Sweet Home Ghana

Ghana is a country on the western side of the continent of Africa.
I've never met anyone from that part of the world, though I did go to a prom with some guy from South Africa, but he was kinda jerky and it was a favor for a friend.
Anyway...today I met a lovely lady from Ghana in the physical therapist's waiting room.

Naturally, I spoke with her because, well, the magazines are terrible and I had forgotten my book, which was also pretty terrible, but it was in the other car.

She had a great, different accent...not from the Islands, but unique. I asked her where she was from.
Enough of this, I gotta tell you her story!

She came here in 2002, after the WTC disaster. She left her four kids behind, hoping to bring them all here eventually.
I asked her how old her kids were: she said "44, 42, 39 and 22".

I commented that that was a pretty big distance between the last two, she told me that the youngest is adopted, from her sister's daughter.
Story time.

The young woman found she was pregnant just as she was getting ready to leave for the UK. (Ghana was a British colony until 62 years ago.) She wanted to abort the baby...inconvenient, couldn't take care of it, didn't want it. This lady, her name was something like Josephine but not exactly, said, "Don't abort the baby. I will take it and raise it as my own."  You'd think that was enough of the story, but it isn't.

The niece's mother went to a psychic. The psychic told her that if her daughter had the baby, the young woman would die.

Despite this, the pregnant woman did have the baby, I guess convinced that her aunt would take good care of the child.
A few hours after giving birth, the mother died. She had been given too much anesthesia in the hospital and never woke up.

My heart went out to the dead woman, her mother and Josephine, who has raised this baby, this young person for 22 unselfish years.

All her children are educated and doing well. Only one is currently in the US, probably the youngest one, but she's bringing the other three over soon.

I didn't want to go to the PT with husband today, but if I hadn't, I never would have heard this incredible story.

I wish Josephine the best in this world and all her children, too.
This makes up for all the bad stuff from the past two weeks.

(I warned Josephine not to bring her kids over in winter...they know nothing about cold weather. Yes, it is supposed to snow again this week!!!)