Accepting Happiness

I still don’t have many friends. Clement supplies me with my necessary quota of hugs but despite the lack of friends my harvest of smiles and friendly waves has never been more bountiful. This morning as I walked along the road a boy about three and his older sister yelled “oblonie” ecstatically to me. When I turned and waved he let out a squeal and started running towards me as though I was his favorite aunt. I laughed as his mom sternly called him back. Children are the most effusive in their expressions of warmth but even adults along the street, in the bus, or in the market will quickly and easily return a smile.

As an American accustomed to the anonymity of city life in the US it took a while to adjust to the constant attention - little voices shouting “mzungu” or “oblonie.” When we first returned to Ghana I met a Dutch woman walking along the road in the same direction. We joined paths and chatted as we walked. The usual chorus of children shouting “oblonie” greeted us along the way and when I turned to wave she asked, “You still wave?” I have definitely had my moments when I tired of the word, “mzungu” and thought in my head, “yes, I’m an mzungu, what’s the big deal?” But when she asked, I realized with new clarity how absurd it would be to consider any other response. She said, “Sometimes I just want to be invisible.” Certainly I have shared the feeling but it is comical to think that anyone other than someone who looks African would ever be invisible here, walking with your head down does not change that. All the children want is a smile and a wave. It makes them happy and it makes me really happy to see how such a little gesture can give someone such great joy. So maybe I’m feeling down or thinking deeply about something and on a certain level I want to stay in that pensive spot but why not rise out of that and harvest the joy?