CHAPTER 1

MIRIGU

At the age of six, my mother wanted me to start going to school. Sheenrolled me into a local school. However, back then I used to hatewaking up early in the morning. Sometimes my parents would have toresort to singing songs to try to coax me from my bed. Little did I knowthat going to school was a privilege and that it was very essential to myfuture. My mum would sometimes tell me that if I showered and wentto school then upon my return she would buy me food and new clothes.I soon realized that these promises were all simply tricks and ruses.

I recall one particular week day when I woke up and my mother triedto convince me to go to school. "Albin, do you see that jersey of AbediPele that Thomas wore when you guys were playing soccer yesterday?"she asked.

"Yes," I replied.

"I will buy you a nicer one if you go to school today," she said.

"No I am not," I responded. "Unless I see it, I won't go."

From that day onward she stopped trying to get me to go to schoolby offering nice rewards and resolved instead to beat me until I got upand got ready for school.

My brother Vitus and I walked to school every morning. As I wouldalready be filled with frustration on this walk I would take it on anychildren who would play around with me to beat them.

* * *

The norm in Ghana schools is for every school to have a parade forannouncements before marching to classrooms with marching songs. InNabango L/A Junior High School, the parade song went like this:

Good morning, good morning, good morning, Mr Awini
Good morning, how are you?
I come to make a complaint
About the Ashanti people
The people of Ashanti
They have no sense
When the gun is fired
They cry bue, bue
Bue, bue, bue, bue, ajieeeebue
Buebue, they cry buebue.

I never understood the meaning of this song until one day when Iarrived home from school and asked my grandmother Azina aboutthe lyrics. When I sang the song she laughed and asked why I was sointerested in it. I kept insisting that she told me about its origins andmeaning though, and eventually she started to talk me about the olddays when the colonial masters arrived in Ghana.

My grandmother said that the colonial masters first settled along theCape Coast, all the way to Kumasi (historically spelled as "Comassie")in the Ashanti region. She informed me that their main aim was tospread the gospel of Jesus Christ to the infidels (evangelism). Later, theirattention shifted to trading; they adopted a system of trade called "thebarter system of trade" where goods were exchanged for goods. Becauseat that point the black man had not yet discovered what is knowntoday as "money", they would bring finished products, such as cookingutensils, items of clothing, and silver pans for fetching water from thebole holes to be exchanged in return for rich mineral resources, that is,gold, diamond, bauxite, and iron.

In those days, black men used to cover themselves with fresh leavesfrom trees and with locally manufactured cloths called "malleats"."Malleats" were made by taking out the body of a fresh tree and beatingit as fresh as it was until it became softer and then mixing it with somechemicals. These later graduated to become what is called "kente", whichis a local wear in Ghana until date.

The white man later discovered that black men were of sufficientstrength and capability to be brought to the West for farming in the"Green revolution". White men therefore started to buy slaves, laterusing force to bring slaves that were resistive. That was the period whenthey started showing guns and other ammunitions that the Ashantiman had not seen before. When the "warning shot" was fired just tointimidate the black man, they could be known to scream, in loud voicesand in the local dialect, "Bue, bue, bue" and "Ajeei, ajeei, ajeei," whichmeans, "Ahh, Ahh, Lord, Lord, Lord". When the other tribes later cameto discover this story, they used it to mock the Ashanti tribe, claimingthat they responded as cowards.

This was an even later story, but the original gun mockery startedwith the Fantes. And even today, the Ashantis themselves use it asa mockery tool against the Fantes. When the white man originallyarrived on the African soil, their first contact was at Cape Coast, at thesouthernmost tip of Ghana, an area occupied by the Fantes. The Fantipeople used to cry at the sight of the guns because they had never seenthem before. Colonial masters used to gather the Fanti people togetherin a room in which there was also a gun. As the people were afraid theywould remain in the room the whole day. The colonist used to tell themthat if they left the room the gun would turn on them and shoot them.When they wanted to use the urinal, they would bow to the gun and say,"Magyaotu, mpakyew me pe de me koagya nan ba anti oyaa mentum,"which roughly translates to, "My Lord gun, I want to use the restroom;please don't shoot me."

Over time the colonists discovered gold and cocoa in Ghana. In theAshanti land they extended their territory. When they shot their guns inthe Ashanti land the people would run around shouting, "Agyae, agyae,agyae!" meaning "Oh my goodness!" The song about the Ashantis cameinto being because of their coward behaviour. The song is more of atribal song to denigrate the Ashanti tribe.

* * *

As a child I didn't know that there were any tribes apart from the Fafratribe, so the story that my grandmother told me did not concern methat much. I was more concerned about my rice after school. In thenorthern region, not all families were able to feed their children threetimes a day. Some families had to eat rice only yearly during holidays likeChristmas and Easter. As the climate changes, the desert keeps invadingthe northern part of Ghana and, coupled with their single raining season,farmers harvest crops only once a year. Most of the farming is peasantry,so food scarcity and chronic poverty are major issues in the northern partof Ghana.

As I got older I began to gradually gain wisdom and to...