When did you hear the word “fuck” for the first time? I heard it for the first time in Sunday school when I was an innocent eight-year-old girl (yes, I will start therapy soon).
An impish boy, whom we shall call John, gave someone the middle finger while we were all singing: Jesus loves me this I know. Immediately, a tittle-tattler among us yelled:  “Bro. Sammy! John just told someone to fuck off?!!!” So, Bro. Sammy, our long-suffering Sunday school teacher was forced to tell us, albeit shamefacedly, the concise meaning of the word “fuck” and why good Christian children do not use that word. Don’t ask me to tell you what Bro. Sammy said, I …

The drive from Labone to Tema was long and stressful. Annette hating driving, but if she wanted any sort of independence it was a skill she had to develop. She had depended on drivers her whole life, and if her parents had use of the two they had on staff, she was always stranded. She vowed that that would not always be the case when she was married with a house of her own.
When she got to Community 11, she parked her car, sat outside of Sophia Ike’s house and took off her wedding ring. Once it was off her finger, she dropped it in her purse and rang the gate bell.
The watchman opened it …

When Afosua got back to her office after her lunch with Naa Akweley she was more than shaken. It had not gone anywhere near how she’d planned, and that surprised her. Afosua had always prided herself about being calm under pressure, and generally very pragmatic, but there was something about Naa Akweley that unsettled her. She wanted to find out what it was, but since she had told Naa Akweley to basically fuck herself, there was no chance of that.
Naa Akweley would have been a useful ally because her husband was an influential man. Ian Blankson was the senior pastor of one of Ghana’s three mega-churches, and his congregation included statesmen, businessmen and all manner …

Every relationship has its risks and its benefits. The key to having a successful relationship is learning to nurture those benefits so that they dwarf the risks, or to eliminate it completely if those risks prove to be lethal. Afosua was in the nurturing stage with Naa Akweley Blankson, but she had to long admitted internally that she was looking forward to terminating this relationship when the time was right.
As she strode purposely to their reserved table at Tante Marie Restaurant in Labone, she was greeted by Naa Akweley’s scowling face. Annette Baffoe was sitting with her, also stony faced.
“You’re late,” scolded Naa Akweley.
“Yes…Sorry. I am indeed 8 minutes late,” Afosua conceded apologetically.
She was not …

Afosua was not a beautiful woman, but she was difficult to ignore. At 5’8’’ she stood taller than most women and eye to eye to most men. Her skin was mahogany brown with red undertones, and her eyes were the color of coal. They were cool and piercing, taking in everything she surveyed. There was an enigma about her that made people either want to get to know more about her, or shy away completely. That is the way it was with her: all or nothing.
When she walked into the office, the receptionist greeted her warmly.
“Good morning, Ms. Gyemfi!” she chirped.
“Good morning, Gertrude,” she returned. “Where are the big guys?”
Afosua looked towards Mark Phillips and …

The cock crowed at 4 am. The shrill cry of this domesticated bird was one of the things that Afosua found endearing about being back home, but was an annoyance none-the-less. Generally she would be less than enthusiastic about Nature’s trumpet blower sounding his rousing alarm so early in the morning, but today she was grateful for it. She needed to get an early start to her day. In the pre-dawn light, she made out the shape of a man’s back rising and falling rhythmically as he slept. He was broad and muscular – a magnificent sight to behold – but he had to go all the same.
“Hey,” she said, shaking him gently at first. …

One of the reasons I don’t – and haven’t – written very much for Adventures is because of what my preconceived notion of a blog was. I have always been under the presumption that a ‘blog’ is an amalgamation of real events, and that it was the bloggers duty to report and at times opine on these real events. I have always assumed that a blog was no place for fiction.
I don’t know how I broke free of these mental chains, but I had an epiphany just within moments of writing this note. I can write about whatever I want on Adventures, and however I want to! Eureka!
As Nana will tell you, I am a …

Now I know some of you will have mentally groaned ‘cos I’ve mentioned the V word, valentine – Sorry. But I found myself thinking about Valentine’s Day in the early hours of this morning. The last two Val’s days have been great, and I’ve been single for every one of them. In 2010, my current bestie and I threw a single’s party, which was so much fun – a couple even hooked up then and are still together to this day. In 2011, this self same bestie and I decided to go to an upmarket French restaurant and exchange valentine presents – so we did.
So what shall we do in 2012? I tweeted about this …

On Sunday, 8th January I popped into my local Shell Shop to buy some plantain chips, and saw that the latest edition of BBC Focus on Africa magazine was out. I had been recently featured in the October edition of the magazine so felt inclined to browse through the magazine and decide whether it was worth buying.
 
I stopped short on page 54, the ‘Inbox’ section of the magazine. There was a screen shot of the page that had featured myself, and my co-blogger Abena Gyekye with the ‘Star view’ letter entitled ‘Misguided advice’. I read the letter and was instantly enraged, so I bought the magazine and went on a tweeting spree to vent…let me …

Happy New Year! In a few days this blog will be 3 years old, and what an exciting 3 years it has been. When I started this blog with Abena I did not anticipate how popular it would become, and how much support I would receive from the numerous people who read the blog. I am truly grateful to all of you that take time to send me emails, comment on the blog and especially those who write guest contributions.
 
Here are my hopes for ‘Adventures’ for the year 2012:
 

Post more guest contributions from African women all over the continent. So far, I think the majority of contributions have come from West Africa and the Diaspora. …