I never thought my mom would ever die. Never. My mom died at 86 years, but she never talked about her age, and she never discussed death. In February 2021, I got a call to say she was ill, so I got in touch with my cousin to take her to the best health facility in Tema whilst I prepared to go home. Unfortunately, mom died a few days before I got to Ghana. I felt crushed. Anyway, I flew back home for the funeral. It was a big funeral, with the President and the Vice President of Ghana in attendance. I didn’t know she had been so influential until I was writing her tribute, I learnt about the many things she had ever done in life. How she started out her career at the Timber Marketing Board and then moved to the Tema Development Corporation where she worked for ten years. How upon the encouragement of two of her aunties, she took the huge ambitious leap into the entrepreneurial industry, first by selling women’s wigs, which were imported from China, Europe and the United States. Grief I didn’t know she had been so influential until I was writing her tribute, I learnt about the many things she had ever done in life. 15 The Birthday Journal
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