A Voyage Through Traditions

Ayikale’s journey to motherhood

Naa Koshie shook her head in response to her daughter’s question. Who has an appetite these days? She thought.
Looking closely at Ayikale, she realized how frail the young woman was looking. A pregnant woman must eat well.
She must be strong and healthy to carry her baby full term, she thought.
However, she knew that her pregnant daughter barely ate the entire day because she dreaded the bouts of morning sickness that tormented her when anything went past her lips.

The struggles of pregnancy and morning sickness
It was worse when her husband Addae was not home. Like that very day.
It was only when he was that she would nibble at a little something here and there upon his insistence.
It seemed the only thing her daughter could tolerate was fruit. Apples.
Those, she could gobble down without trouble and therefore got a constant supply of them from her husband.
But obviously, that alone could not provide the nourishment that she and her baby needed.

The return of Addae
“He is probably on his way back. It is almost 4pm,” Naa Koshie said quietly as she stood next to her daughter beside the tree stump.
Ayikale perked up and nodded at the sudden realization that her husband would be home soon. He was a good man.
Shortly after her father passed, Addae made them relocate from their simple but charming home in Afram Plains to Ayi’s home in Central Accra.
It was a sprawling Gold Coast home with a touch of modernity that Ayi had practically built with his bare hands on a piece of land his father had given to him.

Addae’s decision to move and business success
“I agree, my mother needs company, but you know my Wekumei…”
“Well, all the more reason I cannot allow your mother to live there alone. Let’s join her in Accra. It will be good for business.”
Addae was a businessman who supplied dried fish locally as well as to the international market. The decision to move to Accra had been a good one.
He did not even need to travel to Afram Plains that often even though all his employees lived there.
His trusted assistant, Auntie Serwaa, played her role amazingly well in his absence.
In fact, his business did so well that he insisted that Ayikale quit her job as an administrator in a local school nearby as soon as he found out she was pregnant.

Ayikale’s struggles with work and pregnancy
He had always been opposed to the idea of her working anyway, but Ayikale said she needed to. It was an escape for a few hours from the prying eyes of their neighbors and some relatives.
One would, however, say that Addae was an oracle. Soon enough, it became apparent to Ayikale that she could no longer juggle her work with her difficult pregnancy.
She had already taken so many personal days at work that the same nosey neighbors and relatives asked her quite unashamedly if she had lost her job.

Anticipation of the new arrival
She was in her 30th week of pregnancy. In a matter of ten weeks, they would welcome the new addition into their lives.
They had not bothered about checking the sex of the child, but Ayikale was positive it was a girl and she could not wait to meet her.