Back in 2012, when I was admitted to the University of Cape Coast, I was one of the pleased people on earth (I’m even happier now). I was offered the then Bachelor of Commerce programme which I was to pursue for a period of 4 years. On that Saturday afternoon, when I reported to the Porter’s lodge of the Great Atlantic Hall (ATL), all I thought about was if I was really going to make good friends that understood me just like I had Obed and my mates in the E2 class at Senior High School.

Well, I was given room 510, with my School prefect from Senior High School, Benjamin Agrah and new roommate, Smith. For the first week in room 510, I was mostly glued to my Dell Latitude D540 or my Nokia XpressMusic. I went to lectures, spoke to a few, didn’t have any friends, apart from my roommates. I had a few fights at the Old Site Shuttle Station though.

I still do not recollect how I met Bright and Sammy, and I can therefore not give a clear account of how the friendship started. What I do remember however is that we offered the same courses in Level 100 and we had to study together a few times. We also discussed babble from different sources. Don’t ask me if we conversed about the ladies on campus. I don’t think I evoke any of such memories.

Myself and Bright were B.com students, Sammy was a BMS student. I was in ATL room 510, Bright and Sammy were in ATL room 509.

Startlingly, as close as we were, we never stayed together in the same hostel. We had a lot of adventures together. I remember when ATL celebrated our hall week. Some soloku and things. I also reminisce so gaudily when we had to study one night in Level 300 before a Management Information Systems exams. We had to stay all night in the University’s main library and when we realised the “all night” study technique was not really our thing, we had to resort to sleeping in turns at the main Library. 3 Fools indeed!

Well, we graduate from the University of Cape Coast on the 23rd of September. There will for sure be a reunion of the 3 fools, but also an Avenue to talk about our lives, going into the future (if we ever do find the time to chat on that day).

Bright and Sammy, thank you for all the time and friendship inside and outside the University of Cape Coast for the past 4 years. It’s been great meeting you guys! I love the rapport.

I woke up this morning in Accra, but I’ll be spending the night at Yenkukwaa. Yenkukwaa is a very small town in the Asikuma Odoben Brakwa District of the Central Region of Ghana. What brings me here? Is the Mandatory National Service. If you are a Ghanaian, you probably already know about National Service.

So I am going to spend the next year here in Yenkukwaa as a pupils teacher. The school is the Yenkukwaa Presby Basic School, which I would talk about in subsequent posts. Anyway, I met the headmaster, Mr. Odoom Richard who has been very helpful so far. I have my accommodation secured and will hopefully be sleeping soundly tonight. 

I got here around 4pm and I have already taken a long walk through some Cocoa farms to the next town. I forgot the name already, but there was a football match between Christians and Muslims to commemorate the Eid and it ended in a 1 – 1 draw.

Tomorrow, I get to go to school and then get to be assigned to a class. It’s a new day here and the only familiar thing is the Playlist on my phone.

I’m intrigued by the new experience and pray it goes well. And oh, the people of Yenkukwaa, just like almost anywhere in Ghana are hospitable and friendly.

What would you want to know about Yenkukwaa? Any words for me? Let me here them in the comment. I had to climb a one inch stone to get network access to post this though.

Hello love,

It’s been a while since we spoke. I mean, uni hid your last seen on whatsapp and I don’t even know what’s up. I tried to come down and visit you, but your mum shut me down at the gate. I know I really did a lot of good things for my relationship with you. I offered all the apologies, cracked all the jokes and did all the laughing by myself.

You told me you love me, at least three times in the last six months. That first time when you needed your laptop’s Antivirus updated, on the eve of your birthday and when you needed that loan from my younger brother. Well, I believe you love me, but only when you need me. You know I love you too right? Yeah, I do until this letter comes to an end.

I met your friend, Maria, last weekend at the bar. She asked if I was working now. Well, her question amazed me because I have always been working for as long as I have known her. She laughed off when I told her I still work as the clerk at the VIP bus station. I guess that’s no work then.

Will I ever be good enough? Will I ever deserve the love you should give me? Maybe I’m just good enough when you are in need. When I met you, you looked beautiful. In fact, you still look beautiful, except you are not beautiful. Will I ever be good enough? Maybe not for you, and it won’t be necessary anymore because this letter has ended.

From your “ex Lover only when needed partner”.

I have been back in Accra for just 3 days and it has not been a bit boring. I get to go to town whenever there is the need to. This week, I have been helping a friend around Haatso get some stuff done. This requires me to go there almost every day that I need to help. I am quite familiar with the transit here in Accra and I know how to dodge aa the heavy traffic and get the lowest fares on the Trotro as well.

I usually go to Madina from Haatso then board a Trotro from Madina home. This way, I spend just GHS 4.30 getting back home, as well as save time. Yesterday was however different. I got to Madina and met a very long queue. It was quite unusual and I later asked one lady the cause of the rare phenomenon. She explained that one of the roads that leads Spintex to East Legon had been closed for maintenance work. I had to stand in the queue and wait for my turn – as courtesy demands.

I will however share 2 lessons I learnt that evening with you in this blog post.

• Patience:
  The queue was a very long one and I think it would have taken about four 207 busses to load before I even stood a chance to enter the fifth one. I realized a lot of people could not bear to wait and as a result were leaving the queue to maybe get another bus from somewhere else. I observed that as they left, the queue became shorter and that means I and anyone after them now stood a better chance of entering. Some eventually came back but they were not allowed to “enter the queue”. Rather, they were made to go back to the tail end. I thought: “You were not patient enough, now you have lost your chance”. Patience is a virtue, one that I sometimes do not possess, but I am ready to change that. What about you? Remember, Galatians 5:22.
• Opportunities:
  Opportunities are sometimes very hard to see. Opportunities are after all just a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something. While in the queue, a 207 bus came into the lorry station. Instead of following the queue and thus allowing passengers to board the bus according to the order in which the queue has been made, the conductor just got out and shouted: “Spintex”. The queue was destroyed at that instance. I saw an opportunity to get into this 207 bus and thus get home earlier. Everyone else who saw this opportunity also was in a matter of seconds struggling with me to enter the bus. After a long struggle which endured within a matter of just under 50 seconds, I was rather uncomfortably seated in the bus. I saw the opportunity, I took it and it paid off.

Patience is a virtue; it is very important we possess it in our daily lives but we should not use patience as an excuse to procrastinate (although it has been said sometimes that procrastination leads to productivity). Been patient does not mean a lackadaisical attitude towards tasks that should be done. In fact, we need to determine where and when to be patient. Bottom line, possess the virtue, know how to use it.

When we find opportunities, we should learn to take them. I remember telling a friend recently: “Anything I see bia, I go apply”. It’s better to try at an opportunity than to let it slide by and regret later. Most often than not, opportunities are great chances for progress and advancement in our everyday lives. Find opportunities and take them now.

I have given you the opportunity to leave a comment on this post below. I am patiently waiting to read what you have to say!

What is the strongest belief you hold?
To protect it, how far would you go?
Is this belief’s worth to you gold?
A tenet so embedded you cannot throw?

What is the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”
Rejoice! You have been bold!
Forever chafe your words to guard this fib in your youth.

What is the one thing you’d like to change about the world?
How far would you go to see this change?
Maybe you should just get tired before you get started.
No need to take action, magic works!