Attack-on-America: Ghanaian Stories .... updated

NB: Ghanaweb cannot confirm any of these stories

October 27 --Three weeks after the United States started to drop bombs on Afghanistan, a wide coalition of groups marched through central New York beating drums and shouting: "You say 'Bomb', we say 'No'. The racist war has got to go."
"Our grief is not a cry for war," read one banner. Street sweeper Desmond Antubam from Ghana could not believe his eyes as he watched the marchers troop down 8th Avenue with their police escort.
He said that he knew friends and colleagues who had died on 11 September and called the marchers "a disgrace".
"There's too much freedom here," he said.

Foreign Affairs Ministry Yet To Receive Update On Ghanaians Who Died In US Terror Attacks

Almost two months after the terrorist attacks on the United States of America, the Foreign Affairs Ministry says it expects to receive an update on the total number of Ghanaians who have either died or sustained injuries as a result of the accident.

In an interview with JOY FM, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Iddris said even though in the first week of the attacks, the ministry was informed that five Ghanaians had lost their lives, recent information indicates that the initial information is inaccurate.

Alhaji Ali Iddris indicated that following this development, the ministry has directed Ghana’s foreign mission in New York to furnish it with the current state of the situation. Alhaji Ali Iddris said relatives of Ghanaians resident in the United States have been besieging the ministry requesting to either visit the United States or perform funerals for their deceased relations.

He explained that Ghana’s mission has failed to provide the update until now because their attention have shifted to preparations for the UN General Assembly, which comes off in November.

While maintaining that the Foreign Affairs ministry will receive the updates on Ghanaians resident in the United States by close of work on Monday, Alhaji Ali Iddris regretted that Ghanaian nationals resident in the US have refused to volunteer information to assist the country’s mission collate the needed figures.

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October 22 -- Bicycle messengers have been such a part of Manhattan life for so long that they rarely rate a second glance, even when riding the wrong way up one-way streets or intimidating pedestrians with aggressive whistles.

But since the Sept. 11 attacks toppled the World Trade Center, and because of the recent anthrax scare, they are coming under closer scrutiny as businesses tighten security.

And because so many offices have been closed for nearly six weeks in lower Manhattan, these paid pedal pushers are making less in commissions.

Peter Kambasi, from Ghana, has been a bike messenger for 16 months. ``I am losing money now,'' he said, wearing a photo ID around his neck that he has to show everywhere he delivers. ''Last week I only made $270; before, I was getting maybe $375.''

On Sept. 11, a New Life, New Worry

Washington Post -- Miriam Astwei Boye arrived on Earth a few minutes after a hijacked jetliner smashed into the Pentagon a few miles away. "We had the TV on while I was delivering the baby," says Miriam's mother, Larelle Newman, 19. "They were showing the plane that crashed into the Pentagon."

"The second plane had already hit the World Trade Center and we were wondering what was going on," says Miriam's father, Samuel Boye, 34, as he rocks his daughter on his lap in the family's Alexandria apartment. "I saw the TV but I wasn't paying attention, I was watching the baby come out. They said it was the Pentagon and I thought, 'This is serious.' "

Newman wasn't thinking about much at all at that moment in the delivery room at Fairfax Hospital. "I was heavily sedated," she says, smiling.

After Miriam was born, Boye hustled to a phone and called the US Airways office at Reagan National Airport, where he worked loading baggage into planes. He wanted to tell them about the baby and also find out what was happening. But the lines were busy.

Soon, the airport was closed and Boye was out of a job, one of at least 4,000 workers at Reagan National who have been laid off. Nationally, the airline industry has laid off more than 100,000 people. Reagan National may reopen within days, but flights are likely to be limited.

He came to the United States from Ghana in 1991, a drummer with a musical group called Odadaa. The group played at colleges from Washington to New Orleans, but its members couldn't make enough money to support themselves. So Boye started working in the kitchen at a Denny's restaurant in Northern Virginia, then switched to working at an Applebee's and then, a couple years ago, landed a job with US Airways.

At the airport, he met Newman. After graduating last year from Washington's Ballou High School, she worked briefly loading baggage for Continental Airlines. One thing led to another and they got engaged and then Miriam was born on Sept. 11, a day that was, otherwise, one of the worst in American history.

"The doctor said that at least something good came out of the day," Newman says.

"It was a bad day, but look what happened," Boye says. "She'll be a hero someday."

He's cradling Miriam in his lap and holding a little pink plastic bottle of milk in her mouth. She's got a full head of thick black hair, and her tiny brown fist claws at his sweat shirt, which says "USA" above an American flag.

Boye admits he's worried about his family's future. He lost a job that paid about $10 an hour and now his only income is $248 a week in unemployment benefits. That's barely enough to cover the rent, which is $499 a month, and the monthly payment on his Honda Passport, which is $473. If the family plans on eating, he's going to have to find some other source of income.

"I'll try to get something temporary till the airport opens," he says.

"I'm not worried," says Newman. "God will provide."

"I worry," Boye replies. "I got a family, and how am I going to take care of my family?"

"Why worry if God is your provider?" she asks. "Don't you believe in God?"

"I believe in God," he says, "but still -- "

"No 'but still,' " she insists. "If you believe in God, you shouldn't worry."

"I'm a human being," he says.

"What's that got to do with it?"

"I got to provide for my family," he says, "so I worry."

Miriam has sucked her bottle dry and now she's squirming on Boye's lap and beginning to cry. He rocks her. "It's okay," he says. "Mama will get more for you."

He hands Newman the empty pink bottle and she goes into the kitchen to refill it. Miriam squirms and sticks out her tongue. Boye doesn't like the looks of it.

"Larelle," he says, "I think her tongue is too white."

"It's okay," Newman says.

She comes back with a full bottle, picks up the baby and sits down on a white leather couch to feed her. Soon Miriam is fast asleep.

Boye kneels down on the rug and starts rummaging through his CDs, looking for some good Ghanaian music. He pops a CD into the machine and the room fills with drumming.

"This is a song to welcome children into the world," Boye says. "We played it for Miriam."

"She likes music," Newman says.

"She loves it," says Boye. "The first week, when she'd cry, we'd put it on and she'd get quiet."

She's quiet now, snoozing peacefully in her mother's lap, despite the high-decibel drumming. Boye turns the music off, takes the CD out and puts in another. It's sung in a Ghanaian language called Ga, and Boye finds the lyrics particularly poignant these days.

"He's singing that the world is whirling, spinning," Boye says. He picks up a double-A battery and spins it on the floor like a top to demonstrate. "He's saying the world is spinning around and around so fast that you got to be careful. You got to think about what you're doing."

On her mother's lap, Miriam stirs, squirms, punches the air with her fists, begins to cry.

Newman kisses her forehead. "It's okay," she says. "It's okay."

Dead or Alive?

(from jafaried@hotmail.com) -- It is said that several of these immigrants who were not legally authorised to work in the US, did so with the papers of others. The true owners of these papers are, of course, alive and so the dead can not be reported as such without jeopardizing the status of their 'helpers'.

Whose resposibility is it to help reclaim these folks humanity even in death? Ordinarily there would be wake-keeping, funerals and bodies to be sent home for burial but not in this case since only about 5% of the bodies or parts have been recovered. So we are also denied the albeit unscientific tally that such funerals provide the community. Should these dead souls be victimised once again? Can a way be found through governmental channels (say through newspaper announcements placed by the Ghana Embassy/Consulate?) for people to safely come forward without fear of their 'helpers' getting into trouble?

SOPHIA B. ADDO

-- PROFILED IN NYTIMES
Luck, Then Hard Work Luck, in the form of an immigration lottery, brought Sophia B. Addo to the United States from Ghana in 1996: a teacher of schoolchildren in Africa, she decided to take a chance and come to New York to further her own education. But getting into school here was not as uncomplicated as winning a lottery. She had her working papers, and landed a succession of housekeeping jobs while she improved her English. Already having passed an oral exam, she was due to take a written test on Sept. 12 to see if she was entitled to a G.E.D. certificate and college eligibility.

"She wanted to learn how to pronounce the language so she could express herself better in interviews," said her husband of 15 months, Joseph Ameyaw. Ms. Addo's aim was a career in teaching or nursing. In the interim, the 36-year-old tidied Windows on the World, commuting from their Bronx apartment. "She liked to read her Bible; she was a person who would comfort you, and when you were unhappy with life, she would use the word of God to make you happy," said Joseph. "To me, she was justice."

Ghanaian confirmed dead at WTC

-abeeku on SIL .. Sep 23
Among the confirmed dead at the WTC disaster is a Ghanaian called Victor Kwarkye. I do remember a Victor Kwarkye who came to Sixth Form at Achimota from 1974-1976. I believe he went to Opoku Ware prior to coming to Achimota.

GHANA said "scores" of its nationals had worked in the World Trade Center and not all had been accounted for. According to private radio, at least four Ghanaians, one a woman, have been reported missing by their families.

One Ghanaian Confirmed Dead --- JoyFM

What Can I say? --pee
A friend of mine had been due to collect keys and have breakfast with a friend at the base of the World Trade Center on Tuesday morning. He was late in getting up and watched the drama unfold from his Bronx apartment.

Survivor --owusu
A friend of mine is being treated at the Washington Hospital Center. I don't know his condition.

Miraculous Escape --JB
Just got out ofthe rubble. I'll send you an extensive report when i recover from the shock

Another Lucky Escape -anonymous
My office is about 7 miles north of the World Trade Center(WTC). The sad part is that my dept was supposed to be moving to the WTC this month and the move was postponed to November. God works in mysterious ways. NYC, the big apple, is today a ghost town. The few people still in Manhattan are walking with sullen faces. These are really sad times for the US.

US Attack Could Put Ghana In Mourning -- Kufu on SIL
With respect to the service sector at the Twin Towers, in particular, a lot of Ghanaians are employed as security personnel; janitors; or food services personnel.

In fact, there was a "roof-top" restaurant on the 106th floor of the Twin Tower known as the south tower (the one that was hit by the second airplane/aeroplane), where many employees were Ghanaians. In light of the fact that the second plane hit the south tower around the 50th floor, everybody that was above the floor was stranded and unable to escape. This is more so the case, since the south tower was not immediately evacuated after the north tower was struck. This is partly due to the fact that most people thought that the first assault was an accident, and there was no sense of impending doom. Well, needless to say, the chances that the people in the south tower made it out alive are slim. And given that there were many Ghanaians at work at the south tower, it is safe, although macabre, to conclude that we may have lost many, many Ghanaians in this audacious event.