Linda

. There seems to be a surplus of strong characters in the whole of Africa, perhaps because the people have led such challenging lives. Sometimes I wonder how in the world people deal with the hand they've been dealt in the game of life. Linda is one of these people. She is my age and has two children, one named Jemima, who is seven, and one named Isaac, who is five. They are so cute. When JJ and I first visited her house, Jemima was shy, but Isaac came bolting out and jumped right into JJ’s arms even though he’s never seen us before.

We talked to Linda’s mother and her mother’s friend Elizabeth. Elizabeth is an interesting woman from Nigeria who moved to Ghana because her house burned down. She thinks it was a bomb. She barely got her child out in time.

Linda is a seamstress. She grew up in Nigeria and can truthfully assert that nothing scares her anymore. For example, her school had a rival school. Some students from the rival school came to her school one day and attacked them. One student died and Linda jumped from the second story window and broke her legs. On another occasion, the bank on her street was robbed by 17-18 year old young men who killed a lot of her neighbors. She said there were bodies all along the street. She was also kidnapped twice. Once in grade school she was taken to a forest where a lot of other girls were being hidden and "cut". She was returned a few days later because the man who kidnapped them "didn’t like any of them". The second time she was kidnapped by some women. I can’t believe people’s stories sometimes. Most of us really can’t complain about having a rough life.

Linda is generous. She cooked us some spaghetti outside in her ‘kitchen’ and before I left she called me and told me she had a present for me. She had made me a skirt. I tried to give her some money for the material but she told me not to. When I insisted, she told me to give it to her kids, who didn't refuse at all. :-) By the time I left, Jemima and Isaac were treating me like their new aunt. Jemima loved to play with my hair and Isaac liked getting his picture taken. Linda is now engaged, but doesn't like her fiance at all. She feels that she has no choice because her family is pressuring her and no one else wants her with two kids. I am not quite sure what I can do for her now. Any advice would be welcome.