A friend sent me a whole set of 'only in Ghana' pictures. It got me thinking about some of the signs that made me smile, including these. Who knows, perhaps if I had a 'jim' as opposed to a 'gym' I would have lost all the weight by now! Granted I am still trying to decipher what 'maccergin' is.
I simply can't believe that it has been so long! Though if the whirlwind of the past couple of months is anything to go by and the glaring date of the last post it most definitely is! It has been five years since living in Ghana, and for the most part of that I have used this blog to chronicle some - not all! - of the experiences since being here. In August I will start another new phase and so I think its only right that I bring this blog to a close properly, after all I will no longer be a 'Jamaican girl living in Ghana' as my intro states.
It still feels a bit unreal but the boxes and general mayhem in my house and head say otherwise. Will use the next couple of posts to reflect on the things I have grown to love about Ghana and Ghanaians and what I will miss most.
"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their charater." Dr. Martin Luther King
Been wondering around life for the past couple months. In between travels of the mind, travels for work and the juxtupotation of reality in between all this it has been a busy and mostly enjoyable time. Granted, that may be the lamest excuse for not posting on my blog for a while but allow a blogger's license. Then comes along something that pulls you out of your revire and that you must blog about and so hence my post.
Just spent the last couple of minutes watching a video called Shadeism. Posted by a friend of mine in Facebook, when I linked to the video on Vimeo and read the description I really had to share ... 'This short TV documentary is an introduction to the issue of shadeism, the discrimination that exists between the lighter-skinned and darker-skinned members of the same community. This documentary short looks specifically at how it affects young womyn within the African, Caribbean, and South Asian diasporas. Through the eyes and words of 5 young woman and 1 little girl - all females of colour - the film takes us into the thoughts and experiences of each. Overall, 'Shadeism' explores where shadeism comes from, how it directly affects us as womyn of colour, and ultimately, begins to explore how we can move forward through dialogue and discussion'.
Psychic secretions manifest physically, tracing a path I long for him to explore. My Pavlovian responses startle even me. Fantasy intertwined with reality - both jostling for control over the conscious My sub-conscious already lost. My Pavlovian bell - a simple beep from my phone. Message in, flights of fantasy quicken my reach. My psychic secretions a dam of fluid emotions threaten to overflow sweeping away sense and sensibility. And he has not touched me. Yet.
The boundaries are becoming increasingly fuzzy - help vs hinderance. What is not becoming fuzzy is the money I pay for services. The cord of kindness that I so understandingly have been letting out before, has snaked back and has started to strangle me - leaving me gasping for air, sanitity and calmness!
This morning he comes as usual to bathe Nico. Sitting quietly in the TV room I time the length of the actvity - 4 mins and 30 seconds flat! No wonder it is my dog is full of fleas. Confronting him, he stammers out ' oh but madam I am going to now remove them'. Too late. I pay him and thank him for his services and politely inform him I won't be needing him in the future. Ride over. Will bathe my own damn dog.
So the things I DO NOT want in a helper - starting immediately: 1. I don't need a friend - I need you to do your job; lets be very clear - you are not my friend, you are my employee. Period. Please respect my space I will respect yours. 2. I don't need to be your emergency 'susu' - no, I will not advance payment to buy your mobile phones, or to purchase that acre of land that you so desire, or any other such thing. 3. I don't need you to befriend my friends - what is all this chuminess about? Your friends are your friends, and mine are mine. And never again should you even dare to mention to my friends the fact that you need a raise, or events that happen in my house. 4. I don't need to be told about your dreams - which includes a rationalisation of why my friends should not come to my house and which by extension gives you permission to treat them disrespectfully. and most of all: 5. I don't need to hear religious songs hummed at all hours of the day and night - and no, no more invitations to church. I will handle my own salvation, thank you. That includes you praying feverently for me to get a husband or what you consider my trangressions of the night before!.
I fully recognise that the main difference between both of us is just the fluke of opportunity and so I would like to treat you respectfully, but am now keeping a hold on that damn cord.
