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April 6, 2005
Ishmael
As some may remember, on the plane to Accra last month, I happened to sit next to Ishmael, a young man who hailed from Buduburam.
The first time I went to Buduburam, I asked Alice Abraham, the director of the Libierian Refugee Welfare Council, if she could help me find Ishmael. He had given me his aunt's name and her neighborhood's zone number. Buduburam is a town of more than 40,000 people, and comprised of permanent cement buildings now, but there are no street names and no addresses.
Alice helped me find my way through the maze of narrow dirt streets and eventually to the house of Jackie, Ishmael's aunt. Ishmael was off in another town that day, but Jackie brought him to meet me the next time I was at Buduburam. I have checked in to say "hi" to quiet young Ishmael often when I've visited the settlement.
It turns out that his parents sent him here not on vacation, but for some discipline. He had apparently been getting into some trouble at home (Philadelphia). As I've learned, many young teenagers who migrate from here to the U.S. have some adjustment problems, and it is common for parents to send them back here for a year or two. Their parents are reportedly worried about their kids getting into trouble in the U.S. For recent immigrants, trouble with any sort of authority is something to be avoided at all costs. I remember happening upon this same phenomenon in American Samoa.
The last I saw Ishmael, he was soon going to be heading to a boarding school around Cape Coast. Boarding school is common here for Ghanaian kids, and I imagine Ishmael's parents are able to swing it and deem it a good option for him at this point.
He seems like a good kid, and I suppose that at 12 and 13 years old, the transition from Buduburam to Philadelphia may have been a bit baffling and rough.
Posted by Cathryn Poff at April 6, 2005 1:50 PM