Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association (GMA), Dr Titus Kofi Beyuo, has opened up on how much of a hard-knock life he had growing up.

According to Dr. Beyuo, although his parents could not recognise the value of schooling, they tried to provide him and his siblings with a formal education.

“My parents did really see the value of education, but they tried to give us school. So we are the first generation to go to school,” he said.

“And of all my siblings, they gave everybody the opportunity but only the very first, and me (the very last) to cut the opportunity.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l46ILI9TTIg

He made these comments on PM Express Personality Profile on Friday, November 18.

The medical practitioner outlined the many challenges which almost impeded his bid to acquire formal education.

He recounted that he was able to have a proper system of education, when he left Kocha, a community in the Northern Region to live with his older brother in Pong, Tamale.

To him, although he was the oldest among his classmates, that was the least challenging aspect of his school years, as he encountered most of the difficulties when he started schooling in Accra.

Due to monetary difficulties, there were situations where he went through circumstances such as owing school fees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJ9RzJSh8qU

However, the fact that he served as the prefect at both the junior and senior secondary schools, prevented the headmasters from publicly berating him and demanding the payment of his fees.

Be it gathering husk for kenkey sellers, selling water, or ‘truck pushing,’ Dr. Beyuon shared that he worked these menial jobs on the side while in school to make ends meet.

“…sometimes I used to miss school, because I used to push truck at the Tuesday market, to cart bags of maize to women who sold kenkey."

He told a humourous tale about how he had to pass himself off as a vegetarian, in order to be allowed to purchase a type of meal without being interrogated.

Despite these challenging conditions, he affirms that he was able to achieve his current status in life with the assistance and grace of God and his will to succeed.

Today he is the chief scribe for one of the most vibrant professional associations in Ghana.