(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Ghana- Anabel's Mother Has Died [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-09-18 Very heavy heart this morning. My friend John in Ghana told me last night that Anabel’s mother passed away. Anabel is the little girl who was abandoned at three years of age and found wandering the streets by homeless children who took her to John. John arranged for her to be taken care of in a home for abandoned children and she has been there since. Anabel’s mother was named Akosua Mame Sewaa. She was a person. She made some bad mistakes but life never gave her many good options to choose from. She was a prostitute who lost herself in heavy drug use. Yes, she did abandon Anabel but as she was dying she asked John to take care of her little girl. The drugs killed her mind and they killed her body but they didn’t kill her heart. If there is such a thing as karma she paid off the dark parts and I hope she has been accepted among her ancestors and perhaps those who can give her more peace than she ever knew in life. This is only the second of our friends in Ghana who has died. I am sad that she had such a bad, hard life. I am sad that she died in pain. The wrongs she did, that is human and I don’t blame her. May she rest in peace. - So now Anabel is an orphan. It is difficult. The place where she is staying is associated with a school and they are insisting that Anabel be enrolled there to be able to stay (I misunderstood earlier and thought the school was separate; that was my mistake.) John has already paid for her school uniform. In fact he sent me a picture of Anabel wearing it and I badly wanted to post it here but John refused to give me permission because he thinks that would be lying by pretending that she is already in school. I tried to explain that people would understand that she isn’t yet enrolled but that we would only be showing her in the uniform but he refused to allow it. John has very high standards of honesty. Tuition is only 120 cedis, slightly over 100 dollars, for a term but I just haven’t been able to pay it. We operate on a very tight budget and John’s illness, among other things, has put us in a difficult financial situation for the rest of the month. In fact I will be honest, I was resigned to the fact that Anabel would be kicked out of the place where she is staying and perhaps might have to be returned to her mother. I didn’t want that to happen but didn’t see many alternatives. Of course even that option is closed to us now. I don’t think John would allow that anyway. John truly loves children. I have many photos of him being swarmed by them in public. I cannot imagine him just abandoning one. He said last night that he wanted to take Anabel on an outing to the stores and to the beach but of course that also takes money and we haven’t been able to do that yet. He said “I like her,” which I thought was touching and kind. Well this is not the time for speaking of future difficulties. This is a eulogy for Akosua Sewaa. I will be holding a brief, personal memorial of meditation and contemplation in her honor this evening. Anyone who wishes to join in with kind thoughts and perhaps prayers for a woman who suffered much and lost everything is welcome. Whatever good we have done, whatever evil we have done, death makes us all equal. Even the worst among us is worthy of a gentle thought of remembrance. God bless. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/18/2193986/-Ghana-Anabel-s-Mother-Has-Died Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/