Memories of 9-11 from a Diplomat's Daughter

I was in my Freshman year of high school when the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred.  Most of you probably remember the attacks happening the morning of September 11, 2001.  But for me, they happened the afternoon of that day because I was living in Accra, Ghana.

The last bell of the day had just rung, so I gathered up my stuff and headed for my locker.  But I noticed groups of people with worried looks on their faces huddled throughout the halls.  I found a group of my friends and joined in.

"The pentagon has been bombed!"
"The White House was hit by a plane!"
"The Embassy was bombed!"

This last one horrified me, because that's where my Daddy worked.

I immediately started running.  I didn't know where I was going, just that I had to find my brother and sister and someone to confirm or deny these statements I was hearing all around me.  I ran around like a decapitated chicken until one of the teachers yelled, "Hannah, all Embassy kids are meeting in the gym!"

Then I ran to the gym.

I found my brother and sister, and all the other kids whose parents worked at the US Embassy in Accra.  There was someone there from the Embassy to tell us that "No, the Embassy was not bombed, but two planes ran into the World Trade Center buildings in New York, and one into the Pentagon," and that we were all going to be escorted to our homes immediately, where our parents would be waiting for us and we were to stay inside our homes for the foreseeable future.   

I remember that bus ride as strangely calm.  All the Embassy kids usually rode the bus home together and were boisterous and loud, laughing and playing.  This ride was different.  We mostly sat in silence, stunned more than anything else, I think.

When I got home, I ran to my Daddy and gave him a big hug.

We ended up being in house-arrest in our home for about a week, while we waited to see if any US Embassies were targets as well.  We had just moved to Ghana a couple of weeks before, so our stuff had not yet arrived, including our computers and TV; so I never saw the footage of 9-11 until years later, in college.  But I did not need to see the footage to feel the tide change in US relations.  Maybe I felt it more than some, actually, because I am a Diplomat's daughter.

Our country will never be the same.  I will never forget what happened that day.