At the moment I'm waiting for Dekki to return from Ghana so that we can sit down together and make our plans for the new school.
If anyone has any ideas that we may be able to embrace into our project please feel free to make a comment. All comments are gratefully received.
I'm sorry this blog is so short. Once I've managed to chat with Dekki I will become aware of the next step.
Thanks for your patience.
Anna
Friday, 30 April 2010
Monday, 22 March 2010
Poems I wrote
Africa Beloved Africa
Africa oh beloved Africa
You are a paradox of time
Laden with riches that will
Never be mine.
For I slog all day
for a crust of bread
digging for gold
till I’m almost dead
Rubber and Diamonds
Slick oil too
Fresh fruits and vegetables
In the markets for you
But the wages I earn
They can never be
Enough to feed and clothe
My young family.
My children are hungry
My wife is depressed
But what can I do
With all this unrest?
People start fighting
For a better life
Whilst the rich get richer
We are left in strife
Yet I love my home land
Fertile and green
The most beautiful place
I have ever seen
Will the wars cease?
The fighting end
Will my sons grow up
And make amend?
Who knows the future
Of this paradox place
Only God knows
Not we the human race.
Written by Anna Malita Osayamen 19th Nov 2009
Trading in Malawi
Trading in Malawi
Or maybe Timbuktu
Culture and resources
To please both me and you
Markets full of people
Boats for fishing too
Yam and maize are cooking
Plus a catfish stew
Aromas all around me
People talking loud
Cars are moving crazily
Beneath a large black cloud
The sky sizzles with the lightning
Yet no thunder can be heard
People laugh and talk on merrily
This is quite absurd
I find a little shelter
To keep me from the rain
Oh the place is flooding
What happened to the drain?
I make it to my compound
And rush in through the door
I lay upon my mattress bed
It’s placed upon the floor
Now I lay there listening
To the sound of falling rain
Slapping at the mozzies
That causes itchy pain
I don’t need no malaria
Or a flashy car
But electric and clean water
They would go quite far
To make my life more comfortable
It’s not a lot to ask
For I sit and carve for hours
small wooden tribal masks.
Anna Malita Osayamen 19/11/09
Plight of Illegal Imagrantl
I may be black, but my blood is red
the same as yours, it must be said
I am human just like you
Yet you can’t see it, so what to do?
You force me back, to a criminal state
Where I alone must face my fate
Do I stay or do I go?
I ponder deep and do not know.
Safety in the Promised Land,
Or empty dreams blown in the sand?
My life is not my own I know
For you hold it in your hands for show.
Am I not of the human race?
This is the dilemma that I face.
My wife and my child are my sanctity
And so I stay illegally.
What kind of man would I be
to allow them to die for their love of me?
My wife and I we fell in love
Is this not sanctioned from HE above?
Yet tribal ignorance is all too rife
Causing violence, and so much strife
That caused me to run away
for my wife had a baby on the way.
One had died by their meddlesome hands
And my home had been torched upon their lands.
So forgive me I beg. I beg to stay
For our health and safety this is all I pray.
Written by Anna Osayamen 19/11/09
The Road Trip to Benin
The road trip to Benin
Was a very strange affair
Piled up with luggage
Not much room upon the chair
The bus was full of people
Like dumplings in a stew
But we sat there waiting
For a straggling few
A few hugs and kisses
Before we set of for the day
Along the long and treacherous road
on which we made our way
Just leaving Lagos
We saw a dreadful sight
Collapsed walls of Market Stalls
Demolished in the night
People saving people
From the falling walls
Whilst we sped on by regardless
of their mournful calls
Dependent on our driver
We had little say
For our bus continued onward
Without any more delay.
Village after village
We passed on our way
Swerving round deep pot holes
And just anything, come what may.
Armed police peered through our windows
Demanding money from one man
And in the heat I opened
My battery operated fan
Along the road we travelled
Over bumps and dodging logs
Until an over turned oil tanker
Emerged from clearing fog.
Our driver pulled out round it
Almost crashing to the side
I closed my eyes and held on tight
My rising fear to hide.
We moved on and on along the road
Till a detour came
That took us down a muddy road
That almost looked the same
Soon we pulled in to a stop
To take a bite to eat
I went into the toilet
Finding water at my feet.
Back on the bus again
We drove along the major road
Till a lorry in front of us
Began to shed its load.
Oh what a journey
Such a frightening day
Only one of many
So what can one say
We finally reached Benin
Oh what a relief
To stand again upon the earth
Restoring my belief
That we reached there in safety
Despite the agonising day
Our luggage set around us
Watching a small child in his play.
Welcome to Benin
By Anna Osayamen 19 Nov 2009
Africa oh beloved Africa
You are a paradox of time
Laden with riches that will
Never be mine.
For I slog all day
for a crust of bread
digging for gold
till I’m almost dead
Rubber and Diamonds
Slick oil too
Fresh fruits and vegetables
In the markets for you
But the wages I earn
They can never be
Enough to feed and clothe
My young family.
My children are hungry
My wife is depressed
But what can I do
With all this unrest?
People start fighting
For a better life
Whilst the rich get richer
We are left in strife
Yet I love my home land
Fertile and green
The most beautiful place
I have ever seen
Will the wars cease?
The fighting end
Will my sons grow up
And make amend?
Who knows the future
Of this paradox place
Only God knows
Not we the human race.
Written by Anna Malita Osayamen 19th Nov 2009
Trading in Malawi
Trading in Malawi
Or maybe Timbuktu
Culture and resources
To please both me and you
Markets full of people
Boats for fishing too
Yam and maize are cooking
Plus a catfish stew
Aromas all around me
People talking loud
Cars are moving crazily
Beneath a large black cloud
The sky sizzles with the lightning
Yet no thunder can be heard
People laugh and talk on merrily
This is quite absurd
I find a little shelter
To keep me from the rain
Oh the place is flooding
What happened to the drain?
I make it to my compound
And rush in through the door
I lay upon my mattress bed
It’s placed upon the floor
Now I lay there listening
To the sound of falling rain
Slapping at the mozzies
That causes itchy pain
I don’t need no malaria
Or a flashy car
But electric and clean water
They would go quite far
To make my life more comfortable
It’s not a lot to ask
For I sit and carve for hours
small wooden tribal masks.
Anna Malita Osayamen 19/11/09
Plight of Illegal Imagrantl
I may be black, but my blood is red
the same as yours, it must be said
I am human just like you
Yet you can’t see it, so what to do?
You force me back, to a criminal state
Where I alone must face my fate
Do I stay or do I go?
I ponder deep and do not know.
Safety in the Promised Land,
Or empty dreams blown in the sand?
My life is not my own I know
For you hold it in your hands for show.
Am I not of the human race?
This is the dilemma that I face.
My wife and my child are my sanctity
And so I stay illegally.
What kind of man would I be
to allow them to die for their love of me?
My wife and I we fell in love
Is this not sanctioned from HE above?
Yet tribal ignorance is all too rife
Causing violence, and so much strife
That caused me to run away
for my wife had a baby on the way.
One had died by their meddlesome hands
And my home had been torched upon their lands.
So forgive me I beg. I beg to stay
For our health and safety this is all I pray.
Written by Anna Osayamen 19/11/09
The Road Trip to Benin
The road trip to Benin
Was a very strange affair
Piled up with luggage
Not much room upon the chair
The bus was full of people
Like dumplings in a stew
But we sat there waiting
For a straggling few
A few hugs and kisses
Before we set of for the day
Along the long and treacherous road
on which we made our way
Just leaving Lagos
We saw a dreadful sight
Collapsed walls of Market Stalls
Demolished in the night
People saving people
From the falling walls
Whilst we sped on by regardless
of their mournful calls
Dependent on our driver
We had little say
For our bus continued onward
Without any more delay.
Village after village
We passed on our way
Swerving round deep pot holes
And just anything, come what may.
Armed police peered through our windows
Demanding money from one man
And in the heat I opened
My battery operated fan
Along the road we travelled
Over bumps and dodging logs
Until an over turned oil tanker
Emerged from clearing fog.
Our driver pulled out round it
Almost crashing to the side
I closed my eyes and held on tight
My rising fear to hide.
We moved on and on along the road
Till a detour came
That took us down a muddy road
That almost looked the same
Soon we pulled in to a stop
To take a bite to eat
I went into the toilet
Finding water at my feet.
Back on the bus again
We drove along the major road
Till a lorry in front of us
Began to shed its load.
Oh what a journey
Such a frightening day
Only one of many
So what can one say
We finally reached Benin
Oh what a relief
To stand again upon the earth
Restoring my belief
That we reached there in safety
Despite the agonising day
Our luggage set around us
Watching a small child in his play.
Welcome to Benin
By Anna Osayamen 19 Nov 2009
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Starting up the project
I met Deki about a year ago and found we had something in common, we both wanted to work on a project in Africa in connection with building a school. Deki had had his idea for ages but my own idea had only come about after spending a short time in Africa and getting to know the people there.
Deki is from Ghana but he lives in London and my own connection with Africa comes from being married to a Nigerian man.
My first experience of Africa was in Senegal where I married my husband in 2005. I loved the area, the people and the culture. I was able to walk out at night with no fear of walking in the dark alone despite being a white person. People would say hello on passing and I felt safe. I loved the aroma of the market places, the hussle and bussle and the laid back attitude towards life.
At that time my husband and I lived in a shared bungalow. There was one kitchen shared by 4 families. My husband and I had a single callor gas bottle on which we used to place a metal ring on which we used to cook some incredible meals. Our washing would be hung up on the roof and would dry in no time at all and I would look down from the rooftop to the people walking by and watch the goats and children at play.
Later we moved to Nigeria, but unfortunately it was not possible for me to stay there continuously because of my own personal health problems. Nigeria was vastly different to Senegal. In Senegal I stepped outside of the front door onto sand and we lived not too far from the sea but in Nigeria the ground is hard but oh so green and lush.
The roads in Senegal were tarmacked over and more orderly to drive upon and somehow seemed fairly clean, but my first experience of Nigeria was at the airport where beggars galore pounced upon the unwary, being shooed away by the dozen.
I experienced travelling from Lagos to Benin City a journey that I would not wish to repeat too frequently as the journey is arduous to say the least and packed into a full mini bus along with luggage and sometimes lacking in AC is not exactly a journey of comfort...lol
I grew to love the people of Nigeria and having visited outlying villages with my husband I found the idea formulating in my mind of how nice it would be to build some village schools as many of the people there are totally without any formal education.
So when I met Deki and we spoke of our ideas it seemed very natural to come together and actually do something about them.
Deki had been thinking of his idea for some period of time and had a little money available to invest into the project, whereas all I have is ideas. I'm an ideas person. We decided to pool our ideas and actually do something to bring the project into being.
Deki is planning to go to Ghana on the 4th of April to look at and hopefully buy some land there on which to build our project. We talked today of what to call it and decided a fitting name would be The MasterPath Project not to be confused with www.masterpath.org which is a spiritual path. The thoughts behind the choice of name for the project is simply that we would like all those involved in our project to Master some life skills that will help them walk the Path of life in a more fulfilled manor. Teaching them that all is possible when people work together as a team whilst enhancing their own life's experiences at the same time.
Deki is from Ghana but he lives in London and my own connection with Africa comes from being married to a Nigerian man.
My first experience of Africa was in Senegal where I married my husband in 2005. I loved the area, the people and the culture. I was able to walk out at night with no fear of walking in the dark alone despite being a white person. People would say hello on passing and I felt safe. I loved the aroma of the market places, the hussle and bussle and the laid back attitude towards life.
At that time my husband and I lived in a shared bungalow. There was one kitchen shared by 4 families. My husband and I had a single callor gas bottle on which we used to place a metal ring on which we used to cook some incredible meals. Our washing would be hung up on the roof and would dry in no time at all and I would look down from the rooftop to the people walking by and watch the goats and children at play.
Later we moved to Nigeria, but unfortunately it was not possible for me to stay there continuously because of my own personal health problems. Nigeria was vastly different to Senegal. In Senegal I stepped outside of the front door onto sand and we lived not too far from the sea but in Nigeria the ground is hard but oh so green and lush.
The roads in Senegal were tarmacked over and more orderly to drive upon and somehow seemed fairly clean, but my first experience of Nigeria was at the airport where beggars galore pounced upon the unwary, being shooed away by the dozen.
I experienced travelling from Lagos to Benin City a journey that I would not wish to repeat too frequently as the journey is arduous to say the least and packed into a full mini bus along with luggage and sometimes lacking in AC is not exactly a journey of comfort...lol
I grew to love the people of Nigeria and having visited outlying villages with my husband I found the idea formulating in my mind of how nice it would be to build some village schools as many of the people there are totally without any formal education.
So when I met Deki and we spoke of our ideas it seemed very natural to come together and actually do something about them.
Deki had been thinking of his idea for some period of time and had a little money available to invest into the project, whereas all I have is ideas. I'm an ideas person. We decided to pool our ideas and actually do something to bring the project into being.
Deki is planning to go to Ghana on the 4th of April to look at and hopefully buy some land there on which to build our project. We talked today of what to call it and decided a fitting name would be The MasterPath Project not to be confused with www.masterpath.org which is a spiritual path. The thoughts behind the choice of name for the project is simply that we would like all those involved in our project to Master some life skills that will help them walk the Path of life in a more fulfilled manor. Teaching them that all is possible when people work together as a team whilst enhancing their own life's experiences at the same time.
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