On one of my many journeys to Cape Coast, I sat close to an old woman in a public bus which was half-filled up. Though it took a while, the bus eventually got full, with the last three passengers being white foreigners from England. The last seat to be taken up happened to be the one next to this old lady. One of the foreigners, a man, sat by her and since the old woman was quite fat; she needed to shift her for him to be comfortable. The man gently prompted her to “please, push.” To the foreigners’ surprise, she refused. Excuse me? I said to myself. What is she thinking? Who does she think she is? The foreigner prompted her again, and the woman once again refused. The foreigner, getting irritated while trying to be as polite as possible, asked her again to “please push.” This time, the old woman responded by spitting on his left foot. At this point, the driver and all other passengers became furious, and there was chaos in the vehicle because of this old woman’s behaviour. The foreigners, very angry at this began to hurl all kinds of profanities at her, and she did not hesitate to respond to them in Ga, insulting them with all her might and throwing her arms at them. This was verbal abuse at its peak! Or shall I be harsh and say racism? The foreigners, obviously disgusted and very angry, got off the vehicle and all three of them got off the bus. The rest of the passengers vented their spleen on this woman, not because of what she did, but because we now had to wait for three more passengers before the bus could move. The driver yelled at the old woman saying, was it not for mere respect that had to be accorded to the elderly of our society, he would not have hesitated to throw her off the bus. Three passengers finally arrived, and we took off with speed. Enough time had already been wasted. During the journey, I couldn’t help but ponder over the reason why this old woman treated the foreigners the way she did. It bothered my mind so much that I decided to ask her. Fearing that she would also be rude and probably abuse me too, I approached her very politely by greeting her. She responded with a smile and I then asked how she was fairing; she said she was doing very well. Then, I asked her. She narrated a sad story to me, saying that two years ago, she took her only grandchild, a twelve-year-old boy whom she was so fond of, to her hometown in the Volta Region as the boy’s parents didn’t live in Ghana and wanted him to know his roots. They attended a traditional marriage ceremony and after the celebration, she stayed in the village a week long as he was enjoying his stay. The boy was taken ill with malaria and according to the elderly woman, it was as early as 4 a.m. when she realized it and there were no taxis. She said she had a taxi-driver friend in the next village that she quickly called to inform of the situation at hand. She carried her grandchild on her back and walked all the way to the next village. However, upon reaching the village, she saw from a distance that a white man and a white lady were about to take the cab that was reserved for her, and that the taxi-driver was packing their bags into the cab. This old woman, with tears welling down her cheeks this point, said she ran to get to the driver as quickly as possible before he took off. She said because of her weight, she couldn’t run fast enough and she tripped over a tree stump, slowing them down. She asked the driver why he was taking the white people when she had an agreement with him. The driver said the white people had a flight to catch, so he was taking them to Accra. This old woman said she pleaded with the white couple to please allow the driver to give her a drive to the hospital, and then, they could also continue with their journey to Accra. She even offered to pay half of the fare. The old woman said the white men blatantly ignored her and told the driver to drive off. She said she watched helplessly as they drove off. She was so frustrated that she even contemplated walking to the hospital but it was too dark and too far. A cab finally came by, and she waved at him with her cloth to stop. The taxi stopped and in less than an hour, they were in the hospital. But sadly, the following morning, the boy died. This old woman spoke with such bitterness and pain and blamed all foreigners for her grandson’s death. She said that a lot of Ghanaians neglected the needs of their own people whenever they saw foreigners. Though that statement was harsh, she was right. She is not the only who one has experienced this sort of unfair treatment. It happens in so many instances. Ghanaians are friendly and ready to go above and beyond for foreigners who visit the country. If this attitude towards foreigners continues, they themselves will find reason to disrespect us, Ghanaians, in our own country. Let us continue with our hospitality and friendly nature towards foreigners. After all, that’s what we are known for. But while we continue to exhibit these good qualities towards them, let’s also not forget our hardworking countrymen, and treat them fairly.