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By George Anyaba
No matter where a life is born; in the forest or a ghetto, poverty or dirt, love can still make a difference. Love lifted me from the bottomless valley of self pity, depression and dejection to the highest mountain of self actualization and fulfillment through the love showed me by CAL Bank.
To be born in a slum never means to die in a gutter, of what benefit would be a life born and lived in a slum? What legacy can such a life leave for posterity? Your guess is right as good as mine. I lived in a slum for almost 17 years and I say without hesitation that life lived and ended in a slum is a complete waste and a living hell.
I was born in an obscure area in a compound house at Dome- Kwabenya a suburb in Accra. I belong to a family of eight. My parents migrated from the northern part of Ghana to come to the city to seek greener pastures. My father got a job as a watchman with a secondary school in Accra while my mum also took to petty trading to make a living. Our sleeping place was a kiosk at St. Johns Dome Market lorry station. My family lived in desperation, overridden by poverty, debt, diseases and malnutrition.
But in the mist of desperation, love brought hope and calmness which inspired me on to higher grounds in expectation of excellent accomplishment all because of CAL Bank.
I lost my father when he was diagnosed of jaundice and yellow fever. At the same time, my brother who was just four months was attacked by an unknown disease, and had to undergo series of surgeries to survive. Due to the abject poverty my family was facing, my mum couldn’t raise the needed money to save them both. I did the selling while my mum was at the korle –bu teaching hospital and the little money I got during the week and on weekends I gave to my mum to settle some of the hospital bills. But it was not enough to pay for both of them. I remember my mum saying to me, ‘Anyaba, I need to save your brother and leave your father to die because there is no money to save him’. As young as I was, I couldn’t really read meaning to what she said until now. But it is too late.
My mum did all that she could do, called family members, talk to friends, and strangers to come to our aid but it was all a fruitless venture .My father did not survive; he died due to lack of funds. Even though my mum did her best, my brother’s life was not restored to normalcy and till date limps on his left leg.
After the death of my father, life became tougher for my family and I. Our debts increased dramatically as a result of our inability to pay back the goods taken on credit, because the money was used to settle the outstanding hospital bills. My mum’s suppliers refused to give her more items on credit and she had to look for new suppliers to make a living. I remember my mum crying one night wanting to commit suicide, but for the intervention of an unknown man, my mum was saved.
Shortly after that incident, our grandmother in the north passed away and my mum had to go to for the funeral. Initially she didn’t want to go but later on decided to go, spend a week and return. She handed everything over to me instructing me to take care of my siblings till she came back and that if she did not return, I should be strong and care for them. I really never understood what she meant by that.
As if she knew she was not going to return, she left for our hometown and four days later, word came that my mum had passed away. I became a parent at age 15years to cater for my siblings. At the time of my mum’s death, it was three months to my Basic Education Certificate Exams (BECE); I was shocked and taken aback, because my fees for the last term as well as my registration fees had not been paid. I wanted to end my life desperately because I didn’t know how my siblings and I would survive. I made an attempt to commit suicide with a cutlass but the market women intervened and kept me in their company till calm was restored. My siblings and I became orphans and street children.
The Beginning of this new life I will term ‘the advanced poverty stage’. I managed to convince the school authorities to allow me write the BECE and promised to pay when my results were released. I continued the petty trading my mum was engaged in before she died, to take care of my siblings. Any business I did was to cater for our daily survival which was just hand to mouth. We lived on the daily sales I made, there were actually days we had nothing for supper because sales were bad. I had to make sure that all my siblings went to school before I did after school and around 3: 00pm, I will come and start selling till 12:00 midnight before I will go to bed and wake up at 3:30am to put the beans on fire. I had to sacrifice for the sake of my siblings; I always sought their wellbeing rather than mine.
What marveled me was that none of my extended family ever passed by to check on how we were surviving. They all deserted us and left us to our fate. The whole burden was on me. I remember going round the market to beg for food for my siblings. At a time I had to send my siblings to go do the begging, because if they did not we would starve. I later on changed the selling of the beans to selling of iced water on the streets because the beans business was not lucrative enough. I managed to take care of my siblings single handedly for two solid years acting as a mother and a father to them. I would not wish for anyone to experience that kind of life as it was hell in its highest sense. Things were very tough and challenging.
I passed my BECE and gained admission to St. Johns Grammar school. Admission fee became a big challenge for me but I managed to do a lot of selling and savings after my BECE. So I paid for the admission and met other expenses just to continue with my education. Life was very challenging, the burden was cumbersome, so I decided to stop school and rather work to cater for my siblings. I stopped schooling for a whole year because I was not able to pay my school fees and that of my siblings with the petty trading I did. The only sister in my family, became very difficult to control and I had to act fast by going round the orphanage homes to seek for help as early as possible before she added more burdens to what I could not already carry. I went to a number of orphanage homes but they said there was no room. I met a woman who wanted a house help and I willingly opted to give my sister to her, so she could control her properly to prevent any misfortune. Till date she is still with the woman.
The struggles, hardships, pains, suffering and the challenges continued for some time and God being so good Village of Hope orphanage came to our aid through the help of my chemistry teacher who contributed immensely to help us at St. Johns Grammar school, Achimota. When she realized that one of her best students’ in her chemistry class was not in school for a term. She decided to make follow up to find out what was really happening and the outcome of her search was very pathetic and she took it upon herself to seek for help. She went to Village of hope to convince them to come to our aid. Though there was no room, they considered us because our situation was deplorable. And as I write, all five of us are at the orphanage home while my sister is still with the woman as a house help. I have the vision of becoming very successful in life so I can go for her and take care of her. If help also comes along the way, I will be very glad.
Life at the Village of Hope orphanage has been a blessing and a breakthrough for my siblings and I .Through CAL bank’s social responsibility program, I was adopted from the orphanage home and was reinstated in school. CAL bank catered for my education right from SHS one through to the University. I am happy to say that, I have successfully graduated from Valley View University with a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree with a major in Accounting.
I never had a comfort zone let alone the opportunity to be controlled by it. I simply had only one option which I held onto till date; that is to succeed and be a great leader to inspire the youth. While in SHS, I was the assistant house 3 prefect and the financial controller for the drama club. At the University, I was the organizing secretary for the school of Business Administration and later on rose to the seat of Presidency.
Life without CAL bank would have been a big disadvantage for me, currently doing my national service with them and an assurance of permanent employment after my national service if I perform creditably, what else can I ask for. Am very grateful to them, for giving me hope, joy, security and quality life.
I am very proud to share my story with everyone especially the youth, so they can break the psychological barriers that impede their efforts to self fulfillment. I am a living example of what can happen if all institutions and individuals show love by caring for needy children. I was needy, destitute and nearly perished, but God showered his love and grace on me by bringing me to the Village of hope orphanage and through that rescued by CAL bank.
Love lifted me up and the least I can do is to thank God, serve humanity and help other people. I love CAL bank, and am willing to contribute immensely to their growth and development till I die.
I want to tell my fellow orphaned, needy and homeless children out there that, God will make a way where there seems to be no way. They should never give up when life gets tougher but always depend on God and draw strength from Him, because He has said it is well with your soul and he will give you victory at the end. (Posted: Jun 10 2010 ) « Back to headlines Comments
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