Akwaaba! I am Dela, a Ghanaian teacher from the Osuwem R/C Basic School and The Witness Tree Institute of Ghana. Today, at a workshop entitled “The Value Of Storytelling: From (Dis)ability to ability, I heard a story of courage and inspiration!
Mrs. Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame was born in 1957 at Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region of Ghana. At age 10, she started experiencing problems with her sight and eventually lost her sight. Her story chronicles her journey from a place of despair and challenges to a place of empowerment and strength. Today, Ms. Fefoame uses the story of her challenges and tribulations to create positivity and inspiration in young women, students, and people with disabilities world wide. Today, Mrs Fefoame remains a powerful advocate who inspires. She has three children with her husband.
She said that although she was well supported by her family in many ways, her confidence was shattered by thoughtless comments by other people who saw her blindness as a dead end-a sign of failure and hopelessness. Despite the great encouragement from her family, it wasn’t until she met a woman with disabilities that she gained the courage to dream and saw herself as a productive member of Ghanaian society. To those who said, "What a disaster! Is this what your world has come to? The end has come for you, etc, she can now say, “My journey may be messy but in the end it will be beautiful.” It was her mentor, role model and friend, Grace Preko who gave her the courage to to utter those words, and led her to empower other people with disabilities.
Today, Mrs. Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame is a Ghanaian gender and disability rights advocate and the first person with a disability to have received the Excellence Grand Medal Award in 2007 from President John Kufuor and many other awards and achievements. She has continued her work and was recently re-appointed to continue to serve at the United Nations as an Ambassador Advocate for Gender and Disability Rights and Empowerment, and she leads conferences worldwide.
In the afternoon, the Witness Tree Institute participated in an interactive workshop entitled Ghanaian Identity Through Dance. Dance in Ghanaian identity is a means of communication that involves the movement of every part of the body to tell a story. As part of the Holistic Nature, Dance and movement systems in Ghana includes, body, music, multi-sensory modalities, and visual form. Mrs. Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame found sight/light/ vision in her heart and mind to join us learn a traditional dance called Akpacha dance by Ga- Dangmes' . As she dances through life, her legacy shall never be forgotten.
Video of Gertrude “dancing through life”!
Today, the workshops have prepared us for tomorrow’s journey during which we will visit the slave fortresses of Cape Coast and Elmina.
By Samuel Delali, The Osuwem R/C Basic School, Greater Accra, and The Witness Tree Institute of Ghana.