WEEK 6 -- HISTORY REPEATS

Week VI is entitled History Repeats. Let's get right into it. In Week I, I revealed that the last time I was in Ghana was in 2005-- six year ago. In 2005, we stayed in Ghana for an entire month. Orginally it seemed like a long time but in actuailty it went by so fast. Throughout the entire month we reunited with family memebers I didn't know I had. One particular person was my cousin Kweku Nkum. This is my twin cousin because we are both born on July Fourth, only six years apart. He is also my twin cousin because of our names--we are both Wednesday born. If you didn't get a chance to read Week V then that means a few things 1. you are not a true follower of Wendiana Jones 2. you don't know what it means to be born on Wednesday...but most importantly you are not a true follower of Wendiana Jones.

Kweku Nkum is the son of my Aunty Betty. Aunty Betty is my mother's older sister and she lives in Lashibi in Accra. Six years ago Kweku Nkum decided to take us to the Art Center. The Art Center is a main attraction for "tourists" because that is where you can buy crafty items like necklaces, masks etc. Now when you think about Kweku Nkum you have to mention his sidekick The Hummer. Please direct your attention to the image highlight.

If you see what I see, you too will determine that "The Hummer" is not a fitting name for Kweku Nkum's sidekick or better yet '82 Opel (I honestly don't know the year but '82 sounded decent). Now on the way to the Art Center we encountered a hault--yes a complete stop right in the middle of the Art Center intersection (can you imagine all the traffic being that this is a tourist spot). In the blazing heat the police officer started shouting in our native tongue "get down and push the car!" It took my sister's and I a few minutes to realize that he was talking to us. After realizing my older sister rolled down her window and told the police officer "I'm an American, I don't push cars!" She preceded to roll the window up and stay in the car while the officer was still shouting. I on the other hand looked at my younger sister next to me and got out the car ready to push. You see pushing a car on the street in Ghana is not as embrassing (atleast the way it would be in America). The car was finally pushed to the side of the street with the help of some random boys (who got a few cedis in return).

Just when you thought the joke was over! Let us fastforward six years early: History Repeats. So a few days ago, my lovely cousin Kweku Nkum decided to pick us up in "The Hummer." I know I asked the same question, "it's still running?" Yes, it is. My cousin picked us up around 1PM so that we could go stay at his house for a few days. On the way to Lashibi we drove by the Art Center and we laughed about our experience six years ago. Just as we passed the Art Center Kweku Nkum decided to get 10 cedis worth of petro...but 10 cedis didn't get us that far, see what happened next.

As you can see I could not stop laughing. I thought it was the most joke situation of the week... and it didnt stop there. The car ended up stopping again and that time hitting and getting stuck in the gutter. If you know anything about gutters in Ghana,you kno that they are open gutters. Neeed I say anymore.  Well after these joke situations my father was able to pick us up and no it was not another Hummer. It was a nice and smooth running Landcruiser.  We finally made it to Aunt Betty's house and enjoyed dinner. The following day we returned to Aunty Sarah's house to packed our bags for a trip to Medina, Accra. Aunty Chinina lives in Medina. She is one of the most funniest people I have met in my ife. During our stay there we went to a Turkish resturant and enjoyed chicken kebabs's. The following day we went to Chez Afrique and enjoyed tilapia, plaintain, and chips aka fries. We danced the night away. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures from these outtings. You can blame Vennessa for that. I have no comment.

Wendiana Jones