body-container-line-1
19.06.2014 Feature Article

Change: My Very Own. A Master Peace Story, 1.

Change: My Very Own. A Master Peace Story, 1.
19.06.2014 LISTEN

If you ask me what difference will a simple 'WhatsApp' status of an unknown young man, somewhere unknown in Ghana, make in the campaign to Bring Back Our Girls; my answer will be fairly simple. That's how change begins. It's really starts small. Sometimes it even starts from an unknown place with virtually no hope of success. Sometimes it does not need to be as brilliant an idea as mPedigree. It just has to be.

Where I come from you do not need much to inspire a generation. It's also a place many strange things happen. It's easy for poverty to 'stumble upon you'; you become familiar with the struggles of many young people. You even get to live the dreams of many should you be fortunate enough to take a step further.

At the very extreme, a child gets beheaded by a relative for rituals. A husband slays the wife and throws her to the street, then hangs himself afterwards.

People are cursed and killed for stealing farm products to feed the family.

These are not fairy tales. They are real stories and hunt anyone who survives it. It also compels you to comeback and contributes.

Myself I had to walk hundreds of miles to school contrary to my right to accessibility, provided for in the 1992 Constitution.

Out of compulsion I knew my growing had to take a step away and provide an avenue to inspire a new thinking. Then I realised, that will not only require hard work and ambition but also the right catalyst.

Without hope it was obvious I had to seek everything elsewhere. This required both travel and integration. It also required surviving subversive marginalisation and the struggle for acceptance.

These were not in isolation. My birth had my identity in contention. For years there has been a chieftaincy feud between my people and its neighbouring community. Resolving this has left many wounded with millions of Ghana Cedis 'lined in the pockets of some learned elites'.

So for me peace was non-negotiable and in no way a subject in compromise. It was an obvious choice. My greatest challenge then was how to confront this good as I had nothing except my learning.

Without much, I joined two of my college friends to make the over fifteen-year schooling beneficial to the many people I have left behind.

The idea was a simple one. To mobilise both people and funding to create the opportunities that has never existed and in itself promote unity among the growing youth.

So in the first semester of 2008, we developed a concept for a not-for-profit. It was to promote every community as just and inhabitable by all. We also engaged elders whom we thought could serve as our trustees. Interesting enough Society for All Foundation never was.

Yet I never despaired. I was even more determined to make my mark; but this time with my friends back home.

With a couple from different colleges, we launched the Youth Development Alliance in 2008 to mobilise grassroot youth for change and participation. Since its formation, 'YDA' has led dialogue and participation among both young and the old. We have also connected people and ideas from adjoining communities to enhance mutual co-existence. It was in no surprise that in 2011 we won a small grant from the French embassy through 'CDD Ghana and WERENGO'.

Then in 2012 we helped two people realise their dream of a secondary education by paying the remaining of their admission fees

For me this was not enough, and so in 2010, at the age of 24, I was compelled to contest in a district level election with 56 and 46 year olds to win the bid to represent four communities at the local government assembly. Although I did not win I knew I had spoken. I knew it's my very own.

Today I am also volunteering for an NGO that is creating the platform for young Africans to actualise their vision and relive Africa in an agricultural sense.

All these may be small and unknown but for me that's how change begins. YDA may be struggling. But that's how great institution starts.

NB: Thanks to this Ngoanyana, I now blog for peace and this is my very first title in the series. This story has also been submitted for the Masterpeace Storytelling competition. I will be glad to have you visit my blog on the Masterpeace website. Most importantly I will be glad to have your comments. This is my very own. I am waiting for yours.

body-container-line