KWAKU

I was born in Asokore, Koforidua in the eastern region of Ghana And I started schooling in a one room school house, you know Now I can look back and say everybody was poor But erm we didn't know we were poor Because we had food all the time, a loving family The main problem was trying to go fetch water Because erm there was no running water in the house And erm the bathroom is somewhere there outside We didn't have the clean shoes that еverybody had We didn't have good clothing erm It wasn't particularly vеry comfortable Being under British colonial domination And then I erm came to the United States in 1977 Just before the winter Chicago then had a murder rate of around close to a thousand a year It was very violent city That's when it earned it's nickname as the Beirut on the lake But again, that did not scare me erm I went to 63rd We used to say that 47th street was so dangerous That if you died, the parents may not come for your body If you were in the 47th streets Yeah, it was bad, but still, the city was fun Well, when I had a son and I just thought that It's better we stay in Chicago, raising kids The good thing about Chicago, is you learn the truth about America There's no sugar-coating nonsense in this town I got scared though, I got scared because I thought you could be shot And when you started getting in trouble, I started grieving I started grieving very fast, my heart was beating, I was having nightmares Because you were having real problems with the police But in the meantime, I'm called to come and look for the police station Where my son could be I was really, really scared that one of these days I may be called to the mortuary to identify your body Your growing up in Chicago gave me a lot of heartache and headache But around the time you did the Innanetape The enthusiasm with which you handled that And the friends all around you, how mature they've become You know, all of it just made me like 'Okay, this kid's made it' I think my father in his grave would be very happy That erm I brought up some good kids in America And particularly also I see it as a great success If I leave I have very few regrets