Kosa Sanders: To Africa And Back Again

Student bridges cultures, growing up in San Francisco and Ghana

Claudette Rogers ― SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Nkosazana ― a name charming in sound and rarely heard in the States. It is an African word meaning, "princess" and while Kosa may not rule a far and distant land, she is embraced by the people around her because she is a survivor of hardship.

Kosa Sanders, a student at the City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco, has lived a majority of her life in the country of Ghana, located in West Africa.

Kosa moved with her family from San Francisco to Ghana at the age of four with a mother's hope that her children would be instilled with a high moral code. Children spoke only with other children as an act of respect to adults. "Due to the strict socializing in Ghana, there wasn't much freedom to socialize."

Looking back now, Kosa appreciates the limitations of this social act and understands the moral code her mother strove to teach her. "I think it was respectful [because] as you go out into the environment, you'll be able to interact with others like your own age and you see the kind of respect they have for their parents."

But for Kosa, Ghana was not an obstacle, a country known for its divided identities, but a place to call home. "Getting the opportunity to grow up in an African country was an honor an I have no idea when I will have such an honor again. I was able to learn about other traditions and cultures within the continent. This helped me to overcome the challenge of being close minded and ignorant of other parts of Africa."

Kosa returned to the Bay Area when she was 14, moving in with her 91-year-old grandmother. Her mother stayed behind in Africa. The transition to an American high school was unsettling. Unlike Africa, students were less respectful, and louder.

"I was once again reminded of the challenge to adapt to a new culture…due to my ability to adapt to my environment I was able to rise above and strive to be the best that I could be. I was pressured into acting like other children roaming the streets…in the end...I realized I wasn't benefiting from hanging around with them."

Kosa had to grow up fast and care for her grandmother. "I get up at 5 every morning so I don't want to wake her," Kosa said. "I just lay there, I don't call her old. I call her young lady. Keeping her [spirits up] as best I can and just trying to keep her happy and laughing is the best way."

But Kosa's biggest challenge came last summer, when her mother died of breast cancer in Ghana. Kosa remembers her mother's selfless concern for others and her desire for her to get the education she (her mother) never had. She holds tight those memories.

Kosa connects with her past through dance and finds solace in the people around her. "I like to observe [people]," says a contemplative Kosa. Maybe her quiet nature is because of what she learned in Ghana or maybe it is because princess Nkosazana was meant to reach out to people with a different type of leadership.

Her teacher Karen Bioski shares similar sentiments about the magnanimity of Kosa's persona behind the reserved demeanor. "Kosa possesses a reserved demeanor that captures the attention and respect of her peers. When she first began in my classes she was painfully shy, barely sharing any of herself with her fears…slowly she blossomed into the Kosa I know today," Bioski said. "She has demonstrated not only the skill but also the ability to inspire and guide her peers…You would never see her raising her voice nor lead in the bossy manner common to emerging leaders."

At the end of the interview, Kosa goes into detail about an intriguing African pastime called knit craft, a form of knitting requiring the use of thin palm tree needles. While Kosa may simply knit for fun, she also seems to be knitting all the threads of her life experiences into one stunning masterpiece of a person. But it is not about the individual threads; it's about the piece as a whole. "I try as much as I can to not let my past affect my future… take everything in the past as a lesson and grow from it," she said.

Kosa will go to college next fall and will possibly study medicine but is anxious to see where her passions take her.

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