Pamela Fordham

Mama Africa

​

By Juliette Awua-Kyerematen

Ghana

 

She toiled for her brood

Those hardy hands

Those rough knuckles

 

A sacrifice indeed

Our teacher Mama

Rebuffed her books and rules

To be Mama for all

Four to twelve 

That was something

 

Cousins, relatives, you know who

All present at every dinner table

Sitting ready for 

food to be conjured and delivered

 

School preparation time

‘One for you’

‘Two for the boys, they have to travel’

She’d coo

​

Business started

Sewed for many

Scissors her tool

Left their mark

Blisters on her knuckles

 Proved she was

 

A woman of substance

One of sacrifice

A mother supreme

An excellent star

 

We called her Mama!