The Protectors of our Country

We were just going on about how we were being ditched by one of our friends and how we felt bad about the whole situation, well this is just for a short period of time since after all we had less than three weeks till we wouldn't see each other again.
We laughed a little, talked a little and tried to focus on the bright future ahead until we ere asked to 'park' by a police team sitting in a pickup truck.

Oh my! It was late and we were already in such a hurry to go home how can this happen? We obliged anyway. After a few minutes where we decided we would not step out of the vehicle, Two police men came down and asked Alice to bring out the documents supporting her driving a car with a foreign number plate in the country. Everything of hers was exact and inwardly we all jeered at the men, however, we knew our woes were not over. Someway, they had stopped us and couldn't let us go free. They had to find a fault. After some time, the 'fault' came out to be that one document supporting the vehicle was in the name of her husband and not hers after explaining to them the truth and nothing but the truth, ...... well it wasn't our fault they spoke very bad English, and were terrible in understanding it too. We were ordered to the station.

The most annoying factor associated with this was that, we were stopped in Adenta, beside a police station and asked to drive to the Madina police station. that was quite a distance. We obliged, drove solemnly while thinking of our next plan of action.
These men really wasted our time.... after buying food on the way, to parking without saying a word. Finally we were at the station by which time we had made the first important call on Alice contact list. The simple issue now progressed to us leaving our car and being processed for court. We agreed to the latter part of that statement that meant being taken to court on that issue.

After a few more calls, and speaking to the bosses, the police man with our details had to release them for us because 'a boss' said so!!!

Bottom line we were so happy on our way back home. It pays to know people in high if you are a Ghanaian otherwise your life will be frustrated by the police of this country.

Being a MOTHER

The first moments a woman gets pregnant is when she starts preparing for motherhood.
"I AM GOING TO BE MOM"
Well, in the Ghanaian tradition, one can not assume she is a mother until she brings her child home and the child has been out doored on the eighth day. However, I look around today and everything has changed and most people around fail to recognize this and move in the right direction. I am fully aware that we all can not think alike and what I consider right might be wrong by others.
Coming to understand that being a mother does not only have to be in the context of bringing forth a child after a full term pregnancy of early birth is something everyone should know.
I have had the pleasure of meeting wonderful ladies through which no fault of theirs have not yet been pregnant or had "their own" children. These are women of faith who have huge hearts and do their best to move forward.
Growing up, adoption had been a silent word in my community. Locally people described it as 'buying a child'. I always wondered how much money people had to pay to be a able to buy a child and when rumors spread that the neighbor, who had publicly struggled to have children disappeared and finally returned after some months with a baby in her arms, fingers were being pointed at her as the woman who bought a baby and says she has a child now.
Young as I was then, I was very curious and pestered my parents for information regarding the lady and how she bought her child. Secretly I think I wanted to save enough to get a sibling too since I am the last child. 'my parents told me nothing'.
You should know that no one takes a microphone and shouts to tell a friend or family that he/she has adopted. You are obligated to have children of your own and once you get married people immediately start calculating your ovulation and giving you deadlines to give birth. Funny you say, well you should 'travel and see'.
Today I look around and see how tremendously we all are. The opportunity to raise a child whether biological or not is one of the greatest blessings. Children are one of the purest gifts one can ever be entrusted with and having the opportunity to raise one is an immense blessing.
Grateful things are changing today and wonderful people are raising such wonderful children who they did not bring forth. I am deeply touched and moved to tears anytime I read or see a family with adopted children. I feel thankful to them because I wonder what some of these young fellows will be going through if they were not adopted.
I know not every adoptive story ends with 'and they lived happily ever after' having experienced some first hand. They need our support and help so they can do their best.
 After my family fostered 3 kids for a period of time, one was adopted whiles the other 2 were sent to family relations. We were all happy for the adopted since she was going to the states and we knew with her adopted family her life would definitely be better. After some years we were sad to hear adoptive family gave her up saying she was too much to handle. We all do wonder where are little one is and continue praying for her n the hopes she has now found a forever family.
I follow blogs of ladies who go through fertility treatments, miscarriages and find hope in adoption. I also see families who bless others by adopting children into their own family and giving them a place to call home. I adore these women of Faith.
One such lady who's example is that bright is Lauren Casper and even though I have not met her I can not wait to. You can follow her blog at http://www.laurencasper.com/  and know what I am talking about.

You should also see the beautiful adoption stories from http://www.thearchibaldproject.com/ and feel the joy captured on the still camera in your hearts.

Then can we come to the understanding that the joys of motherhood are not limited the woman who brings forth a child and names him on the eight day after birth! But to all who opens their hearts for these precious ones.

CHOICES

I wonder whom among us knows how our choices influence our life's and those of others whether directly or indirectly.
From deciding which hospital we would have our kids, the school they attend, what we wear, the friends we make even to the lady we decide to buy the sachet water from.
Let's stop and think, what if I had made different decisions in life, if I had learned harder, made different friends, listened to my parents, helped that friend in need or taken that bold step?!.
Well, who can say we can only assume since we never did!
I have learnt 'Never dwell on the Past'! That is why it is past. All we can do is to learn from our mistakes and move on swiftly ensuring we are improving on our daily life's.
To some of us our hardest critiques are ourselves always wanting the best and not satisfied until we get there. At times we also measure our performance with what others think of us be it friends or family and undermining our own judgments.
Today I read about "Constant Truths for Changing Times". One of the messages given by the Prophet Thomas S. Monson at a general conference of the church. He spoke about many things that have currently changed significantly in our lives today.
Most particularly was the story he told of Sister Monson his wife.

"Several years ago we had a young paperboy who didn’t always deliver the paper in the manner intended. Instead of getting the paper on the porch, he sometimes accidentally threw it into the bushes or even close to the street. Some on his paper route decided to start a petition of complaint. One day a delegation came to our home and asked my wife, Frances, to sign the petition. She declined, saying, “Why, he’s just a little boy, and the papers are so heavy for him. I would never be critical of him, for he tries his best.” The petition, however, was signed by many of the others on the paper route and sent to the boy’s supervisors.

Not many days afterward, I came home from work and found Frances in tears. When she was finally able to talk, she told me that she had just learned that the body of the little paperboy had been found in his garage, where he had taken his own life. Apparently the criticism heaped upon him had been too much for him to bear. How grateful we were that we had not joined in that criticism. What a vivid lesson this has always been regarding the importance of being nonjudgmental and treating everyone with kindness." 

I am convinced that most of us will have diverse meanings to this experience. Although we do not know if Sister Monson stood up in anyway to the people in the neighborhood or had a talk with the family of the young boy or himself, we are put in a position to make our own conclusions.
However it just made me think of choices we have and what we make with them. Would the young boy have chosen a different path if someone had spoken to him kindly or just corrected the mistake he made?

Everyday no matter where we are we see a lot of 'paper boys". We are faced with the dilemma of whether to step up and say something or disagree and within and silently watch what the out come will be.
It's time we took a stand, made a right choice and saved a paperboy. The next victim could be you, your brother, sister or that bright child. Lets do our best to avoid judging others and always treat them as ourselves.

Take a minute to read the full talk @ Constant Truth for Changing Times

 

 

 

'TrotroSaga' ...Of Preaching in Public Vehicles

After walking in the hot sun, struggling to sit in a public transport, and hoping to get to your destination within minutes and when the vehicle suddenly moves with fresh air cooling your nerves, then a passenger slights stands up raises his voice which grabs your attention and starts preaching.

Do not get me wrong I am a Christian and not against preaching the word of God because everyone has to know about our Father in Heaven. However in these days the various ways where by people use to determine the little time some people will have peace and quiet is becoming rampant.
I boarded a public transport 'trotro' from the Kaneshi market to Madina the past week after a very hectic day. Honestly because the drive will be through the N1 motorway most passengers like myself engaged the conductor of the vehicle 'mate' to take our fares soon, so we can relax or doze off for some time.
Just when the vehicle hit the freeway and my eyes suddenly felt heavy, a middle aged man stood up from he first seat where he was sitting, faced the passengers and declared he was about to share the word. You could clearly see the frustrations on the face of other passengers including me who felt we needed some level of quiet in our life's. No one dared say anything for fear of being ridiculed as being a pegan or for reasons best known to them. Even though as he started he declared his message was short and simple it ended up being the opposite. He gave a lengthy message about how young men of today engage in all sorts of acts including preaching when all they did was to extort money from people.  I dozed off in between his message and woke up hearing him depicting extremely gore conditions of male homosexuals. For once I was confused why he kept repeating that these were all students of one of the known Universities in the country and explaining in detail how ill they were and every detail of their various awful sores they have in private parts. What I could not take was why he kept on repeating this as the rest of his message.
To say I wished I was out of the vehicle is an understatement. This gentleman even though was preaching on very real issues was making passengers uncomfortable, nauseous, and irked. Thankfully he ended as we drew nearer to our destination and asked for funds 'collection' to help in the Lords work. He then asked to alight and joined another vehicle going another way.
Silently we were relived to have some quiet. Another gentleman hoped in and filled his place and once again we were on our way. Just like a scene from a movie, this new young man stood to his feet and shouted "Praise the Lord". We just turned to each other in the vehicle and burst into laughter I felt sad for this young man who had no idea what we had endured for the past 30 minutes. His message was very short since we were almost at our destination and spared no time also asking for 'collection'. He wasn't as lucky as his predecessor since he had nothing not a single change to spare.

As a country should there be laws regulating these issues? Although we hit hard on our chest, proclaiming democracy and freedom of speech are we not aware our freedom ends when someone's rights begin? I think the issue of these 'preacher men' in our public places have become too rampant with most screaming on top voices without thinking about others.
We need law makers in our country who really go through what we do and generate ways to solve our problems and not theirs. I dare say our law makers must face what we do on a daily basis and see if they can survive.

That Scary Moment when.............

Do you ever wonder what the Bible meant when it sais "Spare the rod and spoil the child"?
Did it mean we should fashion rods or sticks(canes) to hit our children anytime they make a mistake, a wrong choice or do anything bad?

On my way home from work last night, a car pulled up beside me. It became scary since the whole place was dark however, I felt comforted when I heard the voices of children in the back seat.
Immediately the car pulled to a stop, the lady in the front seat whom I assumed was the mother, wasted no time in beating one of the children seated at the back so harshly............. the neighborhood was very quiet might I say hence this little child's screams were so piercing it would make your heart sink.
Why would a mother labor for 9 months go through pain to have a child then beat that infant with an object be it a hand or a cane when he went wrong. Do we stop to think what runs through the child's mind? Most people don't but I do!
We should all stop and think of the scars we leave on these little ones. These precious ones we are doing our best to bring up in the right way.
I wouldn't say I went through my childhood without a stroke of a rod. Copral punishment after all was thought the best way to correct a child in schools where I grew up. You should know that did only made me dislike the teacher who handed out the punishment more. I might be able to remember most teachers who did cain me unfairly although I recently met one who swore he did it with love to correct me.
What do we think of when we meet children with these scars both physical and emotional. To say the least  getting through it is very difficult.
Most days I do have these kids tell me what happens when they make a mistake or take a step too close to the line.
My heart breaks each day I see that little girl with a scar on her beautiful skin.
I dare not ask her parents she tells me because that will make things worse for her. I love to see the beautiful smile spread across her face, see her eager to learn a new word, taste a new pastry I just baked or just talk gibberish and it will not matter at all. For just a moment this precious moment I am thankful...... she is HAPPY.