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- COFFEE WITH JOSEPH OPONG WHO LOVES AMERICA
Today, I had coffee with Joseph Opong who lives in Bellevue and is retired from his work with the APL shipping company. Joseph is part of the Ghana Asanti tribe and fled his country around 1985 because of political issues.
He was a ship Captain in the Ghana Navy and befriended Peace Corp Worker, Jonathan Gordon. who impressed him with his genuine curiosity about Ghana. When Joseph was forced to flee his country and came to the USA, he looked up the Gordon family in Rhode Island, explaining to me, "They were White and they were so kind and helpful!" He was subsequently able to bring his wife and four daughters to this country and came to work in the Seattle area. Education was important and Joseph completed an Economics degree at Seattle University.
The Asante Tribe is the largest of the many native Ghana tribes and are in the middle area of that country, about the size of Washington State. Joseph says, "The Asante control the lot of the land ownership more than the government." He would be a Chief back home during ceremonial activities because his grandma was a Queen and he is the only one left of his sibblings.
Ghanaians have an easier time adapting to life in the United States than other immigrants because their homeland of Ghana has the English language as the official language and it is spoken by the majority of Ghana's population.
An interesting part of our conversation was that he prefers America to England because, "Americans are more independent and not as clannish as older countries like England, France and other European places." Ghanians are dispora.
Ghana is now democratic, but Joseph prefers to stay in America and is a naturalized citizen!
