
from South Africa for some high-brow work meetings. On her flight, she found she was travelling with Uncle B and two of his sons. Uncle B. was my late Dad's really good friend from the days when bell-bottoms and platform shoes were a la mode. My big sis, big bruv and I all grew up together in Southern Africa with Uncle B's kids who we dubbed "our cousins in Lesotho". Unfortunately, I had not seen them since afros were still in fashion back in 1988. Although Uncle B.'s sons are well into their 30s, this was actually their first visit to Ghana! So last night was the surreal reunion. Uncle B. and my mum shared embarrassing childhood tales about who used to cry the most. In the meantime, I admired my cousins' heavily tattooed bodies and their fascinating "Suuth Eferican" accents. One of the cousins had some Adinkra symbols (similar to the picture above) tattooed into his forearm. At some point the big sis declared that there was not much to do in the fair city of Accra. Of course, at that point I slipped into defender of my city mode and alas, the dreadful onus is now on me to prove just how hip Accra is....*Yikes*
I'm currently racking my brain and compiling a list of cool places to hang out at that may impress these Johannesburg-esque hip types...*Alas* the list is looking pretty sparse: Honeysuckle, Monsoon, Aphrodisiac, Bywells, Tribes, Rhapsody's, ...oh dear I could not possibly take'em to Accra Mall could I?!
The SAG invasion continues; my buddy S. is also in town from the US. She is Ghanaian but grew up in Sierra Leone and we lived very close to each other in Swaziland for some years. We often lament that our Southern African language skills should really not be this appalling..How come my big sis could win any argument in Zulu or Setswana when I can barely remember how to say hello....*sigh*. S. has the most Ghanaian credibility. After all, she went to school and university here.
Just when I was realising that we could really start a small army of SAG invaders. My friend N. calls to say she is in town! She grew up in the US and Botswana and we both went to college very close to each other in Western Massachusetts. Her big brother Y. is another Christmas returnee based in South Africa. So forget Christmas Election blues, my peoples are here! Now, back to entertainment ideas....anyone got any? Even one? Half an idea would do!
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