The Ghana High Commission in Ottawa, Canada on August 10 had a send off party for two of its departing diplomats, who have been serving the mission and the Ghanaian community for the past four years. Mr. Anim, a diplomat at the mission, introduced Ms. Bernie and Mrs. Christina Adjatey, the departing diplomats, to a selected Ghanaian audience. Mr. Anim thanked them for their contribution to the growth of the Ghanaian-Canadian community. The departing diplomats thanked High Commissioner, Mr. Samuel Odoi-Sykes, 74, for ?counseling in the face of challenges? and their colleagues for ?supporting them? and said they have learnt valuable lessons while working in Canada. ?We thanked God for everything. We thank Mr. Odio-Sykes for being like a father,? said Mrs. Adjatey.

Despite loud claps, Mr. Odoi-Sykes joked that the audience were not clapping enough and that this is not the time for speeches but for merrymaking, and that people want to eat. Since 1963 Mr. Odoi-Sykes, despite being one of the top politicians in Ghana, has served the country in various diplomatic missions abroad. He recalled while serving in the United States in 1963 with his dearest wife, Edith, they had two of their four children (two boys and two girls) there and that when the children grew up they left them to the United States. He joked about how the two born in the United States often invite their mother but not him. And because of work, the family has not met together for years. The High Commissioner was happy that for the first time the family is meeting together not necessarily in Ghana but outside Ghana (when the choice of picking a diplomatic mission was passed to him he had wanted to stay in Ghana), coinciding with the departing of the two diplomats. This made ! for a double celebration, family and diplomatic staff brought together. Later, Mr. Odoi-Sykes introduced his children to the audience, joked about marriage, joked about how his two female children have changed their names, joked about people hungry and wanting to eat the sumptuous Chinese food. Mr. Kofi Danso-Manu, said the send off party was ?a pleasant way to spend a Saturday evening and meet fellow Ghanaians.?