Peggielene Bartels - King Peggy: An American Secretary, Her Royal Destiny, and the Inspiring Story of How She Changed an African Village

Copyright 2012 by Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman

All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

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Insert photographs copyright 2012 by Sarah Preston
Cartography by Mapping Specialists
Cover design by John Fontana
Cover photograph Deborah Feingold

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Bartels, Peggielene
King Peggy : An American secretary, her royal destiny, and the inspiring story of how she changed an African village / Peggielene Bartels and Eleanor Herman. 1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Bartels, Peggielene, 1953TravelGhanaOtuam. 2. GhanaKings and rulersBiography. 3. AmericansGhanaBiography. 4. GhanaSocial life and customs21st century. 5. Secretaries Washington (D.C.)Biography. I. Herman, Eleanor, 1960 II. Title.
DT512.44.B36A3 2011
966.7dc23
[B]
2011019544

eISBN: 978-0-385-53433-8

v3.1

To my mother, Madam Mary E. Vormoah, who was my best friend and made me the woman I am today.

PB

To the people of Otuam, and all the Otuams around the world, for their hope and joy in the face of poverty.

EH

In the dream Peggy was back in Kumasi, a child again, walking home from school in her sky blue uniform with the round white collar. Usually the path was dusty in the dry season, pocked with puddles in the rainy season, but now it was smooth as marble; her black sandals glided over it and her feet remained clean.

The sky was a bright turquoise vault above her head, so beautiful it broke the heart, and the warm golden sun on her shoulders felt like a loving embrace. Just as she had every school day when she lived in Kumasi, in the dream she walked behind the kings palace, a rambling brick structure painted blue and white and built around a large courtyard where royal festivities were held. The Ashanti king of Kumasi, known as the Asantehene, was a very important leader with millions of subjects, and he was rich beyond measure because he owned some of the biggest gold mines in the world. All day at his palace, important visitors were coming and goingtribal priests, elders, government ministers, ambassadors, chairmen of important companies, and humble people asking him for justice.

She stood outside the rear of the palace and looked at it, wondering what was going on in there. But there was nothing for her, a skinny little girl, in a kings palace. And so she glided down the marble path to her home.

Because Peggy had the dream so many times she knew it must be a message from the spirit world. Like many Africans, Peggy understood that dreams meant something. They were not just random thoughts, fears, or hopes, or something from dinner irritating your intestines. Sometimes a dream was a message from God or Jesus, or from your ancestors, or even from the better part of yourself talking to the stupid part of yourself. Dreams were like encoded letters from the spirit world that must be carefully decoded and interpreted. They guided you in your choices, warned you of deception and accidents, or showed you the future.

What does the dream mean, Mother? Peggy asked when she called her mother in Ghana.

Mother thought about it a long while. Its been thirty years since you walked behind that palace to go to school in Kumasi, Mother said. Perhaps its just a memory.

But why would I have it so often, thirty years later? Peggy insisted. Here I am living in the United States all this time; theres nothing to remind me of the kings palace in Kumasi. The dream has to mean something.

A moment of silence dangled in the transatlantic air. Peggy could picture Mothers long smooth face and shining dark eyes as she considered the question. Finally, she said, Pray for God and the ancestors to show you what the dream means, Peggy. Perhaps, in time, they will.

Mother was right. God and the ancestors would show Peggy the meaning of the dream in their own time, but it would be long after Mother had joined them.