WURD Radio

“When I remember that December is coming, I get anxious.  We pay rent at the end of the year and we don’t have it.  We’re saving all we can but we’re only halfway there.  My husband sells kabobs but it’s not going well.  I’m selling bananas to help out.  My children are wearing torn school uniforms.  I can only afford books for some of them.  I prioritize by who will get in the least amount of trouble with their teachers.  The smallest one doesn’t have any books right now, because I need the oldest one to get high marks.  I don’t know what I’ll do if we get evicted.  But I bounce back.  I’m a happy person.  And all of the shopkeepers around here are my friends.  We keep each other distracted.  We play jokes on each other.  We make each other laugh.  And we share what we have.  Some of them are drivers, and if they drive out to the province, they’ll bring back food for me.  So life can be good.  Things are manageable.  And I’m fine as long as I stay busy.  I only withdraw when I remember the challenges I have.”   (Accra, Ghana)

📷: UN Photo / Evan Schneider, John Isaac, Marco Dormino, Eskinder Debebe & Christopher Herwig

“My father wants me to work in government, but I think there are plenty of problems we can solve ourselves.  So I’d rather be an entrepreneur.  Two issues we have in this country are erratic power and excess trash.  So recently I’ve been dreaming of a waste-to-energy plant.  It could be a solution to both problems.  I’ve been researching on the Internet for months.  The technology exists.  But this morning I had a meeting with the electric company, and they told me the power supply is currently stable.  There isn’t a market for extra energy.  So I’m feeling a little disappointed. But I’m going to explore other ideas.  I’m also researching methods to manufacture furniture with leftover sugarcane fiber.  I just want to do something about all this waste.  It makes me so angry.  Our gutters are filled.  Our bins are overflowing.  I’ve been carrying this trash for a mile because there’s nowhere to put it.  And nobody feels responsibility for the problem.  In the village where I grew up, everything was clean.  Because everyone viewed the land as their own.  I wish we’d view our entire country like that.  Personally, I don’t want anyone calling Ghana dirty.” (Accra, Ghana)

“I was eighteen years old.  I went out one night with a male cousin and his friends.  I felt safe with him.  But he gave me a drink and I started to not feel like myself.  He took me home to his house.  It was dark inside and I could hear people moving around.  I heard murmuring in the shadows.  I tried to lock myself in the washroom.  But they beat down the door.  It lasted all night.  They took turns.  I was still a virgin when it happened.  I had goals for myself.  I’d started reading at a very young age.  I wanted to go to school.  But that night everything changed.  I didn’t leave my bedroom for months.  I wasn’t going to tell anyone.  But unfortunately for me, I got pregnant.  I was forced to tell my family.  My father didn’t believe me.  He said: ‘If you’re old enough to get pregnant, you’re old enough to live on your own.’  He kicked me out of the house.  He told me: ‘You’ve used your body once.  You can use it again.’  I had to beg on the street.  I’d go for days without eating.  I hid in the bushes outside my house and begged my siblings for food.  But they avoided me like I was a disease.  I had to abort the baby.  I wasn’t mad at the child, but I had no choice.  I was completely alone.  That was twenty years ago, and I survived.  I’m financially comfortable now.  And maybe I’ve found some peace.  But I’ve never healed.  I don’t want anyone in my life.  I got married once but I hated the sex too much.  Even then I felt alone.  I’ll always live like I have nobody.  I’ve made a few friends, but in the back of my mind, I’m on my own.  Because I don’t want to feel vulnerable.  I don’t want to feel weak.  I don’t want to cry.  I don’t ever want to need anyone again.” (Accra, Ghana)