From Eric’s Diary: Remembering September 11, 2001

I arrived in New York City (pronounced cidi) through the JF Kennedy Airport on the morning of 11th July, 2001 having watched a lot of American movies shot in that city.

In my mind’s eye, I was to behold glittering streets and fine human beings all over the place. But reality dawned. A few not too fine human beings, I mean ordinary looking, came my way- as immigration officers, sellers of snack and cleaners of the arrival hall, where I stayed longer than I had expected- stranded for over two hours.

The story is this. Between myself and my elder brother who was scheduled to pick me up, we mixed up my arrival date. You know how when it is a direct flight, you fly out of Accra in the night and get to New York early morning of the following day? It turned out he was expecting me the next day.

So, upon arrival, I did not find him at the airport. I waited for about 30 minutes without any sign of him, then hunger set in. I walked around the arrival hall and found a place where beverage was sold. Then my second shocker happened.

Me: I want to buy some of the Milo.

Sales girl: Hah!? (With nasal tone).

Me: The cocoa drink (Pointing to what turned out to be hot chocolate)

Sales girl: You mean ‘hat chocolate (yes hot pronounced hat)?

Me: Yes please.

…with my hunger pangs subdued, it clicked that I should call my brother’s home phone.

“Hi, this is ….i am not at home right now, please leave a message and I will get back to you.” Ei! Was my reaction. Have I been abandoned? No. I assured myself. And at that time, I did not know my brother ’s cell phone (another new expression) number. After about an hour of no show, I called again-“…please leave a message and I will get back to you.”

I panicked. But a little voice said why don’t you call Sammy’s home phone? Yes!! I screamed. Sammy is a friend who left Ghana a few years earlier to eat some of the Big Apple (The other name for New York City) for good. So, I called and when he realized I was the one on the other side of the phone, I heard the elation in his voice.

Long story short. I ended up at his place in what I got to know is Harlem, 51 minutes’ drive away from Brooklyn where my brother lives. Sammy advised that I left a message after the voice on the phone and my brother will get back to me as promised. He was right. Not long after I had woken up from sleep, Sammy’s phone rang. It was my brother. He picked me up later and we returned to Brooklyn, only 36 minutes away from JFK Airport. You can call it sightseeing, and I will not be angry with you.

While in Harlem, my high expectations lowered further. I saw more of the not too fine human beings, dilapidated buildings, refuse (garbage) in some corners and a street fight between two ladies, one of whom lowered her pants (jeans trousers), exposing her buttocks briefly, to make a point to her opponent. Waow!!! was my reaction. Here too?

The cultural shock continued. I had to switch from saying minerals (Soft drinks) to Soda, kilometers to miles and each time I returned home, ensured that I switched on the light upwards instead of downwards. Not to mention the homeless people who one could see begging for food and sleeping in the train when I used the rat-infested subway. The rats in the subway, one could not lose sight of them due to their huge sizes.

Kept by the power of God

So soon, it was September 11, 2001. Early that morning, I returned from uptown the Bronx and as a routine, switched on the TV to watch the news. The first thing I saw was an areophane plunging into the Twin Towers in Manhattan.

I could not believe what my eyes were seeing so I turned them to the slug: ‘Terrorists attack Twin Towers in New York City’. What!? In no time, the two towers came tumbling down. Ei! To think that I had passed under those buildings barely 30 minutes earlier. I could have been one of the over 2,000 persons who lost their lives on that morning. ‘Thank you, God, for sparing my life’, I prayed. Then the journalist in me got to work. I called my colleagues at Radio Gold to tell them about the breaking news and I was made to report live on air.

Here is how Wikipedia has documented what happened on that fateful day- “The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11 were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. On that morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners scheduled to travel from the East Coast to California.

The hijackers crashed the first two planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and aimed the next two flights toward targets in or near Washington, D.C., in an attack on the nation’s capital. The third team succeeded in striking the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, Virginia, while the fourth plane crashed in rural Pennsylvania during a passenger revolt.

The September 11 attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the multi-decade global war on terror to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them, in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and several other countries.”

Lessons learnt

Based on the picture I have painted above, it is easy for anyone to say that if that is the case, then “B3bia ni ha,” as in ‘nowhere cool.’ That is certainly not the case because New York City is actually cool most part of the year.

• Refuse in some corners

Yes. They were at the corners during the day, but they were cleared in the night by trucks with state-of-the-art vehicles and other equipment.  Strict adherence to sanitation and safety precautions was their hallmark.

The decision to clear them at night is itself healthy. Not here where the trucks lead us in traffic with foul smell emanating from the refuse compartment. Then the tricycles loaded with waste that liter the streets with the liter as they head to the dumpsite also abound despite being banned from plying major streets.

The garbage, as they are referred to are separated into wet and dry waste to make for easy recycling. This is the culture. The garbage is so clean that one can get fine used sneakers there.

 

• Homeless people

I may be wrong, but my conclusion on the homelessness situation in New York City is individual-caused rather than a systemic failure. I say so because if my niece, not from a filthily rich family could emigrate to New York City in her early teens and grow into a nurse with a Masters degree in 23 years, and a struggling ‘area boy’ in Ghana can land a cleaning job and remit $500 per month after sojourning in the Big Apple for barely a year, it means systems exist to help those who help themselves to prosper.

Especially so, when unemployment benefits are paid to the unemployed and special housing facilities exist for low-income earners, referred to as ‘projects.’ Clearly, it is only those who decide not to work as well as not use part of their unemployment allowance on rent, who sleep by the road side.

The situation in Ghana cannot be said to be same. The closest we have come to solving the homelessness situation for our teeming homeless ‘kayayei’ is a hostel for a two-week stay. The accommodation we built for public servants is rotting away because power changed hands.

Also, in NYC there are shelters that accommodate the less privileged who get fed by the state or benevolent individuals and organisations. What do we have here? Survival of the fittest. The Social Welfare Department of the Ministry for Gender Children and Social Protection is itself suffering from that familiar disease – ‘Lackfundaisis’.

• Rat-infested subway

Yea. They are very fat rats. They come out occasionally to feed on food droplets etc. Their presence is an eyesore but where they live is eye-opening. The subway is evidence of what generations of American leaders did for the people of America- an extensive network of trains that work round the clock by transporting passengers from one part to the other of NYC.

During the period that I lived in New York, there was not a day when I got to the train station at Saratoga Avenue, and waited for more than 2 minutes before a ride arrived. Indeed, there was never a disruption in services except on 9/11. Even then, all it took was a redirection of the routes such that a journey that used to take an hour became an hour and half or thereabouts.

Here, our public transport system is in chaos. Efforts to establish a sky train resulted in $2 million being spent on feasibility studies.

• Dilapidated buildings

Yeah. You see them dilapidated and unworthy of being sited in the Big Apple once, the next time they are cordoned off and the next you see a completely transformed structure.

Here, there are many of them in the Central Business District with falling windows and worn-out paint. They remain so for decades due to protracted family litigation and the city authorities look on.

It’s time to go

The point of this piece is that, after 23 years, I miss New York City, I miss Dunkin Donuts, I miss the extra-large chicken wings sold at the chinese restaurants and I miss friends and family there.

I wish I could visit. Unfortunately, with the prevailing economic conditions in Ghana, as orchestrated by His Excellency President Akufo-Addo and his Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, who is trying very hard to deny his boss, it will take a miracle for some of us to save enough to make such a trip.

Meanwhile, the December 7 presidential election offers Ghana an opportunity to elect a leader who can take us closer to what New York City boasts of. And a senior colleague in the communication profession, Nana Ohene Ntow has been speaking my mind lately, he says “If Ghanaians make the mistake of voting for NDC or NPP, they will take us for granted forever, let’s vote Independent.”

My point of departure from his position though, is that, that Independent candidate cannot be Alan Kwadwo Kyerematen.

As Americans remember the victims of the 9/11 disaster, I join in the condolences for their families. I know God gas been faithful to their needs and he will definitely continue. September 11, 2001. Never Again!!!

The post From Eric’s Diary: Remembering September 11, 2001 first appeared on 3News.

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