Copyright (c) 2008 Abibirim Network

Once upon a time, in a small village of Aduman, there lived a young nanny called Nana. Nana was very humble and respectful. She takes care of all the children in the village while their parents go to farm. Every day, she wakes up eraly in the morning to receive the children and take care of them till the parents return in the evening. When the children leave for their homes, she stays late to clean up her grandmother's house and prepares for the next morning.

Nana's gradmother was called Nana Abrewa and she lived in a big house with a big compound which she inherited from her late husband. Nana Abrewa's late husband was called Opanyin Dankwah and he was a mason by profession. He built his house by himself with the help of some of the people from the village. All he paid the people who helped him was to feed them breakfast, lunch and supper.

One day when all the parents left for their farm, Nana's grandmother became sick. She was asked Nana to go and fetch water from the river for her to drink if not she was going die. The river is called Nsuota and it is one mile away from the village.

Nsuota is big and deep. It is the dwelling place of both the good and bad spirits of all the villages around. Because the spirits dwell there and it is big and deep, children were not allowed to go there without an adult.

Nana was confused and did not know what to do because she loved her grandmother and did not want her to die. Meanwhile she could not go to the river all by herself because all the adults had left for the farm.

Finally, she chose to go and fetch the watch all by herself. Half way to the river, she was scared of the bad spirits. She sat down under a big tree and started to sing (calling on her mother's spirit)

maame bowame - 3x
nana Abrewa yare na oyan obira ko nsuo
npanyinfo nyina ko erfowo
aka me ni nkora nketi nketi nti maame bowame

While singning, she feel asleep and when she woke up thirty minutes later, the bucket was filled with water. She could not carry the water and she wished the children she is babysitting are old enough to come help her. Just then, she saw all the children running along the dirt road to come help her. They helped her to carry the water on her and took it home to her grandmother. The End

Quiz
What happened after Nana Abrewa drank the water?
Do you think Nana Abrewa was suprise to see
Nana returned early from the river with the water?
Who do you think fetcehd the water for Nana?
Who helped Nana to carry the water on her head?
Why did Nana decide to call on her mother's spirit?
What would you have done if you were Nana and
Nana Abrewa asked you to go and fetch water for her?

Nana and her grandmother
by Obeng-Nyarkoh