The Sankofa bird makes an appearance

Hubby and I at the Tropical African Market in Springfield, MA.  We had a pleasant time with the Owner Kwabena Ahenkang who actually had a Sankofa artifact.  So here it is!  More encouragement and inspiration to keep on blogging.  I'm so...so excited!

Sankofa bird; We look back into our past, eating only what is good to share and feed others to promote individual and collective positive progression and advancement.
As you can see here, Sankofa is eating an egg at its back to represent birthing new and positive things with your mouth to better your current circumstance and future goals.  Recognizing that with our mouth we use knowledge to position ourselves for greatness.

Speak or not to Speak?

OH MY GOSH!  Never have I met someone who claimed to be just like me.  Until a few days ago, I met a young brother in an elevator.  In that awkward moment when the doors closed.  He looked up at me and mumbled something to interrupt our silence.  I recognized his features and called out his ethnicity he responded "Etisain".  I replied with a delightful "Bokor" with my fingers gesturing tiny to couple the words "Kitsy, Kitsy" before he goes into some big long conversation that I can't answer to.  Then came his revelation  "You are just like me?......What's up with that?   Why didn't our parents teach us their language?".  There was something to his claim...like to say.  I thought I was the only one.  I understood because truly the people that I have met in and around Massachusetts, USA, their children can speak, unlike in the UK it is not uncommon to meet non-speakers, if you will.  Trust me I felt his pain.

Mind you he does have a point and does asks some good questions.

Though I already know the answer.  My mum adamant that we know the truth (fearing that one day we would blame her), told my siblings and I several times not to mention I would over hear my parents arguing about it.  She in favor of us children speaking only Fante in the home......not everyone agreed.  Colonialism had us believing that the British way is the to be desired way...superior to any culture.   However I choose to believe that was then this is now...where there is a will there is a way.  I'm picking it back up with the help of my brothers and sisters at home, in church and the on-line community. Thank you to each and every one of you.  Now!.... the next challenge is to inspire the boys to pick it up too.

Some years back when I was in Ghana year 2000, I believe.  I was watching  the news and they were saying that the Government wanted to prepare the Ghanaian children to have an advantage to compete on an international scale.  So to implement this concept they wanted the children who already speak and write English in School, to come home and everybody in the household; grandma, uncle, mom, dad, cousins whoever and whomever, to all converse not in their local language but in the English language.

Tell me people what are your thoughts on this.

QUESTIONS?
1.  Who exactly is pushing these ideas and what's the latest?
2.  Do you think that Bi and Tri-lingual Children get confused with self identity and struggle academically?
3.  Should we not prepare our kids to become tomorrow's leaders?

Why Sankofa's Children?

My mum was very much like Kunta Kinte fom Alex Haley's classic series 'Roots". Kunta was a proud Mandinkan man from Gambia.  His second marriage to wife Belle Waller, for she could not understand why he wouldn't just let this identity go and be whatever was asked of him, enabling them to experience the joys of a relationship with less friction and interference from their slave master.  Belle soon became pregnant, not with just her child but a Mandinka child named Keisa (Kizzy in English) .  There's a difference!  This child had a parent with a purpose; to know thyself, connect and remain true to one's cultural identity.  In the movie we watched Kunta Kinte as a father demonstrate his culture and traditions of his people in attempt to ensure that his daughter would not be 'lost' as time went on.

From experience I know this to be a difficult path of struggles and inner conflicts despite the counsel of my mother.  The good thing is that her wisdom is timeless and as the proverb states its a case of "When the student is ready then the teacher appears".

Sankofa can mean either the word in the Akan language of Ghana that translates in English to "go back and take" (Sanko- go back, fa- take) or the Asante Adinkra symbol.
It symbolizes one taking from the past what is good and bringing it into the present in order to make positive progress through the benevolent use of knowledge.

Did you know that?....
The film by Ethiopian-American filmmaker Haile Gerima Sankofa (1993) popularized the term.
Janet Jackson has a Sankofa symbol tattooed on her right wrist.
Hip-Hop artist Talib Kweli also references the term Sankofa on his album Reflection Eternal.
British filmmaker Isaac Julien co-founded the Sankofa Film and Video Collective, a collective of black British filmmakers.
In the Toni Morrison novel Song of Solomon the reoccurring motif of flight as a way to escape is indicative of sankofa (Webster's Dictionary).

Interesting huh?  Now it has become my mission to carry this forward into my family.  Life takes us down many trails but this one I am grateful for.... the past offering direction and understanding.....Wow!   such truth can only bring a sense of pride to build a memorable legacy.

So there you have it my mum's, (Antie Felicia's) dream in a nutshell.  What's your parents dream for you? Is it in line for what you desire for yourself or is it clashing like wearing pinstripe and polka dots?

Akwabaa!

Welcome to my blog where I share my learning experiences and curiosity of being a Ghanaian; born and bred and still living abroad.  

Doing my bucket list this week as an exercise of my personal coaching.  I soon realized that I would not forgive myself if I did not engage more deeply with my heritage and not to do so I run the risk of my children being lost.  Which my mother so keenly tried to prevent, by endless lectures where she would shout repeatedly "Don't forget who you are, your family back home and you are one....don't depend upon me".

Yes its true that Martin Luther King had a Dream.....but my mother Antie Felicia, she had a dream too!