"CHORKOR IN MY EYES"

A closely-knit community,usually bashed for their way of life generally,and known for their predominant fishing occupation as a result of their proximity to the sea in the greater Accra region of Ghana,Chorkor is densely populated,with settlements scattered here and there,not your trassaco or east legon-type area,NO.

The inhabitants,despite their below average income earnings,are easy-going and open-minded,one of the reasons why I would love to live here.

It is a rainy day on Thursday,Ghana's celebrating her 57th independence anniversary,I have decided to travel to Chorkor to experience how a typical holiday like this means for the people here and their daily activities.

I alighted at "White House" and walked some meters up road,and before I got to Naa Tsotsoo's place,I had gone through three other people's compounds,with some sharing a common corridor.

It was slippery though,and my small umbrella I purchased at Tema station earlier at six cedis bargained price,could not prevent me from getting drenched by the rain drops.
If there is any word like shyness,certainly not in Chorkor.

[Sowah is urinating in the drain opposite the road which faces the frontier of Korle's father's house,seen that anywhere in urban Accra?]
Many of the children I met here are not schooling,just a handful are.

Gaming is their pride,especially of the young boys.They have become so addicted to TV games so much that,the least chance and coins they get,off to Nii's TV Game Center.

It costs just twenty pesewas to play.
Holidays are interesting days here.The boys and girls organize themselves and go for 'excursions'.

What they mean by excursion are trips to the beach,cinemas,hotels-especially when there are 'jams'.

Some go to the children's park,national stadium,but for others,another day at the Game Center.
This is exactly the situation today.Everyone is busy at something.

At the local spot further down the street,some of the guys are seated with their female counterparts,I'm told are their girlfriends nodding to "Shatta wale's dancehall king" tune,while others are busily 'buggi-ing' the azonto and alkaida to match.

[Many of the guys prefer going fishing @ Chemuenaa with or without their parents on normal days,so I sought to find out if they still go fishing on holidays.I get to chemuenaa and my word,this time not fishing,everyone is swimming and chatting with their friends,with little time to have a chat with me.]

[Mothers are using this day to clean up their fish ovens,baskets,and trays ahead of the next normal business day.]

Do they know about Ghana's Independence anniversary?Well yeah,they do,but there's very little they can do to celebrate.

[Unlike in urban Accra,where many stores and shops do not operate on holidays,over here it's different.All the shops and stores are open,and petty trading is still going on.]

[Daniel is twenty one years old,he is by far the only one I have met today,who speaks average English,not too surprised.He recently completed Osu Presec.]

[While his friends and the community folks are out and about 'chilling',he is attending to customers at a small [building materials store-"God is able ",the name of the enterprise,which he tells me his elder brother owns.]
Although he was born and raised here,he has a different opinion about life.

He revealed to me some really shocking issues.Not that I had not heard,that teenage parenthood is rampant here,but the admission by an inhabitant,to me was deep.

[He tells me everything.Amorous relationships among the youth here is over the top.And sex happens to be a normal exercise among the youth.

No wonder I see many very little children under three around here.Their mothers,are hardly seventeen years old themselves.]

According to Daniel,he has very few friends,he does not want to get corrupted.He tells me he is one of the rarest non-sex having young guys I would find here.He holds a dream of remaining chaste until marriage,which inhabitants here are less enthused about.

There is an activity in the vicinity,everyday-funerals,parties,and naming ceremonies,and on Sundays,they go for church service.On a holiday,he comes to work like any other day,and hopes his elder brother who's shop he operates,will foot his polytechnic education bill soon.

Evenings are the more fascinating.Inhabitants hang out in their numbers just to chit-chat and deepen neighborhood ties.They seldom bear grudges against each other.

It was dusk,the community was still wet,and was loosing the brightness of the sky,I had to be making my way towards the roadside to get a Troski back to tema station.

There was a certain 'feel good'sense around the community,apparently there were holiday bashes all over later in the evening,so the kids were preparing.They are pretty excited,both boys and girls,and hope to have a Funtime.

It was time to leave a lively community,to leave my new friends.The people here live life without the stress associated with living in some of Accra's urban areas,the stress of trying so hard to please neighbors in our communities,and the stress of keeping up a certain 'class' to feel valued in society.

Everyone here relates well with their neighbors,and the kids appear even more united in their own small corners where their parents and grandparents reside.

These are the positive features of this community that make me feel like living here.

I wish I could join the "boys boys and girls girls" to the area jams this holiday night.I certainly have found a new home here,but there has to be an intensive sex education drive ( Sex education which is the lifelong process of acquiring information about sexual behavior,sexual relationships,and sexual health and of forming attitudes,beliefs and values about relationships,identity,and intimacy) for these kids,for it is surprising how many of them at my age and lower have their own children not one,some two and even three.

Komla Adom-GIJ
6/03/14.
www.kingsleykomla.blogspot.com
kingsleykomla@gmail.com
Twitter:@kingsley_komla

REASON WHY I SMILED ON 57th INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEB

It was Ghana's 57th Independence Day "celebration",YES.The heavy rains almost disrupted the annual parade,YES.

Despite the downpour,thousands of people thronged the black star square to commemorate the day,personally not too sure what was worth celebrating,though.

The rains dealt a bitter blow to the kids who were enthusiastic in their quest to participate in the annual march pass.

They got beaten all square by the heavy downpour after their long travels to the parade venue that morning.

Trust many of the kids to catch a "flu" or health condition after today's experience.

For me,there was nothing to celebrate as a country on this day,and many others shared my opinion.

The only positive however for Joe and many of his friends,was the opportunity to rake in a few Ghana cedis at the square at a time like this.

Joe is a fifteen year-old boy,who has come along with his brother's 4ft mixed amber black and white male horse to the square as a mobile tourist attraction.

It was still raining,people who wanted to take photographs or ride on the horse back had to pay one Ghana cedi to do so,despite the waters.I had to pay him to get some pictures too.Joe was still 

shivering to teeth,his black armless shirt was heavy with water,but he was not perturbed.
[From the top of his head,he tells me he had made in excess of fifty cedis already.]
Apparently,he does this at the korlegornor beach-side every weekend.Visitors at the beach pay monies to have a ride and also take pictures.

Despite the not-too-positive state of the country,Joe is consoled by the fact that he would at least go home knowing that the day brought him quite an amount of money from his horse.He became my friend,we exchanged contacts,and while parting,he invited me to their base at the Korlegornor beach on Saturday.

I looked up the parade ground and saw many more young boys,some skillfully riding their bicycles,others skating in the water patches left in the wake of the rains.Then again I was curious,I got closer and it was no different from Joe's story.

A bicycle ride round the square was one cedi,while a 100m range skate distance was fifty pesewas.

I would have gone a round of skating at least,but for the rains and the unavailability of a trusted person to keep my valuables.

[They say to me,"it's normal business for us on such occasions here,the only opportunity for us to make money".]
Sadly though,they had not made as much,but were excited about a day like this.
National paraphernalia sale is another yearly activity at the square.

Very much so,some people had sold many miniature Ghana flags to patrons at the indece square at one Ghana each.Consider if one guy had sold 100 pieces,the amount he may have made on the day.

I'm particularly excited about the initiative of these young people,their determination and drive to take advantage of the indece day celebration to make some cash.

If there is anything impressive about the Ghanaian that amazes me,it has got to be the desire to make something out of nothing.

Even in the pouring rain,the Ghanaian is charged up and busily making something happen at the parade grounds.

It then becomes disheartening if those at the top,who are supposed to make things happen,renege and for their parochial interests,leave the nation hanging in a balance.

Why can't Ghana work again?why can't our institutions work again?why can't our leaders be truthful and honest to/with us?If only they could put in a lot more effort,like the young boys and girls I met at today's 6th March parade,we would be better of,than we are momentarily.

These kids made me smile today,and if there's anything to remember about this day ,someday,it surely will not be the parade,not the disruption by the rain,not the president's speech,but the clear show of determination and desire by these children to do something for themselves.

Komla Adom-GIJ
kingsleykomla@gmail.com
www.kingsleykomla.blogspot.com
Twitter: @kingsley_komla