It was my friend who said she knew someone who could help us get money to live the kind of life we wanted. I didn’t want much. All I needed was money to pay my school and hostel fees, and also have something in my purse to live a comfortable life without resorting to men.

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I relied on men when I was in level 100. I couldn’t even get time to study. At one point I was dating four guys. They gave me very little money but demanded a lot from me. I realized my dream wasn’t going to happen with these guys so I sought an easier route.

My friend took us to another friend of hers who said she knew a spiritual woman who could help. Immediately I heard “spiritual,” I took a step back. They assured me it wasn’t bloody or scary and also much wasn’t expected from us. We only needed to pay money to get what we wanted. When we did the math, the whole thing was around GHC700.

I followed them to see the woman. She didn’t look scary – just a normal woman in plain clothes with many perfumes in her hall. We deposited the money in a bowl before seeing her one after the other to tell her what we needed. “I need money to take me through life. I’m struggling. It’s hard. Not too much but something to make life easy,” I recounted.

She asked if I brought someone specific. I shook my head. She said, “No problem. I will help you.”

She gave me a bottle of perfume and a little container containing hand cream. She said, “Go out there. When you meet a man you think has the money you need, apply the perfume and the cream on your hand before you shake hands with him.”

We started going to places we would meet rich men. I didn’t have money so I didn’t go out often. My friend did and just a few weeks later, I saw the manifestation. She was buying phones, changed her hostel, and bought clothes rich girls wore.

One afternoon I was going to the bank when a man stopped and asked where I was going. I loved the car and the fragrance in it. He was good-looking too but unfortunately, I didn’t have my cream and perfume with me. He took me to the bank and took my number.

Weeks later, he proposed and we started dating. I didn’t use the cream or the perfume on him. My friend advised I use it but I kept pushing it to another day, hoping he might be tight-fisted so I would apply it on him. But he wasn’t. He gave freely and bountifully. I only had to tell him my problem and he would solve it for me.

I told my friend I didn’t need the perfume so we should return it. She said I couldn’t but I should keep it maybe one day I would need it. I dated this man throughout my levels in school until I completed my national service and through him got a job.

When I was leaving school, I broke the perfume bottle and threw the cream away. I was convinced I didn’t need it. The man was enough. It was when I started working that this man got married to another woman. I was crushed. The excuse was his age but I didn’t have any problem with that. He was only eleven years older. He said his family wasn’t going to allow him to marry me. He had two children already but all that didn’t matter to me.

After his marriage, he wanted us to continue but I cut him off. A year later, I met Andrew. We dated for two years but he married another woman. I met Peter. He married another woman. I met Efo too – he married a woman from his hometown and told me she was forced on him. I saw the trend and thought, “Hmmm this is not ordinary.”

Meanwhile, that friend of mine who led me to the place and applied the cream and perfume had married long ago with two kids, but I was still going through life facing one disappointment after the other.

I called her and asked if my situation was a result of what we did. She laughed at me. She said, “Ah, you still remember that? I’ve forgotten ooo.” And then laughed at the things we did when we were young.

I’ve met men of God. I’ve sown seeds bigger than my yearly income. I’ve fasted and prayed. I’ve stood on the mountain top to pray. I’ve rolled to the bottom of the valley to pray too. Nothing helps. These days, the men don’t even approach me. I’m thirty-eight. All is not well.

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I want to go back to the woman to seek understanding but it also feels like I’m turning my back against God to search for understanding from what He Himself created. But what should I do to get help? This is what keeps me awake at night. Materially, I’m OK. But emotionally, I’m limping. I need balance. Where do I get that from?

—Josephine

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