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  • No 9, Sixth Circular Rd, Accra
  • +233 303969615 +233 502275820

Yen Ara Asaase Nyi

The evening seemed to emerge quite slowly, the flowing sound of music and the melancholic breeze of the night perfected the necessary camaraderie that most naturally formed. During the period, I did encounter an honourable man, Prof. Joseph Ofori – Dankwa, and other wonderful men and women too. In the company of two Kufuor Scholars and the coordinator of the Kufuor Scholars Program Dr. Pascal Brenya we joined in the official launch of a phenomenal service to the Ghanaian people, a medical outreach by the Ghana Medical Relief.

Annually over the last four years, the Ghana Medical Relief, a U.S. based NGO started by Dr. Sam Owusu, puts together an absolutely free medical outreach in a town in Ghana. This year, the lots fell on Asante Akyem Agogo in the Ashanti Region. In addition to impacting the lives of thousands of Ghanaians in their medical outreaches, these dedicated volunteers sealed the success by additionally signing them onto the national health insurance. Undoubtedly a true medical relief for the township.

 

It was a really inspiring moment for us Kufuor Scholars who volunteered to join the mission on the day that the Ghana Medical Relief team stepped out to the field. As Kufuor Scholars, we are being groomed as a new crop of transformational leaders. This encourages us to be part of such impact-driven activities. We were overjoyed to have met and interacted with the Ghana Medical Relief team, including Prof Joseph Ofori Dankwah who is a Professor of Management at the College of Business and Management, Saginaw Valley State University in the U.S. On what motivated us as Kufuor Scholars to get interested in this, one of my colleagues said; “if you want to be a transformative leader, you have to be the change. Think of yourself as change magnetic, plan towards the change.” I couldn’t agree more.

Working with Ghanaian diasporan folks and some foreigners on this medical relief mission, it struck me how much this act of volunteerism is directly in tune with the lyrics of “Yen Ara Asaase Nyi,” a Ghanaian patriotic song composed by Ephraim Amu. The title translates as “this is our land.” In the song, Mr. Amu says; ”aduru me ne wo so, se ye bi atoa so…” To wit, “the mantle has fallen on us as the current generation to continue building the country.”  Indeed, it is only us, Ghanaians, regardless of our location that can make this land of ours a better place for our generation and posterity. This is one of the most important things I learned while participating in the medical outreach. Only we the people of Ghana can help make our nation great and strong. No one else will.

By Salome Odei, Kufuor Scholar