What I Love about being African

Akwaaba! Welcome! This will be a fun post so let's get started!

I do feel as though most of my posts are based on some of the aspects of my culture I do not particularly enjoy or support a 100%. While I want to be very real and transparent on this platform, I think it is important to bask in my "Africanness". If you know me personally or are a regular visitor on this site, you know I rep Ghana and Africa very hard! I have always loved being African eventhough sometimes the stigma and stereotypes associated with us isn't the most pleasant. Thanks to some Hollywood movies, actors of African descent, viral African dances and music, being African is now "cooler" and more widely "accepted". With that said, today's post highlights some of the things I love about being African in no particular order.

Firstly, I absolutely love our names and naming systems. Ghanaian names like Aseda (Ah-si-da) meaning thanks, Piesie (Pee-ay-cee-ay), meaning beginning and Ayeyi (Ah-yay-yi) meaning praise are so beautiful to me. Sometimes I wish my parents gave me names which had direct translations but I love my name and it's a great conversation starter. Whenever I mention my name, which by the way is Adwoa Gyimaah, the next question is where are you from? This happens both in Ghana and abroad. It just tells me how unique my name is especially, "Gyimaah". Adwoa simply means "a girl born on Monday" which is pretty common but Gyimaah isn't quite the same. I was named after my father's mother.

In other African tribes, you are named based on your "position"among the children- for lack of a better word. Let me explain. The first child is given a certain name because they are the first, the second because they are the second and so on. So usually in the Ga tribe, depending on your family or hometown, the last female's name ends with "-kor". For instance, my friend Naa Kwakor is the last girl, hence her name. Same applies to my friend Naa Lomotiokor. In the Akan tribe which I belong to, specifically Akuapem, you are usually named according to the day on which you were born or circumstances under which you were born. For instance, my brother's name is Kwame (Qu-a-me) because he is a male born on Saturday. In the same token, a female born on Saturday is named Ama. Also, if you were the first child born after a long period of infertility, you may be named Nhyira (In-shi-ra), meaning blessing or Aky3di meaning Gift. If you'd like to learn a bit more about me, check this out.

I love how close knit the family aspect of the African culture is. Everyone genuinely looks out for each other in all aspects - sometimes, a little too much though. It can easily become overbearing and people tend to overstep boundaries. I have a post about this on my blog already so you can read it here.

https://omniglot.com/writing/akan.htm

Languages! I thorougly love to talk so having the ability to communicate with people from different tribes and backgrounds brings me so much joy. I am fluent in 2 African languages, one African dialect and proficient in Spanish. It is so beautiful to interact with different vendors at the market and even with strangers at the bustop or the hospital. I love being multilingual especially in Ghana because I am able to respond to strangers who are having a conversation about me in a language they think I can't comprehend. The look on their faces is just priceless! I just laugh in my head thinking "y'all not slick".

Fufu with meat, fish and pork light soup and boiled okro

One of my absolute favorites has got to be the food! The flavours, the colours, the spices, the aroma - just everything. I may be wrong for generalizing but I think it is safe to say that Africans are some of the less picky people on earth. This is because we enjoy meals with chicken feet and neck, goat intestines, turkey butt, fish head and eyes, snails, rabbits and many more. Apologies to my vegetarians, picky eaters and animal lovers.

I absolutely adore our clothing and fabrics. My college school mates can attest to the fact that almost every day, I have some kind of African garment on. This ranges from my headwrap, to my actual outfit, my footwear, my wooden earrings, my beaded anklet or beaded rings. I just love our vibrant colours and patterns, mostly because they compliment my dark skin. My fashion choices are also great conversation starters despite the fact that almost anyone who meets me immediately knows I'm African even before I utter a word.

I hope you enjoyed this post because I definitely had so much fun writing it! I would love to hear your thoughts about this post! Stay safe everyone!

Until next time

Be you, do you, stay you,

Adwoa.