Wife in Elubo

FROM ISSUE # 127 (July 2006) | IN THIS ISSUE
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I reached Elubo at 6.30 PM. The border had closed at six and would remain closed until 7AM. I was stranded with no place to spend the night. "Come, come!" said a voice from across the street. It belonged to a girl of around age nine. She carried water bottles on her head. She beckoned so I asked what I could do for her.

"Buy one water for me," she said in the typical Ghanaian way of asking people to purchase things 'for them' instead of 'from them'. I picked a bottle from the bucket on her head and gave her 300 Cedis. "Do you know of a place where my bike and I could spend a night ?" I asked her. She counter questioned, "Where're you from?"
"Nepal."
"Where's that?
"In Asia, where Mt Everest is."
"I know Mt Everest, it's the highest in the world. I read it in a book."
''Do you go to school? ''        
''Yes, I sell water after school.''

The interrogation was over and it looked like I had passed because she invited me to her house saying she had to get her mother's permission first for me to stay there. As we walked, I introduced myself, "I'm Pushkar."

"Bush Car?"
"No, like Push and Car." She laughed.
"But I am Push Cycle." I added, she laughed again and said, ''I am Vaida.''

Vaida's house was five minutes from the main road. Her grandmother sat in a chair swatting mosquitoes and her grandfather was giving her brother a bath. Vaida introduced me. Hearing our voices, a young lady walked out of the house carrying a baby, and said "I'm Jean, Vaida's eldest sister."
"Your baby?" I asked. "Yes," she replied and before I could say a thing, added, "I'm not married. This is my friend's baby."

It was a strange answer to me because in Nepal, it's unthinkable to have a baby before marriage. She handed me the baby and said, "Look, your daddy." I held the baby and said, "I'm not your daddy."

Vaida's mother sold food on the streets in the evenings. She wasn't home so I left my bike and we went to see her. Jean followed us, hanging onto my shoulder, talking to friends on the street and introducing me as her husband. We finally met Vaida's mom and Jean promptly pointed at me and said, "My husband." I quickly corrected her.

Vaida's mom sold food in a small hut with a kerosene lantern for light. She gave me Kenke, bean and fish to eat. Kenke, made from corn flour like 'makai ko dhindo', is a popular food in Ghana. Once I had eaten, their mom agreed to let me spend the night at their house so we carried cooking pots on our heads and headed back. The grandparents had gone to bed but the children were still playing. It was almost 10PM. I was to sleep on a long bench on the porch outside. As everyone headed in, I teased Jean one last time saying, "So you are going to let your husband sleep outside?" She laughed and said, "If it rains, you can come in."

Uhi Saikale,
PUSHKAR SHAH, Elubo, Ghana