Moments, magic and tragic
on Kathryn Drake (Ghana), 14/Oct/2010 21:31, 34 days ago
Today was a day that filled my senses. It was full of brief moments, experiences and emotions that were all the more striking for their juxtaposition.My walk to work overloads my senses in many ways, some good, some predictably bad. Today’s walk reached a joyous crescendo as I turned a corner to see a gaggle of uniformed primary school kids coming towards me, who then proceeded to mob me with cries of “abruni!” and leg-hugs aplenty. Just delightful! 2 minutes walk on though, I saw a destitute-looking blind man stood against awall at the side of the walkway with his hand, quietly outstretched on top of his walking stick. The contrast of my preceding sensory overload with his relative sensory starvation was stark. I walked on, despite feeling a tug not to, a feeling I would again today….. If I see the man there anotherday I will stop.Outside the Accra Rehabilitation Centre where I work, I stopped to buy my bottle of water and bananas from the deaf lady who is one of several stallholders there. Signing“Good morning, how are you? I’m fine. A large bottle of water, thank you. What is your name? I’m Kathryn” to her sent my spirits soaring once more. Greeting my colleagues in Twi sustained the high a little longer.For lunch I strolled out to the local“chop bar” for some street food. On my way I saw, across the road, what looked like a disabled person who had fallen from their wheelchair, lying motionless on the ground. I walked on, again feeling the tug not to, but as others were simply walking by I thought I would give the situation (and mybrain) some time, and reevaluate the situation on my imminent return. I did just that and the situation was exactly the same. The person was still on the floor and all those around were still completely ignoring their presence. I went back to my office and enlisted a colleague to accompany me backand potentially aid me in whatever situation we might be approaching. I was grateful (if a little embarrassed) to find that the lady had in fact chosen to climb down from her wheelchair and sleep in front of it, in the middle of a busy pavement. I was relieved the lady was fine, and glad I chose notto ignore the situation. But thinking that lying on the pavement was that lady’s best option for rest, thinking how exhausted she must have been to need to take that option, and starting to think through the myriad of factors that could have contributed to her extreme exhaustion gave me my secondmoment of humble reflection of the day.My walk home brought me more of the happy moments. I stopped to say thank you in Twi to the stallholder whose daughter had directed me to a local hotel (so that I could check out the swimming pool!) the evening before. I wished all the way home that someone would ask me“Abruni, where are you going?” so that I could answer “meeko fie” (I’m going home) - words that had eluded me when the question was called out to me the evening before. Happily I was asked and this time I was ready, and even better the chap who asked me clearly wasn’t expecting me to respond in Twi! I decided to buy a whole pineapple freshly chopped for my desert / breakfast on the way home just because I could. And I loved the energy of the school football match I passed on the dusty terracotta-coloured pitch down the road from my current abode.All these moments in just one day, there really are new experiences everywhere. My housemate is working for the domestic violence unit of the police service is being picked up and dropped home every day in an air conditioned jeep. Yep, sounds nice, but I am sure I am the one who feels richer for my journey.