Ghana in Transit: Pt. 3- Transitions & Manifestations

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Follow a young woman from D.C to Ghana on her journey of adventure, love, humor, sadness, and learning how to overcome life’s hurdles.  Stay tuned, a new story will be posted each week.

[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”orange” border_width=”3″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Hey family, I hope you are well. As some of you may know, I am a multifaceted artist. While I freelance under my name proper, I am also a soul singer named Meche Korrect. I have performed up and down the East coast, but have also had the pleasure of working as a professional artist in Ghana. This winter I am releasing an EP about virtual intimacy  called “Cyberthrill” which is ironically another reflection of my time abroad. Music has always played in the background in my life, and my time living in Ghana was no different. The journey getting there was dominated by eclectic synths bass, and heavy ballads.  Touching Ghana soil and beyond was dominated by hiplife, afrobeat, and the polyrhythms the motherland is known for. To keep you all in the movement, I am going to include a list of dope songs to listen to while you read. One love.

 

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Did You Miss Part 1 or Part 2 Click the links Below

PART 1                     PART 2     

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Part 3: Transitions & Manifestations

Moving towards your dreams is as important as accepting you have them. When I decided that Ghana was goals, I was able to set my wandering gaze on one thing. I was able to move with purpose and a new stride in my step, but this was only a portion of the movement. I needed to get the rest of my body in sync with my feet. My mind was awry, my heart was engaged albeit a bit nervous, and the rest of me was just trying to get with the program.

 

At the time, I was tutoring a little Black girl named Kiana Washington in Westport Baltimore. A little artistic genius, Kiani’s school felt like it would be a good idea for her to get some tutoring. Mind you, not because she was behind, but because they wanted to keep her ahead of herself. Whatever the case may be, we would read, dance, and have the  liveliest conversations. This interaction with this amazing little girl in Baltimore not only developed my interest in elementary education, but also gave me a chance to observe the world through another perspective, one that was already blooming with my new revelation. The understanding that if I didn’t get to Ghana, I would go crazy. I would forsake a portion of my sanity until my feet touched Ghanaian soil, I would not stop moving until I got there. I was committed.

I would visit the International studies office everyday. So often in fact, that I was able to make friends with the older Cameroonian man who ran the program. A man that would always lend an ear, and solace when I would get discouraged, but had little to no resources to aid in my journey. Nah, this was an independent journey. One that started in the summer, and took an entire year to manifest. In the midst of this manifestation process, I had a number of events transpire that could only be considered transitional  events that didn’t always feel good, but were life changers nonetheless. Every which way I turned, I felt like I was being tested, in school, at work, as an artist, I kept pushing through though. I kept pushing, but still felt like something was blocking me from solidifying my goal.

 

Aiming to spend the first portion of 2012 in Ghana, I had been accepted to an international program, but didn’t have the funds. Not only did I not have the money, but on top of that I had started to lose my tenacity to get it. It wasn’t until a good homegurl of mine tragically lost her life in the Spring of that year, that I started to get the hustle back in my bones. In addition to that, an unsettling interaction I had with this Baltimore brotha made me feel like I needed a damn break from America. The desire to get to Ghana turned into the ultimate spiritual goal, one that would help to ease my saddened heart, and show me the power of my own mind and intentions.

This power, this super cosmic energy, guided my path and helped me to pull money from the sky. The relationships I had fostered throughout campus enabled a surprise refund check to be pushed through on short notice, and also made it possible for me to receive a nice little bit of money from the alumni association, as well as a personal loan from a generous alumnus that just wanted to lend his support. With all of this money dropping so quickly, and with my study abroad program happening in less than two weeks, I quickly got on my good foot and started making magic.

First and foremost to travel to Ghana, I needed a few things that could not be avoided. I needed a plane ticket for one, a passport, an expedited visa, and a shot for yellow fever. Setting out on my passport journey first, It became apparent early on that the turnover process to receive a passport the normal way was not going to work out, and that in order to get everything expedited, I needed to have a round trip ticket. Purchasing my plane ticket first, I remember vividly asking my best friend/roommate and her dude at the time to drive me to the greyhound bus so that I could ride up to Philly to get it.

 

Arriving in the early morning, I walked around Philly with my backpack, and waited for the clock to strike 11, because at 11, I would be able to receive my passport. Already having trouble with my visa, going up to Philly would ultimately prove to be the best move possible, because it was in Philly that I received the most valuable information. Stepping to the glass window to receive my gateway to the world, the lady suggested that I look into a consulate instead of the embassy to receive my Visa. She said that it would take a day less to receive it, and that if I was on a deadline, it might be my best bet. Sitting in a Philadelphia Coffeehouse waiting for my return bus, I looked up the nearest consulate, and found that it was in New York. Remembering that my flight was leaving from New York, three days later, I decided to take my chances and head up there on my own.

Taking all of my luggage with me, clothing, shoes, books, and my childhood stuffed animal, I lugged my belongings to another best friends apartment in the Bronx, and hustled those New York streets like a Jezebel on a coochie mission. I had multiple things to accomplish in a short period of time, and I would damned if I let anything stop me. Getting to Ghana became a breath all its own. An entity that grew out of a desire to reconcile with my ancestral home, one that I would nurture and honor……by any means necessary.

Playlist

1. Peter Hadar- Body to Body
2. Red Line Graffiti- About and Because Album
3. May- Sexy Sexy
4. Meche Korrect- Party

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