The Day Mother Ghana Turned Her Back On Us....

It makes me sad to have to come to this conclusion, but in a few minutes, you'll agree with me. About two years ago, a contingent of 250 Ghanaians, including me, were airlifted to Cuba to study medicine. We, together with other compatriots who were there before us now number a little over 300.

For 10 months and counting, the government of Ghana has refused to fulfill her sir of the agreement we signed: that is paying us a monthly stipend for the duration of our study, and we, when we graduate, work exclusively for her.

In the beginning, when the stipends stopped coming, we resorted to borrowing from friends we made since arriving on the island. Now, we have to play hide-and-seek with those people, who by goodwill, lent us money.

With this monthly stipend, we pay our rents, buy our food and toiletries amongst others. In the absence of this, you can imagine what our lives have become. If you still don't get it, imagine your salary (assuming it's your only source of income) is delayed for 10 months. Got it?

We have come out several times to draw attention to our plight. Anytime we do this, the government of Ghana outsmarts us all including you reading this by playing wickedly with our emotions. They respond to our demands by telling everybody money has been sent. Well, hearing this, everyone jubilates and thinks the problem has been solved. Yet, this money never gets to us in Cuba. This is the trick our government has been playing on us.

If we were in our own country, even with or without the opportunity to study, at least we wouldn't have to suffer this psychological torture from our own democratically elected government. We took a bold decision to go out of our country to study, and return to serve our motherland, because the government assured us, by writing, that we have her support.

As you read this right now, some have graduated and cannot return to Ghana because our government has reneged on its promise to fund their return to Ghana after graduation. So what should they do to help themselves?

This is why I say mother Ghana has turned her back on us. Today we are the ones suffering this. Yesterday it was someone else. Tomorrow it might be you. Before you opine about this, just imagine if you were in our shoes. If we are to build a successful country, we must be each other's keeper. And we must be empathic – putting yourself in another's place.

If you agree with me, please take action. Get attention to our plight, and don't give up until it's solved. Next time, everyone else will join your fights for solutions to our countries development problems.

Thank you.
Farouk Adams
Havana, Cuba.
[email protected]