I Gave My Cousin a Home And a Job And He Got My Girlfriend Pregnant

I had a phone shop when I was in Koforidua. It was a very small shop, but I had a dream to make it big. I would come to Accra, buy phones, and take them to Koforidua to sell. My cousin, Ebo, was the one helping me then. When I had to come to Accra, I would leave the shop for him to take care of sales.

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A friend in Accra always convinced me to come to Accra to do business. He told me business was good and the money was also good. I didn’t need to be told all that because I already knew it. I saw it for myself but didn’t have the will to relocate. Ansah said, “Businesses have to grow to make the owner rich. Come to Accra and you’ll make money.”

Ansah won. One day, I moved everything in my shop, closed it down, and moved to Accra. Ebo didn’t like the idea that I was leaving him behind, but I made him a promise, “I will make it work and come for you soon. Don’t worry.”

Accra was tough, but I proved myself tougher. I started from a phone case at Circle. Two years later, I got a small shop in the armpit of Circle. It was a good start. I knew the end would be greater. It took me three years to scale up and get a proper shop. I had a good stock of phones and accessories. I even added phone repairs to my business.

One day, when Cindy came to have her phone repaired, I took her number and we later became friends. Her sister had a shop nearby, so she came around often until a few weeks later she became my girlfriend. She was that kind of girl who becomes everything when you start dating them. She helped with the shop. She became a receptionist and salesperson when I had to go somewhere.

Ebo was still calling me, asking me about life and when he could join me. Finally, I asked him to come over. I shared a room with him for over a year before I helped him rent a room in the same house that I lived in. On days we didn’t go to work, Cindy would come around and cook for us. We were like the beginning of a great family.

I had a dream to travel out of the country. I met a friend who came with a great idea. He said he knew someone who could help us pass through Libya to Europe. We only had to pay the right fee and we would be in Europe in a very short time.

I saved money. When I gathered enough, my friend and I started a journey to Europe through Libya. That was my greatest mistake in life. It was a treacherous journey where I nearly lost my life. The agent deceived us and used the wrong route. We got robbed at some point and later got arrested in Libya. That’s a whole story for another day.

A month later, when I was released, I decided to return to Ghana. My friend continued but died along the way. I had nothing on me. I called Cindy and asked her to send money so I could return. When she gave me plenty of excuses, I called Ebo. I had left them a healthy business with a sizable stock plus the repairs section. I knew they should at least have a little money to send to me.

Ebo also complained about lack and how badly the shop was doing and how he suffered to feed himself and all that. I stopped calling them because they gave me no hope. The friends I met in Libya encouraged me not to go back to Ghana. They said, “They’ll laugh at you for failing. Let’s find a job here and later continue to Europe.”

I did construction work. I sold petty things to people traveling through the desert. A year later, I knew the terrain so well I was providing guidance for newbies in Libya. I knew connection men who could take you from A to Z. I built friendships with Nigerians who came with money but couldn’t cross the desert out of fear. I helped them and got paid. It was very rough for me, so two years later, I decided I would rather come back to Ghana and start afresh with what I’d earned.

I was in constant contact with Ebo and Cindy. At least, I knew the shop was still thriving and I could revive it. My room had been rented out to a new tenant, but I knew I could share a room with Ebo until I was able to stabilize my life.

I got to Ghana in the evening. I didn’t call any of them to say I was coming. I went to knock on Ebo’s door and it was Cindy who responded. She walked to the door, swiped the curtain aside, and saw my face. She looked like she had seen a ghost. “Kobby!”

It was when I opened the trap door and saw her fully that I realized what was happening. She was heavily pregnant and looked like she was going to give birth the next day. I put my bag down and asked where my cousin was. She said he went to the store and hadn’t returned.

I didn’t question her or act shocked. It had been two years. I didn’t expect to come back and see her still single, but I also didn’t expect to return to see her living with my cousin, let alone pregnant by him.

She was on the phone, so I knew who she was talking to. It took forever for Ebo to come back home. He also didn’t look right. He looked at me like he was seeing a ghost. I said, “Glad to know the shop is still there and you still eat from it. I will spend the night here and find my way out tomorrow.”

I didn’t eat. I didn’t even remove my shoes. I slept on the sofa until early dawn when I took the shop keys and left. At least they did one thing right: they didn’t collapse the shop, for which I was very grateful. The next morning when he came around, I thanked him and told him I couldn’t stay in the shop with him again.

Of course he fought back. “Do you know how much of my money I’ve invested in the shop? There was nothing in here. I bought phones and accessories to fill it up. You can’t sack me until you pay what I’ve invested in the shop. Where were you when the rent expired?”

I told him, “What did you bring from Koforidua? When I was leaving Ghana, what did you have? Oh, magically you started making money by yourself once I was off the scene? Yes, I will give you something, but come back later.”

Nothing had changed in the shop. The only thing he did was sack the repair guy I was working with and replace him with his own friend. I sacked him and called the old repair guy back. I called Ansah, the friend who brought me to Accra. He hugged me like an old friend and said, “Good to have you back. Let’s do it again.”

When I didn’t talk about Cindy’s pregnancy or fight them about it, they were scared I was going to do something. My cousin’s mother called me trying to see if I would mention it. I didn’t. They were not my problem. What my eyes had seen and my body had been through, I had no time to cry about people who didn’t understand loyalty.

My shop is currently thriving while he has traveled back to Koforidua, leaving Cindy and their daughter here. Cindy’s sister was the only one I had a conversation with concerning how they stabbed me in the back. She told me, “I advised Cindy against the idea, but by the time I realized, she was already pregnant. One day she packed her things and left.”

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I told her, “I’m not shocked. It’s life. Things happen. I can always find another woman as long as I have life. I will build again and find another woman. This time, I will stay and build with her.”

So far, so good. I don’t have it all, but I have life and don’t lack. It’s all I need to be grateful.

—Kobby

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