Now it hits me, weekends when I was 7 are not the weekends at 24.
Growing up makes me appreciate the joy and rest the weekend comes along with. I remember I could not wait to grow up, who thought growing up was this stressful with the weekends shortening suddenly.
Every child looked forward to the close of school Fridays and if you were curious like me at 7, I bet you also wondered why the Muslims in your class were in school and not attending their service at the mosque.
“Teacher: give the tune for the closing hymn.
Female student: (screams on top of her lungs) now the day is ooooveeeerrrr’’
If you’re a 90s baby, I’m sure your weekends were similar to mine.
Friday after school
Friday after school felt like a mini vacation. The school day ended with most kids running out to buy their favorite asana with milk and a big block to increase the asana level and a half loaf of tea bread. The atadwe milk seller, plantain chips seller, bread and margarine or chocolate spread or condense milk seller were not left out. Usually there was a fried yam with tsofi seller on the way home from school. Walks home after school were “gisting” times till everyone got home. After our uniforms go off, we drink some gari soakings whilst mums made supper, GTV and TV Africa kept us company with some Looney tunes cartoons whilst we ate our soakings. We sneak out to play in the neighborhood and run home when our mums start screaming our names to come home.
Saturday
Saturday as a 90s kid was the only day we get to wake up around 8 since we do not have to go school. We dreaded the times our parents got study teachers since it meant missing children’s channels on gtv and kyekyekule on tv3. Our solace was in the early morning cartoons (basket fever, Johnny bravo, captain planet, power rangers). Older siblings helped with chores at home and younglings like me just had rest time. Saturdays were for soups and fufu pounding at home (there was no fufu machine, your brothers and fathers looked built from pounding over the weekend)
Remember the kotonklo and mummy and daddy games before we all rushed to our homes to watch Hindi movie from 2pm to 4pm on tv3? Evenings were for Bola Ray and Stacy’s musicmusic before we were sent off to bed.
Sunday
I can still picture daddy ironing everyone’s clothes on Sunday whilst my mum made breakfast and screamed at us to take our baths. I looked forward to Sunday services because my dad got me yoghurt and meat pie after every service. After church, kids rushed home to watch Journey to the west and a local movie on TV Africa at noon. For families who had to do a lot on Saturdays, Sundays were days to hang out at a family member or parent’s friend’s place. After the tv3 news with Emma Morrison, Gideon Aryeequaye and Henry Herbert Malm, tv3 ended the day for the children with a Ghanaian/Nigerian movie we were going to discuss Monday morning before lessons began.
The weekend was every child’s special moment to bond better with neighbours, family and church friends. If your weekend never played out like this, you probably are a ‘debee’ probably weren’t adventurous enough to go out to have fun. If you remember dancing to interplast pipe adverts, saying “does daddy know he is here”, talking with the “I’m not afraid” cockroach in the raid ad, reciting “I keep having strange feelings for girls” ad, then you really had some fun. Our local stations did us proud leaving us with fond memories. The “MUSIC MUSIC. IT’S BIG and MENTOR when we were young is nothing like now. 90s kids really had it different
Bye bye OneTouch, Buzz, Areeba, Zain and our gong gong Kasapa.