After reading two paragraphs from the story book, I was asked to form a sentence with the word ‘Waitress’ which was in one of the paragraphs I read. It was my first time of seeing and hearing that word. Raising up my head after spotting the word again in a sentence, I saw all the eyes of the teachers looking at me.
Over 20 schools in the Obuasi district have presented two of their best students for an English Comprehension competition. Every school was represented by an English teacher and two students at the preliminary stage. Two weeks later we were again invited but this time, I went alone with my English teacher and when I got there, I realised the number has reduced. Few teachers with fewer students. It was my first year in junior high school.
I had developed the passion for reading as late as primary 6 and that was when I started having regular visits to the Obuasi Library. I was at the Obuasi Presby primary school, JJ, and the library was close to the Obuasi central mosque. After school, I will walk alone to the library which was always busy after 12pm. Sometimes I wouldn’t get a chair to sit. I always made sure I read one book before I take one home. The Mactracks books were my favuorites. I still remember few of the books I read back then; Foli fights the Forgers, Eyes and Ears, Eyes and Ears work Hard, Map on the Wall, Guitar Wizard, Martha’s Mistakes and Mystery of the Sagrenti.
My all-time favourite book I read at the library was The Golden Oware Counters, which combined fiction with facts to depict the Feyiase war and its aftermath leading to the retrival of the golden oware counters.
Even at the Senior high school, I used to visit the Obuasi Library during vacations. Though not enough space to occupy a lot of students, the quiet atmosphere inside the library was always a good environment to stay away from the noisy world outside.
The inauguration of the Obuasi Library complex brought joy to book-lovers, not only the students but some of us who still need some encyclopaedia to refresh our minds. The inauguration of the library complex was colourful but inside the building lacked what qualifies it to be a library, books!
There have been lots of efforts to get the library stocked but the size of the library needs all hands on deck. Placenta in partnership with Obuasitoday.com, Youth and Wise GH, Graceland foundation and other individuals have introduced what they have termed as “Drop-A-Book”, a campaign with an aim of filling the library with all sorts of books. The initiative will go a long way to build reading habits among our young ones and rekindle the reading habits of the old.
You can call them on 0247516850 and just donate atleast a book to support this cause.
Back to my story…
I started thinking of the meaning of a waitress. Probably, someone waiting for another person. That made so much sense to me since there is a ‘wait’ in ‘waitress’.
“The Waitress is waiting for the bus at the bus top.”
The whole place was quiet for about 5 seconds. I was wondering whether I was right or wrong.
As if the teachers and the officers were waiting for the 5 seconds to elapse, they all started murmuring at once.
“It is not correct”
“It is correct”
“A waitress can take a bus too”
“I don’t believe it is the right answer”
They continued arguing. I was silently watching them.
“Can someone tell me who a waitress is”, the only question rushing through my mind.