Dear GhanaWeb: My wife squandered all the money I sent her for our projects

Dear GhanaWeb,

I’m a 36-year-old man who has been married for five years. We have a four-year-old daughter. I left to study abroad after the first year of marriage on a scholarship to do my masters for two years, after which I stayed back, worked a little and returned home because I couldn’t stay permanently.

Even while I was in school, I still worked and saved some amount of money, which I usually sent home to my wife to use for herself and do some projects. She was working full time, so I expected her to use what I normally sent her for the projects we were doing.

In all, I’ll say I sent over $80,000 while in school for the two-year period and the one year after which I worked, I sent close to $60,000 before returning home.

She is my wife, and I trusted her so I didn’t even ask for accountability because I expected that we would grow together. We agreed on buying a land and building.

I wanted a particular structure, but she suggested another and I agreed. Since I returned over five months ago, it’s been one excuse from the other. No house to show and the money is gone. The pictures she sent me were all fake.

I feel so betrayed. Almost GH¢2 million is not much money, but spending that amount on something you can’t account for in three years is too much.

The worst part is sending me fake pictures. What kind of a wife would think like that? Scamming her own husband?

I barely ate anything proper while I was away. I cleaned toilets and did all manner of dirty jobs just to raise that money. She knows what I went through. Sometimes, I called her on video while working.

She can’t account for the money. I should have just gone to study and come home. I’ll start over; it just hurts that my own wife did this to me. I’m back to renting while I work.

She didn’t know I was returning. I surprised her. I’m sure her plan was to keep me suffering abroad while she enjoys herself at home. I never cheated on her while I was away.

I was focused, just wanted to do something to make my family proud. I filed for a divorce. Now she thinks there’s more to it than me wanting a divorce. She led me on, sending me images and making me work harder and harder everyday.

Am I wrong for filing for a divorce? I never wanted a broken home and for our daughter’s sake, but she really hurt me. I can’t even stand her now. What should I do now?

FG/AE

Watch the promo to GhanaWeb's latest documentary, which uncovers the evolution of ‘kayamata,' an exploitative practice fueled by love charms and manipulation, titled, “The Dark Side of Kayamata,' below: