Yesterday after work i went with Dela to meet his family. We walked 'behind' the main roads that i have gotten to know to a sort of oasis of orangey-red dirt roads... it immediately lost the frenetic busy-ness ... the green hills seemed closer rising out of the fog.
Dela said that when the sun goes down this is his favourite part of the day... it is nice because the wind picks up a bit and the heat dissipates...
We went to his wife's workplace which is one of the little seamstress's boutiques... His wife was busy working on a project and looking after her baby!! Her two boys who are around 6 and 8, (their names mean Wisdom and King in Ewe!) added to the joyous chaos.. Manita (i think this was her name, i will check with Dela) greeted me with 'Welcome!' and a big smile... they all rushed to make me feel comfortable in a chair... and i did!
I was introduced to everyone... King who is about 8 is apparently quite artistic so i immediately whipped out the pad of Enograms (is that what they are called, Jean ? i seem to be having word problems today) ...designs that you can colour in to make your own picture and coloured pencils i had brought ... he was delighted especially when i showed him how to pick out shapes and forms... I gave the youngest one, Wisdom the kid's watch Clara had given me for Africa!! ... i thought she would get a kick out of a young boy who is learning to tell the time having it... i told him that my daughter had given it to me.... and that i wanted to show her him wearing it... He was proud to show off his new watch!!
But the real hit was when i brought out the macrame bracelet that i had started ... Immediately they all wanted to learn how to do it.. So i had a really fun interlude macraming with them... Manita and her son King immediately picked it up... He made himself a ring with the left overs of the bracelet i made and gave to Manita ... i thought that was very clever and it looked very good!!
They wanted me to come for supper at some point but of course, I am going off tomorrow!! Endings and beginnings all mixed up together!! A beginning of a friendship at the end of my stay... i was wishing Dela had brought me earlier but it had take some time for us to reach the delicate moment ....
We decided i would come for lunch on the day i arrived back from Kumasi ... I would be leaving the next day to go to Accra with the gang...
Meanwhile i promised to search out some small beads for them to use in their bracelets ... also i passed the baton on to Clarisse by getting them to promise if they wanted to learn more knots to go and visit her at VEG... they seemed very interested...
That night when i got back to the house, Clarisse was pleased that she would be carrying on my 'mission' of spreading the good word of 'macrame'!!!
Today i walked to the Office for the last time... i don't know if it was that feeling you get when change is imminent but there was a sadness there... so today i just couldn't pass by the old lady by the road who sits there day and night it seems with a big black plastic bag on her head like a turban with plastic bottles strewn around her... She is one of the street people ... her situation always tore at my heart. The heavy dark side of any city... today i went and got her the equivalant of our coffee, milky and sweet served in a plastic bag and some home made donuts which are so delicious... i placed them beside her and she cringed away from me... there is such suffering in the world.
It was a balm to enter into the hubbub of the Office ... all the mothers arriving, chatting together happily and depositing chortling, cooing babies with Belinda.. there are two sides to everything...
