My Ghanaian Heritage by Joel Boateng (Age 10)

My grandmother comes from a West African country called Ghana with five siblings. There are many different tribes in Ghana. The tribe that she comes from is called Ashanti Tribe. The Ashantis speak their local language called Twi. Fufu and soup is the most common food. The most traditional cloth worn by the Ashantis is called Kente.

There are so many interesting facts about my grandma when she was growing as a child in the Ashanti tribe in the 1950s. My grandmother told me that as a child, it is very important that you help an elderly person when they are carrying a heavy load, because if you see someone and don’t offer to help, you will be punished by either your teacher or your parents when they get to know about it.

She also said before children are admitted to school, the teachers will assess the children by making sure that they are able to stretch their right arm all the way over their head to touch their left ear. If any of the children fail, they are not old enough to start school and have to wait another year.

Every morning before she would go to school, she would wake up early to fetch water at around 5am. That was the time she would wake up, so she was not late for school. This was because of long queues at the public water stand.

When children turn up late for school, turn in their homework late or misbehave in school the teacher will hit them with a cane(stick) or belt. Sometimes they get hit by getting answers wrong or performing badly in class work.

Mealtimes at home are classed as family time; at mealtimes the whole family would eat from a big bowl, and when there is a meat or fish in the bowl to share, they take it in turns from the oldest to the youngest. If you are the youngest child sharing a piece of meat you need to hope that there is some left when it gets to your turn.

I am incredibly surprised and interested about how children in my grandmother’s time had to get up at around 5:00 am to fetch water and that shows how things have moved on all these years!