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Relocating – Living abroad A personal experience
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My first attempt at moving from Ghana my home country to live as an Expatriate in Papua New Guinea was in 1981. It was to take nine years for me to take that position as a Tourism Lecturer in Lae Technical College, Lae Papua New Guinea.
Yes, for some of us the decision to move from our land of origin to live in foreign lands comes after great consideration and preparation.
The psychologists will explain one’s travel patterns and there may indeed be much credit to their travel behavioural analysis as the word ‘wanderlust’ resonates with what perhaps led me to a South Pacific island.
In our geography lessons in 1974, I had been fascinated by the teacher’s explanation of Borneo as a tropical country. In my Ghanaian teenage-world then, I’d known only Africa, and oh yes, parts of South America as the places on earth with sunshine all year round; Europe, North America and all other parts of the world were different in the four seasons they had in a year. They were ‘cold countries’ to which my parents, their friends and other members of the family had returned to from their studies.
The ‘coldness’ of England had been confirmed when I had the opportunity to visit London for two weeks before going on to secondary school. I had not liked the cold much, neither had I enjoyed being indoors for most of the time with the cousins I’d stayed with.
The living style of the people in Borneo in my mind’s eye as Miss Owusu of blessed memory went through those Geography lessons where the people of Borneo lived the outdoor life as I knew it in Ghana was very appealing.
Seriously tucked away somewhere in my sub-consciousness was a deep imprint of a big factor that was to decide where else I could live should I at any time decide to leave Ghana for abroad. This, added to gaining the most in terms of economic fulfilment made the choice of Papua New Guinea where a childhood friend had relocated with her husband, a very alluring one.
I needed a place to give me not just a head up in the static economic situation most newly-graduated Ghanaians are familiar with, but also an outdoor lifestyle that would give me warmth internally and externally.
Other sunny beautiful places in the South Pacific were no options because of a lingua franca problem. I transact official businesses in English!
Nine years; understandably a long time but a time that saw a sustained journey of academic and skills preparation; of a maturity of my tenacity of purpose; a journey which also meant I now had the added responsibility of getting two young sons ready for a long journey far from home, school and church.
When one decides to travel into a 10-hour time zone from their original place of abode, a country that exists only in the history and geography lessons of family members, there is the added challenge of getting elders of the family on whose guidance and mentoring one has depended or hitherto buy into the whole idea.
These are no mean ‘elders of the family’ as is known in Ghanaian society-the uncles who turn up with a list of bride price nor are they those whom one meets only on funeral occasions at the village.
The ‘elders of family’ in this wise were uncles and aunties in the city who have great knowledge about ‘abrokyire’ – countries of the great beyond – the UK, U.S.A. and other such places; not places in the South Pacific!
So it was that their nod in such a venture was very vital.
Needless to say, there were overt and covert deeds and words of discouragement that eventually changed to prayers for the welfare of my children and I, when it dawned on everyone nothing could change my mind.
Having acquired the necessary skills, academic advancement and experience in the industry of my choice; and having also researched for and laid hands on pictures of anything positive from Papua New Guinea to get my sons excited, I set about voicing my intentions of gaining employment in my ‘dream country’ to any and every one.
A colleague at work picked it up, introduced me to Ghanaian Expatriates on Christmas holidays from Papua New Guinea in 1995 and before anybody could discount this dream of mine further, my very young sons and I were on our way from Accra through London, Hong Kong and finally arriving in Port Moresby on April 11,1996!
That is almost 28 years ago…..
As I listen to the elder of those two young sons I embarked on this journey with steps to relocate, I find my inner self smile.
A smile that means it may have been all worth it if he indeed sees that experience as having impacted his life positively enough to warrant him tread a similar path.
My chats with him informs me he’s done his homework well. Being a Mentor, I’ve had to add a few. The Expatriate life has a ‘shelf life’ and one needs to ‘know when to hold them’ and ‘….. when to fold them.’
One needs to research the terms of their contract vis-à-vis what other conditions of service, and pension pot contributions they would have had to work with back in their home of origin.
Completing mortgage payments, issues surrounding children’s education in higher institutions, changes in syllabus etc; simply a return from dreamland to reality so to say.
Above all, ensuring the baton of broadening horizons in forms that may not necessarily be exclusive to a relocating, is handed over to the next generation.
By Dzigbordi B-A
THE typical itinerant salesman in Sikaman is a herbalist. He is normally a slim macho with the capacity to perambulate the expanse of area covering the triangle of Accra-Tema-Ashiaman. In short, he can walk a total of 60 miles a day, marketing a product that cures every disease, including poverty. 
The door-to-door herbal pharmacist advertises his product by word of mouth. He has nothing to do with the Food and Drugs Board (FDB). After all, his concoctions do not feature on FM stations.
Those herbalists who cannot walk to propagate the herbal gospel, liaise with drivers of mass transportation and their mates. They are, therefore, given the chance to sell their products on Benz buses that ply the routes.
Normally, the herbalist starts his sales message with a prayer and Bible study. He asks the passengers to bow down their heads in supplication to God the father, the son, the Holy Spirit.
When a herbalist asks the passengers to close their eyes and bow their heads, Moslems on board naturally feel offended. They feel that the herbalist has no right to assume that every passenger is a Christian. They think such an assumption is an affront to Islam.
So a Moslem on board will raise the hand for a point of order. He’ll remind the herbalist that it would be in his own interest to mind his language.
“Be careful the way you address people in a public place. Not every person here is a Christian,” he’d state assertively.
Of course, the herbalist will promptly ignore him, but would all the same “watch” his tongue. Who knows whether or not the Moslem brother is inspired by Quoranic zeal to defend the tenets of Islam to the hilt?
When he starts saying, “Wallahi!” and “Inshallah!” it could be the beginning of proclaiming Islam as supreme, a point which must be driven home with talibanic precision.
So the herbalist must tread carefully lest he steps on fire.
The herbalist could even add a measure of mirth to it all, by announcing that Christians on board today have very interesting company on the journey, but that should not detract from the business of the day.
The Moslem brother will weigh the words carefully and offer a wry smile.
He must be careful the occasion does not degenerate into the use of semantics and proverbial oration to deride his conviction that public utterances must be mindful of religious sensibilities. He has made his point very clear and expects that it is taken in good faith in the interest of a peaceful journey.
The herbalist will now open the New Testament and preach salvation, stating clearly that salvation can come only through Jesus Christ and NOBODY else.
The Moslem brother will now start twitching his moustache. The visible and almost revolutionary reflexes of his upper lip can be an indication that sentiments have begun superseding reason, and the outcome could well be tragic now shift uneasily in his seat.
The time has come for him to also express his right to the religion of his fore-bears. He’ll put his hand into his pocket and rise to his feet. The time has indeed come!
This article was first published on Saturday, September 9, 2006
When the cause of a particular problem like sickness, disease, sudden illness, a social issue etc. are not known, it stands to reason that resolving it becomes a huge challenge.
Citizens would understand the government when public announcements are made to the effect that government is trying to find a solution to the issue, even though it is taking a while for it to be resolved because citizens are rational beings.
On the other hand, if the solution to a particular issue is known to everybody but the government for whatever reason, is dragging its feet in resolving it, citizens become frustrated and begin to lose trust in their leaders.
One such issue is the heavy traffic along a section of the Kasoa – Odokor road. A short stretch of bad road between the traffic light at the Weija Government Hospital and the entrance to the entrance of the overhead that leads to the N1, is the cause of the problem but nothing is being done about it, day after day, week after week, month after month. Thus is clearly unacceptable.
Another issue that requires urgent attention is the lack of pavements along a lot of streets in parts of the various Municipal Assemblies. Exercise is a prerequisite for long life and healthy living and for those of us who it has become a way of life, this issue of people putting up structures right to the edge of the drains beside the roads, are making life difficult for us.
We are compelled to walk along the roads, putting our lives at serious risk. Pedestrians should never be compelled to compete with vehicles on our streets and roads. Roads and streets are made for vehicles and pavements are made for pedestrians. That is the norm. Any attempt to normalise a situation where pedestrians are mingling with vehicles is insanity.
It is the road regulations that makes it so and therefore district or municipal assemblies are to take responsibility and ensure that spaces for pavements are not encroached upon. Citizens have rights that must be protected by their leaders and making pavements available to pedestrians, is one of them.
When we hear of teachers having sex with students, it appears it is something recent. It is not a new phenomenon. It has been there since Adam. Perhaps this issue is getting much attention due to the proliferation of social media. It was an open secret in times past when Teachers were in relationships with female students and some married them immediately after completion of school.
Some teachers were also known to be having unholy interactions with female pupils but due to the times that these acts occurred, human rights issues and the awareness around it, allowed such unscrupulous teachers to get away with their crimes.
Now we are in a different era and so a Headmaster is now in hot waters. He is alleged to have raped about 19 female students and as usual, some officials tried to cover it up and are also in hot waters and their actions or inactions in the matter are under investigation.
Why the man has been allowed to roam freely without being arrested is simply mind boggling. It appears that the law applies differently, depending on who you are. This issue came to public attention sometime in August this year, yet the police had not arrested or invited this man for question regarding the rape allegation.
It has come out that he is a Constituency Secretary of the ruling party and the question in the public domain is that, is it because he is a political figure that is why he is still walking around without questioning? I believe in the rule of law so let us hold our breadth and let the proper thing be done.
The police must however be seen to be active in this matter. God bless.
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