We Lost A Fighter
I’m not good with tributes.
But I felt like this should be written.
For the record, I knew Akyaa for two months before she passed. We started talking in March after I had sent her a friend request on Facebook. I had recognized her picture from a Blogging Ghana event. We had a bit of small talk at the event and so I decided to send her a friend request.
Soon after, she accepted and sent me a message, asking if we had met before.
An extrovert always recognizes an introvert person. She knew I was the quiet type (she was very good with observations).
We had a bit of small talk. She said she was sick at home and needed to go to the supermarket. I wasn’t busy too that day and her place wasn’t too far for a drive. So I made myself available. It’s always nice to help out especially when someone is in need. I drove to her place, picked her up and we went shopping together.
I guess that was somewhat the start of a friendship.
We communicated over the next couple of months through text/WhatsApp. I would go over to her place whenever I could to visit her because she wasn’t a 100%. I always tried to be positive, trying to cheer her up, hoping she would be better. But her body kept betraying her.
Through conversations of that period, I found out she was like me. Strong, passionate about what she wanted to do (she was big on the environment, trying to promote a green initiative in Ghana). And just like me, she had also battled this demon we call depression. She had managed to fight the good fight and now she was facing this new enemy which was confining her to bed, giving her headaches and trying to keep her from doing what she wanted to do.
I tried to text whenever I could to see how she was doing. She kept saying she wanted to get back to work. She was a workaholic. Even from home, she would try to keep people who worked under her in check.
When the online chats weren’t enough, I would check up on her more often at home. There was nothing to do at her place so I would bring her movies like Big Hero 6 which she said liked very much.
We lost a fighter on Thursday evening. The last time I saw her was at an event on May 19. She looked a bit well from the last time I had seen her. I gave a hug. Asked how she was doing. She said she was hanging in there, about 50/50 health wise.
I had gotten busy with my school and Masters thesis and s0 my visits to her place were less. I even texted her and said I felt bad because I hadn’t been visiting her. She said she assumed I was busy and that it was fine.
I told her that I had a dream one time and she was in it. I texted her about it
Was she my friend? I don’t toss the word “friend” much. People in my life these days just feel like acquaintances that people in my personal life.
But Akyaa was inspirational. We were alike but she was extroverted and like to talk alot and I was introverted, always ready to listen. She was easily to get along with. She was hard working. Funny. Charismatic. She spoke her mind and didn’t take shit from anybody.
I knew her for two months but it was enough? Why am I feeling guilty? Why didn’t I see her more often? Why didn’t I text her more often? Why wasn’t she getting better even though I had driven her to the hospital for a check up? Why didn’t the doctor tell her what was wrong with her and give her the damn medication that she needed?!! Why the fuck was she in this god-forsaken country where they can’t give you a fucking proper diagnosis?!!
This makes me want to hate God what he put her though. First you gave a her a wonderful brain which was attacked by fucking clinical depression and then you made her body fail her?! Thanks a lot pal! You’re doing a fucking great job taking away good people who trying to make the world a better place.
But that’s a conversation God and I will have to have at a later date….
I learn more and more that death does not discriminate. Rich, poor, old, young…death does not care. It comes when your time has expired and takes you away, not knowing it’s taking away a loved one from their family and friends.
In my head, I hope she found relief. Relief from all the pain and internal suffering she was having.
I put myself in her path and we had a connection. I hate that we need to value her life more now that she’s gone.
We lost a fighter. But she fought to the end.
Because of her, I’ll keep fighting my own demons. Trying to make a world a bit better on my side.
God knows she did her part.
Hey, Akyaa. If you’re reading this from heaven. You still owe me for renewing your website :)
Akua Akyaa Nkrumah was a Ghanaian-American environmental technologist and blogger who worked to create solutions for environmental challenges in Ghana.
She was the Innovations Manager for Jekora Ventures Ltd (jekoraventures.com), a premier waste management company in Accra, Ghana. She was responsible for their Solid Waste Source Segregation Program.
She was the founder of The Green Ghanaian Initiative, an educational social enterprise. There she blogged on sanitation and green politics.
Akyaa was also the co-founder of EcoPlanners Ghana, (EcoPlannersGh.com) providing environmentally friendly products and services to help organizations reduce their environmental footprint.
