Day 3: Seventeen, 18, Nineteen

Today, one of my cousins came home from university for her reading week and since she arrived this morning it’s been non-stop laughter. So it makes perfect sense to introduce you to two very special ladies…

 My mum is one of five children; the second child and the oldest girl. The middle child, her second brother, is the father of two of my cousins- Molly and Rashmi.

Molly

Molly, the first daughter, is 19 and in London would be considered “in my year”. Unlike me, Molly went straight to uni and is currently reading Computer Science BSc at KNUST (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology). Like me, however, she’s a fan of the Twilight Saga and attached to her laptop like a baby to it’s blanket.

Rashmi is 17 and in her penultimate year at Sacred Heart Senior High School learning about catering. She’s in love with her pet dog, Humble, who likes to growl and bear his teeth at me whenever I walk past.

Rashmi

I have never felt separated from my cousins though we are thousands of miles apart (although Molly is a classic tomboy- in this sense, we are polar opposites). Coming to Ghana this year hasn’t felt like an eleven year catch up (the last time I was here I was 7 years old) nor does it feel like we have to adjust a phrase or a sentence in order to share a joke or understand a story. Banter flows seamlessly between English and Gha, the taunting and teasing is endless and there’s no need to find middle ground when there’s so much common ground (mostly boys, clothes, makeup, guys, American sitcoms, shoes, men…)

18, 19, 17

Oh come on, we’re 17, 18 and 19 years old-

What did you expect?