came back home unscathed and well. Sunyani was a beautiful city with natural scenery and a farm behind our house. I attended Ridge Experimental School and shared many memories with my siblings. Childhood Days From Sunyani, we moved back to Accra when my dad was assigned to the office of Vice President Dr. Degraft Johnson. We lived in Kanda temporarily, then moved to Cantonments, and later to Ridge, but continued to attend Burma Camp Complex School. When the government allowed workers to live in their own homes for an allowance, we moved to our newly built house in Tema. Crouching in my room, I looked at the vibrant cover of the Cinderella Ladybird book. I felt sorry for Cinderella and rejoiced when the prince asked for her hand in marriage. Our dad introduced us to books early; he brought Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, and other Ladybird books from his travels. By ten years old, I was reading newspapers, and as I grew older, I read my dad’s writings as a government speechwriter. This improved my reading and writing skills. In 1981, during a coup in Ghana, we all caught a bug, and my dad asked my uncle to take us to the hospital. On our way back, a military man stopped us, inspected the car, and discovered it was registered as a government vehicle. “Park!” he barked. We were taken home for my father to be questioned. They ‘roughed’ him up, causing us to panic. “Don’t worry,” he assured us. “I haven’t done anything wrong. I will come back soon.” It took two days before he was released, thanks to an old friend and schoolmate of his who was then a general in the army. My dad turned such events into lessons, emphasising the value of friendships and alumni relationships. The Birthday Journal 7
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