Buying cloth at Makola market. It’s about $70 (650,000 cedis) for 6 yards of “Holland” which seems to be a very popular and prestigious cloth. Next stop will be to find a seamstress to sew a “kaba n slit” in the latest style. Admiring the growth of my mango tree, 14 years and going strong. […]
Mourning the Death of a Loved One in Ghana
Mama arrived 2 nights ago. Yesterday we went to visit her father. He used to be a tall, big, and fierce man who everybody was scared of, but now he’s old, frail, and weak though his mind is still sharp. When I walked into the room, I couldn’t recognize him as it had been six […]
Harmattan winds & Scheduled Light Outs
The Harmattan winds came in a couple of days ago bringing with them a cool breeze and a fog of red dust. There are two seasons in Ghana – the dry season (cold) and the wet season (hot) with cold meaning lows in the low 70s F! Harmattan is the other name for the dry season. […]
Name this Fruit: Alasa
There are so many kinds of fruit here in Ghana known only by their local names and many of us don’t know what their English or scientific names are. Alasa is one such fruit. The Alasa is a small oval-shaped fruit almost the size of a lemon (not the gigantic genetically modified kind you find in […]
Afe Hyia Pa
Afe Hyia Pa translates into “Happy New Year”. The response is “Afe nko mmeto yen” which means something like, “may another year come and meet us”. Watch Night was interesting. We were late, getting there around 11 pm. Service started at 9 pm. They were well underway with their sermons & prayers though. There was […]
Finally in Ghana
It was such a long trip. Delays States side as well as with my connection in England. Landing in Accra was not as magical as it was 6 years ago, maybe because of all the stress of travel, and my nervousness. I stepped off the plane into a cool but humid Ghanaian midnight, NOT the […]
Ya Ma’Afrika: A Drama About African Women in NYC
Ya Ma’Afrika is a new African drama series that will soon hit the airways on TeleSud. It is a show that “fuses the lives of 4 African women living in NYC and highlights their cultural experiences, contradictions & challenges of Africans living in the west. The roommates (from South Africa, Kenya, Cameroon & Zimbabwe) confront […]
What is My Deal With Mangos?
I don’t remember when my mango obsession begun. Most of the wild mango in Ghana are the small yellow-skinned, “hairy” kind that are best enjoyed as so: roll mango on hard surface or in palms to soften, bite off the skin at the tip,suck the living daylights out of the mango – I mean […]
Butterflies in my stomach!
Now that I have established who I am, I need to explain the purpose of this blog. I’ll be going to Ghana for a couple of months primarily to do a clinical elective at the Fevers Unit at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. I will also have a couple of weeks of vacation while I’m there and […]
Most Dreaded Question: Where Are You From?
As I contemplate the purpose of this blog, I have to ask myself, “who am I?”. That instantly reminds me of the question I most dread to hear. “Where are you from?” Why does everyone want to know where one is from? Why don’t they realize that for some people in this world, that question […]
A lover of mangoes. A woman - smart, without pretense, lefthanded, Afropolitan - navigating this thing called life. An unapologetic believer in social justice and karma. Choosing to radiate positive energy and be true to myself. Here, my musings.