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| Prempeh College | ||
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| HIS LIFE STORY |
| HIS CURRICULUM VITAE |
On the 9th of March 1954, I was born to the late Mr Kofi Konadu Gyasi-Agyei and Madam Adwoa Mansah as their first born child. I was named Nyamekye, after my father`s paternal uncle who claimed that his ancestors came from a small stream in our village called Asuo Gwesah. The stream has not been known to run dry in living memory despite the length of the dry season.
So my Godfather used to tell me never to give up hope, since none of his grandchildren will ever run dry, despite the harsh conditions they will face in life, a psychological boost which kept me going.
During my infancy my father taught in Tamale in the Northern part of Ghana where I started my primary education at the United Primary school. There along the streets I picked up the local languages, Hausa and Dagwane. The Hausa language become a very useful asset for me during my working days in the Benue state, in the Northern part of Nigeria.
As I was growing up and finding my own level on the streets injuries at play was just too common. Two, I remember most, still fresh in my mind, as if they happened only a few days ago. Once as we were playing hide and seek among the trees I tried to jump from a height, unfortunately I was caught by one arm of my braces. Hanging upside down like a bat, all my play mates run away. With time, my weight and the struggling the brace gave in and there I came tumbling to the hard ground and broke my right forearm. Coming home I met the hostility of my father and step mother. After raining a hail of insults I was send to hospital for a POP. On our return home our neighbours started getting into my step mother`s head that her decision to take me to hospital was wrong and I would be better treated by the local Malam. With pressure from them I was sent to the local Malam who quickly removed the POP and re-applied his own concoction and a splint made of grass. Unfortunately we were just getting to the end of the year and exams were pending. Now with my right hand in a splint and being right handed, it meant I could not take part in the exam which could mean no promotion to the next class, but the teacher one Miss Danso, insisted that I write the exam. So she sat by my side and will ask me questions and on telling her the answers she will write them down, if I could not remember she will go round the class to see if those she thought were my equals in performance had it right, then she will come back and put pressure that I must know,' for so and so have got it right.' With her help I managed to pass to the next class, primary four.
Not before long, we hired bikes to race on the streets then two of us collided. I initially thought my injury was minor for there was only a little bleeding from my lower lip. On arriving home I knew what would be awaiting me if my step mother should know . I found my way quietly into the bed room took some hydrogen peroxide to clean my wound. To my bewilderment, as I was cleaning the wound in front of the mirror, I saw my tongue through the wound on my lower lip. Apparently I had sustained a cut through the thickness of my lip. I could not help it for I was too scarred even to withdraw my tongue back into my mouth. On shouting my step mother, Madam Yaa Anima, rushed into the room and on finding out what was going on she took out her frustration on me before sending me to the local hospital.
The treatment there was no better than what I had had at home. I was held down by some men, and one of the health workers, whether a doctor or male nurse, applied the stitches as if handling a cadaver.
That has left a scar to always remind me if I see an injured child to be gentle and kind to it. During those days we stayed with some of my cousins, notably the late Baffour Agyei, who actually influenced my life a lot. He used to like movie stars and singers such that he had lots and lots of their portraits. Those days in the late 50`s and 60`s one could just write to those movie stars and they will send their portraits to you. Not knowing much of writing I decided to also have my own from those stars in Hollywood One day when I was doing primary four, I cut a coupon from his magazine took an envelope from my father`s desk and wrongly wrote the address. Instead of writing the receiver`s address on the front of the envelope I had written mine also incorrectly, and the receiver`s on the back of the envelope. The address on the front read Mr. Gyasi-Agyei; California. On the back, Pat Boone; Tamale. To make matters worse I had taken an old stamp from my father`s desk and pasted it on the envelope for postage. I tried to post my letter alone but could not reach the slot on the post box so I came home to collect my junior brother Yeboah to go with me. At the post office I lifted him up and he was able to drop my letter in the box.
As I was anxiously counting days awaiting my photo from my star I was called one evening by my father to come and listen to a complaint from the Post Master. Unfortunately he was our neighbour and had got to know that some one had posted a letter with a used stamp. That was a serious crime, but since he knew the surname, he had managed to play it down and taken it up personally to my parents. Very soon every one in the neighbourhood had got know about the incidence and my school mates had also come to know about it. That earned me a nickname 'Gyasi-Agyei California' which latter became "California" and now "Calif" among my old primary school mates and friends in my village. Fortunately I did not have any of my classmates from the primary school in Prempeh College so the nick name did not come over with me to the secondary school.
Late on my father was transferred to Kumasi and he soon found his way to the U.S.T. to further his education. He was there to complete a Diploma course, which found him a job as the District Organiser for the Rural Housing Scheme around Kumasi. I continued my education at my home village, Kona in the Ashanti Region, at the Methodist Middle School. Fortunately for me I passed my common entrance examination and gained admission to the great Prempeh College. Poor me, my excitement of getting to a great institution was soon put in suspense when my father came up with excuses here and there of financial difficulties. My mother was called for a meeting where she was given an option of either continuing to get her usual ration from my father or to forfeit her pocket money and I go to school. At my tender age I found that twist quite complicated and I could not even guess what my mother`s reaction was going to be. To my utmost surprise, without even pondering for a second she gave her reply simply, "I am prepared to starve for my children`s future", a bold move which put my father in a tight corner, for I suspect he had a feeling that a woman would prefer today to tomorrow and perhaps would have chosen to continue receiving her ration rather than sacrifice for an unknown future. It is true that most people in my home village see my father as a well informed man who educated all his children, but I wonder how many will think of my mother`s important silent contribution! Truly my father himself a teacher had the will to have all his children educated, but unfortunately his income could not cope. Fortunately for us, most of the male children found their way to the University with some getting doctorate degrees in engineering and the like.
Life at Prempeh College
So I found my self in Prempeh College with other kids from different backgrounds and I had to learn to cope. It was my first time to be away from home.
I had come to learn that my father could not cope to look after his many children from polygamous marriages, so I soon learnt to fend for my self. I had during my Middle school days learnt to make Adinkra clothes, so during school holidays I had to spend my time both making the Adinkra clothes for my pocket money in the day and studying at night with a paraffin lamp. Survival tactics which still help me to cope with my life even now.
There was hardly a term pass by without a hitch on paying my school fees, but fortunately
our assistant housemaster, Mr Gyamera, was a distant relative to my father and used to stand in for me when it was time to send students with outstanding fees home. It was not until my third year when I fortunately got a government bursary that things eased up a little.
I must say with my appreciation of my difficulty and financial handicap I developed my character and perhaps was able to realise my potential which some of my mates coming from good financial background could not. I did not understand the Assistant Headmaster`s, Rev Nyarko, version of the Parable of the sower till late in life. When he used to preach that some of us will fall by the way side and others will grow to yield over hundred fold of what ever Prempeh College was offering us then, it did not matter much to me then!
Sometimes I had to organise dances and concerts for some income, since my father had a spacious beer bar in our village. Getting a good dance band always brought other youngsters from the surrounding villages and with a little luck, if the rains do not come, then I was sure of some good profit.
To supplement his income and be able to cope with his responsibilities, my father had some cocoa plantations which he used his family as the "unpaid" labourers . Also we had from time to time to lay traps both on dry land and in the rivers to catch whatever the Good Lord will offer us to supplement our sources of protein. Luckily somewhere along the line my father became the distributor of the food aid and that eased our food supply considerably since wheat, oil and dry fish was now in abundant supply.
During those days of running a beer bar my father built some ideas in me which really helps me a lot to get on in life. During school holidays he will insist that I must wash the toilets whilst my junior brothers did other "cleaner" jobs. His principle was that since I was the first born in the family I was a born leader and a good leader should be able to do the most nauseating of all the jobs on hand.
Truly when I become a doctor that helps a lot when nurses and their assistants find that I the doctor can offer a patient a bed pan. It makes them shy and run to my call to help do anything for a patient, because they know that I can do their jobs better.
I used to envy my mates coming from wealthier homes but I soon found out that they were not even using their advantage of having everything provided and worse still when we finally got to the University they were still totally dependant on their parents, something which made people like me extra matured, or worse of all, many were no where to be found, they had fallen by the way side and could not stand the test of time!
Coming from a difficult background, I saw my only way not to let my children get into my uncomfortable shoes, was to bore through my textbooks and pursue a profession.
My dream was to follow Professor Adu Boahene. I had fallen in love with his Sankofa history series that I wanted to do something better. He was my role model then.
I had enrolled early in the first year as an assistant librarian and I used the time in the library fruitfully to read as much of whatever I could lay my hands on. Virtually I was in the library daily such that it was the only place you could surely find me. By the time I was in the third year I knew almost everything about the school library, it had become my home and there was no better person to take over the mantle as the Library Prefect when the time was due.
During the third year at Prempeh College I had a change of mind as to what to become in the future. Looking at the treatment we used to get from the nurses and doctors at the local clinic I felt I had to become a doctor and may be try to provide better care to the sick.
Also my maths teacher, Mr Goodfellow, also my housemaster, could not agree to my joining the arts class, he was virtually sitting on my neck to study mathematics by the hour, he saw I would be a better science student and made sure that it happened.
In the fourth year I got placement in 4M due to my good ability in mathematics and the housemaster`s insistence to offer both Maths and Add Maths at the O`level.
Life in 4 and 5 M has been the most competitive in my life. The atmosphere in the class was so tense that one would not even waste a minute longer on the toilet. We used to say, "Let the body suffer now and rejoice latter." Others called the situation, "chin-chin saw-saw or saw-saw chin-chin." That is, enjoy now and suffer latter, or suffer now and enjoy latter.
Some boys could not even spend time bathing especially during exams times. No exam was taken for granted not even a normal class test. Each one was looking for a better position all the time. It was a class of near equals such that a small slip will reel you down so many positions that you cannot understand. Marks between students in position ranking was by halves and ones. During evening study time none had the time to spare for even a small joke.
One evening when the study room was too tensed two boys picked up a quarrel and since we were all tensed and mentally fatigued it was a good entertaining break. We soon pushed the tables and chairs to give them space to throw their punches. One chap particularly was not interested in what was going on and perhaps saw a chance of catching in on time whilst the others were taking sides in the conflict. Unfortunately for us the assistant Headmaster, Rev Nyarko, happened to be around and heard the noise. He came and stood by the window without any of us noticing him. He apparently was viewing in on the situation before making his presence felt. Suddenly there the door opens and the Reverend Father standing tall infront of the class. We knew that we were in serious trouble now. We were all guilty by default. Surprisingly the Reverent went straight to this chap who was busy studying He held his hand and I for one could not guess what he was up to. To my utmost surprise he pronounced this chap guilty and that he was going to punish him for the whole class for his sheer stupidity for not showing concern about what was going on around him.
It took me many years to understand his judgement and to agree to it.
By the fifth year most of my mates called me doctor and I seriously looked toward the day I was going to set foot in the Medical School.
All my time in the Prempeh College before writing the O`levels I had a wrong notion that the teachers show the O and A level questions to the students somehow, that is why they were making good grades all the years. I was shocked to find myself in the exam room without any prior idea of what was to come during the O`level exams, and worse still even the supervising teacher would not even allow a student to borrow anything from another student.
I must say, all my teachers liked me and that helped to make my studies easier. Perhaps with the humble background I was always attentive and respectful. There was only one teacher whom I fell out with, which was rather unfortunate, because I was frankly innocent of his accusation. He was teaching us biology and from time to time I used to help him when students pushed him to a tight corner. One unlucky day he was pushed to a very tight corner and he could not see his way out of a question one student had put to him. So as he was struggling for a clue one boy sitting behind me, a Nigerian called Abayome, shouted out, "chew, pour, pass and forget." And for what reason the teacher thought I was the one and to make matters worse when he handed over the chalk to me I was able to explain and that made him to hate me so much that I had a very terrible mark for that term`s exams. Even after other boys told him the real culprit he will still not let go.
Fortunately with God`s grace and hard work I made good grades with a distinction at the O`levels and proceeded to do my A` levels which also went equally well to take me to the University of Ghana Medical school in 1975.
My last year was rather enjoyable, I was among the "elite group" for been a Library Prefect, with the late M .K Fobi as my assistant. Our friendship grew so strong that he was the most reliable person for my wife when I got married to Monica Addo-Tumfour. The bond was so strong that our first child was named after him. The friendship continued until his early untimely death. May his soul rest in peace!
I loved the job as a Library Prefect and soon re-organised the shelves and chairs to get in more fresh air and sunlight. That helped a lot to take away the "little bombs" the boys used to throw after a meal of ripe plantain (red-red) and beans, faster than before when there would be a great pandemonium after such a natural phenomenon. There I learned that to love what you do and feel that it matters was more fun than any thing one could get in life. It also helped to shape my character and build more confidence in me.
My thanks to those good teachers who made it happened and my mates who built a sense of strong competition without animosity in me which keeps driving me to always wanting to be among the first in every society I live in.
At the Medical School
In 1975 I found my most cherished dream come true. I had made very good grades to qualify for admission to the University of Ghana Medical School. There I soon realized that success was not a destination but a long arduous journey with made twists and bends, and that what laid ahead was more demanding than what I thought A`levels had taken. Soon I made friends and with the few leadership skills I had acquired along the line I formed a learning group consisting of very intelligent students in my class. This made any one the group confident of at least passing each examination if not to obtain a credit or distinction. The group was so strong that we never recorded any failure in the whole years at the Medical school, such that I won the admiration of all, and acquired a name as the "Headmaster." We shared the reading text equally among our selves for each one to prepare a summary for discussing on the next meeting. It helped, because at least one was sure of hearing the passage for more than once and also have a forum for getting his misunderstanding clarified. Being the headmaster also meant, I had to read all the text the others were supposed to read in order to cross check their facts, since it was crucial that we kept the right facts for a good pass during the exams. One of the most dedicated "students" in the group was Dr. Jonas Addae, himself a very fast reader from Adisadel College, really he contributed a lot. Through Jonas also I learnt to appreciate jazz and classical music.
He always insisted that there was nothing like bad music, one just had to recondition one`s mind and try to find out why some one wrote and sung it, and try to listen to it more than once then it may make sense. I must say I am able to appreciate a lot of different types of music which is some times abhorred by others, just from that principle. It also helped me to be able to withstand so called "fools", from the patience one develops just from listening to a music that does not seem to be making sense quickly to the end.
One of our teachers at Prempeh College, Mr Joe Manu, "POWER," once defined a miracle as; "a coincidence when the coincidence is coinciding;" when one of our mates quoted from one of our Bible Knowledge books that the crossing of the Red sea by the Israelites was a sheer coincidence because when they arrived at the Red sea it was dry. Looking at that, then a miracle happened to me when I was preparing for my fourth year exams. In fact with my group I had read our standard text book from back to back and discussed what ever we thought was relevant for the exam. Both the written and MCQ`s had come and gone without any difficulty. The reference textbook also has been read quit enough to my satisfaction. Then I was getting ready for the clinical exam in Paediatrics. We were 6 in my group to face one Prof. Nkrumah and the visiting examiner from Lagos University. I was the last in the group which meant I will only be getting into the wards after lunch.
As I waited and waited, I was just bored and did not know what to read. The textbook on Paediatrics had just become very boring for I was not coming across any new facts In desperation I decided to take a textbook on Orthopaedics which was going to be my next rotation and as my custom demanded I always tried to read ahead so it was in line.
I had no idea of the syllabus so I did not know where to start from. Just glancing through the pages I found a child in a POP from the shoulders up to the buttocks with the penis in between a hole in the POP. It just attracted my curiosity because I had not heard nor seen a POP on the chest and stomach before. I took interest and read the text. It was on spinal injuries and TB spine and their treatment, that particular POP application was called a "POP plaster jacket".
As I walked into the fourth floor on the Paediatric Department after lunch I met the chap who was before me in a long drawn face, he told me that the Prof says he must see him again after 12 weeks, which meant a fail at the clinical exam.
Then appeared this tall and faired coloured Prof with a very red face, obviously very angry. He just asked me for my name and simply said, "You, I am giving you 15 mins after which I will be asking you only three questions and be warned, the five students before you have really spoilt my day. I hope you will not do the same"
Sadly for me a few weeks before he has fallen out with me. As we were in the Out- patient Clinic one very pale child had been brought in and he had asked me to collect group O, Rh-negative uncrossed match blood from the blood bank. I personally did not know of the urgency so I was taking my time only to find the Prof himself running past me to the collect the blood when he saw my walking pace. I must say I could not think of what he had on his mind whether the poor performance of my mates or my own falling out with him. He led me to one bed where a mother sat with her 3 year old son looked at his watch and left us. After taking some deep breaths to cool down I settled down to take my history from the mother. Her child was not walking at 3 years and had been brought from Takoradi, Afua Nkwanta Hospital, for the exams. On the mother undressing the child I got the clue instantly. The child was just the textbook description of a TB spine with a clear gibbus on his mid thoracic spine. That gave me a relaxing feeling to be able to take a very good history and examine the child thoroughly. All the signs were there, the gibbus on the spine, brisk patellar and ankle reflexes with clonus, flabby lower limps without wasting with an tact cerebral function. I knew sincerely that if the supposed to be three questions was about this child, then I can not go wrong.
Now the 15 mins was even too long for I wanted him to come and let`s get it over.
To be examined by Prof Nkrumah was more tasking than to have 15 rounds in the boxing ring with either George Foreman or Mohammed Ali. So I knew what I was in for.
On his appearance, still red faced, he asked " Have you finished?"
'Yes sir'. I said.
" What is your diagnosis?, God bless you if I should get any rubbish from you mouth"
"Sir, TB of the spine to rule out a spinal injury."
"Thank you, at last one of you can reason".he replies. I felt so relived as if been set free after 15 years of imprisonment.
" Why do you say so? " Then came pouring the stuff on him.
" What will you do for this child?"
"Sir, I will take spine and chest x`rays, blood for Full count , ESR and cultures, do a Tine or Mantoux test and if confirmed start TB treatment plus an application of a plaster jacket."
For the first time during the encounter he smiled and turned to his colleague and said " You know, this is the type of students we produce in this school, I just can not understand why on earth we were given five rotten students before the good one, perhaps saving the best for the last. Good chap, goodbye, I hope you have had your lunch already".The " war" had become a comedy!
After the fourth year University examination, I managed to get to Glasgow for my student exchange programme. My short stay in Glasgow with other students supposed to be in the same class with me boosted my image of Ghana Medical School, because most of the knowledge that I had taken for granted I found those students were struggling to understand.
My houseman ship was at Korle Bu doing Medicine and Surgery. A few things happened which may be worth mentioning. During the Medicine rotation I had found myself on the Fourth Floor with Prof Addy us our boss and Dr Neequaye as his assistant. One has to know Prof Addy to understand what stress you will be under to do your houseman ship under him. Once whilst Prof Addy had travelled for a conference outside Ghana one of his uncles had fallen ill and brought to hospital specifically to see him. The relatives soon learnt that the Prof was out of the country and Dr Neequaye was also absent. For the fear of Prof Addy, we the house officers and the Registrars have always avoided his private patients. But now this patient really looked ill and was carried by the relatives. I personally had sympathy for him and decided to help, at least to find out what the problem was. On history taking, I found this chap to be having cancer of the prostate with paraplegia. All necessary investigations were done and I thought of starting him on some of the estrogen steroids on hand. God being merciful, the response was so good that this chap could move his legs by the time the Prof arrived after a week.
He had been told of the case and had seen his uncle on the ward. The patient had also told him about how only one of the doctors on the ward was willing to admit him but he could not call me by name. The Prof summoned all the junior doctors under him for an impromptu ward round. On reaching his uncle his countenance change and he asked in an unfriendly tone for the doctor who was looking after that particular patient. Knowing his short temperness, I was scarred for I thought he had found something terribly wrong. But everybody else knew who was looking after that patient so I had no way to escape Trembling, I came forward to face his music. This time it turned out to be praises. For the first time ever he put his hand on the shoulder of one of us, which was mine and took my hand for a hand shake and said " some of you will just be medical graduates, others will be doctors, you people must respect this doctor. Doctor Gyasi-Agyei, I thank you for your wonderful performance, keep it up". After that both Dr Neequaye and Prof Addy will leave their office keys with me to see their private patients when they travelled to the envy of the senior registrars, the other specialist who did not have offices and my own mates After the patient`s discharge he brought me a wonder gift, a type of very white fish and so tasty that I have looked all over the shops I come across and not found any fish so nice yet.
During my time with Mr Mustapha as the house officer to the Neuro-surgery Department one funny event also changed my behaviour. There was a terminally ill Reverent with a brain tumour who had become my friend for I enjoyed his life stories and advise. I visited him each night after the evening rounds and spend some time with him. One evening my wife had come from Kumasi to visit and I was in a hurry to see her. I had decided not to visit the priest that evening. I did not know that he could recognise my foot steps. As I was tip toed past his side ward he waited till I got to the main door and shouted, "Doctor, come !!".I was so mixed up and did not know what to do but I had no option. I came back to his room and he really made me ashamed.
He just pointed to two cartons siting by his bedside that I must take them away. They were one cartoon of ideal tinned liquid milk and a cartoon of sardines, the most valuable commodities those days. I was so stiff I could not just bend to pick those things up. After all I was going to need a car to carry them to my flat so I sat down in shame. Then he started his usual long speeches which ended, " Doctor, you have behaved like a woman today. You know the day you think of loving your wife most that is the day she flares at you for the minimal mistake. You have seen me all the time before you left this ward in the evening but the day that I had thought of giving you something out of my heart, that is the day you ignore me. All those things are for you, come take them when you want". I thanked him and left and since then I have tried hard to keep all my routines, come rain or snow!
Then as we were getting ready to face the real life as doctors and fully independent with our lives, the living in Ghana was getting progressively very difficulty such that our topic for discussing was how to find greener pastures somewhere soon after getting our certificates.
Sometimes I regret leaving Ghana too soon after my Houseman ship. I had good opportunities to further my education but poverty was too pressing. All my bosses I worked under during my House Officer days saw some future in me and were all pushing me to stay on and study further.
Soon after we had taken the Hippocrates`s oath I found out that the dream to become a doctor was wrought with its own difficulties. The society was expecting too much. My family thought that some of their financial problems would soon be over, meanwhile I could not even find a cooking pot to buy on the open market, and food prices were rising by the hour, that I could not support myself ,wife and our one child, let alone help with the problems of my siblings still in school. One had to queue for hours on end for a tin of sardine and a pocket of sugar. To add salt to my wounds the government would not even consider simple things like car loans, a facility that our mates who made lower grades at the A`level and went to the Eastern block to study Medicine had been given. They were roaming the city with their new cars and having posh furniture in their flats and were the eyes of all the posh nurses on the campus whilst we, the Ghanaian trained, did all the work. It was just an unbearable envy that drove most of my mates out of Ghana too soon after we finished our house jobs.
1. PERSONAL DATA
Full Name: Dr. Yaw Nyamekye Gyasi-Agyei
Date of Birth: 09th March 1954
Place of Birth: Kona [Ashanti] Kwabre District, [First born child to the late Mr Kofi Konadu Gyasi-Agyei
"THE BOY" & Madam Adjoa Mansah, both of Kona]
Marital Status: Married. (Monica)
Children:
Address:
Current postal address:
26 De Villiers Street
P. O. Box 554, Ficksburg, 9730.
Free State; Republic of South Africa.
Telephone (Home): + 27-51-933 3443
Office: + 266 430 578 [Lesotho]
Cell: + 27 82 492 6392
Fax Home: + 27 51 933 2654
Office: + 266 430 019 [Lesotho]
E-mail: gyasi@kingsley.co.za
2. ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
3. WORKING EXPERIENCE
Jesse Polyclinic is the first privately owned nursing home /mini hospital in Lesotho. It is a 20 bed, near comprehensive medical setup with basics like X`ray,maternity services, medical laboratory,Ultrasound ,out & in patient, pharmacy and operating theatre facilities.It is computerized.
4. OTHER BUSINESS CONCERNS
4. RELIGION
Christian/Methodist
5. HOBBIES
8. SOCIAL ACTIVITIES
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Spotlight | Amanfoo in the news | And the winner is... | Amanfoo Newsbriefs |