The Boy in Abidjan

"For all of the readers"

-M.N

The Boy in Abidjan

Chapter 1: Kwaku

Kwaku means "born on a Wednesday". I know, right? Really interesting name and everybody in the village that I live in thinks that too. 

But it's a common name. I think so. Yesterday I was searching common Ghanaian names on the internet. I hope it's right. 

Ghana is not a poor country. Think about that most of the world's cocoa comes from Ghana. Lots from Ivory Coast, but much, much more from Ghana. 

Thousands of tons of cocoa beans grown on plantations and farms and then sent on ships for big companies like Nestle and Cadbery and all sorts of big branded names. 

Then lots of timber and mineral goods. Sent on ships to Europeans and Americans. That money goes to the country for medicine, new buildings and more cocoa beans. 

Some of that sadly goes to the big pockets of rich, greedy people in big, high positions. But most goes to us, which is good. 

Chapter 2: Moving

3 years later

We went on the immigration bus to Ivory Coast because there's better education and lifestyle in Ivory Coast and it would be better for us all. 

It was a long farewell to my friends and classmates. I was really, really sad to go to Ivory Coast because I would miss everybody and my only life that I knew. 

It was a long and bumpy and went on for many, many hours before all of the passengers on the bus went to the immigration office in one of the cities.

The immigration officer only spoke French because that's the language that they speak in the country. But they was another officer who spoke our language. 

He said to our family that we were accepted full citizenship to Ivory Coast. Then we got our papers, had to sing the national anthem and then the immigration officers wished us luck.

Chapter 3: Abidjan

We finally found a hotel for the night in the economic harbour city of Ivory Coast. Abidjan is huge. The famous highway that runs through the city is full of cars and garbage from all of the people. 

The buildings are big, but the people are small and abundant in numbers. French is only language that I hear and see in the large city. 

My family was on the top floor of the building because we got a good deal from one of our friends who lives in the city who works here as a maid. My mother thanked her a lot.

We ate some of what we had when we moved here. Mostly bread and some things that Mom bought from one of the markets in downtown Abidjan. 

She said that downtown in the city was crazy. Sometimes it was so busy that everything on the ground, even a baby would be stomped on by the mess of people.

My parents slept easily because of the long day that they had. But my two sisters and me didn't sleep well because of the traffic noise and sirens going off. 

It was a long, long day in a new country with new people, a new language, and a new lifestyle. I don't know if this is going to be a good country for us.  

Chapter 4: School

I went to school for the first time today for the first day in a different country in a new language. I was put in Grade 1 to start. 

All of my classmates were from Ghana because all of the students spoke our language and didn't go to school yet. 

Lots of students in my class. That's means lots of people in Ghana don't always go to school. 

But they are all in the same region as me. Same places do go to school, some don't. Some don't have money to go to go school too. 

Sadly, nobody is from the same village as me. But I made a few friends today. I forget their names, but I will ask tomorrow. 

The school is very, very busy. Lots of students with big books and big things that they can carry things in. It is like a bag that goes on your back. 

French was everywhere when I walked back home to the hotel that we're living in until we find a home. I feel so, so alone in the new country with a new language. 

I still think the new country is not going to be better than the old one. Why not move to another part in Ghana? Can't we?

Finally after a long walk, I made it to the hotel. We ate our dinner and my sisters and me talking about our new school day. 

The good news is that we found an apartment that we can move in. We are all very, very happy. So am I. It's the first good news that I've heard in a long time. 

Chapter 5: The New Apartment

It was the weekend so we all went to the new apartment to see if it is the apartment we want. So were're renting an apartment for a few weeks. 

We got to rent for a cheap price because the people that we were talking to liked us and gave us the cheap price. All of us were very happy. 

I moved all of my things that I had brought from the hotel that we were temporarily living in. So did my sisters as they brought their belongings too. 

My parents had already got their stuff in the new rented apartment that we might one day live in for the rest of our childhood in. 

So I walked with my sisters and carried a few of their things, mostly heavy things like big books and a few bigger toys. But they even let me keep their pocket money safe. I felt some happiness in my heart. 

It was dinnertime when we were all done with hanging things and unpacking clothes and books and special belongings, we ate but didn't talk much though. 

There was a electric box called a television, or TV for short. The sisters and me played and watched a little bit of the new creation. 

Mom read to my sisters but I slept hard because the long, long day of packing and unpacking in a country with new people and new things.  

Chapter 6: More Learning

In class, we learned a new language. Or learning, I should say. It was French, the national language of Ivory Coast, this country. 

I know how to said "because". Parce que. And "I". It's very easy. "Je". Super easy. But I know that it will get harder and harder. 

Our teacher said that French is going to be hard. But we are at a young age so it's going to be easier than learning to older kids who know their language very well. 

We learned some numbers and adding numbers too. 14 plus 6 is the number "20". I learned the numbers in French all the way to 30. 

I walked around the school today at my break, or recess to see all of the new things outside and inside the school that I've never seen before.  

I saw all of the things outside, the long grass, the poles and the strange flowers and bushes in the new school that I am so interested in. 

Sadly, I was not allowed in the building in this break. But I was given a piece of the building plan where all of the rooms are. 

Later in the day, I walked back to the apartment and did all of the homework that I was given to do here. It was very easy to me for some reason. 

Maybe I just like new things and new kinds or questions and orders. That was it. I'm probably just good at this subject called math, when numbers are used to solve questions with ways to figure out the questions. 

I ate dinner with my family. The sisters and me all talked all talked about our day. Mom is trying to work at this one job that earns enough money for us to live and buy food. 

And if Dad gets a good job too, we will be a family that can buy food and clothes and rent this apartment for all of us. 

I played with my sisters and the three of us played with the new box, TV for short. It was lots of fun to do with all of us together. 

Then Mom read a story to both of my sisters and I was put to bed nicely and she wished me a good night. I said the same to her too. 

Chapter 7: Robbery

It was in the middle of the night. We all heard a knocking at our door. But the knocking was really somebody slamming their body to break the door. 

When the door was down, the robber told us all to drink this strange smelling liquid. The person had a weapon. My sisters and I were scared the most.  

All of us drank it the strange drink up. At first it tasted awful. It could not be described at all. Soon I was sleeping and talking funny.

When it was morning, most of our valuable things were taken by the robber. My sisters and I were not so upset because the robber didn't take our used toys that we played with for years. 

Mom and Dad were sad when all of our money was taken. They said that we would have to live on the streets. It was very sad for all of us. 

Mom's job would help us but Dad would need a good job for us all to live in this new country. All help is going to be needed. 

Chapter 8: Another Day

It was Monday and both my sisters and I went to school like always in the week. I was walking since there is no bus going to my school. 

So I was walking in the hot early day sun walking to school with my two sisters. It is a long way to the school with heavy traffic and places with lots of people walking by. 

We both see lots of stores and people with stands selling things for tourists who comes and the people who don't think and have money to burn. 

Money is a big concern in Abidjan. I see with my sisters everyday lots and lots of peoples playing drums and different instruments with boxes with coins. 

Not because they want to but because they need money to buy food to feed themselves and money for clean water and a place to live. But the money that they earn is barely enough for them to live. 

All three of us got to the school on time. My sisters went to a different class with different things and I went to my class with my things. 

I was greeting with the sounds of talking and bodies all moving around the class. Soon the bell rang and the class was silent. 

The teacher taught us more French words and numbers in class. We were writing the numbers in our books that we had with us and used it for mathematics. 

The school day passed and I was again walking home with my two sisters in the heavy Abidjan traffic, the sounds disappearing as we walked. 

Dinner came and we all talked of our today. Mom was all good with her new job in the city. Dad went to an interview with a company. We all hope that he gets the job. 

I talked about my day and so did the sisters. Then Mom read to me and my sisters and we all went to sleep for another long day.

Chapter 9: Moving

We found some new things today. When Mom was cleaning the apartment she found a big hole in one room that we didn't even notice in the small home. 

It was full of strange noises and smells. And in the hole, some green liquid was coming out of the hole and into the carpet in the room. 

And we complained to the owners of the apartment building because the liquid would not come off. But the owners did nothing but tell us that we could buy this special powder. 

When we got to the store where they sell it the powder, it was $400 a bottle. And after that trip to the store, we told the owners that we are moving. 

So we got all of the belongings out of the apartment and went to a hotel for the night so Mom and Dad could think of a place for us to live. 

The next morning, we went to a different apartment that Mom and Dad were looking at on something called the internet. I think that it's a website on the computer. 

Mom and Dad checked in with the apartment managers paid the last of the money that they had for a rented apartment to live in for a few months. 

I walked with my sisters in the city traffic with all of our things from the old apartment from our village from our old country to the new apartment in the new country in the new city. 

Later we ate dinner silently and watched a little bit of the TV in the apartment. Then Mom read to my sisters and I and then we went to bed. 

Chapter 10: The Dark Corners of Abidjan

I was walking to the store with the shopping list that I was given by Mom as I was told to go to the shopping store near our apartment. 

Both Mom and Dad were busy working to earn money so I was the only one old enough to go and buy the food at the store. 

She gave me some of the money that she earned from work. Then she told me not to spend the money on other things that we didn't need at other stores. Also Mom said not to talk to other people or give the money to anyone. 

Then I was on my way to the store in the busy city full of people and strange noises  and was well on my way to downtown Abidjan in the big shopping store where food is brought at tills and money is exchanged from person to person.

And it was busy; people were all over the big store talking and looking at prices of the foods on the shelves in the store. 

I didn't know what was a good deal and a bad deal for the prices for the food so I picked the things from the shopping list as told and went in one of the lineups in the store. 

When it was my turn, the person at the till to start scanning the food bar codes on the boxes and cans of food. I don't know why they do that. Maybe the bar codes are secret money codes to get money. 

Then I walked out of the rushing store and went back home to get the food for dinner and other meal times at home with my two sisters and Mom and Dad. 

Suddenly one person gave me some money if I walked in this alley with him. I accepted the deal. I was thinking of the happy faces at home when I gave them the money. 

It was a man with dark clothes and greasy hair and smelled like he never had a bath before. He also wore a strange necklace too. 

When I realized that it was a trick, I was shoved in a truck and was given some stuff to make me fall asleep in the moving vehicle. 

Chapter 11: More Badness

I was dumped on the floor in a room by one of the people that tricked me like a sack of potatoes. Not a good feeling inside. 

Then I was rounded up with the children that were tricked the same way as me. It was not great with all of us together like cattle on a farm. 

These kids were very skinny, tired, smelt and were greeted with the welcoming visit of these bad people as bad fortune rained on them like cold words. 

The tricksters were probably going to sell all of us to people that did bad things with bad manners and had bad ways of doing things. 

Suddenly we were all loading in vans one by one single file and sitting quietly in the vans, the children with scared faces. 

It was long drive to where we were going. And I wanted it to be long because maybe it could help all us escape from these bad people. 

Then we arrived. I saw lots of lots of people working and digging in the ground and picking things. I first thought a gold mine. A cocoa plantation was the second guess. It was a farm for vegetables.

Chapter 12: On the Farm

It was huge and big and it was almost empty. The soil looked very dry..The grass was not green and growing. Also there were no trees and no animal sounds And there were no big farming machines to use.

The two farmers that were running the farm did not have manners and had no loving looks or sounds for us. No greeting. No smiling and merry on the land. And lots of angry words.  

Lots of poor innocent children all in one big cluster ready to be sold to farmers with bad soil, no green environment and no manners. Not where I want to be now. 

But I am. And so are many, many others. The farmers told us to water and dump compost on the bad soil so the soil would freshen.

Then we dug up all of the weeds and rocks that were in the soil without removing or ruining any of the compost that is going to be the good soil.  

Next we had to get the seeds that were in big sacks and plant them on the fields that we were now at this time fresh and had better soil than before. 

Then we watered and watered all of the fields and looked all around the fields to see if it was all right and then we went to the farmers.  

They were talking with the people that had tricked us into going on this farm. The farmers and the other people looked up at me. 

The farmers gave the people money. It was probably enough because after that, they left in their van and drove away from the farm. 

They said to all of us that it was good enough and that we were given dinner and a place to sleep. It was the first good news of the day. 

But dinner was this colourless mush that the farmers cooked and that tasted horrible. And sleep was a cot that looked like it was going to break any second. 

But they didn't break. Probably because we were light enough from all of that farming that we were forced to do. And it was good that the cots didn't break. What a day! 

Chapter 13: More Work

If you thought that just doing all of the field work was all, not correct. And even by a little bit. Still lots to do on the farm. 

Like tending to the farm animals. That was the first job that we had to do today starting at the crack of dawn in the wee little hours in the morning. 

We had to feed the horses some of this food that didn't look good to eat, even for the horses. Then we shooed the horses to the open place.  

They were much, much happier since they were whinnying more happily than when they were in that cramped coop for horses. 

Next we cleaned out all of the hay in the stables because it was very dirty and the farmers told us that's where the horses poo. 

We brought in some clean hay that the farmers gave to us to use for the horses. They told us that use some of it because we were going to need it for the other farm animals. 

By the time lunch was all cooked, we were all done cleaning and replacing the new hay into the horse stables that were very clean for the horses. 

Then we ate lunch which was the same colourless mush. But the farmers gave us each a little bread and some rosemary to use with the mush so it tastes better. 

I guess that it was all of the hard work that we were doing to freshen the farm up. It was a little bit of a bonus for us from them to all of us. 

After lunch, it was back to work again cleaning up all of the faults of the farm that we were going to take care of with lots of hard work. 

We were cleaning the cow space next. We cleaned all of the mess that the cows were made and we shooed them out of the small space and into the open space so we could clean away. 

Next we were replacing all of the dirty hay with good hay from the farmers and got both the horses and the cows inside their homes. 

It was dinnertime after all of the cleaning all of the farm animals including the goats, the chicken coops and the sheep pens. 

The same mush but with something good too. And then we went to sleep for the old cots and began to sleep as another hard day was ahead of us. 

Chapter 14: Escape

One month later

In the middle of the night, I had an idea; to escape this farm and to go back home in Abidjan where my family lives in the rented apartment near downtown Abidjan. 

But I would not go back to Ghana. My life is now in Ivory Coast, the new country with a new language and new sounds. 

I talked to all of the children around me in the room that we were all sleeping in. I told them about escaping this farm where the food is bad and when we could go back home. 

But the farmers were meaner to us by the day. The food that we ate was worse, the sleeping space and the cots were the same though.

But I wanted to escape because many, many reasons. It just wasn't home to me and to the other tricked children, too.   

Sometimes I heard some of them talking about that the farmers are mean and that they are like evil in a bottle because all of the hard work for bad food and bad sleeping space. 

So I told them about my plan; we were going to the kitchen to get some food and a bottle with clean, cold water inside the bottle. 

Then we were going to get a wagon from the shed with all of the food on it and we would write a note that we would leave in our sleeping space and left it for the farmers to see the next morning. 

And we did all of that; like quiet little mice in the night. And we went running in the night with a flashlight that one of us got from the farmers. 

Two days later

Chapter 15: Back Home

It was a little more than one month that I was kidnapped by the people that had tricked my greed and moved me far, far away. 

When I rang the buzzer in the apartment, Mom opened the door and was so happy to see me back home after I was missing for a long time. 

Dad was really angry that I was gone for such a long time. He told me at the table that we were putting up signs and flyers in the newspaper. 

My sisters were very, very excited that I was here at last. They said that they were very sad while I was away. That means I am very respected at home. 

It was a Saturday, so there was no school today. I played with my sisters and did some chores and talked to my parents who were still angry. 

I told Mom and Dad about what happened when I bought the food at the store and when I was tricked by bad people. I also mentioned the farm and all of the children. 

I tried to apologize, but they said that there was no need. Mom and Dad said that I had made a mistake and that I learned my lesson about it. 

They also said that it was their fault too because they shouldn't have sent me to the market because I was too young and it was a new city. 

After we were speaking about the accident, we ate our lunch and Mom and Dad and my sisters told me about the new jobs that they got and the good pay that they were getting. 

Afi and Afua, my sisters talked about school and the things that they were learning. Mom and Dad also said that they were getting better at writing and drawing. 

After lunch, I played with Afi and Afua and they drew some drawing of me and showed them to me and I would rate them at the art. 

The two sisters were not bad artists for their age. They were better than most kids that draw at their age. Maybe if they wanted to be for their career, Afi and Afua could be artists. 

We watched a little bit of the "screenbox". It was our name for the television because of the screen with the moving people and the box shape that interested them at their age. 

We ate dinner and watched a bit of the screenbox before bedtime. Mom read us all a story and then we went to sleep.

Chapter  16: The Missing Student

Sunday has passed and school was going to be in a couple of hours when my teacher would hound me with homework because of my long absence. She will also ask why. 

I am on my mat that I sleep on, away from the dust, trying to sleep. But I can't because of my rock hard thoughts crashing in my brain. 

I am worried that if I go to school, everyone in my class will be so far ahead of me and I will be behind and that everybody there will laugh at me. 

That is why I don't want to go to school today. Not for any other reason why not to go to school and that I'm terrified about. 

When it was 7:45 AM, I got up from the sleep that was able to use for the day at school that was ready to prepare there. I was going to do my very, very best. 

I woke up Afi and Afua and helped them get dressed and get ready for school. We ate breakfast that I made for the sisters and I and helped them get their things for school. 

Then at 8:15 AM, we walked to school, Afi and Afua holding my hands at both sides and we walked in the busy early morning Abidjan traffic. 

Then when we arrived at the school, we waved at me and said their goodbyes and I went to my class, they went to theirs. 

I was on time for the day of school as the bell rang. But before class had started, the teacher went to me. She was going to ask me questions. 

I ran out of the classroom and into the hallway but I was stopped by one of the other teachers walking to their classrooms. 

Then my teacher wanted her questions. But she was kind about it. But also she asked some very stupid questions that were despicable. 

Then she let me go and I was in class learning things that would be useful in my future job so that I can earn money to buy food for my family. 

When school was over, Afi and Afua walked with me through the traffic and all of the people. And we made it to the apartment building in a good time. 

I did my homework and then played with my sisters and did drawing and lots of fun things with them before dinner started. 

We ate and talked and we all talked about our day. Mom and Dad were liking their jobs because the people were nice there and their jobs were going well too. Sometime that hasn't happened in a long time. 

After dinner, I played with my sisters and later I spent a little bit of time to myself doing some fun things that only was with me. 

Then Afi and Afui watched some of the screenbox with me. It was very interesting that people could move and talk and we could hear all of the words. Like a telephone.    

Later we got ready for bed. Mom read us all a bedtime story and we were tucked into beds and Afi, Afui and I said goodnight to our mom.  

 Chapter 17: A Match of Football

I invited my friends to my apartment. We all live on the floor in the same apartment building, so it's easy to find where we can meet. 

Their names are Emmanuel and Eric. They are in the same class and are the same age as me. They are really nice and lots of fun. 

Emmanuel and Eric like the sport football, with the ball and you score on the net with a goalkeeper guarding. Americans call it "soccer". 

I played a little when I was living in Ghana, so I know the sport and what to do. They play on a football league and they said that it's a lot of fun. 

They like to play outside and play. But our apartment doesn't have an open space to run outside and play football with. 

Plus they are too many cars and trucks and people walking by, so it wouldn't be very safe anyway even with some space to play with. 

So when it was the day to go play with my friends, I asked Mom if she would with us to the park near our apartment building and my friends and I would play. 

It was a Saturday, so Mom didn't work at her office. It was sunny and it was beautiful outside. Mom wouldn't refuse to go with us to the park. 

She agreed and my friends brought their footballs and we played football with wooden posts from thick sticks and played. 

It was Eric and Emmanuel versus me. It was fair because I practiced a lot and had a few moves, which was good according to Eric and Emmanuel. 

We played for a long time. I won 3-1 in the match and we were all happy from the exciting game. There were a lot of fun moments in the game. 

Then they left with their parents in their cars and Mom and I walked back to the apartment and ate dinner with all of the other members of the family. 

I played with Afi and Afua as we played a board game that was really fun and we laughed a lot and had a lot of fun. 

We played some of the screenbox and later Mom read us a story and we went to sleep, another fun day ahead of us. 

Chapter 18: Moving

At dinnertime, after school was finished and the homework was ready, Mom and Dad told all of us some very exciting news. 

They said that we can afford to buy one of the houses in the area. It's a good buy and it's going to be much better than what we are living in now. 

In a couple of months, we are going to be moving to a small apartment/house, outside the busy downtown area in the city. 

The house is a little bit farther away from the school, that's the only problem. But it's only a few minutes of a difference, so it's not a big loss. 

But the house is bigger, looks nicer than our rental apartment that we are living in. And Afui and Afi and I get an room to ourselves. 

And what is really good about the house is that there is space outside to play football. The house even comes with a net too. I am really excited to see what the outside space looks like. 

We are all really excited to go and living in this house that is said to be very good. I am hoping that the time between now and living in the house is short. 

When Mom finished reading the story and when we fell asleep, I dreamed about the house and the good things in it. I hope it's as good as it is in my dream. 

Chapter 19: Joining the Game

The next morning, I woke up when it was 7:45 AM and got ready for school while also helping my two sisters get ready for school too. 

When we were all done, Afi, Afua and I went through the early busy traffic to the school, Afi and Afua holding both hands as not to get run over by a car. 

I didn't take them to the school, but to the football stadium where you can join and play with a team against other teams in Abidjan and other cities too that play in the same league. 

I told Mom and Dad about all about that today I was going to try to join and play in the football league. And they gave me permission to go. 

So I went inside the stadium and looked for a couch there. And soon I found a couch and asked if I could play football here and play in a league. 

The couch said that I could come with my parents in the afternoon and we could watch one of the team's practicing for an upcoming game.

He would talk to my parents about the cost and when the practices were and all of the games that would take place in the league. 

So I left the stadium and walked the girls to school where they were to were to be going to in the first place, not to a football stadium. 

When class started and the teacher gave us the things that we were going to do, football seemed so far away from where I was. 

When school ended for the day, I rushed with Afi and Afua through the traffic to the apartment building to our apartment room when I told Mom and Dad what to do. 

Dad and I went to the football stadium and Dad talked to the same couch that I was talking to this morning about what would happen. 

It took a while, but the cost was not bad and when and where were all good since I am not in any other sports. 

But football is my sport!  

Chapter 20: First Match 

On Saturday, five days since I joined (because the day was nearly ending), I was in my first match of my football career and also of the season too. 

Good timing. I wasn't nervous for the match, but a little bit of unhappiness settled in the stomach. I didn't know if I was any good. 

I was pretty good when I was playing with my team at practice. One boy said that I was really good. I was interested by that sentence. 

No one had said that I was good at football other than my mom and dad, my two sisters and my friends. And that boy too. 

But I couldn't think about that now. Soon I was on the field, the coin dropped and the game had began at last now. 

The other team had the ball from the right guess from the coin flip, so we were to get the ball from the other team, but to also defend well too.  

I was a midfielder, one of the forward that has the ball a fair amount. So I was happy about my position that I was playing in. 

But the positions were testing the level of how good we can play in the position. All of the other players and I were going to try to keep our position on the field. 

I had the ball for a little bit and passed for most of the time. But this time when some of the players were not looking. 

I ran with my speed with the ball and took a shot not far from the goalkeeper and I scored. And the stadium cheered loudly. 

I was cheered by all of the players on my team. I was very, very happy of the goal that I just scored, the first goal of the season and my career. 

Later on the match was on, passes and great were made, but no more goals were scored though. And the final score was 1-0. 

Chapter 21: A Big Gap

After the weekend was over, it was time to go back to school. The gap between football and school was very, very big in fact. 

I am very good at school. I am one of the best students in the class according to my teacher. That is very good and all that I am a good student at school. 

But I also like football too. It's a very fun sport to play but also to practice too. And playing in the big football stadiums are really cool too. 

But school is more better, yes, and the distance between school and the football stadium seems so, so far even though in reality it is only across the street. 

But I like school too. I like the work and all of the fun things that we do at school and all of the students in the class too. 

My teacher is very nice and polite but also teaches me and her class a lot of cool things. It's a good balance, especially for younger kids like us. 

I am continuing to do well at school as a good student and a good learner too. And I am practicing and getting better on the football field too. 

Chapter 22: New Home

Three months later

Of all of the bad things that we were facing as we moved to a new country with a new language and a new life, moving to a house was the most best part. 

Never I have seen a house so big and so different than our homes that we can move than this. Just looking at the house was nice. 

It was very new to all of us. And it was just as Mom and Dad had said when the topic was just brought up by my parents. 

It was a newer house that was made from wood and there was two bathrooms, four bedrooms

and also a downstairs too that was colder than the rest of the house. 

When Mom and Dad said that we were going to live in a apartment\house, they said that so we wouldn't be too, too excited about the home. 

I got the first pick for the bedrooms, which was the biggest one with a big closet and lots of room to play in and read my books and do homework. 

Afi got the second biggest room with lots of room too and Afua got the smallest room, but it was the nicest room of all of the bedrooms. 

Mom and Dad shared one of the biggest rooms which also got a bathroom. That was a really cool thing that that room that didn't think of. 

Then we moved all of our things to our rooms and placed them the way we wanted. That took a while, but it was worth it. 

We were renting it though, so the rooms and living in the house were not permanent. That was too bad that we were just renting. I liked it already. 

But Mom and Dad said that they think that the house is going to be probably be our future home, so there is some hope that we might live here in the end. 

But I forgot about the football space. So before dinner, I looked at the backyard that some of it could be a football field for playing. 

There was a big net for playing on and the backyard even came with a football. It was the nicest football that I have seen. 

Then we ate dinner and talked about the house and the good things about it. It was a very happy time in the new house. 

My sisters and I watched some of the screenbox before bed and then Mom read us a story and tucked us all to bed. 

Chapter 23: More Football

On Monday, Dad drove me to football practice after school after I was waiting and waiting for school to end for the day. And it did. Eventually. 

Football practice is from 3:30 PM to 5:00 PM. An hour and a half of just me, the team, the couch, the football and the football field. 

Sigh. If life was that simple. But then there is the football field for a reason; to play on, to have fun and to shoot and to score. 

We were told that we needed to have better defence in our games. Even if we were winning or losing, the defence can change the tide of the game quickly. 

So the couch was working on the defence a lot in the practice, so the midfielders and the forwards were not so much working with the couch. 

But the couch was also working with the forward positions too just like he is to do his job. Work with not one kind of strategy, but another as well.  

When the practice was over, Mom picked me from the stadium and we drove away home to eat dinner with the rest of the family. 

We ate dinner, talked a bit about our day. I worked on some homework, later played with my sisters and watched some screenbox. 

Then Mom read us a story and then she tucked Afi and Afua and I to bed and we went fast asleep, for another long day was already ahead of us, ready to be opened.  

Chapter 24: The Holidays

Finally the holidays are here! It is always so exciting when the holidays are here, even you are not very rich. Even Christmas. 

At Christmastime, we make all of our gifts to one another. We use all of the resources that we have at the moment and we try to make a good gift for all. 

I am making a music-box for Mom and a chair made from wood for Dad. And some little wooden dolls and a small vehicle with space for the dolls for the girls. 

There is no more school until January so I have all day to make the wooden dolls and car for Afi and Afua, Dad's chair and Mom's music-box. 

The music-box is going to be hard to make because the things I need are hard to find and the build is very, very hard too. But it will be worth it. 

I need some wood from one of the neighbours across the street, an old man who owns a mill that cuts and peels and dices wood for houses and building materials. 

He ships to some other countries too by sea. The neighbour is very, very nice. 

Chapter 25: At the Mill

All of the trees that are cut in this city are going into mills. And one of the biggest mill operations is what one of our neighbours own. 

I bought all of my money when going to the mill on the car ride there because I didn't want to go empty handed when we left the mill. 

Dad drove me to the mill when we went there. It was his day off work because it was the weekend and Dad doesn't work then. 

Dad works at the mill for his job so I was going to be easier to find, buy and drive home with the wood than I thought. 

When we arrived, we met his boss there, not the old man but another man who is in charge of that mill. We were real nice to his boss. 

When I asked for some wood with the money I brought, the boss man said that it wasn't enough for the wood that I wanted. 

But Dad worked there and he said that the prices were much, much lower than his prices. But that didn't change the boss's feelings. 

Just when they were going to argue about the wood prices, the old man came from his car and said to the boss that we can have the wood that we wanted for free. 

But the boss of the mill was outraged. He was trying to speak but he couldn't because the old man's change of words. 

The old man said that it was Christmastime and this was to be Dad's holiday gift because he is one of the hardest working people at the mill. 

So the old man gave us the wood that I needed, we thanked him and we drove away home.