THE GHANA CHRONICLES: The Finish Line—6/24/23

  

“A goal is a dream with a finish line.”— Duke Ellington

 

And so the long-anticipated day arrived. Some 12 years since the idea of paying back to his community with a school for the children, a dream hatched in my colleague Sofia’s living room and soon a goal inched along two by Kofi, his brother Prosper, Sofia, James, myself and an exponentially growing list of others, dollar by dollar, instrument by instrument, brick by brick. A photo of James, Sofia, Kofi and myself standing on a plot of land in 2014 that Kofi hadn’t bought yet, then the same place two years later with a sign announcing its arrival. In 2018, a groundbreaking ceremony we participated in and five years later, this building fully ready. And this day to commemorate the Finish Line, which of course, is actually the Starting Line of the actual physical school cultivating its vision to offer young people an opportunity to join the global community fully immersed in their own tradition. Ready to announce themselves to the world on their terms and educate an ignorant planet about the bounteous glories of their extraordinary culture. 

Kofi was well-prepared for possible rain with covered canopies, but still we hoped to be spared inclement weather and except for a few sprinkly moments, most made it through. Up on the canopied stage were various luminaries and dignitaries prepared to bless the undertaken, most of whom had previous relationships with Kofi as his teachers or fellow students or family or officials in the Ghana government. The program was long and formal, speech after speech with palette cleansers of short performances and an Emcee who was a bit of a media celebrity. The Nunya kids sat attentively and quietly, as the Ewe children do, for some three hours, waiting to play some of their brass band music. 

At the end, lunch was served to all and the music resumed with all invited—of course— to join in and dance. It was a glorious day, the long dreamed of vision given feet at last far beyond what anyone of us could have hoped for when the idea first hatched. And again, much to do. In Kofi style (and mine too), you build it first and figure out the details later. Little things like who to hire as teachers and how to pay them. But you step confidently into that unknown future knowing that the vision is sound and the feet will follow— and dance!