Memories of Ghana Birthday

by Nana
(Orangeville, Ontario, Canada)

Memories of birthdays in Ghana bring back a lot of emotion, to a simpler time with nothing but cheerful memories. Memories that have more to do with family and spending time together, than the notion of consumerism that is known in North America.

Birthday in Ghana starts the moment you wake up, with hugs and kisses from your parents and siblings. My sisters used to receive beautiful bouquets of flowers in their rooms.

A birthday breakfast would include 'oto' which can be compared to a potato hash with egg in North America, only substitute the potato with yams/sweet potatos. What a fantastic start to the day!

Luckily, my birthday was during school break, so I got to enjoy the entire day to the fullest! I would spend it with my siblings in the ocean playing, while my parents set a nice lunch on the beach.

To some this might seem like nothing special, but with work (my father working far away as a driver) it was very special for the family to spend the day together with no worries of schedules.

Lunch was not extravagant, but sitting in the sun and laughing were nothing short of spectacular! After lunch, we would all go to the market to pick up the food for the evening's dinner celebration.

Now, going to the market might not seem exciting, but there was always the possibility that my parents might splurge and buy us a nice, cold, Coca-Cola to share. Yes, a Coca Cola was a SPLURGE for us. But of course, on a birthday we were sure to split one.

Now thats what I remember as the high light of the day ... drinking that coke and laughing. Maybe thats why, when I moved to North America, all I drank was Coke with every meal (even breakfast), until my dentist put an end to that!

For dinner, my grandparents, auntes, and cousins would come over, and we would have a nice meal. And at the end, I would get some small presents. When I was younger it would be something like crayons and colouring books, which were very hard to come by.

As I got older, I aquired a personal cassette player and, so on any birthday, all I wanted would be a cassette with 'American' Music on it. My absolute favorite was The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff, which now I find hilarious that was really Hollywood star Will Smith!

And when everyone went home, I got one more birthday hug from everyone in my family. As I went to sleep, I knew I would have to wait another year before the next perfect day.

- Nana Attakora