Friday, September 25, 2009

Exports of the Highest Quality

Riddle riddle- I am thinking of a country known for its amazing hospitality. A country with a severe pathological respect for guests, such that we give up our hard earned profits to ensure their comfort in our homes. The virtue of the perfect host who gives up his bedroom for his guest so he may sleep on the kitchen floor with his family. (The guest brought his children who are in the guest room, and some friends who presently occupy the children’s room).

I am thinking of a country whose greatest and strongest nationals leave for the greener pastures of the New World. A country I love so dearly that my heart bleeds when I hear the essential pricy PREPARATIONS to straighten out the appearances and wild insects in order to create a comfortable haven for the President of a country ‘overseas’. Then my soul bears a blood curdling cry when I hear that the centenary celebrations for its own Founding Father, an African icon and hero to many was a pathetic half-hearted show put on for sore eyes to behold.

I am thinking of a country once home to many of us, which has become a popular “Christmas in the sun” vacation spot, where winter flings and “meet me there’s” occur. This past week, I have read the lamentations of a fellow blogger: http://tsutherl.wordpress.com/ who was almost starved to death in his dear country because he had too much skin pigmentation and the wrong accent to be perceived as a foreigner and hence did not warrant quick pizza service.

I am thinking of a country gutted and gouged of great potentials, professionals and great future ones. I used to celebrate the great KNOWNs such as Boris Cudjoe, anyone with roots or ties in this country, but I have grown to yearn for more and desire even better.


In reading about the young stars of Tyler Perry’s I Can Do Bad All By Myself, I felt a hollowness, that far fell short of my friend’s celebratory shouts. I wondered if young Kwesi Boakye would have had the chance of stardom that he did had he been a native, a child of this country rather than having it as a mere “heritage” (ghanalinx.com).

Then I wonder what this country really has to offer its people, to prevent the export of its finest. Can it hold on to the brightest and the best?

What country am I thinking of?

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This article was written by LSG Staff Writer Flossy Matekwor Azu

Photo source 1: http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/49/37749-004-59C43CEB.jpg
Photo source 2: http://www.blackcelebkids.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/kwesi.jpg

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