Ghana and the Lottery Visa by Bismark

My mother’s name is Augustina Ampong.  She was born in Monso, Ghana, in West Africa.  Ampong is a traditional African name and has no special meaning. Her parents, An Yeboaa and Kojo Nsia also came from a village in Ghana.  She lived with her parents along with several of her siblings.  She remembers living in the home like it was a community. They shared cooking among other chores. One particular memory she recalls is that the family always had dinner together.  She came to Chicago after entering a lottery for a visa.  She met my father at a school in Monso, Ghana where they both worked. They got married in Monso.

My father’s name is Daniel Gyebi.  Gyebi is a typical Ashanti name.  He too was born in a village in Ghana. It was named Achiau. He remembers his primary daily chore was to walk to a nearby stream every morning before school to collect the day’s water for the family.  He too won a lottery to come to Chicago.  He was a teacher where my mother worked as a secretary. 

People have asked about the lottery visa.  Every year the USA has a Green Card lottery for foreigners who want to live there.  About 50,000 people every year are granted a visa.  Not all countries are eligible and the eligibility status changes every year. For 2015, I looked up the countries on the government website who can’t apply because more than 50,000 people came from there in the past 5 years. Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, China (mainland born), Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, South Korea,  United Kingdom (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and Vietnam. If you read my list, you can see that Ghana is not on it and so people from Ghana are eligible.