As a finale, I thought I’d be a little bold and try to tell a couple of stories – true stories of people who I will always remember; people who represent Saboba (the area which I lived), Africa and development to me. People who give me hope for development despite all the challenges and people who simply inspire me in my everyday life.
Story 1:
This story starts with a young boy who comes from an uneducated and poor family. He fell in love with building and constructing things from a young age. His parents saw something in him from a young age; a passion, ambition, and talent that they knew they had to support. Although, they could not afford by themselves to send him to school, they save as much as they can and rely on other family members and the community. They are able to send their young son to Primary School and eventually for vocational school for construction and surveying. By that time, the boy has become a young adult and despite wanting to go for further schooling (university), he knows he has to work to support his parents and his new family. For 15 years, he works as hard as he can for the local government in his hometown. He becomes one of the most respected people in the entire District (Saboba) through his hard work, talent for his job (supervising the construction of infrastructure), and most of all for his honesty and genuine care for his people. After 15 years at the age of 40, he takes another shot at his dream of going to university. Through his incredible preparation (I was able to witness the days of working at his job and late nights of studying for the exam), he gains admission to one of the best universities in the country. Knowing he still has his family to support (he has three boys he is sending to school), he continues with his full-time job (where he still works harder than anybody else already) and takes admissions (as a Distance student) to the university. He now travels 6 hours (one way) almost every weekend to attend classes, studies late nights, early mornings, lunch breaks, on the bus for assignments / quizzes / exams while contuning his full-time job. It’s hard to say what I admire most about this man: the fact that he has never complained about anything, that he expects the absolute best from himself at school and work, that he cares so much about his wife and 3 boys (he won’t travel back home without getting a gift for each of them no matter how small it is), that he maintains the utmost honesty and integrity in a government where he could easily take with no questions from anybody, or that despite his incredibly busy schedule that he still does favours for anybody from his District (last week, he was creating a design for a church block on the computer for a local pastor).
Story 2:
I only found about the background to this girl recently from someone else but it just makes her story that much more amazing. This girl has always been one of my favourite students. She is very smart and has always worked incredibly hard. She cares so much that when she does not do well in school, she won’t talk to anybody for at least half and hour but soon after she is trying to find out everywhere she has gone wrong and where she can improve. I originally thought this girl was about 13-14 (that is the average age of Junior school which she is in). But a friend told me the following: this girl was from an extremely poor community and was set up for a marriage when she was 14 (this is a common practice still in rural areas). She did not want to do it and wanted more than anything to go school. She convinced her father but the community in which they lived would not accept it. So they two had to leave everything and start a whole new life in town. It took years for the father to save any small money to send his daughter to school. She is now in her early twenties surrounded by fellow students 6-7 years her junior. You would never think to see it. She absolutely loves school, dreams of being a doctor (she says she wants to help everyone) and speaking with her dad, he says he is so happy and proud of her (recently a “Spelling Competition” was held for over 15 students from different schools. He was the first person to show up and only parent to attend). It is still really tough for them; he works all day, every day to save up money to support his daughter while she goes to school during the days, cooks and cleans during the mornings/evenings, and studies late into the night. But knowing what they have been through, there is no doubt that they will make it.
Maybe these aren’t the typical stories you hear from Africa – the hungry children and corrupt leaders. Nor are they the triumphant biographies of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf or Nelson Mandela. They are a couple of ordinary people, like many others, who have persevered and continue to fight to follow their dreams, support their family and live a decent life. I know we have not found the right solution yet for development, but remembering these two reminds me that we have to keep fighting because there are thousands of others who are in even tougher positions and don’t have any chance at all.
Personally, they help me remember the fact that we can NEVER EVER stop trying in whatever we want to do. Whether it is trying to make a difference in the world, going back to school, working in a job that you dream of, whatever it is; it can be done. It is easy to get discouraged by bumps in the road or what people say – I know I am guilty of that often. It’s oversimplified but if people like these two can do it, we can do it. We have to keep believing in ourselves and in each other.
Well…that is the end of my time in Ghana. I wanted to thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for all of your support. I would not have been able to get through anything without you. I am so grateful for everything and pray that I can be as good as family and friends to you as you have been to me. Best wishes and much love.
