santismynd

  As a child, I together with my siblings were trained to always show great respect towards the elderly. This was one thing we learnt at the very early stages of our lives. We were taught to always greet the elderly, allow them to talk first no matter what and just hold the elderly in high esteem. In my family, the elderly is always looked up to as the source of advise and training. I remember constantly visiting my grandparents when growing up and during those visits we we were given sound advice about life and generally encouraged when we spoke about issues that felt like a burden at that point. In my family, conflict is always dealt with directly, often with an elder person being the mediator in the conflict.  Depending on the family, for example in my nuclear family, decisions are always made jointly by my parents but when it comes to the extended family, there is an individual who is referred to as the "elder of the family" and he in consultation with other older people

  My childhood was one of the best phases in my life. I was born and grew up in the beautiful city of Accra, the capital city of Ghana. Growing up, I got to spend most of my vacations with my maternal cousins in the second well known city in my country, Kumasi. It was one of the best experiences especially growing up then as the only child.  I got to have lots of fun with my cousins who were boys and their sister who was the only female among them. One of the family traditions I experienced growing up was having all my family members come together to just bond during the Christmas season. During this period, we  would eat our traditional food, listen to our music and my grandmother will tell us stories about our history. Another tradition we had as a family was we used to travel and tour some of the interesting places in my country. I always looked forward to these trips as it gave me the opportunity to appreciate the diverse cultures in my own country. I lived in Kumasi during my vaca