They go through a lot




It was not just fine. Along the flyover at Circle, the dawn of bustling and hustling broke by the sirens of unstopping vehicles. As though, the sun will not set, she has arranged the sachet water in her tray and balanced it on her head. Moving round and shouting on dry throat, ‘Pure Water’, one mindless moving vehicle effortlessly glided over her. Causing her to lose a whooping one Ghana cedi worth of profit for the day.  This morning, her Madam counted the worth of five Ghana cedis water to sell. She took to the streets without water nor any morsel of food hitting her throat for the past week. She hoped to use the one Ghana cedi profit to get herself some food until this hope was dashed by some reckless driving. As she gathered the pieces of her life that was left after the accident, she continued her usual shout of ‘Pure Water’. Nobody turned to her service. In her wandering, she thought to herself, why wouldn’t nobody care that I was hurt? Why wouldn’t nobody mind to help send me to hospital? Thinking and minding nothing but her life, she found that life in the city is a solitary affair. Everybody minds their own business, less you want to draw the attention of an unwanted mob when you attempt to steal from another soul. At Circle, every soul is for himself or herself. But the one unanswered question that continues to bother and linger the minds of the simple, the vulnerable and marginalized in the Ghanaian city is where and when shall their help come? 

Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you

<script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5426249023201542"
     crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

Afoe is sixteen years of age. She is currently an SHS leaver who has moved all the way from North East Ghana. Visiting Accra was her dream from her school days, not to engage in water hawking but to school and probably end up being employed in a company that would pay her to be able to take care of herself and her impoverished family back home. The harsh condition of life caught up with her in Form One when her parents passed away through an accident, and had no one else to take care of her educational expenses. Her parents left behind three of her siblings who are in their tens and twelves. Feeding this family coupled with her education was such a huge task for her. She managed to engage in farm labour activities at home to earn little money so that by the time schools break, she might have earned something that could feed the family and also enable her travel to the city to hawk and make ends meet. This became her routine practice until she finally completed and then moved permanently to Accra to perch with an unknown family where she hawks pure water around Circle. 

After the car accident, she moved all the way to the basement of the Nkrumah statute at Circle where she sat right under the statute and went into a deep trance. It was not until a huge noise from an ‘exhaust pipeless’ tractor drove past. She awoke, and took off again. Walking down the lane, she was absent-minded and found herself remembering both the loss of her parents and the near-death accident she had where nobody minded about her life. This was the point I met Afoe and we had this conversation about DREAMS.

On this sunny day, the rays of the sun didn’t appear to scourge my dark hard skin but gave me a sort of inspiration. I found myself conversing with a ‘stranger’ I had yet to meet anywhere in Ghana, who shared with me her story that is worth telling the worlds both far and near. She tells me: ‘Sir, I have a dream.’ As though she was repeating the words of Martin Luther King Jnr, her approach and style with which those words were muttered from her mouth marked the difference between the great M. Luther King Jnr and this great individual. Eager to know what the dream was, I found first from her demeanor that she had a hungry looking face. A grimace, I thought to myself, she appeared to hide from me since our meeting. There I suggested we went for a lunch. Without hesitating, she agreed. We had our lunch, and we had the whole time in the world to listen to each other. Afoe is not only a needy young lady but also a very brilliant individual whose bright future was just about going down the drains because of circumstances.

Picture of hawking girls



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THE EROSION OF OUR IDENTITY: A CHANGING TREND OF BASIC PLEASANTLY PRACTICES AMONG THE ANUFƆ

THE EROSION OF OUR IDENTITY: A CHANGING TREND OF BASIC PLEASANTLY PRACTICES AMONG THE ANUFƆ Njakpien, ANUFƆ is your language. Whether you like it or not. LINGUISTICALLY, every language group, the world over, cherishes their basic drivers of their language such the forms of greeting (pleasantly exchanges), and home entry practices etc.  Njakpien,  The ANUFƆ have a rich, highly invaluable way of exchanging pleasantries. Very basic ones at that.  For instance, in the morning, a youngster deferring to an adult may greet squatting:  a) Nja ahin oo, Nbo ahin oo.  Elders may use:  b) Daa i nja, Daa i nbo.  Peers may use: c) Ya kɛrɛ daabiri daari sɛ? In the noon,  d) Nja awo oo, Nbo awo oo. Ya ni wiɛ kɛkɛrɛ n ti sɛ, juma fie ti sɛ, am tana fɛn di? etc. In the evening,  e) Nja ndo oo, Nbo ndo oo. Ya ni naasɔ di? Ya ni kɔnguɛ?  And several others. Very basic, very simplistic. Without ill- intention, we have relegated these forms of exchanges to th...
Read more

SHS LIFE GUIDE AS A BELIEVER

SHS LIFE- CHEREPONI  SHS 2017/2018 ACADEMIC YEAR. Start your days and academic adventures with prayer. RELIGIOUS LIFE Religious freedom is guaranteed and many religious bodies co-exist peacefully on campus namely Scripture Union (S U) and The Ghana Muslim Students Association (GMSA).  The Scripture Union has oversight responsibility over faithfuls of the Christian Religion. The same goes for the other group. Within the Christian group exists denominational /mother church groupings. These various denominations have separate services on Sundays and other week days. Membership to any of these groups is solely by registration upon admission into this school. In some cases,  dues are paid for commitment,  welfare and development of the Union. These Religious groups on campus don’t fight. Place this code on every page across your site and Google will automatically show ads in all the best places for you <script async src="https://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/...
Read more

We are mortals but blessed with divine qualities

Image
Njakpien, We are mortals but blessed with divine qualities.  Yesterday, the linguist of the acquatic realm. Mr. Crocodile, assembled all amphibians to a meeting to decide their new King.  In his usual signature back and forth trudging, he rung his adawuro, passing one settlement and another, both announcing and insulting. "Agoo, all idiots of the realm," he started. As you may be aware, the notorious old King is some few moons away from his grave. By way of preparing a successor, he has, by royal order, instructed me to announce to you of some thumbprint exercise on the seventh day of the seventh moon. Be warned that he will not go into his grave without this exercise being done. Before this time, some amphibians were in positions that the community of amphibians entrusted but they had not met the expectations of the community of amphibians because they elected to listen to a few favourite individuals. They were their all. I mean their all. Not the ones the community of amphi...
Read more