This one person

I had always proposed to my friends that we save up money and take a trip to Ghana upon graduation but when graduation came, I was the only one ready for the trip. After much deliberations, my parents consented to allow me to make the trip all by myself. I had a friend schooling in Ghana, so I called her up and she agreed to be my tour guide. All of that did nothing to quell my fears, I needed more assurance. So, on the 18th of July 2015, I made for Nnamdi Azikiwe international Airport, Abuja on my own. And a thrilling world of adventure awaited.

The atmosphere in the airport was chilling. I was greeted by the faces of total strangers all consumed in their business and I felt lost; that was when I heard her voice.

“What time is your flight, miss? “I turned around and thought to myself that she had a funny accent.

“It’s for 5pm,” I replied with a wry smile.

“Ghana right?” she asked.

“Yes.” I responded in a low voice.

“Oh great!’ We can sit and wait together since we are an hour early.”

I agreed with a nod. At least I now had company.

We sat down together, hurled with our bags in the waiting area. An hour later we both checked in, but we were told that our flight had been delayed by an hour, so we decided to go and get something to eat as we were both hungry.

We both ordered chips and chicken. And for the first time, I took my time to study her. Her skin was like caramel, and she was chunky in all the right places. Her ebony thick hair was low cut and she had a funny way of pronouncing her words, just like with the Ghanaian accent. She was a beautiful and friendly lady, very forward too I must add. She excused herself to go use the rest room, and I noticed she left her bag in my care. I’ve heard stories of con artist who put people in serious trouble by leaving them with their bag full of drugs while they abscond. She took longer than I expected, so I began to fidget; shifting on my seat like I was sitting on hot coals. It also bothered me that she was so trusting. I let out a sigh immediately I sighted her.

I also decided to take my turn and go use the rest room. Since she trusted me with her bag, I also trusted her with mine. But I kept having second thoughts about it. When I returned, she was still sitting there with my bag beside her. While eating, we began to talk, and I got to know that my new companion was from Ghana. She came to Nigeria to spend some time with her sister who lived and worked in Nigeria. Her name was Nana and she worked as a nurse in Tamale, Northern Ghana. We exchanged phone numbers and took some pictures which she promised to send to me through WhatsApp. She told me of how she had enjoyed her stay in Nigeria but complained about how spicy our food was.

“You people in this country love spices so much,” she complained. But we just laughed over it.

Ten minutes later, it was announced that our flight had arrived at the terminal and we stood up to make our way to the boarding platform. The only problem with that was we had to use an escalator to get there, and I had never used one before until that day. I told Nana I was afraid, rather than laugh at my naivety, she held my hands and showed me where and how to place my footing. When I got off the escalator, it didn’t feel like it was my first time. That deepened our bond and brought us closer.

There were more seats on the plane than there were passengers, so we had the luxury of choosing where we wanted to seat. We took more pictures as we settled in, then added each other on all our social media platforms. We promised to keep in touch throughout my stay in Ghana. One hour later, we were at Accra Airport. We hugged as though we were old friends as we said our goodbyes.

Vera Bonny