Oburoni And Opporn(twi)nity

i overhead the term opporn(twi)nity on the radio. the program called kokonsa (gossip) was a comical satire on the happenings in the electorate. it was in a mix of pidgin english (the ghanaian flavor) and twi. twi (pronounced 'chui' ) is a well spoken local language in ghana. i have come to understand that there are other dialects , ga, ewe, hausa etc but most ghanaians (at least those i have come in contact with) seem to speak and understand twi. i helped a neighbour out on some computer related stuff and he was taken aback by the fact that i had lived in ghana for over a year and i was yet to pick up twi. my handy excuse was that most people i interacted with spoke english (which is true) but it got me thinking. maybe its time i started a crash program on twi. i wonder if there's a twi for dummies available. i'll probably have to find a way to fraternize with the twi speaking public. probably would have to take a 'tro-tro' more often. i do have some words in my vocabulary though, primary of course would be 'pacho' meaning please.

i dare say my host are a very polite people. if the word 'the' is the most used word in the english language, 'pacho' is the most used word in twi. pacho is used in almost every conversation especially with an 'oburoni'. oburoni i initially thought meant white man (or person to be politically correct) but i got to know it actually means foreigner. so this is an oburoni writing. back to pacho. if you are discussing fares with a taxi driver, while you are driving at a bargain he'll use the term pacho very frequently even as he's disagreeing with your offer. still on the oburoni matter i discovered that we oburonis have an affinity for one another irrespective of color (or creed?).

on my way home from work recently, i came across this korean-chinese-japanese-chinko-looking person trying to hitch a ride. i guess the spirit of brotherhood made me stop to see if i could be of help. after some back and forth exchange trying to break the language barrier using the universal but complicated english language ( for the first time , i could appreciate semantics and syntax). my colleague ended up acting as a translator. he seemed to be better at understanding the chinko english. we found out the fella was trying to get somewhere in the vicinity but didn't have any money i figured that was why he was trying to hitch a ride. in the spirit of the obruni (i think i've used this before) i asked him to hop in and we tried to find where he was going and then dropped him off at his destination. as we dropped him off i and my colleague couldn't help wondering if we would dare take such a risk back in home country. would we stop for him on third mainland or what? and even if we did have the good heart to do so, what guarantees would we have that some area boys wont jump out of nowhere to harass us. the aspect i really couldn't come to terms with is how a foreigner would be without the necessary cash to move him to his destination in a strange land? are people so helpful around the world? given my colour would i have received similar help in his country china, korea, japan etc... well those are rhetorical questions no point in bothering with them.

in addition to their politeness, my host seem to have a very high awareness of their politics. unlike, in home country where there's a lot of political apathy (i subscribe to it too), here in ghana the majority is aware of what's going on and have one or two opinions. i think this contributes immensely to keeping their leaders on their toes. i have listened to one too many mps or ministers trying to defend themselves over the radio. it is also very interesting how the leaders are always ready and willing to answer phone calls from journalists as early as 8:00am in the morning over something printed in the papers about them. it's interesting to hear leaders talk without prepared speeches or outside of press conferences. i really can't recall any impromptu interview with the press by any of the leaders in my home country. sometimes, i find myself taking the side of the harassed minister or mp sure its about accountability but i guess they are used to the system and it certainly keeps them on their toes. the education minister was recently given a hard time because she was supposed to have said that current education system kept girls in school for too long and hence they would have difficulty finding husbands. the poor woman was forced to defend herself saying something similar to being quoted out of context and that she has said other good things which wasn't reported.

Kwesi Frempong – Black through Ho, Capecoast, Kumasi and Sunyani

i got to see more of my host country this week. i was on official assignment to the volta region, brong-ahafo region, central region and the ashanti kingdom. as usual i’ll take a swipe at my home country. some of the places i visited where tertiary institutions and i daresay they are better run and better equipped than those in home country. for the first time in my entire life , i was able to use the loo in a tertiary institution. and it flushed! i also found something interesting about the tertiary institutions we visited; the students had more say in the running of affairs. fees were negotiated. any proposed increase in fees was discussed with the student body first and agreed upon. the authorities always had to explain in great detail any actions they were going to take that would affect the lives of the student. the press provided a check and balance. it appeared the authorities avoided by all means any unfavorable attention from the press. any student agitation would attract the press.

i got to learn some interesting things about the people of some of the visited regions. the people of the central region were laid back. it was joked that the dutch took all the building materials to kumasi and left the eggs and bacon with the people of the central region. it was said that their women could cook very well and their men were very romantic but lazy. it was joked that if you wanted a romantic man and were prepared to live in penury you married a man from the central region however if you were interested in the finer things of life and could forgo romance you married from the ashanti region. thus, the industrious business people were the ashantis (kumasi i could see was a bustling town). the ashanti king, king otumfuo osei tutu ii, recently celebrated his 10th anniversary. the occasion was graced by obasanjo and igbinedion (esama of benin) amongst a host of others. i gather it was pretty grand. yes, i also got to know that the ashantis were big on burials. they took out large bill boards for obituary announcements (saw a couple in kumasi). burials were a week long affair; i did see a lot of people in the traditional black wrapper.

i guess you would be wondering at the title of this piece. those are the places i visited. ho is in the volta region, capecoast in the central region, kumasi in the ashanti region and sunyani in the brong –ahafo region. i passed through koforidua (eastern region) on my way to kumasi. ghana has ten regions and so far i have visited five and live in a sixth one (greater accra). sometime in future i hope to visit the rest. now for the name kwesi frempong – black; i figure that would have been my name had i been ghanaian. kwesi because i was born on a sunday, frempong because it was on of the first of local names i saw on a signboard on my visit here (frempong water works) and the black aspect because i would like to have taken my ancestry from the central region. there are a lot of white (dutch, english and portuguese) sounding surnames from there because of the influence of the slave trade. some intermarriage had happened between the locals and the ‘traders’ and the descendents took on english names. interestingly, ancestry is matrilineal in some areas similar to the jews.