You are here: HomeNewsRegional2020 10 03Article 1076686

Regional News of Saturday, 3 October 2020

Source: Lord Kweku Sekyi, Contributor

8-year-old twins in Cape Coast compose powerful poems out of nothing

The twins with their father The twins with their father

Father of 8-year-old wonder twins, Ekua Brewa and Ekua Tsitsiba (Laurinda and Loretta) has shared one of his proudest moments with his now famous daughters as people continue to find answers to the possible cause of their mysterious acquisition of a 'British' accent.

The basic school tutor, known in private life as Kwesi Badu, disclosed in an interview with Lord Kweku Sekyi, that as he struggled to come to terms with the strange foreign accent of his daughters, he was amazed to discover that they could also compose and perform their own poetry and songs.

He said,the twins, who are both Primary 2 pupils of George Ekem Ferguson School in Cape Coast, shocked wedding guests with an impromptu poetry recital in Cape Coast, leaving the audience stunned while sending chills down his spine, as he did not know they had such refined talent and skills.

"The girls wanted to say something during the wedding reception, but when they were given the opportunity, they used it to perform their own special poems — taking the entire ceremony to a different level."

He said, the mysterious qualities of the identical twins who he nicknamed, Pipi and Kiki (short for Panyin and Kaakra), has made them become popular in the community of Amanful after neighbours and schoolmates started noticing changes in their speech.

According to Mr. Badu, he noticed something unique in their word pronunciations at the age of 5 when they started learning English language, but he did not pay much attention to it since the girls had no special upbringing from other children in their locality.

He explained that although the girls speak like foreigners, they are also fluent in their native language, Fante, which they often speak with their mother and peers.

Efua Baduwa, younger sibling of the twins who is 5 years old, has been trying to imitate her twin sisters' way of speaking.

In a YouTube video which hit 50,000 views in 24 hours, Ghanaian broadcaster, Kofi Adoma, was rendered speechless when the Cape Coast girls composed their own songs and sang off the top when each one of them was asked to sing a song of her choice.

"I made it up myself," said Kiki, after being asked about the title and composer of the song she sang.

Mr. Badu, who teaches at Nyanfeku Ekroful Methodist Basic School at Abura Dunkwa currently lives together with his wife, Mena Ekua, who is a drinking bar operator, and three other daughters at Amanful, a fishing community in Cape Coast, where only Pipi and Kiki speak like foreigners.

REPORTER'S THOUGHTS

This might be the first of such an occurrence which is gaining attention from the media in this part of the world, but there have been similar stories in the past where individuals have reportedly recovered from coma with the special ability to fluently speak a foreign language (or with an accent) which they previously could not.

While thinking about the possibility of the medical condition, foreign accent syndrome (FAS), playing a part, I keep asking myself one question: Can such an extremely rare condition hit two individuals at the same time, with the same very one foreign accent?

The girls are extremely confident, ask brilliant questions and compose their own poetry at 8. In any part of the world, that is genius.