Former Kayayo overcomes odds; honored with Ashesi Presidential Award
While graduation day was special for each member of the class of
2018, for Teni Agana 18, it was a day of a breakthrough. The simplest
things are sometimes our greatest motivators. In Teni’s case, it was a
photo of someone’s college graduation day.
“I found the picture as a child, and I kept it on me at all times,”
said Teni, whose father passed away early on in her life. “I really
wanted to be that person someday and even though my family could not
afford to pay my fees, I was ready to do what it takes. So I knew I had
to find a way to fund my education myself.”
Teni’s strong drive to become a college graduate someday propelled
her to make some tough choices. Every vacation while in high school,
rather than stay with her family in Bolgatanga in Ghana’s Upper-East
Region, she chose to live and work at Bantama market, Kumasi in the
Ashanti Region, as a kayayo ( head porter), to pay her tuition and
boarding fees.
Her hard work and perseverance carried her through high school, and
eventually got her a spot at Ashesi University, as a MasterCard
Foundation scholar. Today, Teni is a model representation of Ashesi’s
motto; scholarship, leadership and citizenship, and is a recipient of
the Presidential Award, the highest award a student can receive at
Ashesi. She did not only transcend academic barriers, but was determined
to give back in any way she could.
“During my first semester, I failed a couple of courses, including
Programming, because I had never used a computer before and I was then
learning to type in coding class,” she explained.
“Fortunately, staff and faculty especially my academic adviser were
really supportive. They guided me to resources on campus including the
Math and Writing resource centers. By my second semester, I had improved
my grade point average from a 1.25 to a 3.0 (out of 4) and in
subsequent semesters, made it onto the Dean’s list”.
Having known the power of scholarships as a scholarship recipient
herself, she was instrumental in raising funds to see four girls through
their senior secondary school education. She also led fundraising
efforts to sponsor the education of 15 brilliant students from the
Berekuso township, where she also teaches mathematics to children.
As a student, she served as a Mathematics tutor with the Berekuso
Maths Project and Class tutor for Kayacare, an initiative that provides
safe spaces for children of female porters in Accra’s marketplaces.
Her long-term goal is to ensure that underprivileged children,
especially girls with backgrounds like hers, have a support system to
keep them from veering from their goal. She has been in those shoes and
understands all too well how easy it is to get sidetracked.
“It is hard when you have worked so hard to earn some money and then
you have to give it up for a long-term investment such as school. The
reward isn’t evident in the short-term and for many of us, it becomes an
unrealistic goal and too much of a sacrifice. So it is easy to give
up.”
In her final year, Teni’s senior’s thesis was on creating awareness
of the motivation and circumstances of kayayei in Ghana. She is
passionate about minimizing the increasing number of girls from Northern
Ghana who migrate to the streets of southern Ghana out of poverty.
She hopes to eventually build a school for kayayei girls to keep them
centered on the importance of education, and to keep them off the
streets and help them avoid risks associated such as rape.
She has already got some support from faculty and staff as well as her peers to help her achieve some of these goals.
In the meantime, Teni plans to continue to teach and coordinate
activities for the children at the Berekuso Math Project for the next
year as national service. Her story is one of the strongest testaments
to the power of sheer determination, and goes to show that once you do
not lose sight of the goal, anything is achievable.
“Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it,” Boldness really does have genius, power, and magic in it.
Source: Ashesi
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