The Ga Kenkey Myth

If you are a Ghanaian and not a Ga, you might have heard this statement ‘eat more Ga kenkey if you want to learn how to speak Ga”.  

I was about 8 years old when I heard this statement. That was the time my family had just relocated to Accra from Offinso.  We happened to find ourselves in one of the Ga speaking communities, and as newcomers to the community, we always had to battle with the language whether in school, church, asking for direction or even buying something on the streets.

As a little child, I needed to keep up with my new friends since I always got lost in a lovely conversation on our way to or from school. 

Whenever there  was an open conversation, the only way of telling was by their responses, gesticulations of laughter or anger, nods, and shrugs. It was so distressing, and I needed a way out, but guess what?  I didn’t want to ask them to teach me. I sought to portray an attitude of a smart girl and secretly learn the language and surprise them.

As the saying goes, where there is a will, there is a way. One day after school I came home, and it just so happened that I chanced upon our neighbor’s wife having a conversation with mom. I heard my mom asking her to teach her how to speak Ga.

They were also not Ga’s but had command over the language. My mother desperately wanted to know how they could do it. Obviously, I wasn’t alone in the boat. To my surprise, the woman told my mother to eat a lot of Ga kenkey.

My mom giggled at first, but the look on our neighbor’s face displayed one of a serious matter. I walked away in order not to be noticed since I was eavesdropping and getting caught meant strict punishment for me.

I began my journey of eating Ga kenkey anytime I went to school. I refused to take any sweets for a while. What even gingered me was when my friends discovered my 'mission' and emphasized the importance. They would rub it in my face anytime we met an adult and they let them on, on my goal and the adult will re -echo what I already knew. That was a motivational booster for a girl of my age trying to fit in. ( Peer pressure bab me)

Soon, I started to pick up a few phrases, before long I was also rolling with my new friends, speaking Ga like my mother tongue and feeling the sense of belongingness. 

Al thanks to the power of Ga kenkey. Sooner than later I became fed up and went back to my sweets, yet the language was there and even better than first. I stopped eating though.

As young and stupid as I was, I  never realized that it was through my hanging out and spending time with my friends and their families that had helped me.

 Even when I made mistakes, they laughed and yet corrected me, but I didn’t mind, I was bent on learning to speak the language. Just being able to do it was something I held on to and felt part of my new found family.

I only came to this conclusion years after we had moved to another vicinity with a very few Ga speakers and I lost it all, nobody in my family could speak and none of our neighbors too.

My school had few speakers so I ended up forgetting the little Ga I knew only to be left with the ability to understand but not to speak which I believe would have sharpened the more I talked. Here I found another family of my own where there was no pressure on me to fit in. I just had to be myself.

But that experience has taught me always to be ready to experience new things and learn new things. We are an ever-changing society, and we sometimes need to keep up.

To those Ga’s who lied to us that the only way to learn the language is to always eat their kenkey what I can say is that, there is no such truth in that. The only way to learn new things is to accept any challenges that come your way and stay with whatever you set to do.

But guys, on a serious note “Ga kenkey” is a delicious meal!!! Thanks for reading and see you in the next post. Until then stay blessed.

PS. Do leave a comment.