A little update

So I am one of the worst possible bloggers that existed. I don't update regularly, I forget to respond to comments and most of the time I write about dreary topics like death and bad friends. Still, in case anyone wondered, here's an updat of what I've been up to lately.

1. Going back to natural - This seems to be a trend now, but already in the year 2000, I cut my hair off and kept it all natural for 11 years. After 3 years of sporadically relaxing my hair, I'm going back again! I'd love to say I'll report on my progress here, but knowing the bad blogger I am, I won't make any such promises.
2. Getting ready for school - Not me, but Em just turned 6 (yes, 6!) and is starting school next term. This seems to mean a lot more mental preparation for me than for her. My baby's all grown up!
3. Making my home homelier - In September last year we moved to a much bigger space. We're enjoying it, but it takes time to fill a bigger space than one's had before and make it cosy. Next project: a photo wall!
4. Beach 2015 - I don't know what happened, but suddenly I've only been to the gym once in the last 7 months. That all ends on Thursday when I intend to become a gym bunny for life!
5. My next career move - My girls' night in on Friday might just be the beginning of a new successful venture and I feel excited! 

Love, life and laughter

Three friends, a Friday evening and a beautiful apartment in the trendiest part of Gothenburg. We ate, we drank, laughed and almost cried. One's enjoying married life, one's going through a divorce and one is waiting for a proposal. So many life destinies to discuss, dreams to share and opinions to express. In between that we managed to sow a business idea, but more importantly take a deep flashback trip to 90s R'n'B! I was so inspired I spent Saturday morning making a new playlist on Spotify. This smooth TLC song has been on repeat quite a few times today, can't believe I haven't listened to it for 15 years!

Grief, worries and loss

After a fantastic summer, (at times, Gothenburg has been hotter than Accra), it seems the weather has turned to reflect the mood. As the rains pour down over Gothenburg, everywhere I turn, people are in mourning; over a dead celebrity, a friend gone too soon or the passing of a relative. I thought I'd find out what my friends were up to on Facebook this evening, only to realise a friend has just been diagnosed with cancer.

It makes my heart sink any time I hear of anyone being caught by this horrible disease. I truly hope she gets through it with good medical care and the support of her friends and family. After going through a very tough time last year, I realise how sad it is when in your sorrow, those you thought were your friends desert you. Thankfully, in my own situation, I had a great support team within my own family, otherwise I don't know how I would've made it. Still, it's been more than a year and I still mourn the friends I lost*, because when I needed them the most, they chose not to be there for me.

*In life we never lose friends, we only learn who our true ones are.

Maya Angelou

Today, as I walked from work to pick up Em, I was fighting back tears. I had to walk faster and faster, hide myself behind my sunglasses and keep my head bowed down to make it all the way to her preschool. Why? As I left my office, I got a text from my brother, Mr. T., saying "Maya Angelou died today". As you may know, I am a huge fan, which I wrote about here and as I cut my usual 15 minute walk to about 10 minutes, my head was spinning, thinking of all the things Maya Angelou has meant to me.

Social media is flooded by tributes to her and as I read, I realise part of my grief is because she is the only person I have adored, admired, been inspired by and desired to meet, even for just a moment, a glimpse of her great wisdom. I'm not a fan of many, in fact, I think Maya Angelou may be my only idol. In many ways, I see her as my spiritual grandmother (and today it hit me that just like three of my grandparents, she also died at 86 years old).


Rest in peace, Maya. I know I'm among millions who will continue turning to your words for guidance, inspiration, strength and wisdom.

Newbies in Ghana

A trip for Ghana is being planned and I am very excited about it. There are many new places I'm hearing about which I want to visit, I just hope time will be on my side. Earlier on today I heard of Nafi's Candy - a company that sells Swedish Candy in Accra. I can't wait to check it out!

Komla Dumor 1972-2014

My heart skipped a beat when I heard of Komla Dumor's death. Unlike many of my Facebook friends, I have no personal anecdote to share, but like just about every other Ghanaian, I felt great pride every time I saw him report on BBC. What an excellent ambassador for Ghana! Since last night, my thoughts and prayers have been with his family, especially his three small children who have lost their father. No one should ever die that young. Rest in Peace, Komla.

(picture borrowed fromwww.superghana.com)

Storm alert

Hello there... The last few months have been trying in many ways and in all that, it seems I found no time to blog. Well, one of my favourite sayings is better late than never, so here we go again. After some months in Ghana, I am back in Sweden and enjoying the seasons more than ever. Never before have I really appreciated the beautiful colours of autumn and the slow transition into winter. Of course, as I say it, it is not enjoyable at all: the St Jude storm which hit the UK yesterday, has apparently left and is heading towards the west coast of Sweden! Newsstations are advising us to pick children early from school, I saw this just as I received a call from Em's teacher to pick her before 3pm. I guess we have an interesting day and night ahead of us. Will these trees be standing tomorrow...?

Happy Independence Day!

With all that I am hearing of power outages and water shortage, it's difficult to celebrate Ghana as it seems the nation is regressing. Still, I hope that those in Ghana and around the world have found a way of celebrating today, as unfortunately a very hectic work day has stopped me from trying to celebrate. The only thing I managed to do was check out Google Ghana's picture of the day: Happy Independence Day, Ghana!

Tastes from afar

We saw them about four weeks ago. Nicely big and green. Virgo and I looked at each other, smiled and decided to take them. Since then we've watched them eagerly grow to maturity, every now and then pinching a feel to check how close we were getting. Last week, I was ready to give up, but then, as the snow melted away, so did the green colour, which gave way for a golden yellow brown shade. And today little Em, Ghana-girl to the bone, was the one who insisted it was time. After a light seasoning and fry, she devoured just about all of it in a few minutes (I swear I only got a bite!), and I don't blame her. Plantain; ripe, fried plantain has never tasted that good!

Showtime!

Today is election day in Ghana. I will tell you what I say to any person I meet around election time, in any country I've lived: No matter where your sympathies lie, or if you feel nobody deserves your vote, go out peacefully and vote. Make your voice heard! There are too many people in the world who have been deprived their right to democracy, make sure you cherish yours!

Make this an election that Ghana decides! (Picture borrowed from Google Ghana)

Obama!!!

Yes he can! I had a very restless night, might as well have stayed up for election watch. So it felt extra good to wake up to hear that Barack Obama has been re-elected the president of the United States. And I am sure little Abby is not the only person in the States who is relieved that the campaign is finally over! Now, I'm just hoping to catch Obama's speech before starting my day.

Who wins?

Four years ago, I sat up all night in a lovely house in Cantonments, with Virgo and friends, following the election on CNN. The room was pregnant with pause, (I was just pregnant), in those moments before it was confirmed: Obama had won the election! Tonight, I'm packing in. Although I'm on holiday and actually could stay up all night, it's not the same to do it alone and knowing there's a 3 and a half year old who definitely won't let me catch sleep tomorrow. It's with excitement I go to bed ahead of the first results.

Tomorrow, we'll wake to hear if the world has won and kept it's president (fingers crossed!) or be informed that there's a new president in charge, Mitt Romney. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep free of election dreams; and I know I'll run to turn my TV on first thing tomorrow morning!

Blog Action Day: The Power of We

Four years ago a certain someone mentioned to me that she'd like to set up a meeting to find out which other bloggers were around in Ghana. Perhaps this meeting could expand into a social network? It started with small intimate meetings of less than ten people, which with time expanded to include more and more bloggers of varying exciting backgrounds. First known as Ghanablogging, Blogging Ghana now has over 250 blogs registered. Blogging Ghana, or BloGh as it's known for short, has spearheaded the project of reporting the Ghana 2012 election in a non-partisan, openminded manner - Ghana Decides. If you want to know how Ghana decides? Follow the updates on Twitter, Facebook and the homepage. This is my simple example of a how one person's thought turned into a nationwide project. Because you see, the power of we, is limitless. This post was created for Blog Action Day.

Child friendly, my foot!

A person close to me once said he wouldn't take his children on holiday to Ghana because it's not child friendly. To add to it, this person had not himself been to Ghana since 1999. Interestingly, he found Egypt an appropriate place for a children's holiday, just a few months prior to the Arab Spring. In a similar manner people in Sweden often ask me how child friendly Ghana is. Although I don't find the question offensive, I do find it strange that no British friend has ever felt the need to ask this question. Well, what can I answer? The (malaria) mosquitos are to me the only threat against children in Ghana. This morning though, I started thinking of all the threats to children here. Right now there's a meningitis outbreak, a 5-year old died at pre-school a few days ago and other children at the school are home sick, but not yet diagnosed. Every day or two, there's a story of a missing child in the paper and from the age of 5/6 a child of colour can expect to receive racial abuse and/or discrimination from school mates or teachers. Come to think of it, I am constantly reading stories about 20 and 30-year olds going missing, tragically found murdered a few weeks later. 60-year old men are brutally attacked on the street in broad daylight by unprovoked teenage thugs. This country (and the UK is even worse, I read UK papers daily) isn't safe for anyone! Is it me? Am I naïve or am I right? It seems on the scale of things, as long as you survive Accra traffic and don't have a fancy schmanzy looking house that'll unfortunately invite a robbery, Ghana seems a much safer country than the European ones. So the next time someone asks me how child friendly Ghana is, I may just respond: Child friendly, child friendly?!? Where you're coming from what demands can you make on child friendliness???, give them a long mtcheeeeeew (kissing my teeth) and walk off.

Returning to Ghana

It's October and autumn is definitely here. Also on my mind this week are thoughts of returning to Ghana. Not just for me, but friends around me. There's the new mother who's planning her move back early next year and all the necessities that need to be packed along with her. There's the friend in Ghana, trying to convince her husband to leave and try building their family elsewhere, but her husband won't budge. Then there's the relative who just informed me that next year she's relocating to Ghana for the first time ever. I can't wait to follow her journey, the same journey I made some 7 years ago.

Naturally, while discussing these relocations, we end up looking at the pros and cons of living in Ghana versus abrokyi. Sweden has all the stable pros: constant electricity, water and fast internet. Public transport is on time and everyone shows up to work even when there's rain or snow outside. However, we always get back to Ghana and that je-ne-sais-quois quality that stays with you in the motherland. As hard as I try to settle in my hometown, with my old friends, siblings and workmates here, my heart is still in Ghana. For now though, I'll enjoy one of the pleasures of Sweden: watching the seasons change. Already I'm planning how to cosy up my flat for the rest of autumn and prepare for Christmas. I can see myself sitting on my balcony, in December, candles alit and a tiny glass of mulled wine in hand, looking out over Gothenburg. And I'll enjoy every second of it, knowing that sometime in 2013 I will be heading home.