at the beginning there was a wicked woman...

i was sitting in Ma's seat, behind her desk, because she had gone on a weekend vacation and i preferred her view. i also liked pretending she didn't exist, that it was just me and efreeyeh running the maternity ward. i sat there and imagined repainting the walls, the same colors- greens, yellows, pinks, just a fresh coat. maybe i'd rearrange the furniture? but mostly, if it was my center, i'd try to make the services free- i wouldn't want money to discourage a woman from coming. i was deep in daydream when efreeyeh walked in and sat down.

"whatareyoudoing?!" she said, abrubtly but playfully.

"i'm thinking." i said.

"you shouldn't do that."

the ghanaian word 'to think' is 'jwene' and it usually connotates having a problem, or being worried. people don't think when they are content. in the past, when sakola asked me what i was doing, i used to say i was thinking. he'd always tell me "stop thinking. is no good." his response always worried me until i figured out the context.

"nothing is wrong." i informed her.

"okay."

then we went back to silence.

efreeyeh blossoms when Ma is not around, she has more personality. and since Ed had come to the village, her energy levels had heightened. he had informed her the charity was going to help sponser her through midwifery school. it is a 2 year commitment, to which she'll be returning to work in the village, at the health center, to relieve Ma into retirement. but first she'd have to wait for Vera to go to nurse's training, also of which Foundation Human Nature would be sponsering.

a lot of changes are taking place.

Ed has hired a coordinator for FHN, his name is Vasco, and he is young, full of fire and vision. he's close friends with Ed, and was one of the chief people who helped rebuild and reestablish the clinic. that was 4 years ago, and he has just graduated university, ready to start working.
secetry tiptoed around Ed for days, trying his hardest to smile through his deep fear that Vasco's compentence would eliminate his role. i just found out he has been working full time without pay, Ed had never even met him before. he didn't know secetry existed. but in the typical secetry way, he saw a need in the community, at the health center, and he fulfilled it.

now, i hated seeing him so timid, so afraid, so much resembling an abused dog. his laugh was fake and his eyes lost their sparkle. he didn't stand firm while greeting. sofie confirmed my observation. "secetry looks pretty bad, doesn't he?".

i cheered when i found out ed invited secetry onto FHN staff. "i really like him, he's funny. we need people like him working here." is what he said. i congratulated secetry, and he said "oh well well, tank you. tank you." then he told me he would do this work for free. "akua, don't go chasing money. rather, you do the right work and the money will chase you."

life at the center was brimming with possibilities and hope, with celebration. staff and health volunteers were riding around on their new shiny red bicycles, ringing their bells, showing off. Ma had even been promised a bicycle, she gladly accepted the offer.

i was enjoying the week, sitting and soaking in Huttel Health Center life, spending time with everybody's good moods.

"i want to tell you something" efreeyeh said "but you have to promise not to tell anyone."

i love those kinds of introductions. "okay, tell me."

"akua, do you remember that woman? the woman who had those twins?"

"the one we visited at home, the pregnant one?"

"yes, that one."

i had been wondering about her. she was way past her due date, and i occasionally saw her during my time off, as i wandered about the village. she could barely walk and she had turned into the hugest pregnant woman i had ever seen. the lining of my abdomen cringed everytime i smiled in her direction. "yeah, i remember her. please tell me she's delivered."

"she delivered."

"where?" i asked, wondering if Ma yelling at her scared her away from the clinic, or if she was one of the cases at night that i missed.

"she delivered in Duampopo, in the next town over."

"Duampopo?! why did she deliver there?"

"akua! hey! i am trying to tell you a story. listen."

i made myself comfortable in Ma's chair. "okay, go."

"akua you have to correct me when i make a mistake. i want my english to improve. so correct me."

"i will- tell me the story."

"so this woman, the one with twins, she hadn't delivered as of last saturday, she was too big! she was too too big." "the man who got her pregnant actually has another wife. for 6 years he has wanted a child but this woman, his first wife, couldn't give him one, so he got one from my friend, the woman with his twins. the man begged his first wife to let him marry the second one and she agreed. but she wanted him to bring her soooo many things first."

"like what?"

"oh things! she wanted 6 cloths, nice ones, kama kama. 6 nice cloths?! he is not a rich man, how can he do that? she couldn't do that. so she didn't bring them to him so-"

"efreeyeh stop. i'm confused. you're mixing up your pronouns."

"thank you. HE didn't bring the cloths to HER."

"good."

"HE didn't bring the cloths to HER, so she became angry and visited the jujuman, and put a curse on my friend which is why she didn't deliver. she had to go to duampopo to deliver with a pastor, a woman there who prays prays prays and then delivers." "you see? the juju was too strong her babies wouldn't come, it was coming up to 1 year she had been pregnant."

"1 year?" i asked, skeptically.

"akua, believe me, she is my friend. it was close to 1 year, and it could have been longer."

"how do you know all this?"

"you can see the way they move, you can see how the one woman disturbs the other woman. she is always acting unkind, when they are in town the one woman will always be saying things about the other woman. it's true akua, the first wife is a very wicked woman."

"so who is this woman in duampopo?"

"the one who delivered the twins?" she asked.

"yes."

"she is a traditional birth attendant and a woman pastor. she prayed and prayed for the juju to leave, and the twins came."

"where'd they come?"

"at the woman pastor's home."

"oh, okay. and so why is this a secret?"

"ai akua! it's a secret because only a few people know, if you say something, one person will hear and tell another, like that, you see?"

"ya but who cares if everyone knows?"

"because the first wife will beat my friend if she sees that we know. if she knows we know her movement, going to do juju, she will become very furious. so we have to pretend as if nothing is the matter."

"so going to the juju man is a secret thing."

"yes. you can go and-" she grabbed a pen from the desk "say he wants this thing. you can give him this thing. give him this thing and tell him 'do not let this woman deliver' and he'll keep the thing and do what you have asked. like that." then she leaned back and said "ei! 1 year... akua... you don't have juju in your town?"

"not like yours, no. we don't have juju men."

"is that so?"

"i know you told me this was a secret story, but what if i wanted to tell some people."

"akua! you-"

"-some people from my home. can i? i don't think they'll tell anyone in boamadumase, or duampopo. i'll just write it in a story."

"okay...you can do that. start it like this. 'at the beginning there was a wicked woman...' and you can go from there to tell the story."

"okay, i will."

she stood up, leaned over, swatted my arm and laughed. "akua!".