Harvest Festival

Then we went to the harvest festival in Breman Esiam, where Kwesi lived as a child. The narrow street was crammed with people of every age, from infants on their mothers’ backs to old men in traditional dress. There was drumming, and celebration filled the air. We “obronfu” likely caused more excitement than the procession of the Queen Mother. People clamored to touch us, to shake our hands, to ask “what is your name?” and to have their pictures taken.

Anna, a teacher from the school, and Perpetual, one of the graduating students, hovered over us like two mother hens. We listened to the drumming, and then walked toward a tight crowd of people who had gathered around the fetish dancer. Before long, we all had been drawn into the circle and were dancing under the full harvest moon.Then Melissa took us down a side road of the village to the house where Kwesi grew up. That a little boy from such humble beginnings has grown up to create such lasting change in the educational system in Ghana is no less than a miracle. As a young teen, Kwesi was offered a scholarship to high school in Wales. From there he emigrated to the US where he eventually earned an MBA at the University of Pennsylvania. He hopes to pursue a Ph.D. at Harvard in the near future.

Sunday, 29 July

Everyone except Carol and I went to Coconut Grove Beach Resort for the day; we stayed home and worked at our computers (Carol, a writer, had a deadline for a Rotary magazine, and I wanted to work on my journal). At lunchtime, over bread and peanut butter and fresh pineapple, we told each other our stories and became good friends. Rosie and Carol’s daughter Katie apparently did the same; they seemed very much at ease with one another when they returned from their daylong outing.

All of us -- Melissa and Greta, Carol and I, Rosie and Katie, John and his Dad Rick (who will be the "Reading Specialist" at Heritage for one week) -- have formed an easy relationship with one another that seems to come from living in close contact and making a silent agreement not to complain about hardships.

Tomorrow: First Day at Heritage Summer School
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