The scars from his experience selling newspapers in Oshodi can be seen in deep welts and scars on Ayomah’s arms and legs. Mental scars simmer behind a face that rarely smiles without the reassuring breath of his wife. He does clearly remember what her mother told him before she left for Nigeria.
“Ayoma, you are the youngest of my three children, your other two half-sisters have left with their foreign parents… you are my only hope.” Putting his right hand on Ayomah’s right shoulder and holding the stick with his left hand for balance, he continued: “I understand that poverty is not a summary, it has been the daily life of you and me… and it kills It’s true that money bothers us all the time, partly because sometimes we can’t clearly tell the difference between wants and needs.”
She sighed for a moment and continued, “My son, we may want some things in life, want them badly, but don’t really need them. A blurred line between wants and needs can lead us to take unnecessary risks.” . Seeking to alleviate pain in his recently operated left leg, he said: “Ayoma, as a young man so eager for a future determined by money, I would not discourage you from leaving home to search for greener pastures elsewhere, You have my blessings wherever you decide to go.” “Send my regards to your half-sister Cecelia”
Ayomah wondered why her mom asked her to say hi to Cecelia when she was away in Taiwan. She was only going to Nigeria, a half-sister country that shares a cultural and linguistic affinity with her country, Ghana. Why didn’t her mom ask her to say hello to her other half-sister Patricia, who was in England? It took her another 10 years to accept her mother’s parting words.
She was saying this at a time when legions of unskilled workers around the world faced barriers to migration, as destination countries tightened their borders and hardened their rhetoric. Did Ayomah’s mom wrongly assume Cecelia was in Nigeria? Weren’t you together at Ghana’s Kotoka International Airport in Accra a couple of months ago to see Cecelia and her Chinese father leave for Taiwan via Amsterdam?
Or was it just that old age and illness had finally taken their toll on Ayomah’s mom? There were no easy answers.