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22.08.2014 Feature Article

My Brafoyaw Moment: Part 1

My Brafoyaw Moment: Part 1
22.08.2014 LISTEN

Kwabena Ebo took me to a decrepit house made with mud. It was some two kilometers or so from the only school in the town of Brafoyaw, situated in the Abura Asebu Kwamankese district in the Central region of Ghana.

I had gained admission to the St Peters Senior high school at Nkwatia and Aggrey Memorial senior high School in Cape coast simultaneously. I obstinately insisted on the latter despite valiant efforts by my family to enroll me at St Peters Senior High School.

Mr Oppong,my French tutor at De Youngsters international School, jollied a few of my colleagues and i along with his beguiling description of the overhead footbridge that connects the boys section and the girls section, the magnificent underground assembly hall (amphi theatre) and tales of the camaraderie that is shared on Aggrey memorial campus. They remained uppermost on my mind. I would give my eye teeth to become an AMOSA.

I woke up very early that morning of 31st January. I took a short shower.I dried myself hurriedly and smoothed my hair with sweet almond oil to give it more luster.After much hesitation, i settled on a pair of khaki trousers with white long sleeves shirt (according to the prescription) to begin the journey to cape coast with my dad.After about an hour and a half into the journey,fear started taking a better part of me as we drove on the smooth asphalted Yamoransa-Takoradi road, a few meters from the much heralded overhead footbridge.

With anxiety on one hand and solicitude on the other, i schlepped my trunk and chop box after we arrived .A stern looking gentleman whom I got to know later as “Tampico'', the senior housemaster, assigned me to Watson house. Shortly after my dad left for Accra, I met “papistic'',a happy -go-lucky form 3 dude who became my school father.

The seniors thought i was a look alike of a Ghanaian R and B singer, so i earned the nickname, "Nana King''.All the valiant efforts of my school father to shield me from the tyranny of his colleagues was of a tinker's dam. My nickname had caught on well. I was perceived to have chutzpah and bravado. I was on the radar of most of the seniors. I had to bear their masochism and sadism.They hustled almost all my provisions from me.

The pile of agony hit a crescendo when to my utter dismay i was compelled to do elective maths, physics and chemistry. This was against my chosen electives of crop and horticulture, Animal Husbandry and General Agric. I was told that beginning from our year group, Agricultural science students had to do all the science electives except biology.

I was totally disgruntled and disenchanted. In my sullen ratiocination over the happenings, i was convinced in no small measure that I didn't quite fit in on Aggrey memorial campus. I decided to deboardenise. There were several reasons why i wanted to do this.Having lived under the roof of my parents in the strictest sense of the word since I was born, I thought living on my own would be an opportunity to have personal confidence, a sense of independence and considerable autonomy. Again, i had become incontinent of the hostile and contemptuous attitude of the seniors. Finally the name Brafoyaw fascinated me unconscionably because the last three letters happen to be my birth name.I wanted to explore life there.

I sneaked out on a Saturday afternoon and headed north, towards Brafoyaw. Thickly scented spruce branches at the outskirts of campus clutched at my clothes,slapped against my chest and shredded my hand. I eased over humps, trenches, potholes and bashed through the thick grass that had carpeted the narrow strip behind the Enchil house. The crest of a green hill, sitting a few meters from the Accra-Takoradi high way offered a panorama of the town.The scenery changed dramatically. In the center of the town was an old church building. I made my way to the main square. Dust was everywhere; on the roof of the buildings, leaves, branches, even on my teeth and lips.As i turned the squares third corner, i saw Kwabena Ebo in the company of two others sitting on the steps of a storefront. They looked somewhat friendly. After introducing myself, i told them i wanted a room to rent.Kwabena Ebo volunteered to help.

So when we got to that mud house,i paid half of the stipulated amount for a small room that measured about 10 by 15 ft and promised to pay the rest later.The old land lady quite understood. Convincing the assistant headmaster to consent to my being deboardenised was the problem. We called him “payaa”.He had an eerie dental formula,akin to that of a vampire. He was a rigid and extremely strict man who expected perfect behavior from his students. A seemingly ruthless and crotchety person who enjoyed nothing more than dealing out punishments. He was uptight and did not have the patience for imbecility. After organizing my thoughts painstakingly, i managed to write a letter to him as if it were written by my dad asking him (assistant headmaster) to deboardenise me so i could go live with a relative at kotokuraba since i was sick. He approved of it after reading the letter.

There was no longer a need to stay in the boarding house so i packed up my stuff and left for Brafoyaw. It didn't take long since i hadn't accumulated a lot of excess stuff. I can't say i felt a whole lot of emotion about leaving campus but as i slept at Brafoyaw for the first time, the nocturnal darkness of the night sounded impenetrable in howling winds. Through my window, i could see the coiling of the muscular currents of the wind. It caught the shimmering of the waves that caught the darkness like scales .The wafting rhythm of autonomy and independence hovered around me like a tawdry hammock from the sky.

Getting to campus each day for my lessons which began at 8 am was not a cloud on the horizon.Life at Brafoyaw was a wonderful experience. I enjoyed every minute of it. My next door neighbor didn't relent in regaling me with his anecdotes. He was in his middle adulthood. The townspeople called him man- raizow.He sold greeting cards. He made them in his stuffy and stifling room. He spoke good English and appeared to be sophisticated and well-read. I was told he was the school prefect of Ghana National College during his time.

One hot afternoon, after returning from campus, i left my door ajar and laid on my bed. The weather was like a bubble of numinous light, as if the sun were mistakenly attempting to rise inside my head. Suddenly a young woman stealthily entered man -raizow's room with utmost alacrity. It was Aba.She was the wife of Kwesi Atta,a co-tenant. After a short silence, i could hear her moaning through a gag.Unreservedly, Aba felt pure deepening whirlpools of sensations swirling through her tissue and consciousness, so deep and so persistent that i could imagine man-raizow had welded himself to her that she couldn't escape the prison which she had created for herself.He was thrusting faster and faster then, and the pain was mingled with pleasure. I could hear her say,"I cant take this any more" .

Several minutes later, i heard a scream, a complicated series of agonized rising vowels, the sort of sound i had heard once in an action movie when the antagonist was shot by the protagonist.It sounded like a strangulated scream from man -raizow's end, so we all ran into his room to see what was amiss. We got there and saw a naked man -raizow groaning through spittle and blood running from the side of his mouth. He had been dealt a hefty blow by Kwesi Atta (husband of Aba).Kwesi Atta had been suspicious of the two for sometime.That particular afternoon, a tenant in the house saw Aba as she sneaked into man -raizow's room and informed Kwesi Atta.

He peeped through the window of the room and saw his wife's back flat against the bed slat. Man –raizow had leaned into her, hard and deep as if he were going to iron her with his chest and crotch while he kissed her.Man-raizow lifted Aba's right leg, put himself inside, and the fire spread, exploding like ignited oil. A plunging shudder ran through Kwesi Atta.He tempestuously broke into the room. It was a sight to behold. The love birds laid there. Their bodies were suctioned together, as still as the air. Their skin smelled musky, like sun-induced sweat and as tringent, like the eucalyptus. I could hear the hooting laughter of some tenants who were present. Aba mustered courage and fled through the window. After being subjected to some beatings, man-raizow managed to escape albeit naked.

That was the last time I saw him at Brafoyaw.A despondent and furious Kwesi Atta destroyed everything in the room. It was later rumored that Aba ran to her mum at Moree.Kwesi Atta swore heaven and earth to divorce her even though they had five children. I empathized with him. I knew he was going through emotional upheaval. As for me, i continued to enjoy my stay at Brafoyaw.

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