Curiosity: The driver to Egypt

Kofi Yeboah Writes From Cairo,

In the heart of Accra, at the Kwame Nkrumah Mausoleum, the mortal remains of two distinguished persons are cleaved decades after their marriage celebrated both on earth and in heaven.

The marriage between Ghana’s first president Kwame Nkrumah and Egyptian beauty, Fathia, caught the fancy of the nation, and even after ‘death did them part’ more than five decades ago, their mortal remains cleaved in the belly of the earth at the tourism enclave in Accra, still attract a large number of eyeballs.

Nkrumah was a champion of African unity but for him to live that charge beyond imagination, by tying the nuptial knot with Fathia, is a masterstroke of the African unity agenda he enjoyed or enjoys huge applause for on earth and in the heavens.

In Ghana, especially among rural folks, whenever a star appeared close to the moon, they were deemed to be the symbolic marriage between Nkrumah and Fathia, as people rushed outside to fix a gaze in the sky and exclaim: “Fathia fata Nkrumah”, to wit, “Fathia deserves Nkrumah”.

I don’t know why ‘Nkrumah Show Boy’ (as he was nicknamed) decided to pilot his ambitious African unity dream in such matrimonial escapade with an Egyptian beauty, but I had always dreamed of traveling to Egypt to satisfy my curiosity.

Other matters of curiosity

I have read a lot about the Egyptian pyramids and rich culture, and it is only human to be curious to see them.

Recently, other matters have aroused my desire to visit Egypt.

A young Ghanaian has gone loose in the country with wild thoughts and talk.

Nana Kwame Bediako, popularly called Cheddar, is nurturing an ambition to become the youngest elected president of Ghana with his New Force political movement in a country where the political space has no third force and age is a force to reckon with for the presidency.

Nevertheless, a large number of the youth are excited about him; what they are not so sure about is Cheddar’s wild talk of dredging a canal to connect the sea inland to Kumasi, Ghana’s second largest city.

The Grand Canal, the longest artificial river in the world, is 800km long, while the Suez Canal in Egypt, which connects the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea and built over a 10-year period, is 193km long.

Dredging to connect the sea to Kumasi over a distance of about 275km may be too audacious, even if not impossible, to convince many a conservative electorate in Ghana to offer their votes for.

But Cheddar’s ambition to connect the sea to Kumasi really connects my mind to the Suez Canal in Egypt which holds high economic prospects for the country.

Happily, I got connected by the Union of African Journalists (UAJ) with an invitation to attend the 58 Training Course for Young African Journalists in Cairo.

The journey to Cairo

Traveling on May 3, a day on which the media fraternity around the world were commemorating World Press Freedom Day (WPFD), was unusual for me, as I had become used to listening to critical speeches and observing a flag-raising ceremony to mark the day.

But the thought of seeing Egypt to satisfy my curiosity was a freedom I would always press for in the stead of seeing a flag raised for press freedom.

Securing an Egypt visa was as smooth as the landing of the EgyptAir I flew to Cairo; there was no visa fee and queue.

However, the delay in the departure time for about 1:20 hours made me wonder whether I had gained freedom from an unpleasant experience on another African airline I flew in 2011.

On that flight, from Milan to Accra, strange ‘air hostesses’ visited me, flying inside the flight with irritating buzz and painful bite, apparently to remind me that I was returning to Africa, the home of mosquitoes.

Thankfully, there was no such experience on EgyptAir, and the pilot also compensated well for the late take-off with smooth landing at Cairo Airport.

As I went through arrival formalities, I ran straight into a barrier that caused me a great deal of discomfort – indeed, the language barrier has caused Africa huge discomfort in its quest for unity at all fronts.

But I was well received by Abdelaziz, an official of the UAJ, who broke the language barrier I faced to send me to my residence.

First impressions

In 2002, I visited Morocco, and so I had a fair idea about what a North African country looks like. My thoughts were exact – the people, language, infrastructure, weather and many other attributes are similar.

But I also observed some key attributes about Egypt – friendliness, kindness and sincerity of the people – although they don’t exhibit same attributes in football with their dominance in continental club and nation cup competitions.

Another thing that fascinates me is my residence, not only for its strong architectural impression, but also the strong hands that built it.

The Infantry House was established by the Armed Forces of Egypt in 1939 and has, over the years, been developed into a 300-room hotel and major centre for socialisation in Cairo.

The initiative by the Egypt Armed Forces is similar to what the Ghana Armed Forces do in respect of infrastructural development across the country.

While admiring the beauty of Infantry House and the hands that created it, I cast my mind to some African countries where the military are destroying infrastructure instead of building them, all in the name of civil war.

Something must surely change, and that change can, and has to, be driven by young African journalists, some of who are undergoing training in Cairo on the need to use their pens and microphones to relect Africa better in the eyes of the international community.

But they are not in Egypt to acquire knowledge only; they are also here to savour the cultural and tourism heritage of Egypt.

The stories they have written and their pictures posted on social media suggest they have been overwhelmed by what they have seen.

And when I met them for the first time, I also overwhelmed with what I saw one word written on their faces, which also finds expression in the name of one of them from Tanzania – Happiness!

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Writer’s Email: kofiyebo@yahoo.com