My Jewellery

I currently have 7 bracelets, one necklace, 3 rings and an anklet.

I bought the anklet at Big Milly’s, where we stay when we go to Kokrobite on the weekends. There is a little stall that sells dresses, pants, bags and beads. Its cost me 2 Cedis, which is about one Australian Dollar. It’s multi-coloured, and is wrapped around 4 times. I think I will have a white stripe there from the sunshine if I keep it on the whole time I’m in Ghana. The same stall have some beautiful dresses, but I just don’t know when I would wear it if I bought one.

On my left hand I have 3 bracelets that I can’t take off. The first was a gift from Mum to James when she returned from Turkey. It’s brown cord with the eye of protection every 5 cm or so. James gave it to me when we were in Madrid before mum left, to head back to Australia in January. It is wrapped around 6 times.

The second bracelet on my left hand was bought in London in July 2011 next to the London Eye. I was with Taylar, and we spent the day in town. A street vendor came up to us and asked if he could make a bracelet on Taylars wrist. She agreed, knowing he would charge her. He made the British flag. And charged her 5 pounds. He then produced one already made out of his pocket for me with the Jamaica flag colours for me. It’s falling apart.

The third bracelet on my left hand was bought in Kokrobite about 2-3 weeks ago. Apparently it is made out of the old Ghanaian currency, melted down. It doesn’t quite reach all the way around my wrist, it is bent in place. The symbol Sankofa is etched into the middle. It’s a bird reaching around to its back with an egg in its mouth. It symbolises – not to forget where you have come from, to remember that mistakes can be fixed, and it’s not a taboo to go back and get something you forgot about. Sarah and I were sitting on the beach and a man came over to us (that happens quite often). He knelt down beside us, and showed us his bracelets, the thing is, neither of us ever bring any money to the beach, there is apparently so much thievery at the beach that it’s just safer to leave it in the room. It works quite well, coz we never have more than 3-4 cedis, we cant buy anything. We liked his bracelets, and he told us to take the one we liked and he’d find us later and get the money off us. Incredibly trusting. So we did.

On my right wrist I have 4 bracelets. One I brought with me from Australia, I don’t remember where or when I got it. It’s a plain silver bangle.

When I was in Derry in Northern Ireland in July 2011 I bought a bracelet from the cultural centre. I went in one morning to take a tour of the town, but I was the only one, so they asked me to come back in the afternoon. I saw some bracelets on display. I bought two, and sent one to James. The one I kept is red, and has a metal plate in the middle. The plate says ‘peace’ in English on one side and Irish on the other. The one I sent to James is green and says ‘dance’ in both languages.

A friend of mine, Evans, gave Sarah and I a bracelet on Saturday. Its wool and is yellow, red and blue.

The forth bracelet was bought on the beach last Tuesday at Kokrobite from a lovely man. People walk up and down on the sand selling everything from bananas, pineapples, beads, tilapia to pants, dresses, hats, you name it. I had it wrapped around my ankle but the 2 anklets together were a bit much, so I took one off for my wrist. It was too long so I gave it to the same friend who gave me the bracelet on Saturday.

My necklace- James gave it to me at the airport in Melbourne when I said goodbye to them. It’s of the same symbol as our tattoo. About a week later I left it on the windowsill of a bathroom in Northern Ireland. Luckily- a friend of mine in Derry has hung on to it, so whenever I make it back to Derry I can pick it up, or when I have a permanent address (outside Africa), he might be able to post it to me.

I'll tell you about my rings later