Mamaga Ametor, Mamawu,

I heartily welcome all of you, who made the long journey from Alavanyo in Volta Region to my residence in Accra. Some of you might already know why I invited you to my house. First of all I wanted to welcome you here, in my new residence, where I have settled in Ghana now and to let you know, that you are always most welcome, whenever you are travelling to Accra.
The other reason is that I felt very much concerned about things which happened in our common area, Alavanyo. I came to Ghana more than ten years ago to start business and after falling in love with the country and its friendly people, I decided also to fight against the poverty in the country. I started first projects without having any title and without expecting any benefit out of it. After I have been asked to be installed as a queen mother of development in Alavanyo, I had to decide for a long time if I would like to take the title, because at first I have been afraid, that I couldn’t do enough for you. The responsibility and a culture, where I didn’t grow up in, seemed to be a big challenge. Finally I said yes, because the confidence all of you set into my person, made me surer to succeed.
But these days are past and in the last ten years I had enough time to grow into my position, because I got support from all sides and a lot of respect, even for the tiny steps I made at first. My installation as the Paramount queen mother of SASA Traditional Areas has been another highlight in my so called Ghanaian life, an important yardstick in my personal development work, which I started in other parts of Africa a long time before my coming to Ghana.
I never saw my life as a queen mother in this country as a “sitting in state”, I always saw it as hard work, a lot of responsibilities and as a big task. Especially because I am a foreigner I wanted to do everything perfect. But that is not easy in a third world country, what Ghana still is. And of course I had a lot of difficulties to face during all the years; my life became a lot more complicated. It started from my family life, because I invested a lot of time in coming and working in Ghana and it ended in losses of money in my business life, because the coming and going and helping involved a lot of money too. For example the money, this is spent on travelling and administration apart from the costs of a project. I could have easily stayed in Germany, having a nice, comfortable life. But I wanted it different.
Wanting it different meant also accepting the different culture, the roots and the mentality of the people. And it meant the will of learning, of understanding them and their environment, without any demand for them to understand mine.
My work here was always supported by a lot of good will from the Ghanaian side, but also by attacks on a German, who after years of being in the country was sometimes still seen like a foreigner, who hasn’t the right to be honoured by a title like mine. Of course it made me sad, but on the other side it made me strong, it created a new, different task to deal with, a new process of learning.
We are all human beings and we should learn from each other. And we should try to understand the why and how. And we should respect each other. Respect to my opinion is the keyword of intercultural relationships, which should never get lost. Of course we are all making mistakes. But we should have one in common, the love and devotion to communities and to our country. We are privileged, we are queen mothers. We are able to do more than others. And the love for this country should have been one of the reasons why we have been installed. In my case it was like that.
Love to our homeland is an attribute that is very crucial in the development of every nation. All the great nations are where they are in terms of progress and prosperity as a result of their fore fathers “dying a little” for their country. We should think like patriots, global, not from a small angle of view. Being a queen mother should mean being a strong personality, thinking straight and not getting lost in thinking of personal benefits and attitudes.
Our title should encourage us to serve our country and not to expect that others are serving us. We shouldn’t take advantage of it; we should bring it without being selfish. If we are serving faithfully, we don’t lose any reward. The progress and the development in our areas will merit us. The real satisfaction of one’s life results from giving without taking. That’s it, what I believe in.
The reason, why we are not able to progress from poverty to a better living standard is very simple. We are not ready to give without taking. Let’s do our jobs to earn money and let’s use our title to help our communities and our people, then we will really move forward. Let’s unite in our ideas to serve this country, not thinking of the why, when and how. Let’s just start of thinking different.
Unity is as well one of the keywords of development. Let’s forget about any tribal conflicts, personal affects and animosities. Let’s unite for our people.
God bless you, God bless Ghana.
Thank you.
Mamaga Nyonufiaga Akosua I
Paramount Queenmother of SASA Traditional Areas
17th December 2009