Abeiku Hammond
No other place succeeds in milking me of all emotions and feelings simultaneously.
The anger, the happiness, the pain, the pleasure, the pessimism, the peace and the pride.
From the silent street corners to the loud blaring horns in the city centers.
I walk around this land with mixed feelings of pent up hope, sometimes exploding as hopelessness;
other times, imploding as indifference and no matter how different we may be, we always find common ground.
We’ve all had aspirations of being engaged in a host of exotic professions but the harsh reality of our terrain bursts our tyres…sorry, our bubbles.
Now shut up and fix the knot of your tie because you will not have time for that during the next 8 hours, as you deplete your energy to fill up the pockets of others.
Under the impression that your pocket is being filled, oblivious of that rat sized hole underneath.
Maybe the ideal situation would be to pick myself out of this ‘rat hole’ of an economy and economy class myself into a utopia of sorts.
But my mission of marching out of this maze may never manifest because even for that, I’ll need money first.
The consular officer just handed me my passport
Visa page still empty
I cry till my lacrimal glands are empty
Five bank accounts. All empty
Zoom lion just visited, trash can is empty.
I last ate at 8am. It’s now 8pm. Stomach empty.
To many, the Ghanaian dream is having a green card and sending down postcards.
To others, it is a family, a car, a three-bedroom house and a garden in the backyard.
To some, it is just finding the next meal
But whichever group you find yourself in, the ultimate Ghanaian dream is to survive.
Abeiku Hammond is a writer and spoken word artiste. He is a member of Scribes Poetry, a budding diplomat and currently works as a marketing executive. Abeiku aspires to make a positive impact through every activity he partakes in.