This episode shares the idea and inspiration behind this podcast. The host also shares another spoken word piece in both Ga, her mother tongue and English.
I come from the ocean's side
Nje nshoona (I come from the ocean side)
Nnyemi ke nyekwe, wo fee wo je nshoona (My family both nuclear and extended, we all come from the ocean side)
Bie ji wo shia ( This is our home)
No word of a lie, this is where my dust was drawn
Right here, By the ocean side
All I have to do is to sit by the ocean side.
History aside.
Connection inside.
In this spot right here, its second nature, though i contemplate,
to bear no question as to my place
Instead, I just assimilate
here I know and I am known by my his-story
But first lets take mans-story
Since times inception
before mans conception
My home, the waters,
where my dust was drawn from
has, been.
A strange relationship no doubt, between the created and the curator
Different languages
But both very much communicators
Now give me a babel fish and let me finally hear
hear the words of the oceans deep
What story pray tell, are you telling?
Crash, roar, splash, silence!
Now I hear, I am enraptured as you tell of creatures unimaginable,
Crash, roar, splash, silence!
I hear a song of praise to a God unfathomable,
Crash, Crash, silence!
I am educated of times unlinear, yet of beginning and of end
and
and..
Silence!
And therein the knowledge that this is where my dust is from
Where my strength is drawn
By me and those before me
Nkee nje nshoona
I said I am from the ocean side
Connection aside,
Now my history inside.
Bet you didn't know that I am a part of a fisher folk
Fearless Ga people sustained by the bounty of waters deep
Traversing the ocean with an ease that bespeaks of timeless meets
Long before the crack of dawn
With wide nets and high hopes
With silent prayer and inner song
It is here that we connect with the three
Beneath us, the ocean, on whose horizon the sun overcomes
Over us, the sun, as she journeys outside of time
Around us, time, cocooning our existence
In our vessels we hail all three
Mentally pouring a little libation
In honor of the water, In Memory of yesterday
In honor of the sun, In Memory of tomorrow
In honor of time, In memory of none
Witness to all, Yet witness to none
As we chart familiar ocean highways with no names
History trodden boulevards with no landmarks
This is the daily pilgrimage of my people the Ga, the fisher folk
History inside,
Connection outside
And now both
side by side
I Ahmeda, daughter of Gbese, born on Tuesday
Through birthright, AND through spirit
Unrestricted by time or space
I claim my place
Nkee nje nshoona (I said i come from the ocean side)
N Nyemi ke nyekwe, woo fee wo je nshoona (My family both nuclear and extended, we all come from the ocean side)
Bie ji wo shia ( This is our home)
Ahmeda Mansaray 2006