Goodbye Ghana

Goodbye Ghana.

Goodbye to the mangos and the pineapples. Goodbye to Abu’s kebabs. Goodbye to Waakye Wednesdays. Goodbye to being super sick of rice and chicken. Goodbye to fufu and light soup. Goodbye to roasted plantain, fried plantain, grilled plantain, boiled plantain, and plantain chips.


Goodbye to 50 pesewa herb afrique at Container, watching football at epo’s, and dancing till they closed at Duplex. Goodbye Club – I’m sorry I wasted so much time on Star. Goodbye Azonto. Goodbye Chop My Money. Goodbye Lapaz Toyota and its questionable lyrics. Goodbye to the epic nights but also to the nights just spent talking on the porch.

Goodbye trotros. Goodbye random preachers on trotros. Goodbye to trying and failing to get off trotros gracefully.

Goodbye to endless negotiating with cab drivers. Goodbye bucket showers. Goodbye to wonderful bug-eating geckos. Goodbye (and good riddance) to those ubiquitous words “stomach sick.” Goodbye water sachets. Goodbye bottled coke. Goodbye to aci, our office cat, and princess, sweetie, and obruni coco, our neighborhood ones.

Goodbye to the beach every weekend, all year round. Goodbye to the fishing boats and being hit by soccer balls when the kids decide the entire beach is the field. Goodbye to palm trees being no big deal.

Goodbye to being excited every time I see cashew being sold (but who am I kidding, that’s totally continuing). Goodbye to the workplace discussions aka screaming matches about gender roles, homosexuality, relationships, condoms, birth control, evolution, Qaddafi, development assistance, Chris Brown, and so much else.

Goodbye to TT Tailor. Goodbye to obsessive fabric buying at Makola. Goodbye Global Mama’s. Goodbye to the satisfaction when you kill a mosquito right before going to sleep. Goodbye to hissing being a perfectly acceptable way to get someone’s attention. Goodbye to “It’s nice to be nice” and “Sharing is caring” and “You’re invited” – both the nice sentiments and the annoying reality. Goodbye to thinking about phone credit and internet bundles and megabytes.

It’s not just about saying goodbye to the place, the city, the country. It’s not even just about saying goodbye to the people. It’s about saying goodbye to the life I built here, the person I was here. Of course, it’s not a true goodbye, as that life, that person, has become part of my entire life, entire person. But still, in the craze of packing and final errands and teary farewells to lots of people, it deserves its own moment of goodbye.