It feels like only yesterday when I welcomed my brother-in-law, Kofi Mpiani to my little abode in Culver City. The year was 1995. I had moved in in March of that year. Kofi had been one of the lucky lottery winners to move to the United States as a permanent resident.
Like all new immigrants, Kofi was hungry! His greatest ambition was to become an accountant. Jobs were hard to come by then. But this hardworking dude would do anything to earn an income to take care of his wife and children back in Ghana and to his ageing mother.
After trying at grocery stores, bookshops, etc. without success, he secured a job as a security guard. Mind you, here was someone with a great job at the VRA (Volta River Authority) in Ghana, a much-coveted post in Ghana, now reduced to a security guard. The late Mr. Donkor, a schoolmate of mine from Prempeh College had opened his own security company, so I hooked Kofi up, thus securing him two security jobs! To give you a sense of how hardworking Kofi was, his job sites were in the City of Commerce. He had to take five buses in order to get to work, which usually started from 5 p.m.
Kofi never flinched. He was focused. Within three months of staying with me, he had saved enough money to move into his own apartment. Even as he worked these hard gigs, Kofi never forgot the folks back home. Within a year of his arrival, he had saved enough money to renovate the village house for his mother. In the interim, he started taking Spanish classes at Trade Tech. It was a breeze for him as he had minored in French at the University of Cape Coast. Before long, he had passed the language test, the CBEST, California Basic Education Standard Test, and secured an emergency teaching credential and assigned to a bilingual classroom at Arlington Heights Elementary School.
At Arlington Heights Elementary School where he spent all his teaching career, he stood out as an excellent teacher who was highly respected by his peers. The outpouring of grief from the staff was palpable. See what one teacher wrote from the school.
While teaching, he obtained a teachers’ scholarship to complete a master’s degree and a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential at Chapman College. He also obtained a second master's degree in Healthcare Administration from the University of Phoenix.
Kofi was in constant communication with Amma, Nana Amma, Alice and brothers and sisters back in Ghana. When Gina and Nana joined him in 2000, it was pure joy. He moved into a decent apartment in Inglewood to provide a comfortable living environment for his family. Nana Amma who was in 3rd grade at the time, excelled. The teachers wondered how come someone who just arrived from Ghana knew so much. Of course, the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.
When it was time for Nana Amma to attend High School after Curtis Middle, Kofi knew as an educator to seek the best opportunity for her. I don’t know how he did it, but before I knew he had enrolled Nana Amma at the prestigious California Academy for Math and Science affiliated with Cal State Dominguez Hills. This is how much he cared about the welfare of his family.
In the interim, he purchased a house in La Paz, Accra and a two-plot land at Seperman in the suburb of Accra where he started construction on a five bed-room house.
Around 2005, he started experiencing stomach problems. The physicians at Kaiser couldn’t locate the causes of the pain. Ultimately, he had major surgery to determine what was amiss. They found nothing. When I visited him, he lamented that he would not live long enough to see Nana Amma graduate from college. But Kofi is a fighter. He went through treatments as the years wore on. Nana Amma graduated from Duke. He brought Alice, a beautiful lady from a previous relationship, along. He fought for his brother and nephews multiple times to emigrate without success.
The past five years have been arduous. He was in out of the hospital. Nana Amma, Alice, and Gina all chipped in as a family as Kofi’s condition grew serious. Sadly, on Saturday, May 9th, he succumbed.
Kofi had deep faith. On June 10th, 2017 he invited me to the Breath of Life Seventh Day Adventist Church (Ghanaian Fellowship), where he was the lay preacher of the day. HIs sermon was entitled: “It is Finished.” In the sermon, he alluded to the “F” word! FREE! Meaning, God’s Grace is Free for those who want it and that in every stage of our lives, we can claim, like Jesus did: It is Finished. I mourn my brother-in-law. He was funny, frank, and a no-nonsense guy who spoke his mind without fear.
Rest in Peace, Akonta, till we all meet again.
