It was at this stage of my life that I had a brush with one of the greatest: Maya Angelou. However, I did not know about her. Sheer ignorance. It was at The Pan African Historical Festival (PANAFEST), and there I was, a tour guide for this delightful African-American Festival. I took it as any normal holiday job, not knowing the magnitude of it all. I should have listened more intently in the short time I had with her. She once askedme to recite a poem for her at the DuBois Center, but when I did, she thought my performance was flat. Then she took the stage, and it was amazing. I was in awe of her, and that was the very first time I realised she was a phenomenal woman. It was not until I moved to the US and started watching Oprah that I realised who she was and what a big deal that was. I have since invested in her poetry and work. She gave me a little notebook with a few collections of her writings, but alas, I don’t know where it is. After sixth form, I knewIwanted to go touniversity. That was my priority, but my dad felt it was a waste of time. "Youwill get married, so learn a trade," he said. That was when the real fire in this girl came out. I rememberedmy mother telling me that I was my father’s eldest daughter and that I should make sure to get an education. In my determination, I left for Kumasi to work on getting admission to the University of Science and Technology, even though I didn’t have a pass in mathematics. I woke up every morning, dressed up, and went to the university campus. I stayed there frommorning until evening each day, "pounding the pavements," as we used to say, until I was handed an admission letter to study for the Bachelor of Arts programme in Metals. It was more like a course in jewelry. The plan was to get my foot in the door and then workmy way into architecture. One of my proudest moments because at that point, it felt like I had not only done something for myself but also something to put my mom's soul at peace. I came back to Accra, and my dad took it in with disbelief. He was so proud of me! 12
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