Page 56 - Obruni In Ghana | Amber Lockridge

54 EPISODE 7: WHITE
Not “Good Afternoon” but “Good Afternoon, Oboroni”. A simple address that leaves me feeling excluded, stereotyped, and belittled. I don’t answer but she doesn’t wait for a response. She turns her back to me and begins to question my sister in Fante.
“You have a white person staying at your house. Why? Where is she from? Does she go to school? Where?” She doesn’t bother to ask for my name but my sister informs her as a matter of course.
“Kukuwa,” the woman laughs, disbelieving. She looks me up and down. “You are Kukuwa?” I nod. “Are you Ghanaian? Who gave you that name?”
“My mother gave it to me; because I am Wednesday born.”
“You’re mother is in Ghana?”
“No, I mean my host mother who stays here.” I point towards the living room.
“So,” she changes the subject. “What are you doing for your family while you’re here?”
“Oh, well, I’m trying to learn the culture and teach them about mine.”