Of a hustler-turned-SHS teacher and Taliban’s favorite quote

 

Kyereh-Yeboah Victor

“God is great,” so says Kyereh-Yeboah Victor, a Division Two League referee and Social Studies teacher at the Berekum Presbyterian Senior High School.

“At the back or inside of every book that I have bought is written ‘God is great’,” Victor hinted. He says that is his motto.

I have personally been on the same campus with him at the Berekum College of Education. We sat in the same classroom and slept in the same hall, the Nicholas Hall.

I learnt of his struggles back on campus but never got to know him better until I recently engaged him in a WhatsApp chat. After reading and listening to him tell me how he hustled to the position he is now, I did not question him any further on his chosen motto. I couldn’t agree any more.  

“I started my basic school at Abusuapԑadeԑ L/A Primary School at Abusuapԑadeԑ, a community in Dormaa Ahenkro West of the Brong Ahafo Region,” he narrated.

Victor says that was in 1988 and he completed Junior High School in 1997 at Kojo Kumi Kurom L/A JHS, also in Dormaa Ahenkro West.

It was after his JHS education that life twisted his head for him to see his heels. Like Syria’s refugee children in Lebanon, he became an adult before his time; he had to fend for himself!

Victor tells me he became confused on his direction to climbing the ladder of life.

“I realized my destiny was in my hands and that I must work a magic. I looked for a job at Kojo Kumi Kurom as a druggist [at the Onyame Akwan Drug Store]. I worked there for over a year but had to quit the job due to poor working conditions,” he added.

Victor would now move to Mmirengyaa, about 10km away from Kojo Kumi Kurom, to till a land for the cultivation of rice with his God-given strength.

“God watered my 15 acres rice farm. I came to settle in Berekum (Brong Ahafo Region) with the proceeds of the farm to learn a trade. This was in 1999.”

He says he learnt carpentry, specializing in roofing of buildings, which took him to places including Baakoniaba in Sunyani and Akyem-Aprade, Eastern Region.

All this while, Victor had the intention of continuing his education but needed to plough and save cash just as the ant saves food for the future.

Carpentry, according to Victor, was/is as difficult as pulling a string of hair from the nostrils. He had to, at a point in time, kiss his tools a goodbye for school.

“In 2002 thereabout, I made a return journey to Dormaa Ahenkro to a village called Santaso. Here, I worked as a labourer on people’s farms earning GH₵100 per month.”

Victor’s parents, both cocoa farmers, had promised him of their support should he be able to gather some amount of money for his schooling. Apparently, in the 2003/2004 academic year, he applied and got admission at the Methodist Secondary Technical School (MESTECH), Berekum. He needed to make a comeback to Berekum. However, he had to live with a foster parent.

“My comeback to Berekum was very hard.”

Surviving through turbulent times, he managed to complete his SHS education and gained admission into the Berekum College of Education in 2007.

Completing the teacher’s college in 2010 and realizing the need to climb high the ladder of education, he enrolled in the Valley View University (VVU), Accra-Oyibi campus, to study Bachelor of Education, majoring in Social Studies.

Luck shone on him after his VVU course. Guess what. He got the opportunity to teach at the Berekum Presbyterian Senior High School. That is exactly how he ended up as a teacher there!

Away from education, he doubles as a [class two] football referee of Ghana’s Division Two League; a passion he said he started in 2009. On August 3, 2015, he officiated a match between Reformers vs Bectero at the Sunyani Coronation Park.

Currently, he is the Public Relations Officer of the Berekum Municipal Referees Association. He is inspired to do more in spite of the less he has.

Mr. Enoch Kyeremeh is a teacher in Dormaa Ahenkro and a close friend of Victor’s. When I contacted him on whom Victor is to him, he said, “I always tell him to celebrate every blessed day as a special day for he has passed through hell to be where he is now.”

At the recent ranking of the richest people in Ghana, Kyereh-Yeboah Victor’s name was not on the list. It won’t even be on the list of the richest people in Berekum alone. But… he is thankful to God for how far he has come in life.

In one of Akwasi Ampofo Agyei’s (Mr. AAA) songs titled ‘Time Changes,’ – which, however, should have been ‘Times Change’- the legendary highlife musician of blessed memory told a story of a teacher.

The teacher, in the said song, told his pupils that they should not be surprised should they see him in the near future working as either a truck pusher, basket seller or even a pastor for times change.

Indeed, times change but what we will become at the end of the changes in times is determined by how we approach issues in our lives. Victor approached his with vim and vigour and counted on God to see him through hence his motto- God is great.

The terrorism group, Taliban, has a favorite quote, “America has the watch but we have the time.”

While you are motivated by Victor’s story to press on in life, be reminded not to force God to run you through life with the speed of a duiker.

Pray and do your best possible in your chosen field or towards what you want to achieve. Most importantly, wait on Him and relax. You have the ‘watch’ BUT… let God tell the ‘time.’ 

It takes just a day for the moon’s light to melt down the darkness of your sorrows.

Lest I forget, Victor says I should tell you he has not stopped dreaming. He wants to graduate to the status of a lecturer and an international referee of repute someday. 

By Solomon Mensah

Writer's email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Twitter: @Aniwaba

SUNYANI: Teacher plants over 12,000 trees

The Man behind the trees

Mr. Isaac Yaw Brenya

He is famed across the length and breadth of Sunyani and the Brong Ahafo Region at large.

Mr. Isaac Yaw Brenya is neither an actor, a Member of Parliament nor a retired footballer. The fifty-five (55) year old professional teacher teaches Ghanaian Language (Asante Twi) at the Sunyani Senior High School (SUSEC) and is a long-serving assembly man at the Area II electoral area, in Sunyani.

Spotted on his campus or in town, the old but active man would respond to his cherished nickname, Koo Zee. Beyond teaching and working as an assembly man, however, Mr. Brenya bestows on himself a task the world pays and encourages others to do. He voluntarily plants trees!

 “I have planted over 12, 000 trees in and around the Sunyani municipality now,” he said as he wiped beads of sweat that dotted his face.

Mr. Brenya recounts that he started planting trees in early 1982. “[But] my first and major point of tree planting was the Sunyani Anglican Cluster of Schools in the Brong Ahafo Region.”

He says that he taught here [Anglican Schools] as a classroom teacher in the late 1990s. With plant seedlings then supplied to schools by the Forestry Division, he took it upon himself to help green Ghana as a way of fighting against the depletion of the ozone layer.

Mr. Boakye Dankwah, Deputy Regional Manager of the Anglican Schools said: “Brenya has given Anglican Schools a serene environment with his trees.”

The tour

Clad in a spotty cap with his Lacoste that kissed the waist-line of his trouser, Mr. Yaw Brenya hurriedly led me on a tour through the various spots he has planted [his] trees.

Our first point of visit was the Odumaseman Senior High School, Brong Ahafo Region. This [School] was his second point of tree planting. As our vehicle screeched to a stop near the school, he hopped out and walked straight up to the school’s entrance.

He kicked his right leg against a dwarf pillar and shot a finger signaling me to follow him.

“In 1996, a teacher at the Odumaseman Senior High school called on me to plant some trees around the school field. She called me to help… and I responded to her call positively,” he said.

As of the time of this visit to the Odumaseman Senior High School, team members of the football club Ku­mapem Stars were taking respite under Brenya’s trees before the start of their training. Their hearts were full of gratitude for his selfless effort.

At the Sunyani Senior High School where Brenya teaches, he has planted over two thousand trees on the compound to offer a beautiful landscape and serve as wind breakers.

Upon entering the school’s compound, the acacia trees that flank the shoulders of the walkway seem to hymn a warm ‘welcome’ to visitors with a fresh, soothing air. Straight ahead is the administration block with a greenery scene of trees at its forecourt. At a branch on your right, one is met with the Tano House. Behind it are a number of Brenya’s trees.

Walking onward from the road behind the Tano House, one gets to the girls’ dormitory where the trees have formed a canopy on the walkway.

The Assistant Headmaster (Academics) of the school, Mr. Sie Kwasi said that, “The Sunyani Senior High School’s football field, classroom blocks, dormitories, among others are all ornamented with Mr. Brenya’s trees. The school for many years now has not recorded a rip-off of its roofs due to the presence of the trees.”

The trees: overview

Mr. Brenya has so far planted trees in 18 senior high schools in and around the Sunyani municipality. He has also planted trees in almost all the basic schools in there.

He hasn’t stopped there. Brenya has planted trees along all the principal streets in Sunyani including the Eusbett Hotel road, a portion of the Kumasi-Sunyani road and the Sunyani-Techiman road.

He has planted around the Sunyani Children’s Park and in front of the Sunyani Police Station.

Interesting enough, he says he goes on a visitation to all the spots he has his trees to count and prune them.

According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), global emissions of carbon dioxide have increased by more than 46 per cent since 1990 hence the need for afforestation and reforestation.

“Mr. Yaw Brenya’s contribution towards the reduction of the emissions of carbon dioxide is spectacular. Not only does he plant the trees but cares for them. I am a former student of the Sunyani Senior High School and I know how dear the trees are to him,” a resident said.

His Award

After our tree tour, he took me to his house.

Mr. Brenya creaked open his door, went inside the room and returned with a laminated certificate of citation.

In 2006, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded him with a citation for his great role in society. The citation, among other things, describes him as a ‘born environmentalist.’

This seems to be the only award he has received for his contribution towards the betterment of the society. But he is not deterred nor motivated by awards.

“Tree planting has now become part and parcel of my life. I believe that whenever I plant a tree, I save life and it gives a reason why man should live,” Brenya said.

He expressed his profound gratitude to all his students in all the schools he has planted trees for assisting him plant and water the trees.

In fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goal 7 which seeks to ensure environmental sustainability, Brenya has successfully contributed his quota. 

Whenever you breathe [in fresh air], remember that a tree somewhere produced for your breathing that oxygen.

If you cannot plant trees yourself, do not [help] cut down trees illicitly.

By Solomon Mensah

Writer’s email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com 

Twitter: @Aniwaba

#AccraDisaster: Media Announces Deaths, Family & Friends Call, Search For Loved Ones

 

By Solomon Mensah

Searching for loved ones

A Dead Baby Being Cuddled

Dawn it was. My phone rang. I could not pick. It was too early a Thursday morning, June 4, 2015. I heard the phone ring far away in my slumber land.

Then… another call came through at 6:22am. It was my sister. When I checked the missed calls, they were all from my family members in Sunyani.

“What might have happened back home?” I asked myself.   

I first called back my sister. While I held the phone close to my left ear, I shivered and quivered. My voice slivered in wait for the unknown news. Ironically, my family was also in a state of shock… dying to hear my voice to ‘resuscitate’ them to normalcy.

“Boafour [Helper],” I called my sister’s name.

“Kofi, how are you [she spoke in Twi]?”

I responded in the affirmative that I was well and that her call woke me up.

“I heard on news few minutes ago that a lot of people have died in Accra due to last night’s rains and a fire outbreak. Are you safe?” she asked.

“I am,” I replied.   

We spoke about other family-related issues briefly and hang up the call. But I had to call back my brothers, too. I would call one of them so he tells the others that I was safe.

“I heard on Peace FM news [at 6am] that Accra was mourning many deaths …” my brother said.

I told him I was fine. He prayed this never happened anywhere in the world again and we ended the call.

On Wednesday, June 3, 2015 when I left the house, my phone, power bank and other electrical gadgets were all off. I had no power at home the previous day. I went to work and there was no power, too. Hence, I could not listen to news in the evening.

This made the breaking news of the flood and fire elude me since I would shave listened to radio till about 10pm before I retired to bed. So, it was my family who broke the news to me!

I must say that the Kwame Nkrumah Circle Ground Zero area is one of my normal routes in Accra, however, on that day I was nowhere near that spot.

My landlord had returned from the United Kingdom barely a week to the incident. When I woke up in a pair of boxer shorts with my phone glued to my ear, he was also answering a number of calls. He wore a grey pajamas with a big white towel around his neck. 

“Oh I am fine. We thank God for our lives but my heart goes out to the lost souls,” he said to the other person on the phone.

From Berekum, in the Brong Ahafo Region, a friend called me: “News just in is that the death toll now stands at 63, 70, 84, 100 …,” the friend recounted an information he had heard on a radio station. It was as if the National Lotteries Authority (NLA) was announcing the results of its Saturday National.

Per the death toll announcement, the fears compounded as family and friends got worried deepening the calling and searching for their loved ones.

On social media like Facebook, family and friends recounted how they called and searched for their loved ones or vice versa.

Isaac Promzy Opoku wrote: “A friend called from South Korea asking ‘Promzy I hope you are not in Accra.’”

“I called my brother and asked ‘How is the family? Are you safe?’ I was very uncomfortable because my brother always drove home late passing through Circle, too,” wrote Zadok Kwame Gyesi.

“I sent a simple message: ‘Are you safe?’ on WhatsApp and Facebook to all my people in Accra,” Kojo Kaps posted.

Missing persons, charred bodies

“I have seen not less than thirty bodies all who have lost their lives,” Agya Kwabena –a reporter with United Television (UTV) said. “Look on my left, a man has totally burnt into ashes. He is not alone. There are a lot of people burnt.”

The UTV report went viral on social media. The cameras showed human beings reduced to ashes. So sad!

Again, the calls were made and the search for loved ones was intensified. On radio stations like Joy FM and Citi FM, worried callers needed help to trace their family and friends. But, whereas some families could reach and hear from their family and friends, at last, some are still in limbo asking whether their loved ones are among the dead or the living.

For those who got drowned by the floods, identifying them after their retrieval was not really an issue. The problem, however, lied in identifying one’s friend or family member who suffered the havoc caused by the Goil Fuel Station explosion.

In one of the sprinter buses [Trotro] that had stopped at the fuel station, to wait till the flood level reduced so it could continue its journey, the driver, mate [conductor] and the passengers onboard were all burnt.

In another bus’ front seat, a body resembling that of a man sat but charred. Many others laid beside the buses in either prostrate or on the supine… dead in an indescribable burns.

Agya Kwabena slowly shook his head, mentioned his name to sign off his report, heaved a deep sigh and bent his head towards his microphone [which his right hand held to his chest]. He had been devastated seeing his fellow human beings bidding the world a goodbye in an agonizing pain; the pain which has rendered them (victims) missing from their families.

A DNA test to find missing persons?

After that dreadful Wednesday’s twin disaster, there have been discussions upon discussions in the media, offices, public transport, chop bars and drinking spots. In all these discussions, putting the ritual political blame game aside, one pressing issue stands out.

The issue as in the bereaved families identifying their charred relatives. Some experts suggest that the way to go is to perhaps run a DNA test on all the victims of the explosion. 

A DNA test? Well, some skeptics say it would be cumbersome since getting only the DNA of the dead without testing for their living relatives will make the pairing process difficult.

However, as President John Dramani Mahama said at the closing ceremony of the three-day national mourning for the dead, a DNA test would be run on the charred bodies. I guess their living would be tested, too.

This will be but a form of consolation to the bereaved families to at least get their dead relatives for a final salute.

 But what caused the twin disaster?

First was the floods which every discerning Ghanaian knows that it has become an annual ritual that claims both lives and properties. We build in water ways, throw rubbish in gutters, and successive governments fail to take the needed steps to curb the ‘rain curse.’

Preliminary investigations say that the Wednesday’s twin disaster, the Goil Fuel Station’s fire explosion, was caused by a faulty underground fuel tank…   situation that Goil could have for long repaired to save the dear lives of the over 150 lives lost.

The way forward

“I say to you publicly and frankly: The burden of suffering that must be borne,” wrote Richard Wright-author of Black Power- to Kwame Nkrumah, “impose it upon one generation!”

Wright was not an inch from the truth. His advice to Kwame Nkrumah was simple. He believed that for a country like Ghana to succeed, sacrifices must be made to forestall a better living for the unborn generation.

As we stand as Ghanaians, we must sacrifice our selfish interest of building in water ways and throwing rubbish in gutters. This will not only keep Ghana clean but say goodbye to the annual floods.

This is where our leaders must be bold to impose the burden of suffering (fine and imprisonment for disregarding the laws) on us.

President John Mahama in his speech at the Nkrumah Circle disaster scene said that “we [Ghanaians] shouldn’t continue to be like the vulture.”

If we will not be like vultures, then he (President Mahama) must “be merciful by being stern,” as Wright wrote to Kwame Nkrumah.

Non-performing ministers among others must be shown the exit or imprisoned without holding on to them in the name of politics to the detriment of the public.

I cannot conclude this piece without reiterating what Richard Wright said to Nkrumah: “If I lived under your regime, I'd ask for this hardness, this coldness.”

Long live Ghana and may the departed souls rest in perfect peace.

 

The writer is a freelance journalist

Email: nehusthan4@yahoo.com

Facebook: Facebook.com/Otiberekese

Twitter: @Aniwaba