Kwei Quartey - Gold of Our Fathers

Red-red :black-eyed peas with fried ripe plantain cooked with palm oil and spices.

Tro-tro :passenger minivans, usually holding fifteen to twenty people.

Truck pushers:young men, usually in pairs, who move around town pushing four-wheeled carts bearing scrap metal and other loads.

Twi ( chwee ): one of the Akan languages.

Waakye (wah-chih) :rice and beans.

Wee :marijuana.

Whatsapp: a popular instant messaging app used by millions in Africa and other regions of the world (almost unknown in the USA).

Yaa nua (yeah-nwa) :reply to a formal greeting, e.g., Maakye, to someone of equivalent age.

Xièxiè (shieh-shieh) : thank you. (Chinese)

My sincere thanks to the following:

Lance Corporal Frank Antwi Boasiako, for his friendship and assistance with CID procedural details.

Daniel Osei Owusu, for information on Chinese miners in the Ashanti Region.

Kwame Obeng, for extensive tours of alluvial and deep mining sites in the Ashanti Region.

Chris, Charity, and Frank Scott, for their hospitality at Four Villages Inn, Kumasi.

Esi and Amowi Sutherland, for introduction to and tour of the lovely and inspirational Mmofra Park in Accra.

Sammy Mensah, for his unparalleled driving skills on treacherous rural roads.

Lukas Jones-Quartey, for inspiring one of Hosiah Dawson’s charming eccentricities.

Many thanks also to the two investigative reporters who shared invaluable information with me but wished to remain anonymous.

Kwei Quartey was raised in Ghana by an African American mother and a Ghanaian father, both of whom were university lecturers. Dr. Kwei Quartey practices medicine in Southern California, rising early in the morning to write before going to work.