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28.02.2017 Opinion

“There Is A Great Man Who Makes Every Man Feel Small. But The Real Great Man Is The Man Who Makes Every Man Feel Great”

…..The story of a great man
By Sherif Ghali
There Is A Great Man Who Makes Every Man Feel Small. But The Real Great Man Is The Man Who Makes Every Man Feel Great
28.02.2017 LISTEN

Well this man was born in Abeka, Accra on February 28, 1973 alongside two other brothers:

Due to degeneration of relationships between his parents, his dad had to stop work with Ghana Commercial Bank and resettle in Wa after his request for an official transfer was declined. As his Dad put it “I cannot stand the mental torture of thinking that the most priceless heavenly gift in his life (Kids) would have to move to and fro school without anybody’s guide. The agony exacerbates when I consider them crossing roads in the mix of reckless motorists."

This period ushered this great man and his little brothers into a new life, a marked departure from the urban life to an almost hellish village peasant life. Let me hasten to add that latter in the story, you will understand that, these austere experiences shaped his unrelenting sense of concern and sacrifice for the deprived, in his later years of life. This great man by true life experience can tell you what poverty really is and not the $1 a day standard prescribed by development literature and tooted by the Britton Woods Institutions.

After securing a watchman job at the Wa Regional Hospital, his Dad went back to Accra to bring his little brother, who was still with his mom. After eight years of separation, there were attempts to reconcile his mom and Dad but his dad could not come to terms with the fact that his mom walked out on the family and so declined.

It is worth stating that for the life of his Dad, till his final year in Lawra Senior Secondary School in 1993 he did not see his dad with any girlfriend. He was witnesses to advances from very nice girls but his Dad never gave in. His Dad’s argument was that another woman will certainly not take care of his kids the way he will want. A rare feat for a father.

His mum later got married to a businessman and had two boys and a girl he is really close to his step siblings and step Dad.

His dad died in 1994, while the mum passed away in 2004. Unfortunately, one of his brothers was called to eternity in 2002.

The economic situation of his family was precarious and volatile; in fact, he hates to talk about this aspect of his journey in life for the traumatic memories it evokes. However, he often share this story with friends even though he mostly end up dropping tears, but he do so to serve as inspiration and as a mark of the hope that it portends.

Poverty, at its height, compelled him to undertake all manner of survival options including selling water in pots to market women, engaging in rice and groundnuts farming and mostly depending on Shea and other fruits in order to survive. He had to hunt for Lizards to make meal, after grinding millet on the grinding stone.

It required that he woke up at dawn to gather these fruits; sometimes, “competing” with reptiles for these fruits. Walking sixteen kilometres to and fro Kaleo to Sankana daily to school on his bare feet in the scorching sun and often in his patched clothes, inspired him for better opportunities in life.

He went to School in Sankana, where he depended on nature’s lights (moonlight) to pursue his studies and to sit for his basic level certificate examination. Notwithstanding his situation, He was expected to do well, as the examiners, rightly, did not factor the peculiar circumstances of his studies. Somehow he made it but many of his contemporaries did not and their life is simply miserable. Truly, out of the ordinary man is ordained strength, strength which inspires not only his generation, but blossoms to serve as compass for succeeding generations. We merely survived...life was hell. However, our spirits were always filled.

Today this great serves as a beacon of hope for the youth of Ghana. He is largely revered as the finest young politician in Ghana who still believes and promotes the ideologies of Dr.Kwame Nkrumah. He has been more than a teacher, a mentor, guide, and philosopher to many young people in the country.

BERNARD ANBATAAYELA MORNAH (PNC National Chairman) today marks your birthday and I call on all Ghanaians to help me celebrate you because you are a great man of our time and a living legend. Your name shall forever remain in our hearts even when you are gone. May you live long to inspired more youth? Thank you.

By: Sherif Ghali- A concern youth of Ghana

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