letters from my mum...
I grew up in that era where, as a student in a secondary school miles away from your parents, the only means of communication was by you writing a letter to your Mum/Dad or them writing to you. For other students who were fortunate to have their families living close, a visit was a convenient way to catch up with your family. When my Mum and I moved back to Ghana in the 70's, I entered secondary school form One at the age of 11. My Mum was posted to Dormaa Secondary School to set up the Home Science Department there. After a couple years at Dormaa, my Mum had to leave for another postings in Kumasi, Sunyani Aburi and Accra. Instead of uprooting me from a perfectly good school and moving me , she decided to leave me where I was. So this is where we developed our fond habit of writing to each other; the conditions that presented themselves offered one logical means of us communicating, and that was by writing letters to each other. This carried on even during the school holidays because in those days, taking a trip from Darmaa to where ever she was, just for the period of school vacation was not worth it. The roads were herendous, not to mention the time it took to make such a trip. I always looked forward to letters from my Mum. One particular habit of hers was to correct my letters to her and send them back to me to review my mistakes. Of course at that time, i found this annoying. least did I know that she was doing me a huge favour. The other thing I appreciated about her letters to me was her handwriting, She had such lovely handwriting.
I do not think my Mum was one to embrace technology. I suppose it push came to shove, she would have made some effort. She never had a telephone installed at home. Even through she was an avid reader and was up to speed with how things were changing in terms of Information Technology, I strongly feel that information technology was the least of her worries.
When I moved back to the UK after my National Service, are main means of commnication was through letters. Whiles most people tend to throw away or distroy letters from a loved one, I have kept most of the letters my Mum wrote to me. I am sure if I search properly, I will find some more letters from her hidden away somewhere in my study.