• He said that when you don’t prepare for your life by age 40, chances are you will find it difficult the rest of your life.
• He said that when you get married, attend the same church with your spouse and children, it brings unity. The children may change their minds when they leave home but the spouses stay together.
• He said when you think of money, think of long term but short term counts
• He said train your children in the way they should grow, trust them to experience the rest and make the best decision.
• He said never tell your children that you were not good in school. Chances are they might follow. Even if you do, make sure you tell them the great part: you won in the long run.
• He said show your children how much you love your wife, for they will follow you.
• He said the best form of investment is real estate. It takes a long time to build but it is long lasting, come hell or high water.
• He said build your own house. It is not a nice sight, seeing an old man living in an apartment and struggling to pay rent.
• He said live your life so that when you retire, you can tour the world and see the most beautiful places of the world.
• He said never rush in life. Take it one step at a time.
• He said for everyday of your life, look at the next five to ten years.
• He said you can never make it not giving thanks to God.
• He said never forget to pay your tithe because all the money you make or get is not yours. Give God His share.
• He said investment in a human being is one of the best investments you can make.
• He said make sure you know somebody because networking will get you to where you are going less stressfully.
• He said always learn to give, for it will come back in many forms.
• He said never lose hope.
• He said it is better to do your own work if you want to make your own money than work for the government.

the delicate woven web

I’ve talked about the strength of the anthttp://eddiebonney.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/the-ants-strength/  before but then recently I was thinking about something I heard years ago, and then I saw the wisdom too that the spider possesses. We can learn a lot from this insect expect from destroying its webs all around our homes.

I’m sure you have seen spider webs before in the corners of your home all over, you brush them up and then some days later you still find new webs being made. Right? Sure you have unless you live in…. That’s the character about the spider I have come to realize. The spider is so wise that it builds its home up in the corners of our homes in order not to have anyone or anything disturb it but surely you are I are always out against them destroying their homes and trying to kill them because they make our homes dirty so even right there in the corners we get them.

Have you realized that everything the spider needs to survive comes from its body? Its silky lines that it uses to build its home; when it wants to capture an insect for you, it silk does it easily because anything gets stuck in the web but the spider doesn’t because it produces oil that enables it walk across the web.

So what I’m I saying? The spider is a very interesting insect. It doesn’t give up in any situation. Even when the home is destroyed, its environment is gone, it doesn’t lose faith. Why? Because the spider knows that he can’t start from scratch again. He can build again. He has everything he needs to start life all over. One event cannot get it down. It doesn’t give up. Yes! The spider!

Maybe something awful has happened in your life and you feel, this is the end, I can’t make it anymore, life is over, and it can’t continue without him or her or this thing, be like the spider and start all over. Life isn’t over yet. Like the spider knows that God never makes a mistake and He is still watching and God hasn’t given you everything you need to make it in this life. The things or people or the opportunities may not seem to be there but believe me they are. Just trust God enough and continue, pick yourself back up and build that web all over.

Have you ever since a spider fall from such a long height? It doesn’t die by the fall. It survives! How? By producing more silk from its body it makes the fall slow and safe. Look, if life hits you in the face, people you love so much betray you, mum and dad get divorce, you have a terrible breakup, keep believing and start producing silk, keep believing that it will also get better. No condition is forever permanent. It can’t last forever. The problems will only be stepping stones to greater heights if we see them as such. Keep believing, and keep producing that SILK!

Passion! I want you to say passion. Come on shout it. PASSION! I know I feel like a pastor in here but there’s some serious issue we have to address. Some define it as an intense emotion and blah blah blah… I want you to look at it in your own words. It is high time we operationalised certain key words for life. Let me ask you these questions?

•   Do you have a passion for life?
•   If yes, what is your passion for life?
• If no, why not? What keeps you going?

Without passion for living, without passion for life, your life will be fruitless, unsuccessful, a failure, etc. I don’t care what dreams you have, what plans you have, which people you know. You may have all that but if you don’t see the essence of living, the meaning of life, the value of life…then all those dreams, plans, aims, networks…will not work out. As a matter of fact, if there’s no passion there cannot be any dream…any future.

I can almost hear someone saying of course that’s something I know. It’s nothing new. Yeah it is but how many people still have that passion for life in its entirety? Wait a second; what do you think about people who try to commit suicide or those who actually do it. Most of them want to take their lives because they don’t see the reason for living anymore. They are tired of living. Right? You know why? Because there’s no passion anymore.

You can have passion for a second. Everyone does have some sort of passion but guess what? PASSION can run out and when passion runs out you know the outcome…people try to take their lives, get bored with life, get depressed, get stuck.  For your passion to grow or run out depends on your source. And so my next question. What is the source of your passion for living?

If the source of your passion is fame, wealth, people, your job, your family, your society, your position, that bank account…what happens if those elements pass out, run out or is no more. Tell me what could happen to a person like that? Unless there’s another source or essence to continue living they get bored with life and you know the rest that follows with time. Don’t put your passion for living into things that are temporary… I know you know what things are temporary in this world. If you don’t know, ask yourself these questions if you want to know if your source is temporary. Can this thing ever run out? Is it permanent? Is it a life-long source?

You have to know that no-one can make you happy in this life but you yourself. Everything else that you depend on could go wrong, and then where else would you turn to. NOTHING! I have this theory that happiness is a state of mind. Just like passion, you make yourself happy. Definitely so long as we are all human, things are bound to occur but it depends on what or who your source is.

That’s why we have God that we all need to look to; we know that everything in this world is under His control. If everybody fails you, God won’t. Opps! Point of correction…WHEN everybody fails you, God won’t, when your plans fail, He says the plans that He has for us, no eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man the things has in store for they who love HIM, when your money runs out, He would still help you make more because he owns the universe, (Imagine a source having everything in the world belonging to Him), when family is no more, He brings people your way. Your source -passion for living should be GOD and YOURSELF. Make those two beings your passion for living. Those two CAN NEVER RUN OUT! If it feels like nobody wants you, He still wants you and needs you…who knows? you could be the leaning pillar and foundation for someone’s life. When you’re bored and stressed up with the elements of this world, ask Him for strength and know one thing; He’s with you every step of the way.

I said two sources, right? Now yourself! I know now that’s difficult because if you find yourself in stressful environments it is difficult to pull inspiration out of your being. Find reason to continue going on.  Remember I said it is difficult but not impossible. It can be done.

1. Never give up on yourself.
2. Never say you can’t do it.
3. My personal favourite NEVER SAY NEVER!
4. You are the best source of passion for living. Don’t be intimidated by anybody and don’t let anyone or anything get to you. You are better. In fact you are the BEST there is. There can be no other first or same you apart from you…the only thing someone could be close to you is second. There’s no-one like you. That should ginger you every morning to live as long as He permits you.   

Grand-pa we always use to call you. The senior-most father we were blessed to have. It had always been fun when you were around. You lightened everyone with your contagious jokes especially with us children about your days of old and stories about our parents and the way they were sometimes troublesome and how you brought them up well. It was more fun when they told us about your youthful days in exuberance and manly exploits. Sometimes hearing about you made us wish you were our father but God knew why he made us your grandchildren and we say we love you so because you were the best grand-pa God could ever give to us.

We all take turns now to look up to the heavens where we know you look down upon us smiling at the wonderful life you gave us. We look now, not at the few times we shared with you but the little moments that look our breaths away when you had us in your arms. Your smile, your speech, your handshakes, your hugs and your love we will always remember.

We, your so many grandchildren and gorgeous great grand-daughter that life blessed you with take a vow, to be the best we can ever be so that the whole world will know that we had a grandfather who bequeathed his many good qualities (love, honesty, respect, hard work, integrity, truth, discretion, faithfulness, discipline and above all, humour) to us, made us who we are today and who we will be tomorrow.

We remember the many times when you told us that, “life’s opportunities come and go but those who make it, grab the best of them,” and so we will.

The last days of your life were sad because even by your bedside you could not share jokes with us anymore due to you deteriorating health. The fleeting nature of time took you away from us and deep down in our hearts though we know it brings us pain, we rejoice all the same because we know also that you are in a more peaceful place with the Father of this world who gave and who has taken away.

Grand-pa we say rest in peace. We love you!

Edwin Bonney

Well, I know for quite sometime I haven’t really written anything on the blog for my many viewers. I ask for your forgiveness but this new ground in the university has really been taking a toll on me, but like a new friend I met keeps saying, “…by His Grace we are pulling through.” Yeah yeah yeah! I know that isn’t really an excuse for not writing but that’s the whole point, it’s not an excuse, things are really challenging, running from one lecture hall to the other on this premier university of Ghana. The campus territory is vast, huge, large, enormous, all the other words that don’t fit…lol. On a more serious note (as if I was joking anyways ), the university is big, that’s why I said running from one lecture hall to the other and finding food for my stomach, another daily activity but I’ll tell you all about that pretty soon. Right now I want to deal with some other current serious issue going on here on campus, permit me but I’m not on your campus. I can’t write what’s going on there, unless you tell me and the whole world.

                You wouldn’t believe it, I didn’t but after going through it, now I know it’s POSSIBLE!!! Can you believe I came back to school from home – surely you can believe that… Thing is when I returned I came and was told my hall water wasn’t flowing by my room-mates. Ok, fine, I could live with that. Water could stop flowing due to some fault. I went to see a friend of mine in another hall and he disclosed to me that there was a notice saying that there was not going to be water flowing through the campus for at least 10 days. The last part bored me…at least 10 days! Well it’s been day three and all is going on well; there’s enough water in the tanks to last a long while…I hope? At least in this respect the school has done a lot to curb the pressure on students. Looking at this huge establishment which is now 60 years old, it’s thinkable that there could be a little mismanagement since it is government oriented, but it’s doing pretty fine! More grace to their elbows.   

             “Worry is a misuse of the imagination,” a statement by Dan Zadra. I read this on my wall this morning when I woke up. That was the day’s quote according to the calendar I printed out, made my Catherine Pulsifier. Probably at that time I was a bit worried, maybe not, but it struck me hard when I reflected a bit on it when I woke up from bed. Ah Yes! Now I know why I was worrying that much at the time I saw the quote. My pocket is dried up and I was wondering how I was even going to make a call or send a message to my best friend’ ohhh and yea my phone was having what I will call ‘a dry spell’ – no credit. So worried sick as to how I was going to pull the strings together this week because there were a few things I had to acquire. I guess sometimes you have to delay gratification a bit. Why am I saying that? Well, apparently I’m 19 trying to invest and save for the big life tomorrow. Don’t be silly I don’t mean tomorrow literally. I mean in the near future. As at now my pocket doesn’t represent all the money I have in savings and investment. So far of it! Hey! Stop thinking about how much money I have in shares and in the bank. Whatever and however you think, it is still mine, get yours!

               After reflecting for a couple of minutes still on my bed, my legs hadn’t touched the floor yet; I realized that the word or action ‘worry’ is in actual sense performed by everybody. You get worried, I get worried, and she gets worried, he gets worried; dad has his fair share, mum does, even the little baby worrying when it’s going to get the breast milk. We all do worry. Here’s the thing; should we allow worry to get to us. I don’t mean it’s wrong to worry about something, what I’m saying is that t shouldn’t ruin your whole day and in effect your whole life. There’s a lot of good stuff out there to harvest than sitting down on your bed worrying.

               I’m not heartless; I know when poor parents get up from bed and worry about how they are going to feed their children. There’s nothing at home to prepare the smallest amount to food for the family even if it means they’re not going to be satisfied, at least they have taken something in. I know about that carpenter who has hardly got his hands on a job this month and is worrying about how he’s going to finance his girl’s schooling. It was easier when his well-to-do brother was around, he could at least ask him for money but now that he’s gone… We could go on and on about that list, but I’m not going to. If I do that, I’ll be worrying too much.

              You know what has to be done rather? Note this, whether you like it or not, there are so many things in your life to probably worry about, each and every single on of us. People we have to make a resolve, like I said there are so many things out there waiting to be harvested; you worrying won’t get it done. You have to put your hands on the field. I don’t mean farming literally, but that’s not a bad idea at all, if that came to you. Look chances are that if you worry and keep worrying and worrying that’s all you do. You have to change that action to thinking rather. Think about other ways, new possibilities to channel all your human resource. Who lied to you and told you it is over, or it is too late? Who lied to you? Look pal, it never as over as over can get. Life continues until you finally decide to (in my English teacher’s way) ‘kick some bucket.’ The moment you change worrying to thinking, you realize that a whole new world opens up to you. Worrying has never gotten anyone anywhere; THINKING has! You see why worrying is a misuse of the imagination – it gives you a wrong perception og how the world is run. Thinking gives you something, worrying takes something away from you.

So errrrmm Edwin, what does it give or take? Power to undo and do… The ball is in your court, you want to keep worrying, fine! You want to think and let the world open up to you because it sure is a goldfield of opportunities here. Let’s go! One caution though, you have to know where to look for opportunities and that’s why thinking will help you a lot more. All hands on deck!

             You know initially these prices hikes in oil didn’t really bother me till… OMG! I’m going to tell about it real soon. You know all you guys that maneuver your way and send the prices of oil causing my small fuel I put in my car so costly… okay! I’m just going to reserve my comments on it. People are you still there? Can you like, tell me what is this prices surges doing to you, your budget, practically everything because in the long run it really does affect all things? Jeeeez! Why do I have to be so right?

                Where does the story begin? You know when you are a kid and your dad goes like he’s going to buy fuel for the car and all, normally you won’t budge. Why? Surely because you practically don’t know what is going on behind the scenes. The many calculations dad has to do before taking that car. Ohhhh true! I can now actually recall seeing my dad on many occasions taking some papers often and doing some plenty maths. Then I would have believed it was his work. Now boy! I sure don’t; he was doing his budget allocations. You want to ask him? Check out with your dad, maybe he doesn’t use a paper; his mind will sure do the job so well…lol. Then again seriously people, we have to get to down to serious business

                 I came back from Abidjan on Sunday, to come and meet the car my dad had bought some months ago some me. The car is sleek; a TATA Indica. Well for a student now entering the university, that’s cool. Besides the car apparently saves fuel. I wonder why the marketers also say that. Those people! If the car saves fuel, what the heck does it run on, doesn’t it get finished. All that blah! Blah! Blah! Blah! On car saving fuel, it still doesn’t matter because in the long run you still going to buy fuel which doesn’t have the price remaining the same, always climbing high. That is the case with me in this one. I came on the Sunday, there’s fuel in it; I mean fuel, not water. And then before the end of the week, everything just goes down like that, I even bought some in the week to top it up. I mean hey, it does feel good to feel like you are turning into a grown man taking responsibility for your own actions. Well, then just in half a day I realize that my fuel gauge by some magic bends it heads downward towards the red zone. Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeez! Is that how things are run in this country? I felt things are too expensive. I mean I could go ahead and buy fuel in the country I came from no problem but now! Whoosh I now get why some people go on doing strikes and demonstration in their countries and all.

                     You know the irony of everything. Many times the government can’t do anything about it. Why? It could lose. I wonder why it has to like that, but that’s what it is. The irony is that those oil owners know that whether the price goes so high, people are still going to buy. I mean cars will still run, right? I guess I got to go back to the drawing board because surely I’m in some dynamic world. I need some direction on it. Have you been affected some how?

               Hey! I wonder even how I’m going to start this one, because the experience did really leave me speechless. Then I’m thinking, why am I talking to you? I know I’m stunned right now and I cannot speak. Maybe you will remember a story right here on three days with joy. In that script I told you that I have a crush some gorgeous woman. Boi! All the time I was talking about her, I hadn’t seen her recently. The last time I remember seeing her was in 2005. Now 2008, I don’t know how God did it? Our paths crossed mid this year when God brought us into each others lives. I still hadn’t seen her because we were leaving in different countries at that time.

                  Have you ever felt a connection to someone you can’t see (in this case I ad seen her before) and then you only talk. Sure you have, at least. Right? Good! Then we are kind of getting into the same page here. Well, well, well, let me cut this entire thing on beating around the bush and get straight to the point. There’s a program at the National Theatre almost every Friday for a couple of weeks now, called Stars of the future. I will tell a lot, lot more on that. That’s where I was going to meet..you can call her the ice to melt a hot heart and a warm fire to heat up a cold heart. I don’t know if you can get me. Maybe you will find someone like her in this world again, but surely! It is going to be difficult. Did you say why? I’m kind of surprised at you. They are rare, when you do find one, believe me when I tell you; you are going to love to make all the happy music about it, even if like me you really don’t have the perfect voice. LOL I know you want to disagree with me and tell me about your queen but hmmmmm boi! Trust me when I tell you, I know okay and you have no idea what I’m talking about. Hmmmmmm, once again, I know I’m beating about the bush again. But hey! Relax the story of that Friday is yet to unfold.

                    That faithful Friday- I wonder why writers do call it faithful- Well I got the program very early, call it eagerness; call it anxiety. You know what I call it? I hate traffic, that’s why? Okay! Let’s be a little honest here, maybe I was so anxious to meet the woman that stole my heart. Funny thing, she still has it. So what was I saying? Yea! I got there, parked; I kind of like turned my head on every car that pass behind me, for what purpose? I’m sure you know. Maybe the experience could be described like a blind date. Just that with this one, you know who the person was, you have seen the person before though in a long time, thing is; you wouldn’t know what to look for, because you just didn’t have an idea. I later went inside when the program was about to begin, I was watching and enjoying the live band performance, and then my phone rang. No! It rather vibrated. Yea you guessed it! It was her. I was just hoping that she hadn’t seen me first, or was somewhere in the crowd watching me, probably behind me even. Surely I was glad when she said she was outside. Guys! You know what happened. I got like, okay! This is it. I recall her saying before not to expect a lot because I will disappointed. Yeah right! I have this theory that most, if not all woman who are beautiful will tell you they are not. You think I’m lying, think about it? Most women would go like “I didn’t know that” “Are you sure?” “You know, I think you are trying to flatter me here because surely my mirror never does tell me that” You know what I thought when she said that, that’s good right? I mean according to my theory. Means the woman is gorgeous, which is a plus. Why? Because all the time I hadn’t seen her and only did talk to her, I saw an inner beauty, which can be compared now to her physical beauty. Guys! You know why I say she’s rare.

                      Allow me to continue my script, okay! Stop pausing me, Well so I went out the main building to the stairs when I spotted a friend of mine, an old class mate. You know what? I hate that part when someone or something all of a sudden comes between your goals. Then the friend of mine starts talking. Opps! Did I mention he was a guy, so he was like trying to catch up on every single event since we left high school? But then I kept giving him the eye, like I’m trying to get to someplace, but he keeps talking. Then I realize that there was the person, that woman, right there, a few feet from where I was. I know she tried to avoid my eyes, because though I was talking to this guy who’s name got lost from my head at that particular minute, I kept looking at her direction, no! I mean at HER.

             Relax I haven’t come to that part yet. In order to prevent further conversation with my friend, I saw my little adorable friend, my queen’s sister, called Love (Beautiful name isn’t it? You can draw up lots of love from her being. I drew her close to get into a conversation with her for the first time, face to face. I loved talking to her, she laughed throughout the conversation. I’ll tell you a great lot about her sometime.

              Don’t get me wrong, I love talking to friends, I didn’t mean to avoid my friend, but yea I had to at that moment. Jeeeeez guys sometimes, a man has to do what a man has to do.  Okay! Now to the main stuff; remember my theory on beautiful women. Yeeeeah! I was right! Though I know she is still going to deny it to my face but take it all in. You know the first impression that came to me that moment I saw her. There was the gorgeous looking woman, in a beautiful green dress (green’s my favourite colour), hair neatly done. I don’t know if I can write this anymore, it feels like I’m trying to describe something here that can’t be described; it’s simply just pure elegance. Did I tell you about the way she talks yet? Yea I think so, in the other script. I told you, there was this soothing touch in her voice that made you want to turn around anytime to listen to every word she spoke. Even if she didn’t speak, I love to listen to her silence. It says everything.

               Then it clicked, I’m still standing there with her sister and I asked her, “Doesn’t your sister look beautiful?” She knows I was right, but maybe I should have realized I was talking to another female, but her reactions and slight delay in answering the question gave her away. All this time my queen is talking to a friend, and then I got close to her, my other friend may have noticed something. Well he should have! I’m kind of like, it had taken some time. Well I managed to cut their conversation with the Love. I’m sure she didn’t even realized what she did. Then my queen goes to introduce me to her friend she was talking with. I’m here trying to still remember her name. I don’t mean to be rude but I can’t. You should know where my mind was all this time, looking into the queen eyes. She probably unconsciously tried to avoid my eyes. Later in the night, we talked and even as I walked besides, my entire world felt alright. I didn’t care and I still don’t care what the world thinks. Pal, ‘m sure you would agree with me that when you do find her, all other things don’t seem to matter.

                       I’m sitting here in the parlour downstairs – my aunt’s and uncle’s house in Abidjan watching some French comedy. You know, since I came here, honestly I have realized that the French people don’t make those nice movies like the Hulk, Spiderman, Stomp the Yard, and the other English thrilling movies. If they do show those movies, then it is dubbed in French voice. Jeeeeeeees, I don’t know why but like 80% of their programs are so boring. Well, you can’t blame me I miss the fun programs on Ghana television. You can’t blame me, home is home, right? Hahahh! I just laughed at some very stupid French comedy. I guess they do have something too.

                        Well, I have less than 48 hours to return back home after almost a year outside her. Okay! Right now I want to go through some Ivorian experience before I fly out. Where can I start from? Hmmmmm, someone said if you don’t know where to start, start from the beginning. So I guess the beginning will be how I got here. Well I came here first by bus, a government run service called STC. Since it was my first time, I was going to be an experience. I came with my Uncle, Isaac. Damn! The journey was so long.  I left the house at around 4am, the bus left at around 5am. You wouldn’t believe it but I got home to Abidjan around 8:30 pm. My buttocks was finished. Of course there were stops on the way but then it was my first time. All I had to resign myself to, was that probably my bus ride was less longer than for many others. You know I loved about the whole bus ride? The green scenery! I never had a chance to see all the way from Accra to Elubo and through to Abidjan. I saw it all, name it; water bodies, strange buildings, houses, languages, boy! I saw a lot in the long journey. I think once a while people should just take the bus ride to the nearest country. Boi! It is adventurous, but you know what? I will leave that to you to decide. Don’t say I didn’t tell you that you are missing on lots of things.

                       The language? Ohhhh! I know that’s was the main reason I chose to come here. The French language was another one! Yea, I did French back in school from Grade 2 to Grade 9 but that was a long time ago! Well I could remember the “ Bonjour” “Merci” and all the other small expressions. Jeeeeez but my French teacher was talking slowly, these people sure weren’t! Right in the bus, there were so many people who spoke French; others both French and English. Inside my own country I left like a stranger in the bus. Even my uncle called a friend of his in Abidjan on the way. Gosh! I didn’t understand anything. I tried! Who told you I didn’t! Like I said, my French teacher was talking slowly, besides all I needed back the in school was to learn what I had been taught and answer questions on it. Guess what? Final exams, I had an A. Here was I in the bus with bilingual and francophones and I didn’t know nothing! What the heck was I doing back in school then?

Yep! But trust me I had to make extra effort to understand and speak the language. Even now I am not perfect. I remember telling a friend of mine yesterday that I understand like 100% and speak like 80%. Those figures should even be reduced a bit. LOL.  Did you say why? I’m surprised at you. I have been here for less than a year, maybe 10 months at most and you think I know everything. It wasn’t like I came to school here to study French, nope! So everyday I learn something new. I remember the first time I went to church. Yep! You guessed it! It was a French church. How the heck was I going to understand was the preacher said? Before, it never crossed my mind; after all, my uncle spoke French. Unfortunately Isaac too was an usher, so he could never have time to translate. Well, I just decided in my mind to follow the crowd, though I would be seconds late on doing what they do. I just decided to sit there and pretend like I heard everything. Luckily, my uncle made some efforts. There was this girl being ushered in by my uncle and he asked her if she could speak English. She answered. “yes!” Wondering, my uncle asked if she could translate for someone. She didn’t answer she threw her right hand, asking who it was. My uncle pointed at me and somehow I smiled at her. Of course I had to. Then she refused. Well, asked my why? Maybe because I smiled too much. Probably I should have frown my face that day. Well, she later went to her seat and asked some other guy, much older than her, to translate for me. Well, so calmly the guy came to take his seat near me. I was glad at least I would be able to understand what the speaker was saying. The guy told me after sitting, “I’m Elvis.” Certainly I told him my name. Well he did translate. Not the perfect English, but Elvis was so far better than me compared to speaking someone’s language. He was French and he didn’t speak so perfect English, sometimes mixing a few tenses but he was good. I thought he had done so well to study English in a French country, unlike me who couldn’t make a clean conversation in French. Well he helped me, I helped him. Sometimes he corrected my mistakes in the French language, and me, his.

For the young woman who didn’t want to translate, I later learned her name was Stephanie. She was studying English in the university. She was just in her first year I heard. So the thing was she wasn’t so perfect, maybe couldn’t speak in a clean conversation like me. That’s one characteristic with the Ivorians I don’t really understand. They turn to laugh at a foreigner who makes a mistake in French, so even with the little English they knew they couldn’t speak. Why? Certainly, because they think the Anglophones will laugh at them. Those mocking would have discouraged me if it wasn’t for people other bilinguals and francophones who advised me. Like my Uncle said, “ I’m here to learn your language, I don’t care if you laugh at me, after all in the end, I know your language, and you don’t speak mine!” Well said uncle!

So I went from learning the small phrases, to the main two days a week of French lessons, one hour each day, with a very good French teacher normally called Tonton Pierre, I made it to where I am now, though still nowhere but somewhere.   You won’t believe I even lead a bible study meeting in French. Yeah!

                          The food? OMG! The second or so day I came here. I accompanied my uncle to go and buy some food. The call the food, “Atieke,” the main delicacy of the people. I remember watching when the food vendor was putting the food into a take-away. It looked like rice from afar. When I got closer, surely I thought I saw “Gari” – a local food in Ghana. If it was gari I was seeing, where was the stew or something in that category to go with it? All I saw the guy putting on the food was fish, that smelt so nice, and omg! Did the guy just sprinkled only green pepper on the food and hand it to us? Puzzled, I questioned my uncle as to what that was. He revealed that it was just like our gari back home.  With our gari, after deriving it from cassava, we fry it. But these people steam it with water. Well…I can’t deny the food was nice. When I was eating; I can recall the watch man, Jean, shouting that, “On mange ‘garba’ avec les mains” In translation, we eat garba with our hands, and I was using a spoon. (don’t get confused, I know I said atieke, now I’m saying garba. Well in a raw state, it is called atieke. When it is prepared by the men, with just their green pepper, it is called garba; amazing many people prefer that, to the nutritious one made by women with more vegetables and stew, which still retains the name atieke.) Get it now I hope! There are other foods, but lets stop on this, at least that’s the main diet of the people. I recall some people telling me that Ghana isn’t a nice place. Why? Because there’s no atieke. Yeah right!

The economic conditions in the world today were created by man. God didn’t make them; man made them so. God made man; man made slaves. God made man and gave him more than enough for himself but man made poverty. In God’s plan, no man should be poor. The human thinking is that if everyone were rich it wouldn’t be good…

Pastor Chris

Life consists of what man is thinking about all day

Ralph Waldo Emerson

As long as you are hanging around amateurs, you will think like an amateur

Gary Leffew