I have grueling myself out these weeks, my devotion is in all places and I have barely time to rest.
I remember in 2019, one of my protege looked at me and said,
“Sir Nehemiah, you’ve been going up and down. You’ve not been resting. I see it’s because of us. But don’t worry okay? One day, you will rest, and we will be the ones running up and down for you”.
When that girl said this, I said to myself; “yeah, that’s factual! One day I will rest and you will be the ones doing the grind”.
Ages and an inordinate length of time from now, the prime honor my children will enjoy will perhaps not be money. It will be people and people is the most imperative thing.
I had a caring and responsible father. I liked him very much. One morning, I woke up greeted him as usual and went to school. On my father’s way to work, he had an accident in his own car and died. A lot of people came to our house to console us but my mother wouldn’t listen to them.
She couldn’t eat anything and was always in deep thoughts. I guess it was because she was thinking through where she would get money to support us and pay our school fees. She was always thinking anytime.
One morning, as we were sitting in a room with her, she suddenly stood up.I asked her where she was going but she refused to answer. She walked straight to the kitchen, took a knife and stabbed herself to death. My younger sister was still a baby then
My mother took her life just 48 days after my father left us to eternity. They both left me, my brother and my little sister.
Our grandma took us to her house. That was where we lived and we helped her with everything including house chores.
I also started helping others with fetching water, sweeping their houses and washing their clothes for them to give me some stuffs in return.
A woman came to our house one day to see my grandma. She needed a house help. My grandma agreed and asked me to live with the woman.
I helped in her house as a housemaid, so that’s how I ended up and that’s how my family scattered!
Currently, I am in school. Though, I don’t know how to read very well, I am still trying and learning.
I aspire to be a teacher. I want to be a teacher because of my little sister. If I become a teacher, she will be going to school with me everyday. At least we won’t pay anything if she comes to the school I teach in.
The best day of my life was when I heard I would go to school. I jumped up and down, and knelt down and prayed to God.
When I was 7 years old, I was still living with my parents. One morning when I woke up, I saw my mother crying bitterly. I asked her what happened but she was reluctant to tell me. I also sat down and started crying.
My mother now said I should come closer. She then told me, “Daddy did not travel for work.”She said my daddy had died.
I first jumped up and started shouting and asking,“My God, why did you do this to me?”
My mother now tapped me and said I should not worry and that God will provide whatever I would need in my life.
Whenever my friends came to my house to call meto go to school together, I would lie to them that I was not feeling well and that hopefully I would jointhem the following week. But the truth is, my daddy was not around to pay my school fees again.
I quite remember my mother’s aunt gave her 3000 naira so that we could get ourselves some food to eat. I ate rice that day and right after diet, I started to think about my dead father. I encouraged myself, saying, “Everything comes from God.” I slept afterwards.
Days later, I told my mummy I wanted to go and live with one of my father’s brother, who would take me back to school. She agreed. I went to stay with him and started schooling again.
Unfortunately for me, when I was in primary two, he was attacked by a severe sickness and he couldn’t respond to treatment. He too kicked the bucket. I cried bitterly! I said to myself; “This is the end of my life and schooling.”
I went back to my mother to stay with her for sometime without schooling. My mother wasn’t happy and I wasn’t as well. She later brought me here to her sister’s house and I have been living with her to date.
With a benefactor, I strive to work hard and take my studies and books serious so that I can also earn something in future to take care of my mother. I pray for her everyday
This International Women’s Day, World Food Program USA is proud to announce two new grantees for the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education.
Hunger affects women and girls disproportionately. Specifically, they make up 60 percent of the world’s hungry people. This disparity is due largely to unequal access to education, resources and opportunities for personal and economic success. The Catherine Bertini Trust Fund for Girls’ Education aims to change this by empowering women and girls with the knowledge, training, and leadership skills necessary to achieve food security and reach their full potential.
This Spring, the Fund awarded two organizations – Nurturing Minds and Girl Up Initiative Uganda – with grants to expand their programs and make an even greater impact on the lives of the women and girls they serve.
Nurturing Minds
Nurturing Minds, located in Tanzania, is a non-profit on a mission to educate Tanzanian girls who are poor, marginalized and at risk of becoming involved in exploitative forms of child labor. Since 2008, Nurturing Minds has provided financial and technical support to Secondary Education for Girls’ Advancement (SEGA) for the development and operation of a high-quality secondary boarding school for vulnerable girls in Morogoro.
The purpose of the SEGA Girls’ Secondary School is to foster the development of girls’ academic excellence, strong values, healthy self-esteem and independent thinking, with an emphasis on leadership, social responsibility and environmental care. Half of SEGA’s students are orphans, and the majority were forced to drop out of other schools due to extreme poverty, or were deemed at high risk of dropping out, but are bright and motivated. When their families can’t pay for school, many girls are forced to become child laborers to help earn money. Thanks to SEGA, these girls are now able to continue their studies.
“Nurturing Minds is profoundly grateful for the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund’s grant to support the Msichana Kisasa (Modern Girl) Outreach Program in opening six new centers,” says Julie Bourgoin, Program Officer.
“Expanding this important program will have a tremendously positive impact on the lives of some of Tanzania’s most vulnerable girls, who are at risk of teen pregnancy and early marriage, as it teaches financial literacy and business skills and increases their knowledge of girls rights, sexual reproductive health, and hygiene, while learning communication skills to improve their self-confidence and be leaders in their own lives.”
Girl Up Initiative Uganda
GUIU was founded in 2012 by Monica Nyiraguhabwa, a young Ugandan woman who grew up in the urban slums of Kampala, and Kimberly Wolf, a young American woman passionate about girls’ rights and leadership. Together, they’ve worked to advance educational and economic opportunities for young women and adolescent girls in urban slum areas of Kampala. GUIU has been so successful that it was internationally recognized as part of Michelle Obama’s Global Girls Alliance.
Girl Up Initiative Uganda is building a vibrant movement of girls through transformative leadership, skills development, and sexual and reproductive health education. GUIU envisions a gender-equitable world where girls thrive and lead across five programs:
Adolescent Girls Program
Big Sisters Network
Boy Champions Project
Ni-Yetu Youth Program
Mazuri Designs Hub
The Big Sister Camp program, a key component of their Big Sisters Network, is a multi-day overnight camp attended by girls who are all from urban slum areas in Kampala. The Big Sisters undergo interactive training on leadership and mentorship from GUIU coaches as well as gain skills in community service and advocacy.
“Girl Up Initiative Uganda is so honored to receive a grant from the Catherine Bertini Trust Fund,” says Kimberly Wolf, the Deputy Executive Director and Co-Founder. “It means that we are now able to expand our four-day residential Big Sister Camp 2020 to 260 at-risk adolescent girls coming from urban slum areas of Kampala who will have the chance to learn, play and reflect on what it means to be a girl leader in today’s world.”
When girls have the right nutrition, it improves their health, enables them to focus in school and increases their economic opportunities. That’s why the United Nations World Food Programme does whatever it takes to make sure they have enough to eat. Last year, WFP delivered school meals to more than 16 million children, over half of whom were girls.
After having a long conversation with some people for the past few months concerning their relationships, I deem this piece writable in order to guide and help you deal with trust issues.
Know that, feeling insecure can lead to trust issues, so build your self-esteem and do things that you enjoy on your own. If you struggle to trust your partner due to past hurts, consider getting therapy and working through these problems.
1. Know yourself: Know what you want and what you don’t want. Write them down. Be clear with yourself before you can deal with “toxic” people.
2. Think before you respond: What have been your response or reactions, when you call or text someone and the person refuses to return your call within expected time? Don’t just conclude negatively! Think through first before you pass a judgment!
3. Don’t expect too much: Expectations is the root of disappointment. Never expect someone “to do, to be, to how or whatever of something.” Don’t build expectations without grounds and expect the other person to know what’s in your mind; and when they don’t- we get disappointed.
4. Fix “YOU” before you fix others: How can you fix someone else if you haven’t fixed yourself?
5. Forgive and Heal: Before you can trust yourself and extend it to someone, you must first forgive yourself. Don’t stay in the past and also remember that, nobody can control you, but you can control everything in your life—so whatever goes into your mind and heart can never be taken away from you.
6. You are better than Yesterday: Know that, you are not a victim of yesterday. Yesterday just taught you a lesson. Everyday is a new day, so don’t look at your yesterday. Create and develop something new.
7. Date yourself: You can’t date someone if you don’t know how to love yourself. Self improvement is very important. First know yourself thus, “who you are, what you want, how to take yourself out etc.” Find yourself before you find yourself a serious partner. Have a vision; have a focus direction of life you want. If you date yourself, you can trust again.
8. Do the work!: This is my favorite and the most important thing of all. If you have taken anything from what you’ve read from 1-7, then, do work on it! Don’t procrastinate in gratification, Don’t procrastinate with laziness, Don’t procrastinate with expectations and Don’t procrastinate with the understanding that you think it is supposed to be done tomorrow. Understand that, it takes time. Sometimes, it takes years, months and sometimes too we want instant gratification. Instant gratification has taken up so much in our lives which comes into our minds instead of playing on our brains, so we think it’s a fact of every relationship and this is where it becomes challenging.
I honor you, if you are able to take the time and space and understand that, I’ve got to clear myself with who I am, rebuild myself so I can trust again and overcome my trust issues.” You have to understand that, it takes work. I implore you to put in that work to bring the best outcome that is supposed to be in your footprint. Salute!
I can’t help but wonder if the young people of today are being heard. How many of us know what they are thinking? My observations show that it is almost impossible for a youth to get employed despite having struggled to get a good education. At what point do they give up and let their life go a different way?
We are living in an era where employment is becoming almost impossible to get as a youthful person. The majority of young men and women with great academic achievements and others with rich technical skills are looming the streets of many towns in our country with no hope of where to get employment, how to get employment and who to offer them with employment.
IN THIS MODERN ZAMBIA…
The youth unemployment rate have escalated to unprecedented levels. According to Central Statistics Office (CSO) in the monthly volume 191 of 2019, the youth unemployment rate was estimated around 17.6 percent in the fourth quarter 2018. The figure is indeed quite a high in itself and every well-meaning Zambian must be concerned about it. I have consciously observed that the mind of unemployed young man and woman is slowly becoming dangerous and vicious. A youthful person with the zeal to give out positive energy tends to give out negative energy instead resulting from unemployment.
The mind of the young engineer from the University of Zambia (UNZA) is slowly becoming frustrated day by day due to unemployemnt. The mind of the youthful mathematician from the Copperbelt University (CBU) is slowly losing potential for the positive energy. The mind of the planner from CBU is slowly losing hope for the future. The mind of the forester from CBU is slowly giving up on life to mention just a few.
While government and private sector continues to deny youths of employment opportunities, it is slowly cultivating bad vices leading to negative energy such as alcohol abuse, drugs, prostitution, theft, mental disorders.
The youth of today are collectively becoming bitter at government for failing them. Considering the high levels of youth unemployment in Zambia, it is clear that government has failed to create a conducive environment for youth employment. Government has failed to employ young graduates in almost all sectors of the economy. The 65 years retirement age is both a punishment and a curse to youth with positive energy. Negative political cadres have taken pre and deprive deserving youth with positive energy of various employment opportunities. The mind of the youth is angry.
THE FACT IS THAT…
Most of employment opportunities for youths have gone to the corrupt and selfish politicians. Probable chances of youth employment have been sold to the unprofessional cadres who are unproductive. It is difficult for a youth to get a government tender. It is almost impossible for a youth to get employment without having any relations with the human resource, or some big fish of the company, or a politician etc. Many government departments across the country have unfilled vacancies and officers have more workloads than normal to cover up yet there are a lot of youths crying looking for jobs. It is unfortunate that the unemployed youth did not envision this negative energy making him or her furious.
While government and private sector continues to deny youths of employment opportunities, it is slowly cultivating bad vices leading to negative energy such as alcohol abuse, drugs, prostitution, theft, mental disorders. Youths strive to wake up to hope, vision and determination but seems not to see light at the end of the tunnel.
THEREFORE…
Government must reconsider adjusting the retirement age from 65 to 55 years in order to create opportunities for youth employment in the country. Government should create a conducive environment for youth employment in private and public sectors. Government need to provide zero tax for start-up businesses for youths. There must be fiscal prudence of public resources to create opportunities for youths. Above all, government must prioritise the creation of manufacturing industries which have potential to create youth employment. While this seems better said than done, it is not impossible for government to accomplish.
It’s sad to watch you board your flight to history slip off my fingers like spilled red wine.
2019 was a beautiful year, I had my fair share of experiences and several things left me in awe.
When I got this idea to round up my lessons learned in 2019, I thought really hard for days as to what to pen down; not because I learnt nothing during the year nor because the year treated me well, but because I tried to think through of how to translate these experiences into lessons.
Finally, I have been able to write up these life lessons 2019 taught me.
With a team member from Gracious Givers Foundation
With my daughter Comforts
Say NO even when it hurts. Don’t be afraid to say “NO” to that loved one just because you will loose or hurt him or her. Always look before you leap. Same way you need to always think before you answer.Don’t be afraid to tell someone you’ll get back to them before giving them a definite answer, especially when your mind isn’t at rest. I made a lot of mistakes in 2019 because I gave instant answers . In the end, it was more tough withdrawing when I realized it wasn’t what I wanted.
Be consistent. A lot of people are running fast to God knows where, most especially, the youth. Many people have so many visions that, they can’t even stick to one cause. They are seen everywhere but are not known anywhere. Being strong doesn’t mean fight every battle. Be selective in fighting because not all battles bring reward. If you start a project, make sure you finish it.
Face your challenges. How I wish challenges weren’t part of life’s journey! If it weren’t, how would we grow then?Challenges grow people. Don’t let circumstances make you whine about life and give you a terrible and negative perspective of life. There were so many challenges in my 2019 but i decided to be positive, to try and to get rid of negativities and to try to forgive. I must say it wasn’t easy but, I tried.
Take adventures. Take risk. Life is all about risk taking.But! Take proper risk! Try things you’d love to try but are quite afraid or skeptical about. Meet new people and learn different cultures. You think you know everything, you think you’re tolerant enough. Traveling, having deep heart to heart Open minded conversations would broaden your understanding of events and people. You necessarily don’t have to change, but then, you learn. The more you learn, the more you know and the more you know, you grow.
Atia, Ashanti Region
Jubilee Mall, KNUST
Be yourself (Appreciate your talents and gifts). It took me so many years to realize and accept that I am a good speaker and a writer all because my grammar wasn’t all that good. One day I had an encounter with a Life Coach online and that was all. I have always been extremely shy about my English and musical genius. Why did it take me so much time to find confidence in myself? I encourage you today, find your confidence. Love your gift.
Thank you 2019 and I hope 2020 teaches more greater lessons
My name is Nehemiah Afful. I’m the Chief Empowerment Officer of TSoL.
There is more to it than meets the eye. Until you get close to that person and zoom into his or her life, you will not know the circumstances surrounding the success story of the person, thinking, “All has been rosy.”
Today, we zoom into the life of Miss Mary Ansah, a student midwife and entrepreneur who owns a four arces of citrus farm, over 250 livestocks and some other business.
Miss Mary Ansah
Zoom in: Mary! Tell us about yourself and who you are?
Mary : I’m Mary Ansah, the last born among my siblings of 9, 6 girls and 3 boys. I was born at Adobewura,Nkawie in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. I am an entrepreneur and a student midwife who just passed out from Nursing and Midwifery Training School.
Mary and some of her year mates
I started my basic education school at Gentle Dove at Nyankyerenease and my upper primary education at Supreme Savior-Tanoso.
Growing up, I was very stubborn and so, I kept changing schools and this affected my academics and my educational journey. At some point, I even stopped schooling…haha.
Education was very important to my dad. He was always on me about my education. It meant a lot to him but I wasn’t interested then, and before I completed Junior High school, I had been to more than three Junior High Schools. In 2005, I completed Junior High School at Adobewura J.H.S.in Nkawie.
After JHS, my dad suggested I learn a train because he didnot see any seriousness in me when it came to schooling.
Already, from age 8, I had always wanted to be a medical doctor, worked to save lives but I wonder why I was not serious with schooling. Perhaps, my understanding of things was shallow then.
On Rotation
Mary’s Graduation
I started Senior High School at Angel Educational Complex and completed at Serwaa Nyarko Girls.
Zoom in : Mary from the conversation you said you are an entrepreneur and a student midwife. If I may ask.;What changed Mary?
Mary: The demise of my father changed everything.He was the breadwinner of the family and he left us when I had just started Senior High School. It was in that moment I also realized the importance of schooling. Life became very difficult then, so I took upon myself to rear the few farm animals my dad left behind whiles schooling and that was where I found myself in entrepreneurship.
Another thing that helped me to get back to school again was when I met my childhood friend in town. She looked very schooled and more ahead of me in formal education. I was impressed and I challenged myself to get back to the classroom and even if I can’t be the medical doctor I always dreamt of, I have to still be in the heath sector.
Zoom in : Which mentor/role model you always look up to in your country?
Mary: Yes..! Growing up, I always wanted to be people’s person. Nana Ama MacBrown is my role model though I have other people too. I watched an exclusive interview of Nana Ama and I was really touched, her story was almost in line with mine and that was when I became her number one fan. I also like Emelia Brobbey too.
Zoom in : What is your biggest challenge in life so far?
Mary: Going back to classroom, I left business and the stock rearing for someone to takeover, and getting a trusted person to hand over the business and the stock rearing became a challenge.
Another challenge I faced was divided attention when I was in school especially when I was in tertiary. It affected my results in some semesters.
Mary and her friend
Zoom in : What are some of the mistakes you could have avoided?
Mary: If I were to turn the clock backwards, skipping of school would not be something I would indulge in.
Again, doing an investment or business partnership withouta relative or someone close to me’s knowledge about it.
These mistakes I did in life have not only cost me but have also caused my delayance. Nevertheless, I am happy today because I have learnt my lessons the hard way and that has got me where I am today and I am looking up to the best in the years to come.
Zoom in : Do you have any advice for the Youth?
Mary: So to any young person reading this, I’d like to say now is the time to start consciously investing in yourself and building yourself into that person you want to become. Don’t only focus on the business or the money, thus if you’re into entrepreneurship. If there’s the need to further yourself, do it! If you have also gained yourself a certificate, it’s not enough, find yourself self skills and pursue. It can even be a family business or a skill within the family. Don’t say tomorrow! Get up! And get to it!
Zoom in : Any future plans?
Mary: As our world has moved to digitization, I have to also be boundaryless. I am planning of doing inter continental businesses while still working as a midwife. I have again thought of adding other businesses to the existing ones, thus wholesale businesses in my area. I also plan of going into Agribusiness (farming) thus if I get any initiative and of which I am praying for.
Wow! This is Mary Ansah’s story and we believe you have learnt something from her journey.
Growing up, I had a very unrealistic view of love, I saw love as this magical that, if attained, would make me eternally happy till I got my heart broken and saw the darker side of love. It’s super easy to be broken-hearted, sad or disappointed when the people who promised to be there for you through thick and thin break tides with you. And trust me, I know this all too well. Being a victim, I felt that! And it’s so easy to recall those memories you shared over and over again.
“Oh, but why did she say that I want a man not a boy?” “Did I come this far to hear this?”
“Oh my God, I feel like a total failure now and everything I’ve built up till now is just a sham!”Well, that was actually my story.
In my early 20’s after high school, I was trying to focus on the major (most important) things in life and use my time wisely. From selling of ladies shoes to T-Shirts with African prints; a small business I was growing, working as a part-time for other printing press, traveling to deliver some of my goods and yet trying to get time for my relationship. I was all shades of busy and boy!
There was too much pressure to get things right. Once, I decided to visit my girlfriend without her notice on campus. I set off Friday evening and got there early Saturday morning around 5:45am. I called her to tell her I was in town to see her. I waited a bit for her in school and noting she was busy, I left her campus with the intention of checking back on her the next day. Surprisingly, she called me that evening and not knowing that my phone was on silent mood, she became so upset and accused me of many things the next day. I was shocked. She told me, “Kofi, I want a man, not a boy” in front of one of their faculties. She asked if I informed her before coming to see her. She said she didn’t know what I was doing there. I felt so hurt by her words when I got back to my guest house. They stung me so much and I was too shocked. She sounded like she hated me not for picking up her call. I’m always the self motivated person, inspiring and encouraging my friends to not give up or get disheartened, to see the positive side of every situation! But in that moment, after she spoke her mind, I felt miserable and I felt perhaps, everything I had built for in the relationship was useless.
Months later, I texted her to know where I stood in her life. It was a hard knock when she replied she had broken up with me and that I should move on. Hmmm, seconds became hours, and hours became days and night. Days and nights became years! I lost my self ! I lost my appetite! I became a talkative and started explaining myself to everyone I met. A lot happened to me during this period which I can’t share all.
But on hearing the story of my break up, my cousin said to me,“Kofi, if you’re truly not a man, or with low perdegree, then why do people call and invite you to places to seek and host seminars with you? Close this chapter of your life and see what the future got for you.
“If you ever get heartbroken, just remember that, Love didn’t break up with you, but someone who doesn’t know how to love broke up with you. Don’t always reflect on what you did wrong. This period is hard though, but try as much as possible to be positive and build your capacity.
But how can i possibly apply this to my life and get over when heartbreak shows up?
Firstly, what I did was to stay-away from her. I stopped calling her, begging her, spying her social media handles and deleted anything that will make me think of her.Secondly, I took a stock of my life. If what she said was true, then perhaps, I could learn lessons from it and grow into the man the universe would need. If it wasn’t, then I guess I should move on.What I did find out? Miss was right in some way, I had no capacity then! I identified my self with these two questions (who am I, and why am I here?). So what she said to me was a hard truth from her heart towards me.Now, I realize that a broken heart does provide a light at the end of the tunnel; seeing the positive side could manifest and blossom. And chances are, you’ll be able to ultimately feel thankful that you were let go. This person did you a favor; if nothing else, he or she paved the way for something bigger, greater and more beautiful to come.
The School of Life 