The girls in our group are quite lovely. They’re so smart, so beautiful and so very funny. They’re also compassionate and open-minded. Overall, they’re just great to be here with. And the more I think about it, brought to my attention most days by male Ghanaian passers-by while I’m out with one these gals, I realize something else: each of these ladies will make a wonderful wife for a very lucky man. So why not propose now, yeah?

It doesn’t matter whether or not these girls are already with partners back home, not interested, restricted by language barriers, or 30+ years younger than their pursuers. You don’t know if you don’t ask.

But these Ghanaian men, well, they sort of go about the whole proposal step a little differently than we are used to. While very polite (most of the time), they’re not shy. They do what so many timid souls are too scared to do. They know a good woman when they see one. They approach, hold their heads up, and either ask or just tell the girls that they want to be their husbands.

This style is rather brash, but the women are tough; each female has her own tactic to thwart the pursuer in question. “Sorry, I’m already married” usually does the trick. Or, “This is my husband” works too. This second response, while good for the girl, shifts the (quickly-turned negative) attention toward the male accompanying the female. But that’s OK by us.

These are the shields our girls use. I’m so proud of them. Stay tough. Keep crushing those hearts!