Richard Atsu Semabia

Date of Birth: 1998

Place of Birth:

Date of Admission: March 2009

Language spoken: Ewe

School: Delta Preparatory School

Class: Primary One

Atsu and Etse, 7, are twins. Etse is quietly determined. If you ask him a question, and he doesn’t know the answer, he will mull it over until he finally comes up with one. Sometimes not until 10 minutes later. Atsu is funny. He laughs if I talk in a silly voice to the other volunteers even when he doesn’t understand what I’m saying. Both of them work really hard to obey the ‘English only during school time’ rule. They are really good translators; I like to have them give me lessons in Ewe. The rest of the kids, when they want to show you something, say “see” instead of “look.” For months now, Atsu has been patiently correcting them. The other day the twins and I were outside doing laundry, they were helping me, like they always do, and Love said “see” about something. Atsu pointed a finger at him and said, firmly, “Last time. [Pause] look, not see.” Still not quite sure where he got ‘last time’ from, but it was genius.

Richard was brought to the orphanage in March 2009 along with his twin brother Richmond. Richard now attends school in Kpando. He likes playing football, reading and helping the younger ones. He would like to be a contractor in future.