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Meet George Anyaba; the man who 'parented' his 5 siblings at age 15

By MyJoyOnline
General News Meet George Anyaba; the man who 'parented' his 5 siblings at age 15
JAN 23, 2015 LISTEN

He knew nothing about parenting but when their extended family deserted them completely after their parents' deaths, 15-year-old George Anyaba took up the role of a mother and father for his five other siblings.

Love, it is said, conquers all except poverty and toothache. No one feels the pain from the two conditions except the persons suffering from them. 

For George, the former was the case of his parents whom with four children -including himself- migrated from northern Ghana to Accra with the hope of making life more comfortable. 

They pieced together discarded tomato boxes and used them to put up a make-shift structure which served as shelter while they struggled to make ends meet at the 'St. John's' market which has been relocated to Dome in the Ga East Municipality of Accra.

Narrating his story on the Super Morning Show on Joy FM, Friday, January 23, 2015, George said the family was about to feel some relief after his father got a job as “watchman” at the St. John's Grammar School but little they did they know the man was going to return to his days of alcoholism.

At this stage, his mother decided to take her destiny into her hands by engaging in trading in and around the market to sponsor the education of George and his three siblings. 

His dad would later fall sick of what the family suspected was linked to excessive consumption of alcoholic beverage and was admitted to the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. At this point, George's younger brother, Charles had also fallen ill and was receiving treatment at the hospital.

Their mum had to put her business of cooking beans popularly known as 'YƆ kÉ› gari' on hold to provide care for her husband and son on their sick beds at the hospital. George took the responsibility of taking over the business to raise funds to support his mother while at the same time providing care for his other two siblings.

“It was kind of a tough decision for my mother to do because as she was taking care of my sick brother [Charles] my dad was also sick at the hospital”.

Unable to bear the situation, George said his mother had to make a difficult decision- to spend the little they made on his brother's medical bills to save his life at the expense of his father.   

“So it happened that my mother said to me, 'George, let me allow your father to go [die]' and then save my brother Charles. That was a very tough decision…she couldn't get the money to be able to save my father so she had to let him die”.

Charles still limps on his right limb since their mother could not raise the money needed in full to fund surgery on that leg.

As is custom of people of northern Ghana, George's mother was made to marry his late father's brother against her wish. This man, a drug dealer who was always being pursued by the police, also fathered two children with the widow. 

Fortunately or, unfortunately, George's mother became a widow for the second time when her in-law-turned-husband also died. In 1998, this “wonderful mother” as described by George, also passed on and by default passed on the responsibility of parenting to her 15-year-old son- who took care of his five siblings plus himself as well as feeding and paying their school fees. He did all that through the savings he made from cooking beans and selling it which he inherited from his mother.

They slept on benches and had to stand on their feet for hours, whenever it rained in the night simply because, their make-shift wooden structure cannot provide them the shelter children desired to enable them dream into their future. 

Turning point
Holding the host of the Show, Kojo Yankson and his 'surprise' guest Dr. Korshie Dumor spell-bound, George said he dropped out of Secondary School after missing two terms consecutively, to sell the beans to take care of his siblings.

His had praise for his Chemistry teacher at St. John's Grammar School, Mrs. Lamiorkor Benson currently the Assistant Registrar at the Wisconsin International University College, Ghana.  

“It was through the love of one woman [Mrs. Benson] at St John's Grammar School…she decided to take it upon herself to find…to seek for help for us”.

Her hard work found the six children hope when they were received by the Village of Hope Orphanage at Gomoa –Fetteh in the Central Region where “for the first time I slept on a mattress; for the first time I could wake up and not think about what to eat [and] for the first time I could use a water closet”.

George was lucky to benefit from a scholarship package by Cal Bank to enable him return to secondary school. He eventually graduated from the Valley View University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration.

Thanks to Mrs. Benson, one of George's siblings is also studying at the Wisconsin International University College, Ghana. 

George sums his story in his book titled “The Street Boy in Suit” which tells the story of love; about how the little show of love can transform the life of a disadvantaged person and the persons' resolve to take advantage of that love to work hard to succeed in life and reciprocate it to other disadvantaged people.  

He is now helping the poor and underprivileged children in Dome where he struggled with life, by providing them with skills in information communication technology free of charge. 

The first group has already finished their training are expected to graduate in March, 2015, he stated.    Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com | Jerry Tsatro Mordy | [email protected]

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