Beatrice Adoko was born northeast of here in Banga. She is 58 years old.
Bea's father, Marmash Adoko was a chieftain in Banga. Actually, he was THE chief of Banga, which means Bea was born a princess. Luckily for Bea, she was born of Marmash's primary wife. This gave her many privileges that her "junior sisters" (siblings from the junior wives) did not. Because Marmash was a chief, he could take as many as 17 wives. But he only took 4.
Marmash grew up with his tribal religion but was converted to Christianity by Baptist missionaries. After that, he encouraged, but did not force, all his people in Banga to embrace Jesus who he studied with great interest. Marmash liked the idea of Jesus going from home to home telling parables, so he did the same in Banga and often took Bea with him. Bea laughs when she talks about this because she is sure that he mixed up the parts of many stories, but everyone listened with great interest because, after all, Marmash was the chief! And even when he told a parable wrong, and Bea knew it was wrong, she knew better than to correct her father.
Because Bea was from the primary wife, she received a good education and all the "things" a tribal princess could want. Her junior sisters were not so lucky - most are house servants. Bea was distraught though because her father kept wanting to arrange marriages for her and she wanted to marry for love. Love takes time, as the song goes, so when Bea was 25 and unmarried, her father became concerned. It didn't phase Bea though because, like I said, she wanted to marry for love.
George's guardian was Marmash's body guard - and that's how George and Bea met. They fell in love and Marmash eventually agreed to the marriage since, as the "son" of a body guard, George was practically family and was already a Christian, which to Marmash, was one less thing to worry about. It took him a year to decide because George was orphaned and poor, and, Bea thinks, Marmash was hoping Bea would find another man she'd like better. A man of more means. But George worked hard to get Marmash to like him, and received his blessing for the wedding. They had a good relationship after that because Marmash liked the way George treated Bea, that he graduated from the university, and because George always brought gifts from Accra to Marmash whenever he could.
George and Bea had one daughter who they lost shortly after birth. Other than that, they had no children of their own. However, George's job kept him away from home a lot - and Bea raised many children over the years: two nephews, a niece, a few orphans. At this time, there are 17 children who refer to Bea as "mother." Two are as far away as England and Germany. So while she has no biological children, her kindness and influence has spread far and wide.
The child support program that gives uniforms, shoes and school supplies to needy students was Bea's idea. She used to visit the schools, looking for children that she could personally help. She noted very bright-eyed, eager students who were unkempt, had not even a pencil, and did not eat regularly. And she decided to do something about it. Well, she told George to get the Upper West Science Foundation to do something about it!
Marmash had only daughters - 6 of them - so his brother became chief after his death in 2003. The male succession is unfortunate because Bea would make a great Banga chief.
Here is a photo of Bea in traditional dress. The pattern of the dress is called Kente, and it is a traditional Ghanaian cloth.
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