Memories

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." - Anatole France

The symbol used in the 0 of Ghana's 50th celebration is known as 'Gye Nyame'. The literal translation is 'Except God' but the metaphorical translation is 'God the Omnipotent.'

Thinking back on the book 'Weep, Not Child'...it offered another perspective to the famous book 'I Dreamed of Africa' (later turned into a movie starring Michelle Pfeiffer) which I found in the Andoh household and quickly read. The latter offers the perspective of an Italian woman who along with her husband feels drawn to Africa and they settle in Kenya, buy land and farm. The former is the perspective of Kenyans who fought in one of Britain's wars because they had to, only to return home to discover their ancestral lands had been parcelled off and sold to settlers. They talk of the day when their ancestral land will be theirs again and seem confused as to why the settlers want to claim land in their country when they have a home country. As a result the Kenyans are now almost squatters or sharecroppers on land that used to be theirs. It definitely adds a sordid twist to the 'I Dream of Africa' story no matter how in love with the country or the continent the author was.

We woke up ridiculously early on Tuesday (4 am) to leave for the airport by 6. In addition to Daddy Andoh's truck we also had a van come by to pick up all the luggage. I have never seen anything like the caravan of baggage carts that were needed for us. I think 6 carts total all packed high with luggage.

We went through 10 checkpoints before we could get on the plane. Because Mommy and Daddy Andoh have friends in high places they were able to accompany us to the point where you had to turn in an immigration form and show your boarding pass before they said goodbye. First we had to go to customs and declare the food; then we went to have the bags weighed; then we had to have the baggage tags stamped, then we had to check-in; then we had to open our baggage. (Unfortunately Eugene thought customs was the last time they would need to look in the bags and he had locked them and didn't know which lock went with which key so it took a while to open the 16 checked bags.) With all those bags we just claimed the ones nearest to us. It took us an hour and a half to get to that point. One of my two checked was mine; the other actually belonged to Evelyn which I found out when they opened it and I saw her clothes, purses and shoes. Did I pack my bags myself? Hmm yes. Does it really matter since we are all traveling together and going to the Andoh household in NYC before dispersing?

After all that confusion we filled out immigration forms and went through an ID checkpoint at which point we said goodbye to Mummy and Daddy Andoh. Then we had to talk with immigration and get our visas checked. Then we had an x-ray. After that we had a patdown and carryon search and everyone who had a rollerboard carryon that was not accompanied by a child had to turn it in to be stowed under the plane. Whew! And then we sat and waited in a hotbox narrow room that was set up like an airplane with a center aisle and rows of seats. We saw all the tourists sporting their new ethnic clothing, jewelry and hairstles, many in overkill mode.

I didn't realize until we boarded and stowed our things, taxied to the runway and took off that I had been holding my breath somewhere in the back of my mind, thinking that something would go wrong with me leaving the way it had before. A while later we bypassed Bamako on the satellite map and I was secretly happy that I did not have to stop back through the city to get another flight.

And then my time in Bamako and my time in Ghana began replaying in my head. The friends I had made, the food I tasted, the sights I saw, the adventures that shocked and entertained me, the customs I learned...was it real? or had I made it all up with my vivid imagination? I assured myself that it was indeed real and I settled back into my seat with no need for the feature films. Rather I closed my eyes and enjoyed the memories that played across the backs of my eyelids.