Tribute to Auntie Ewurana by Nieces and Nephews
 
Our dearest Aunt Ewurana what a blessing and a privilege to have had you in our family for 75years. We still cannot believe that you have left us to the world beyond, without saying goodbye, we have been left with pleasant memories and the beautiful legacy. How do you say goodbye to the person who taught us to use crayons right up to riding the heights of life?
Our Auntie Ewurana was special, we grew up just knowing she was dear to our parents so in effect she became dear to us too. Growing up she inhabited our earliest memories very prominently …. Auntie Ewurana and Uncle Barnes’s home was always open to us, it became our home, they were so welcoming, from vacation holidays from where they lived in Ayido Flats until they moved to Ayido Crescent, Legon Campus, some of our older cousins even had their honeymoon in her home, then finally Ofankor..
During vacations we so looked forward to playing with our cousins …. spelling B with Uncle Barnes (where the famous QR story GO originated), the boysgrazing the sheep on the fields and coming home without them because they were busy playing ALIKOTO and had managed to lose them that was certainly a day to be remembered by the boys – Tono, Awotwi, Papa Abban &Guaa, harvesting  corn from the back yard garden and learning to remove the corn from the cob, baking ‘bun fobisi’ (special corn cookies) with one of our cousins Nicknamed ‘Matrona’. Our Auntie was a GREAT cook and a home maker: we remember her remarkable relationship with her siblings who enjoyed her meals too and especially brother Nana Kow, she will go out of her way to prepare jollof when she knew he was coming to visit, just because she knew he loved ‘kanzo’ the slightly burnt under bit of jollof, watching the two of them teasing each other about it was interesting to witness.
In fact she always said she had not had a domestic help at  home since the one she had resigned after she gave birth to Kweku Guaa (apparently because Kweku Guaa was too heavy to be carried around) Auntie Ewurana for many years till she passed to glory kept the home all by herself with the help of Uncle Barnes of course.
After enjoying Auntie Ewurana’s lovely meals during vacations you knew it did not end there, you would be woken up to at 4am to  exercise by jogging from Ayido Crescent to Nouguchi roundabout (over 7km) and back, and as young teenage as we were, we could not keep up with her and panting behind her…little did we know she was instilling in us a sense of discipline to  incorporate working out into our lives (we still do till this day) to keep fit, she always teased that if you are an ‘Abban’ you should know you can put on weight easily so efforts should be made to keep a healthy lifestyle and fit.
As much as we had fun in her home, our Auntie Ewurana was strict and ensured that we studied well. Woe betide you if your parents reported you to Auntie Ewurana and Uncle Barnes, just a stare was enough for you to repent. To this day we still wonder how our parents managed to contact Auntie Ewurana to come home after every serious episode of naughtiness because there were no home phones available then, unless they physically went to her office or wrote a letter. Also, for every end of term school report you brought home, you knew Auntie Ewurana was going to be sent a copy which we did not look forward to, because she always pushed us not to be comfortable with our grades.
As we grew older and it was time to choose a University to attend, we did not even think of going anywhere other than University of Ghana,Legon because she was there. If per any chance we had challenges with any of the courses, she went out of her way to get us teachers for extra tuition.
As we grew into adulthood Auntie Ewurana went from being our strict Auntie to being a friend and a confidant….you could go to her and pour your heart out and you know she will keep it safe and offer the right words you needed to hear. With her it was only the truth, and she said it as it was…If you are wrong, you are wrong.  You could confide in her on any issue,marital, work related, kids related etc. Everyone admired her wisdom in solving complex issues in the family especially, she was calm even when a situation seemed unbearable
Auntie Ewurana had such a witty sense of humour which we got and understood well well! She also believed things had to be done well. If you did not align you knew you would be in for trouble. On one such occasion at STC yard, we were waiting to buy a bus ticket when we saw a gentleman drink water and leave the sachet around carelessly on the floor; knowing Auntie Ewurana would react, watched her calmly approach the gentleman and ask him why he did that. The man clearly embarrassed picked up the empty sachet and threw it in a dustbin. Auntie Ewurana smiled and bid the stranger a safe journey. The gentleman clearly trying to get over his shock and embarrassment could not stop staring as she walked away…. that was our Aunt! Another funny episode was when she her nick named one of our cousins who was being a Diva – MATRONA to everyone’s amusement, we all had nicknames given by Auntie and Uncle Barnes.
I don’t think we thanked Auntie Ewurana enough for everything she did for us, indeed she really shaped our lives, we learnt such invaluable skills from her that we still benefit from to this day.
Our Dearest Auntie Ewurana, thank you for everything you did for us, giving us our first slit and kaba (the girls) as teenagers, teaching us how to colour, how to write, the value of having a good education, how to balance a demanding career and be a great home maker, the multiple whooping and the explanations for the whooping. Thank you for influencing our brand of humour and for loving us unconditionally. Auntie thanks also for inviting us 26th December of every year for many years, for us to eat the sumptuous festive meals together, will not forget the beautiful Kente you and Uncle Barnes gifted me 26th December last year…was that a good bye gift as you were not going to be here 26th December of this year?
Started the year 2020 thinking about you a lot, decided to spend more time communicating and visiting you a lot more than had done in recent years. Very glad I did just that. During the many visits we spent a lot of time talking about old times, everything and nothing, with you teasing about some of our childhood escapades…you always wondered about our obsession with ‘FATAA House Playground’.
Still recollect the hours spent sitting by your bedside at the hospital the week you passed on to glory. Our chats were interspersed with silence, but it was not uncomfortable. Brought you some natural fruit juice – Ekumfi which I thought was just tasty that you should try it…in true Auntie Ewurana witty humour you said with a cheeky smile….’awo abr3m mi Kalypo’ (You! you have brought me Kalypo - which is a children’s drink because it is packaged in a similar small box).  If I knew those hours were going to be the last moments of our spending time together on earth, I would not have left you Auntie Ewurana. So, looked forward to you coming home and we had planned you would come and see our new home and back yard garden during the Christmas holidays. But it was not meant to be.
We have more questions than answers about your unexpected exit from this world Auntie Ewurana. As painful as it is and feels, we can only trust God to heal us and rely on His word that He knows what is best for us…His ways are not our ways,…your brother Nana Kow says that you were supposed to bury him and not him burying you….We will trust God that the plans he has for our lives are for good not evil and he will bring us to an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11)
Our favourite Auntie …. Da Yie, till we meet again in glory…will love you forever, your memory will continue to live on in our hearts.