Ghana in December; ASANTEWA is Calling

As the clock struck midnight on Friday December 29^th, 2023, a milestone had been reached in Mother Ghana at a place called AKWAABA VILLAGE.

The crowd gathered outside the makeshift music studio roared in excitement to signify a new dawn; A record deemed farther, and unreachable days earlier was increasingly in sight. If it hadn’t yet been officially broken, it would have been nigh.

Outside, the crowd of different hues and hailing from different postal codes all gathered in the ‘open air auditorium’ soaking in every performance of the lady in the booth and showing their appreciation by chanting along each song and doing their utmost best at encouragement by urging her on through dancing and other gestures. Boosting the spirit of the performer on stage via the kind of support many a Ghanaian student would refer to as “Morale;” Their voices going up several decibels as the clock struck 4days, 59minutes with only seconds remaining till the DAY 5.

Like an ancient warrior who rose to lead in the absence of Her King, when the men left behind would/could not step up, ASANTEWA had managed to bring together a country experiencing a year of acute depression at the hands of its rulers living in sheer opulence at the expense if its citizenry and threatening to tear itself apart. A country whose youth are in despair and increasingly feeling hopeless and worthless. A country whose sense of PATRIOTISM and ESTEEM has dissipated, and the word PRIDE of country has come to signify something else.

ASANTEWA would make believers of an entire nation, some of whom had gone from unbelievers to doubters, now admirers and cheerleaders.

INSPIRING AN ENTIRE NATION BOTH HOME AND ABROAD WHILES MOTIVATING A MUCH YOUNGER GENERATION OF BOYS AND GIRLS TO LOOK BEYOND THE ‘IMPOSSBILE’ TO RATHER EMBRACE THE PHRASE “I AM POSSIBLE.”

ASANTEWA would channel the warriorlike spirit of the Great Asanteman Queen, Yaa ASANTEWA who stepped up in a period of leadership vacuum after the exile of Otumfuor Prempeh I to lead the then ASANTE NATION to fight the British in the ‘Battle of the Golden Stool.’

AFUA ASANTEWA WOULD DISPLAY FOR ALL TO SEE AN ATTITUDE OF DETERMINATION, AND A SPIRIT OF ENDURANCE, GRIT, PERSEVERANCE, MENTAL FORTITUDE, AND SHEER WILL-POWER.

As the cock crowed midnight in Ghana for Friday December 29^th, 2023; A Nation whose entire year was bedeviled by one hardship after another at the hands of a few had momentarily found its joy even if temporarily through the voice of a modern-day warrior-queen, Afua ASANTEWA, in a battle to unseat an Indian who hitherto held the record for the longest ‘Singathon’ as noted in the worldly-renowned Guiness Book of Records.

A MODERN-DAY WARRIOR, USING HER VOICE AND DISPLAYING THE TENACITY OF A SUPERHUMAN WOULD INSTILL A SENSE OF PATRIOTISM AND PRIDE OF ALMOST LOST IN A NATION; HER HUMANITY AND FRAGILITY ON FULL DISPLAY FOR THE WORLD TO SEE AND YET RESOLVED TO CARRY ON TOWARDS A GOAL MANY DEEMED FARFETCHED.

In One December Week In 2023, An Ordinary Ghanaian Lady Has Achieved an Extraordinary Feat of Uniting and Rallying Nation, Even If Briefly; A feat previously exclusive to sports and football in particular until it also fell victim to the ‘Powers Of Darkness.’

As the end of the calendar year 2023 draws nearer; May the Spirit of ASANTEWA, the warrior Afua ASANTEWA and the Fearlessness of another warrior, Yaa ASANTEWA, Queen Mother of EJISU-JUABENG be with us all. Kudos to Afua ASANTEWA for DREAMING and DREAMING BIG. May the people she has inspired grab the baton and soar even higher.

“HEAVEN KNOWS WHERE WE ARE GOING, BUT WE KNOW WE WILL GET THERE,” a line from the song “WOYAYA” by the legendary OSIBISA band done justice in the voice of the songstress WIYAALA.

God Bless Our Homeland GHANA. GYE NYAME!
By: Fiifi Ofori