The little village lying south of the Achimota School is called Anumle, ‘the bell is heard’. In one of the nicely lined up and two-roomed quarters, a woman lived with her husband, a workman in the local workshops, and their daughter of just over eighteen years.

The time of the day was a very cold and chilly morning, with the fog almost obscuring any object barely fifty yards on. The roosters in the vicinity sounded their second shrill clarion on the approach of daylight. Just over there, in front of Mami Yaa's husband's quarters, Ama lighted up the hearth's fire to prepare the day's hawking meal of pap, otherwise known as koe-koe. Within the next hour, the large earthenware black pot was fuming furiously away with the heat of the carefully prepared breakfast. At the chime of the school clock tower for 6.30 a.m., the first announcement for a ready breakfast came with Mami Yaa's first hawking song of the day koe-koe. And Ama quickly responded with anuor-tea-ei-blodooo! the usual invitation to the customers to buy the loaf of bread as well as the pap, as they came with their pans for their two-penny, or three-penny scoop of koe-koe. With almost all the nearby buyers’ tail finished, Ama folded up her soft rag pad to carry away the whole pot of pap. A young girl friend followed her with a wooden plateful of bread. At the first stop, at Mr. Adjei's quarters, she extended the old invitation—koe-koe—and scooping out his two-penny's worth, Mr. Adjei helped her away on to the next door.

Immediately Ama had left, Mami Yaa prepared for her the mixture for the morning's fry of tart. When she returned with a cloth knot of coppers, threepences, sixpences and shillings from the morning's hawking of koe-koe, she dropped down her empty pot to get ready the hot palm oil for the day's frying. With the first six tarts nicely done, she continued the day's second hawking song, ashie-ei-tatale-oo! ashie-ei-tatale-oo! Namo, baaye tatale-oo!—a very amiable invitation to the local residents, which sent the ‘kiddies’ weeping after their mammies for the coppers, and flocking off for a very enjoyable sweet.