…The night was long gone.Kafui had not returned from the office that Wednesday night,despite having placed a phone call to his mom that he was home-bound.It was not a night like christmas eve or 31st night – when you
could make a case for his lateness,with the heavy vehicular and human congestion in the Ghanaian Capital– Accra.
Gabon had just lost to a tactically drilled and disciplined Congolese side,coached by former BlackStars headman,Claude Leroy,0-1 in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations second round group fixture.The congolese were
everything the Gabonese were not;swift in their transitions,defensively solid,and more.
Komla,Kafui’s half brother,was devastated the Gabonese had lost their second game;a game many pundits and neutrals alike,tipped Les Pantheres as
favourites,especially having beaten 2013 finalist,Burkina Faso in their opening group fixture.He was a casual soccer bettor,who spends the better half of his day studying the major leagues in Europe and their corresponding fixtures,in order to stake his bets.Only twice has he succeeded in winning such stakes.
As he sat in the couch still livid over his lost bet at half past midnight,his phone rang.Griiiing Griiiiiiing!!!
Kafui had just returned from his night “escapade” and was desperately placing a call to Komla,to open up the gate.Fully aware it was Kafui,his half brother on the phone,Komla left the phone to ring incessantly,and subsequently put it out.
Off! He turned it.
A lesson was in order,Komla said to himself.It was a way of punishing his half brother,whom the day before had deprived him of his share of the evening’s
cake piece,after supper.
Bang!! Bang!! Bang!!!!!!!!
Kafui continued pelting the brown wooden gate with his fists,in order to attract a response,to no success.The loud gate-banging woke their sleeping mother up quite abruptly!Terrified by it,she frightenly tapped her husband.
“…Wake Up Wake Up darling.The robbers are here.They are destroying the gate.What should we do,she said in the frailest of voices – with fright written all about it.
She fell on her knees in prayer!
“God take control over our dire situation…Protect my family from the attack of these robbers.”
Her husband almost reached for his cell phone,to place a distress call to the police service,but found out it was plugged in the living room,charging.Braving the momentary storm in the bedroom,Mr.Elorm calmed his wife,and made for the living room,where he could grab the phone.You could tell he was slightly terrified,but had to wear a manly posture in an attempt to save the situation.
He tip-toed towards the living room,probably trying not to create any noise.The two-piece,orange,hand-woven curtain served as a shield –he hid behind it and peeped through into the hall.
Komla had put out the lights,before laying in the sofa adjacent the television cage.His image in the dark,as he lay in the sofa,got Mr.Elormscared.Just when he was about reaching for the cell phone,Komla sprang off the sofa and like a ploy to frighten his dad – whom he had seen tip-toe into the hall,he screamed, “Hey! Hey! Hey!..”
Before Komla could turn on the lights,his dad was flat on the floor,face-down,and sweating.Hahaahaaa…Komla thought to himself,I have won the prank
competition,Up dad!Why tip-toe in your own house?
Rather than responding,his father asked him to talk undertone.Shhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
“…The robbers at the gate,they want to break in.what should we do,call the cops..? ”Komla looked confused!His countenance immediatelychanged…
“ …Dad,which robbers?How did you see them?I saw Kafui’s call.He should be the one banging the gate so hard.I deliberately refused to go open up!...”He is a mean elder kid…,he added.
The intensity of the bang waned by the minute,Mr. Elorm was not all convinced.He needed to confirm whether or not it was a robbery attack.
He left Komla in the living room,albeit with a sterncaution..”lock up the dorr after I step out,son!,” he commanded.
Like a snail,Mr.Elorm crept slowly through the kitchen door,at the posterior end of the building,and then like a snake,glid past the wall,side-by-side until he could fully see anything happening at the well-lit gate.He was certainly not empty-handed,he held in his left hand,a club with the intention to clobber the robbers from their blindspots.Kafui stopped banging and was contemplating scaling the wall.
Before he could say jack,the vase which hang on the gate pole,came crushing to the floor.It was a deliberate attempt to scsscare the “supposed” intruder-robber away from the gate.Kafui peeped through the thin cracks of the wall,and saw a figure looking like his father.
He screamed, “Dad! It’s me!
Haaaahhhhhhh!His dad,heaving a huge sigh of relief opened up the gate,whichwas partly damaged following the heavy smack.It was a big FRIGHT!
Komla stood by and giggled,as his poor half brother walked in dejected and drained.It was half past two a.m!
Monday, 26 January 2015
Friday, 23 January 2015
A MUST READ PART FICTION (7 : "Striving to Live a Decent Life continued!
CHAPTER SEVEN
Marriage life began, just around this time, Mama, fell ill and was admitted at the Margaret Marquarte Catholic hospital at Kpando.For three weeks she was at the hospital, conditions worsened by the days and doctors just could not diagnose any medical defect Mama was supposed to be suffering.She was an elder in the village Catholic Church and almost everyday the church members visited and prayed with her at the hospital.
Deteriorating as the condition was there had to be decision. Tina Elorm’s elder sister who was then a practicing nurse at Koforidua, Efo, the commercial bank clerk and Elorm, travelled and brought their sick mother to live with Tina at Koforidua.
Weeks passed, months passed and her condition didn’t improve.Elorm and his wife Vic moved from Wireless to Trade fair after having their first son, to occupy a single room chamber and hall apartment, of a big compound house,off the main road and opposite the magnificent International Trade Fair Centre at Labadi.Elorm bought a car which he converted later into a yellow and red taxi cab,for sales generation. Ken began schooling at St. Thomas school. He would drop him off at the school before going to work each morning.
The family attended St. Michael’s Catholic Church at Burma Camp every Sunday.A step at a time, Elorm’s work was progressing; he had his second child,King later in 1992.Alcoholism and smoking were still a vital part of Elorm’s life.Whenever he got a lot of money, he spent some stocking his room divider with alcoholic beverages.At the least provocation, he would beat up his loud wife. King was five and
at Nicolet School. It became persistent, every day he would beat up his wife at the least of provocations,and after picking King up from school,one night, little King,looking all melancholic and frustrated asked his daddy,
“Daddy, please are you going to beat mummy again today?”
This struck Elorm and sent shivers down his system, he vowed at that moment that, “Never again would he lay his hands on a woman to beat her in his life”.His aim of keeping to one woman and being a responsible husband had just re-emerged in his mind.
…and for many years,the family lived happily.Many more childrenwere born,and Elorm’s job,began paying particularly impressive dividends.
THE END!
The author of this short part fiction would like to know your views about the piece!All suggestions,inputs,commentaries are welcome……………………….
E-mail : kingsleykomla@gmail.com
Blog Address : www.kingsleykomla.blogspot.com
Twitter : @kingsley_komla
Marriage life began, just around this time, Mama, fell ill and was admitted at the Margaret Marquarte Catholic hospital at Kpando.For three weeks she was at the hospital, conditions worsened by the days and doctors just could not diagnose any medical defect Mama was supposed to be suffering.She was an elder in the village Catholic Church and almost everyday the church members visited and prayed with her at the hospital.
Deteriorating as the condition was there had to be decision. Tina Elorm’s elder sister who was then a practicing nurse at Koforidua, Efo, the commercial bank clerk and Elorm, travelled and brought their sick mother to live with Tina at Koforidua.
Weeks passed, months passed and her condition didn’t improve.Elorm and his wife Vic moved from Wireless to Trade fair after having their first son, to occupy a single room chamber and hall apartment, of a big compound house,off the main road and opposite the magnificent International Trade Fair Centre at Labadi.Elorm bought a car which he converted later into a yellow and red taxi cab,for sales generation. Ken began schooling at St. Thomas school. He would drop him off at the school before going to work each morning.
The family attended St. Michael’s Catholic Church at Burma Camp every Sunday.A step at a time, Elorm’s work was progressing; he had his second child,King later in 1992.Alcoholism and smoking were still a vital part of Elorm’s life.Whenever he got a lot of money, he spent some stocking his room divider with alcoholic beverages.At the least provocation, he would beat up his loud wife. King was five and
at Nicolet School. It became persistent, every day he would beat up his wife at the least of provocations,and after picking King up from school,one night, little King,looking all melancholic and frustrated asked his daddy,
“Daddy, please are you going to beat mummy again today?”
This struck Elorm and sent shivers down his system, he vowed at that moment that, “Never again would he lay his hands on a woman to beat her in his life”.His aim of keeping to one woman and being a responsible husband had just re-emerged in his mind.
…and for many years,the family lived happily.Many more childrenwere born,and Elorm’s job,began paying particularly impressive dividends.
THE END!
The author of this short part fiction would like to know your views about the piece!All suggestions,inputs,commentaries are welcome……………………….
E-mail : kingsleykomla@gmail.com
Blog Address : www.kingsleykomla.blogspot.com
Twitter : @kingsley_komla
Thursday, 22 January 2015
A MUST READ PART FICTION (6) : “Striving to Live a Decent Life”… continued
CHAPTER SIX
…“He, who finds a wife, finds agood thing and obtains favour from the Lord”-Proverbs 18:22. Though Elorm knew very little about this, it was time to get a wife. While in Benin,Afinor who was a girl Elorm wanted to marry had finished technical school and with directions to Koutonou, she managed to travel all the way to see Elorm.She was the daughter of Nutakor; a business man based in the city.Afinor was light skinned with naturallyngifted long hair almost brushing her back, long sexy legs with incredibly nice gastrocnemius muscles, and worked with a construction firm in Accra.
The two had planned to get married once Elorm returned to Accra. But then Afinor was the hot, out-going party type chick, who would not miss a party or a friend’s get together for anything. She went to all the clubs there were in, Labadi. Women like these were always going to be expensive and difficult to keep.Elorm recalled events of his village,how all the men had problems with their marriages and in order to prevent this he would not even attempt sealing marriage with Afinor.
With time, he got to know the people around and always went to buy bitters from a beer bar across from the road, opposite the huge Apollo
Restaurant.A number of young ladies lived there and every time, they passed in front of Elorm’s shop and he would say to himself, “these are wife materials”.Dogbe was the owner of the bar; he was a sprayer, who did finishing works on ceilings, and cars. His wife Daavi virtually ran the bar, and had brought to live with her, five girls from the village.
Vic, a young pretty twenty five year old ewe-speaking girl, who
sold toffees on a table top just in front of the bar, was one of the many
girls, whose fathers did not cater for. Her mother single handedly raised her in a small village called Botoku in the Volta Region-Ghana and sent her to Dogbey in the city to help learn some trade; hair dressing, tailoring
and other.She found herself on a table top selling toffees and chewing gum which patrons at the bar bought to keep their mouths freshened each time they visited the bar to have a good drink, Elorm occasionally met her whenever he also went for some tots of bitters.
The two struck acquaintance.Dogbe as protective as other parents, would beat the hell out of Vic if she ever went out and reported late; he
would have none of that.Girls of Vic’s age and below in the area had corrupted themselves.It was common to see girls as young as fifteen, with babies strapped behind their backs, and still pregnant,looking all unkempt and with water running down the nostrils of their babies.
Marriage was not a priority for girls there, just pre-marital sex and
enjoyment of life. Teenage pregnancies, teenage motherhood and prostitution among young girls were endemic.It was for this reason; Dogbe would not take it lightly whenever Vic reported home late.
In May 1987, Elorm took a contingent to Botoku, where he performed the
traditional marriage rites and brought Vic back to Accra. He had .found a
good thing, a wife…............to be continued
…“He, who finds a wife, finds agood thing and obtains favour from the Lord”-Proverbs 18:22. Though Elorm knew very little about this, it was time to get a wife. While in Benin,Afinor who was a girl Elorm wanted to marry had finished technical school and with directions to Koutonou, she managed to travel all the way to see Elorm.She was the daughter of Nutakor; a business man based in the city.Afinor was light skinned with naturallyngifted long hair almost brushing her back, long sexy legs with incredibly nice gastrocnemius muscles, and worked with a construction firm in Accra.
The two had planned to get married once Elorm returned to Accra. But then Afinor was the hot, out-going party type chick, who would not miss a party or a friend’s get together for anything. She went to all the clubs there were in, Labadi. Women like these were always going to be expensive and difficult to keep.Elorm recalled events of his village,how all the men had problems with their marriages and in order to prevent this he would not even attempt sealing marriage with Afinor.
With time, he got to know the people around and always went to buy bitters from a beer bar across from the road, opposite the huge Apollo
Restaurant.A number of young ladies lived there and every time, they passed in front of Elorm’s shop and he would say to himself, “these are wife materials”.Dogbe was the owner of the bar; he was a sprayer, who did finishing works on ceilings, and cars. His wife Daavi virtually ran the bar, and had brought to live with her, five girls from the village.
Vic, a young pretty twenty five year old ewe-speaking girl, who
sold toffees on a table top just in front of the bar, was one of the many
girls, whose fathers did not cater for. Her mother single handedly raised her in a small village called Botoku in the Volta Region-Ghana and sent her to Dogbey in the city to help learn some trade; hair dressing, tailoring
and other.She found herself on a table top selling toffees and chewing gum which patrons at the bar bought to keep their mouths freshened each time they visited the bar to have a good drink, Elorm occasionally met her whenever he also went for some tots of bitters.
The two struck acquaintance.Dogbe as protective as other parents, would beat the hell out of Vic if she ever went out and reported late; he
would have none of that.Girls of Vic’s age and below in the area had corrupted themselves.It was common to see girls as young as fifteen, with babies strapped behind their backs, and still pregnant,looking all unkempt and with water running down the nostrils of their babies.
Marriage was not a priority for girls there, just pre-marital sex and
enjoyment of life. Teenage pregnancies, teenage motherhood and prostitution among young girls were endemic.It was for this reason; Dogbe would not take it lightly whenever Vic reported home late.
In May 1987, Elorm took a contingent to Botoku, where he performed the
traditional marriage rites and brought Vic back to Accra. He had .found a
good thing, a wife…............to be continued
A MUST READ PART FICTION (5) :“Striving to Live a Decent Life”… continued!
CHAPTER FIVE
Back in Sabadu, education was not prioritized; men married multiple
spouses even in obvious poverty-stricken circumstances. Elorm’s family was a family that had a multiplicity of issues and struggles. Men who got married never kept to one wife, those that did broke up at some point.Papa and Mama were separated and the greater part of Elorm’s life
and the lives of his other 6 siblings were shaped by Mama. It is for these and many other reasons that Elorm took it upon himself to change the status quo.
He wanted to be an exception to all the village antecedents. He vowed to
work hard, get established in the city, marry just one wife and stick to her, and educate his own children, if ever he got the means.After a few months, he decided to go back to Nigeria.But past experiences in Isulo,held back his conscience;so Elorm decided to try Benin Republic,
maybe his fortunes would change.
Koutonou – Capital City, Republic of Benin, was the hub of economic
activities in the country, and housed many of the government and
diplomatic services. The streets of the city were congested with beggars,cripples,and lepers; all these dregs of society who harassed people and attacked them just so they could get a few coins for a living, were all over the place.
People, who drove around the streets of the Benin capital, hoped the
traffic lights never turned red as they approach the intersection.
Many others had to make thousands of unplanned diversions to avoid them on a daily basis.Elorm could not imagine himself in the shoes of these calabash-holding beggars, the government of Benin,everybody in the city blamed for mismanaging state resources and not creating jobs for the many citizens.
He had to join the teaming numbers of unemployed young folk, and he
hope that one day in the city, favour would smile at him.Sey was Senegalese, Papio was Togolese, Akratsa and Bambi were Zambians and
then Osa was Nigerian, these were the people he met and lived with in
one apartment upon arrival in the Koutonou.All these guys, had different jobs they did in the capital; some decent,others morally unacceptable. From hand to mouth, he lived, at the city market; he would go and cart
foodstuffs the market women brought from the villages, to the market from the main bus terminal for a fee.
Nine months passed, there was no carving work the whole of the City,
carving was not a thing the people were doing. At the time, there was an
influx of French furniture manufactory in Republic of Benin,and all the
carpenters did was ordinary French furniture for sale.Elorm later found a group of wood workers at the centre of the city,where he carved little designs on French wardrobes and room dividers that had already been made, an invention the Beninois absolutely loved.
Every weekend, six of the guys would go to the Kotonou market to get
foodstuffs. Meat and fish were quite expensive, so meals were generally
light on meat.A range of foods including Akassa-fermented corn dough food, Aloko-fried plantain, and Amiwo-corn dough made from tomato puree and other spices,Beye-roasted peanut cake boiled in oil, Moyo-tomato sauce with onion and pepper Elorm ate during his time in the Benin capital.
As the proverbial “good things come in small packages” would apply, it was in Benin, the least likely of places,that Elorm raised a reasonable
amount of money in 1986.He raised 170 CFA francs over a short period, and quickly decided to come down to Ghana to establish a workshop. With the amount he rented a parcel of land not too far away from the
sea shore from a GA landlord,purchased some wood, iron sheets, and
working tools. Life had now started to take a leap into Elorm’s dream.........to be continued! !
Back in Sabadu, education was not prioritized; men married multiple
spouses even in obvious poverty-stricken circumstances. Elorm’s family was a family that had a multiplicity of issues and struggles. Men who got married never kept to one wife, those that did broke up at some point.Papa and Mama were separated and the greater part of Elorm’s life
and the lives of his other 6 siblings were shaped by Mama. It is for these and many other reasons that Elorm took it upon himself to change the status quo.
He wanted to be an exception to all the village antecedents. He vowed to
work hard, get established in the city, marry just one wife and stick to her, and educate his own children, if ever he got the means.After a few months, he decided to go back to Nigeria.But past experiences in Isulo,held back his conscience;so Elorm decided to try Benin Republic,
maybe his fortunes would change.
Koutonou – Capital City, Republic of Benin, was the hub of economic
activities in the country, and housed many of the government and
diplomatic services. The streets of the city were congested with beggars,cripples,and lepers; all these dregs of society who harassed people and attacked them just so they could get a few coins for a living, were all over the place.
People, who drove around the streets of the Benin capital, hoped the
traffic lights never turned red as they approach the intersection.
Many others had to make thousands of unplanned diversions to avoid them on a daily basis.Elorm could not imagine himself in the shoes of these calabash-holding beggars, the government of Benin,everybody in the city blamed for mismanaging state resources and not creating jobs for the many citizens.
He had to join the teaming numbers of unemployed young folk, and he
hope that one day in the city, favour would smile at him.Sey was Senegalese, Papio was Togolese, Akratsa and Bambi were Zambians and
then Osa was Nigerian, these were the people he met and lived with in
one apartment upon arrival in the Koutonou.All these guys, had different jobs they did in the capital; some decent,others morally unacceptable. From hand to mouth, he lived, at the city market; he would go and cart
foodstuffs the market women brought from the villages, to the market from the main bus terminal for a fee.
Nine months passed, there was no carving work the whole of the City,
carving was not a thing the people were doing. At the time, there was an
influx of French furniture manufactory in Republic of Benin,and all the
carpenters did was ordinary French furniture for sale.Elorm later found a group of wood workers at the centre of the city,where he carved little designs on French wardrobes and room dividers that had already been made, an invention the Beninois absolutely loved.
Every weekend, six of the guys would go to the Kotonou market to get
foodstuffs. Meat and fish were quite expensive, so meals were generally
light on meat.A range of foods including Akassa-fermented corn dough food, Aloko-fried plantain, and Amiwo-corn dough made from tomato puree and other spices,Beye-roasted peanut cake boiled in oil, Moyo-tomato sauce with onion and pepper Elorm ate during his time in the Benin capital.
As the proverbial “good things come in small packages” would apply, it was in Benin, the least likely of places,that Elorm raised a reasonable
amount of money in 1986.He raised 170 CFA francs over a short period, and quickly decided to come down to Ghana to establish a workshop. With the amount he rented a parcel of land not too far away from the
sea shore from a GA landlord,purchased some wood, iron sheets, and
working tools. Life had now started to take a leap into Elorm’s dream.........to be continued! !
A MUST READ PART FICTION (4) : “Striving to Live a Decent Life”….continued!
CHAPTER FOUR
...No sooner had he began finding his feet than a radio broadcast at noon
on Monday in 1980 was made. All illegal foreigners, residing and working in Nigeria were to leave the shores of the country in two weeks.
His dream was to be again,truncated. Many of the Ghanaian ‘hustlers’ had purchased television sets, radio sets, refrigerators, sound systems,
and irons among other appliances which were relatively cheaper in
Nigeria, and the idea was to show to their relatives and friends of what “ good life” they had in Nigeria during their stay.
Bullet, one of the Ghanaian guys,wanted to open a record store in Accra.
It was one of the few businesses on the rise in the country. He made a
box in which he put all his sound systems, speakers, tape recorder and a turntable, safely locked it and into the articulator truck he put it,when the trucks stopped by the village square to pick up all the Ghanaians out of the country.
At this point, talking about substantial amount of money,capable of
establishing a furniture shop was a wild dream for Elorm. Another
fruitless journeyhad been climaxed by repatriation.
Ghanaian girls were at the time indulging in serious prostitution [ashawo
business] at pubs, drinking spots and hotels.
It was good business for Ghanaian men who were engaging girls insex trade.
What these men did was to gather the innocent girls from Ghana and take them to Nigeria, spread them all over the place, where they wooed their men clients at drinking spots, pubs and hotels for payment after offering sexual service.Upon return after their respective nights in the homes of all shades of Ibo and Yoruba men, all the monies were taken from them, the girls had very little of the entire proceeds.
A number of them, the girls contracted deadly diseases, HIV/AIDS,
gonorrhoea, syphilis, even money to purchase make up kits was hard for them to come up with, despite the monies they made from sleeping with men.On the journey back to Ghana,about fifteen articulator trucks,packed with Ghanaian strugglers with their belongings got stranded in the middle somewhere.The journey was one other hell of a time, and for three whole weeks,the Ghanaian citizens were stranded in the trucks, and massive traffic had choked between Togo and Benin borders. Ghana then had also closed her borders, same as Togo.
Ghanaians who were still left in Lagos-Nigeria were bullied and their
belongings seized by Nigerians,the deadline had elapsed, they had
overstayed their welcome.Many people died in the trucks,men and women alike. The ashawo women,worst affected. The sort of activities they engaged in, demanded regular cleaning of their body and use of cologne.
In the absence of cleaning, they stunk pungently. Some men who stored food on the truck, had sex with the hungry women before handing them the food,in the full glare of everybody on the trucks. Elorm was in there,he
recounted that about 150 people may have died on the trucks, still alive,
and hoping that soon there would be a way, for he had a will.After three weeks on the road, the head of state of the former British colony got wind of the dire situation of the stranded Ghanaian citizens and after thorough flight surveillance;ordered that the border be opened.
There were still more obstacles ahead, the Benin border would still not be opened, and people were still dying, the Akan speaking clique of citizens made a decision, there had to be a way of getting out of calamity.A Grande demonstration was planned, but they had to contend
with arm-wielding security officials at the borders. Clad in red arm and
head bands, they confronted the guards at the gates, while the tussle
ensued the trucks broke loose the iron bars with lightning speed, one truck after another, had access to the routes straight into Ghana on top speed.
A big relief for Elorm at last, they were in Ghana. It was another unrewarding and wasted journey;especially witnessing other people die right before his eyes, and the offensive smell of their carcasses.No phones and no money for most of the returnees, there had to be a public announcement on radio for people to go and identify their broken relatives and dead ones, following the repatriation......to be continued!
...No sooner had he began finding his feet than a radio broadcast at noon
on Monday in 1980 was made. All illegal foreigners, residing and working in Nigeria were to leave the shores of the country in two weeks.
His dream was to be again,truncated. Many of the Ghanaian ‘hustlers’ had purchased television sets, radio sets, refrigerators, sound systems,
and irons among other appliances which were relatively cheaper in
Nigeria, and the idea was to show to their relatives and friends of what “ good life” they had in Nigeria during their stay.
Bullet, one of the Ghanaian guys,wanted to open a record store in Accra.
It was one of the few businesses on the rise in the country. He made a
box in which he put all his sound systems, speakers, tape recorder and a turntable, safely locked it and into the articulator truck he put it,when the trucks stopped by the village square to pick up all the Ghanaians out of the country.
At this point, talking about substantial amount of money,capable of
establishing a furniture shop was a wild dream for Elorm. Another
fruitless journeyhad been climaxed by repatriation.
Ghanaian girls were at the time indulging in serious prostitution [ashawo
business] at pubs, drinking spots and hotels.
It was good business for Ghanaian men who were engaging girls insex trade.
What these men did was to gather the innocent girls from Ghana and take them to Nigeria, spread them all over the place, where they wooed their men clients at drinking spots, pubs and hotels for payment after offering sexual service.Upon return after their respective nights in the homes of all shades of Ibo and Yoruba men, all the monies were taken from them, the girls had very little of the entire proceeds.
A number of them, the girls contracted deadly diseases, HIV/AIDS,
gonorrhoea, syphilis, even money to purchase make up kits was hard for them to come up with, despite the monies they made from sleeping with men.On the journey back to Ghana,about fifteen articulator trucks,packed with Ghanaian strugglers with their belongings got stranded in the middle somewhere.The journey was one other hell of a time, and for three whole weeks,the Ghanaian citizens were stranded in the trucks, and massive traffic had choked between Togo and Benin borders. Ghana then had also closed her borders, same as Togo.
Ghanaians who were still left in Lagos-Nigeria were bullied and their
belongings seized by Nigerians,the deadline had elapsed, they had
overstayed their welcome.Many people died in the trucks,men and women alike. The ashawo women,worst affected. The sort of activities they engaged in, demanded regular cleaning of their body and use of cologne.
In the absence of cleaning, they stunk pungently. Some men who stored food on the truck, had sex with the hungry women before handing them the food,in the full glare of everybody on the trucks. Elorm was in there,he
recounted that about 150 people may have died on the trucks, still alive,
and hoping that soon there would be a way, for he had a will.After three weeks on the road, the head of state of the former British colony got wind of the dire situation of the stranded Ghanaian citizens and after thorough flight surveillance;ordered that the border be opened.
There were still more obstacles ahead, the Benin border would still not be opened, and people were still dying, the Akan speaking clique of citizens made a decision, there had to be a way of getting out of calamity.A Grande demonstration was planned, but they had to contend
with arm-wielding security officials at the borders. Clad in red arm and
head bands, they confronted the guards at the gates, while the tussle
ensued the trucks broke loose the iron bars with lightning speed, one truck after another, had access to the routes straight into Ghana on top speed.
A big relief for Elorm at last, they were in Ghana. It was another unrewarding and wasted journey;especially witnessing other people die right before his eyes, and the offensive smell of their carcasses.No phones and no money for most of the returnees, there had to be a public announcement on radio for people to go and identify their broken relatives and dead ones, following the repatriation......to be continued!
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