by Joshua Anny-a friend from Ghana
At first sight you might be tempted to take her to be a girl-child in one of the primary schools in your village. But she can equally be your elder sister or better still a fresh virgin girl from the alter. She naturally has long and silky hair. Her face is Asia-Indonesia. She is in her late twenties. Larger part of that age has been under former president Suharto. But she tells me ‘‘I hate that chap’’. She does not walk on pencil-heel shoes though not of much height. Her ambition as a child was to step into the long and polished shoes of her late father –policing. But had to divert because the policemen in her country love the word ‘bribery’. She once told me ‘‘they are even ready to take a lady’s kiss as a form of bribery. I hate them’’.
She has a degree in criminology to her name. But instead of joining the police force to arrest criminal gangs pretending to be smart guys, she is rather chasing sports stories on the streets of her country’s capital, Jakarta
She is today a member of the world-wide gossiping club-journalism. The microphone is her main gossip tool. She loves her jeans trousers to fit perfectly with her mid-frame body. She reports from anything fussball (thanks to Germany) to corrupt politicians lavishing huge sums of Indonesian currency on the bed-spread of University Sweet-Queens.
She speaks and writes Bahasa-the language from her home region. She loves to walk down the beaches in her country holding the hand of any guy who is just handsome. Beauty according to her some lies in the eyes of the beholder. I once remember her kind words for the East Timorese President Xanana Gusmao. ‘‘that man is really handsome, trust me’’. For once I thought she had ever fallen in love with President Gusmao. Perhaps you might describe that as lovers on the screens and newsprints.
The last few days that irk participants close to the end of the workshop, she gave me some Indonesian music as part of saying ‘‘auf wiedersehen’’ (good-bye). Her favourite was a new artist Sandy whose song ‘Sabtu-Minggu’ or Saturday and Sunday, warms her heart gently. The content of the song is simply re-echoing the worries of most love birds. Sandy’s girl friend wants more attention but Sandy says he gives his Saturdays and Sundays to her and it seems that is not enough.
I have returned to Cape Coast to complete my last days by sharing the small knowledge I have acquired from DW-Akademie with colleagues. As a step, I decided to take things slowly by sitting in the sand at the beach because the sun has been blazing hot since I came back home. It is always cool and nice to sweat it out at the beach especially during this ‘‘difficult moments’’ (thanks to Ex-UNITA rebel Mario ‘gentleman’ afonso). The song was a perfect companion for such a time. I have fallen in love with the song so much so that I listen to it 24/7. I sat in the sand and decided to reflect on the words. It was like a crest ripping off the Berlin Wall. Here I was, sitting at the beach and listening to a song meant for ladies complaining bitterly about their boyfriends not giving them enough attention. The situation is much more like a Roman Catholic priest advising married couples as to how they should conduct affairs in their matrimonial homes. Amazing! For my case I have never experimented love not because I’m too scared. The reason is simple-I’m too busy sniffing around materials for my last feature production at Radio Valco. Or maybe I’m still looking through the flames from the burning candles and once that is done such concern will come up. So why not brace yourself for the song than wait till it grows cold-Sabtu-Minggu.
I also remember Nita with fond memories. I have been reading in the papers the latest Tsunami that hits her Country. Sometimes I wish I could stretch my hands and hand over to her a rose flower, to show my support for the hard times. Perhaps the best thing will be to use her as a persona in my yet to be completed poem ‘Memories.’ That will be the best way of saying ‘dich kennen gelernt zu haben.’
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