What happened to our childhood

Being born in the 1990’s, living through Two (2) Millenniums, Two (2) Centuries and three (3) Decades, yet still not Thirty years (30). Being a little boy with a junior brother I loved with all I had and all I could afford, from stealing my mother’s coins she always left on the TV or on the table to picking meat in the cooking pot while she wasn’t around, I had pretty much a normal childhood. Having stayed in Madina in the Greater Accra Region during my childhood days, I always loved it when my friends said let’s go to “KenKeley Park” to play, we would run around the whole place having no worries, full of energy and a real definition of Innocence written all over faces.

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Growing up was like a happily ever after, no bills to worry about since we never even knew something like “Tax” ever existed, never worried about mobile phones since our friends were always nearby or we could just make a meeting point, never really cared about designer clothes or expensive kicks.

After a few years we realized that we needed to be serious in school since all successful people we heard of were educated in a way. This gave rise to us wanting to be Lawyers, Doctors, Ministers and other professions.

We got to know of computers and loved to play the likes of Alien Shooter, we got introduced to the internet and “Friv.com” became our friend every day after school, as our intelligence became sharper we discovered Facebook.com, Omegle.com, yahoo.com, amongst others, at that time we used it to talk to our friends and got to make new friends.

Then a game came into play and that was Internet Fraud or Scam as some would put it, where by a person (The Fraudster) impersonates another person, usually a military personnel, a model or any professionalism they wish to impersonate.

This has become the life now in Ghana, were people lie to others, play with their feelings and get them to send them money or anything they wish, it is bad to an extent that some victims commit suicide because of the effects it has on them, some borrow money to send to the fraudsters thinking they are actual people they’re in a relationship with, but in the end they realize it was nothing but a lie and they have to take care of the loan they had taken. Yet the sad part is that many youths in Ghana term this as hustle.

what’s the hustle in this?

What’s fun about playing with someone’s feelings and sincerity?

I’ve asked these questions several times and realized that all they care about is the money they would get and the new iphones they would purchase.

When I ask for the reason they do so all I get is that, the colonizers took our gold and natural resources so they are taking them back…And I say, they acted like dogs doesn’t mean we should act the same.

The youth of Ghana has made fraud and all its kind a norm such that even if someone isn’t into it, the person feels like an outsider. But even after all these happening some people stay true to themselves and frown upon Internet Fraud.

I know many might hate me and say otherwise but the truth always hurts when it hits you like a truck, I wish the world gets to know of this and safeguard themselves from Internet fraudsters.

Thank you for reading.