In a pose with Ben and her mother, holding my “Obronyi” prepared groundnut soup
So I met this wonderful lady, Sue Ron Gonzalez a week ago during a non-profit meeting I was invited to. She saw a beautiful Ghanaian made bracelet on my wrist and that began the conversation. To my surprise, she had actually been coming to Ghana and has been working for this NGO called Tomorrow’s Stars as the literacy specialist. She also knew so much about SABRE Trust, a nonprofit organization I was working with for the past two years before moving to the United States. As if not enough, she also knew about a brother and a friend Pete Freeman, who is actually a co-founder of a non-profit I have founded Adolescent Sexual Health Initiative (ASHI) and has been working with me for the past year on adolescent sexual health project in Ghana. Pete and Sue met in Ghana and discussed ways to help improve on the work of ASHI. So, after that night Sue promised to invite me and my friend Ahmed for a dinner at her house. All was set for the dinner, Ahmed and I journeyed to Sue’s house. Upon arrival, we learned that she also invited her son Jonny, her son’s friends (Celesta and Toby) and lastly Ben, and her mother. Ben, her mother, as well as Celesta have all been to Ghana. Sue cooked Jollof (a Ghanaian delicacy) all by herself paired with some very delicious appetizers and drinks. I must confess Sue’s Jollof was so delicious and tasty.
To make this story more interesting and fun, when Ben was in Ghana in 2014 he fell in love with “groundnut soup”. Ben miraculously prepared a very delicious groundnut soup all by himself, full of animal protein, chicken and beef to be precise and some vegetables and presented them to me. It was a very heartwarming and exciting moment eating a Ghanaian delicacy prepared by an American. This was my first time tasting something typically Ghanaian in the US, something I have been craving since I arrived. Dinner with these lovely people was so fantastic. Yes, there is a lot happening in America on the issues of hate crimes and racism but in the midst of all these, God can direct you to some very nice people who care less about personality and skin color, to show you love and care. Thank you so much, Sue, for the “Jollof” and thank you, Ben, for the “Obronyi”(white man) made groundnut soup. The only thing that made my joy incomplete was the absence of the undisputed Ghanaian dish, almighty “fufu”.