Young Legend of Inspiration- Gabriel Obodai Torgbor-Ashong.

Something struck me when I met this young man in my first year at the Ghana Institute of Journalism; he was different from others I had already met, after listening to him, I knew I had to take action. As time flew,actions and initiatives he took confirmed and solidified how different I felt when I met him the first time.He is "less talk, more action" personified.

Gabriel Obodai Torgbor-Ashong is his name, a final year student of the Ghana Institute of Journalism pursuing communication studies with Journalism as his major.
He is currently the General Secretary of the Ghana Institute of Journalism Student' representative Council and was the Google Student Ambassador for GIJ during the 2012/2013 academic year.

As a Google Student Ambassador then, he trained over 700 students on online Journalism and how best to earn income through it. He has also spearheaded an initiative of distributing over 500 free special Airtel Sim cards to students to make communication among them more efficient and convenient.
As General Secretary, He has immensely contributed to the success of our administration. Thanks to the Council's advocacy, a spacious students’ lounge has been built. He and his team have additionally installed a Plasma TV with a DSTV package for students’ pleasure, convenience and awareness. As of now, the SRC has also contributed to the successful establishment of Radio GIJ, 97.7 MHz. Today, students will directly have the opportunity to practice lessons taught in class and thereby enhance their potential.His early academic life did not all predict someone who would hold these positions.

"My dad is a commercial driver and my mum, a petty trader. I’m proud of them mainly because though they were not educated, they did everything within their capacity to educate me. I had my basic education at La Wireless ‘4’ School. I was one of the least performing students in class throughout my primary school,I couldn't read, write nor even spell simple words. Friends collected money from me before explaining assignments to me. I remember whilst in primary four, I was appointed the class prefect of my class but because I couldn't determine the names of my friends behind their exercise books to share to them, the position was taken from me and given to someone else. You can imagine the kind of embarrassment that brought me". he recounted.

"I never thought I could ever be that brilliant like some of my  class mates till my last day at Primary School: which was known as "OURDAY". I was playfully walking on a school corridor when I overhead two teachers advising the then School Prefect.They told him to often sit in front, be bold to speak and read to the hearing of everyone in class. I picked this advice, used it when we finally got to JSS at La Wireless ‘4’ Basic School. God being merciful, it worked for me. By the time I got to JSS 2, teachers considered me one of the best pupils in class and soon appointed me class prefect till we completed. I then attended Presbyterian Senior High school La, where I got elected the Compound Prefect and head of the Students’ Disciplinary Committee" he said gladly

"Whilst at PRESEC, I was privileged to volunteer for a youth advocacy organization called curious Minds(CM). CM is a media advocacy organization based at Ghana Broadcasting Corporation. I had the opportunity to travel with the group to child labour and child trafficking villages to assist children who were being abused in one way or the other. We brought their plight to the doorstep of policy makers and made it known through the group’s radio programmes on Unique FM and Obonu FM. I am privileged to be a presenter on one of the Organizations radio programme for the past four years" he said.

In 2010, through his work with Curious Minds, he was selected together with another volunteer to represent Ghana at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa held in Ethiopia. He was privileged to have met former US President George Bush and then Ethiopian President, MelesZenawi.

After completing Presec La, He gained admission to read B.A. in Communication Studies at the Ghana Institute of Journalism in 2010. Whilst in level 100 at GIJ, he and his friend noticed that there was not any platform where students could easily and directly practice lessons taught in class.They energized
and established a fortnight student centred newsletter called Keteke Ghana. Realizing the impact Ketekenews was making on students, they established Keteke Club as a department to invite Communication experts to inspire and train students to write effectively.

They wanted to make impact on others and so they took a bold but herculean initiative. Keteke adopted a village in the Central Region called Otibilkrom. The village lacked potable water, health centre and electricity. The only school there was up to class three and without any accreditation.  Members of Keteke mobilized resources like books, pens and clothes and donated to children in the village.
They taught the pupils there, advocated through the media with a special documentary we made. Partly through their efforts, the school now has an accreditation from Ghana Education Service and the village has a borehole now.

"When we began the initiative and shared the idea with some friends to support, they mocked us and thought it will collapse in no time. Today, I look at the impact Keteke is creating on campus and beyond and become so thankful." he said.

"Through my volunteerism work with Keteke Ghana and Curious Minds, I have had the opportunity to visit the United Kingdom, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Togo to support young people’s initiative. I started reporting for Metro TV recently and I really look forward build up my journalism skills through the wonderful platform
I may have started life as a less intelligent guy but today, the story is quite different. Mates who looked down upon me years back hear of and see me and become amused about where I have reached. I started reporting for Metro TV recently and I really look forward build up my journalism skills through the wonderful platform" he added.

"For me, it’s just by the Grace of God.I am a strong believer in Christ. I also believe that irrespective of our background, we can make a difference in our own small ways just as some of our own colleagues are also doing. To this end I often say that in life, time waits for no individual so you act now or regret later for not taking that important step. Whatever you decide to do, you commit yourself to do it well less you bother yourself. So you either drink deep or you taste not". he advises.

This is my young legend of inspiration.How he never relents till he has taken that initiative and sees to it till its a done deal is really admiring. Many students lives have been impacted through his training programs and I am one of such students. I must confess he really has a heart of gold, he so has volunteerism at heart and never hesitates to be involved when it comes up.
His constant encouragement and "can-do-spirit" is a key ingredient in keeping my blogging spirit alive. He serves as an inspiration to many students on campus. He is inspiring, yes he is!

Kindly take a minute to know him better through this one minute video:

He will be very happy to hear from you.


Google+ : Gabriel Obodai Torgbor-Ashong.
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/GEBASH
Email address : gabrielashong@gmail.com
Blog : gabrielashong.blogspot.com

Super Wednesday- Unexpected Change

The great joys of yesterday,
Without a pain.
How frequent smiles appeared on my face,
At an ever increasing pace.

Without a warning,
The lights dimmed.
Down smiles were pinned,
In, darkness creeped.

Green turned red,
No more bread,
Waters dried,
Times without number eyes cried.

Flesh thinned,
Outlets stiffened,
Sorrow thickened,
Friends were far away.

My head, a carriage.
Carried my own burdens,
With no pardon,
Seeking for refuge.

Strength drained,
Heart aches,
Weak, bone goes.
Joy always faints.

Who? ,
When? ,
Where? ,
How? .

 My brain seeks answers,
 For wholeness my heart yearns.
 Strength my bones needs,
 From whence shall these come?

 I see it from afar,
The green light day,
Though far,
Worth waiting for!

Super Wednesday; The Second Golden Chance

It's extremely crazy when something you badly want  to do away with tends to strike a thunder on what you badly want and wish to protect.
Emotion is king. Whatever you want to do must not affect our "king" negatively. It's very delicate and it's fruits are powerful; either a blessing or a curse. It could be either sweet or bitter too.
There is no feeling as rotten as letting down the flag of trust someone has been holding high for you, especially when it's not your intention at all. It's worse when the efforts you have been making turned out to be the windstorm that blew down the flag of trust.
At that moment, nothing said or done can instantly raise up the flag. If you are not given up on, then that's a golden chance and would just  be a matter of time. No body would perfectly comprehend what you went through no matter how well it's narrated till the person passes through same.
The indispensable ingredient is no more, yet the soup is still cooking. It can't taste the same says the custodian . It's crooked but not broken, surely it can be whole again.
The efforts made towards the mending has been great and amazing! It's beyond words and description. The "faultee" has put in more than the " faulter" which makes is amazing. It's rare. Perhaps the "faulter"  has realized not words our planned actions can do the mending but it's takes that " grace element" from the "faultee" to restore the wholeness once again.
One special thing about the whole thing I have realized is that the "poison" has made us stronger; injected into us the consciousness of value and unity and this is priceless.
A second chance backed with a pure intention is precious and I'm nursing and caring for it as I would do for my baby. However,  the "faulter" is still human. Only that it's in check and won't go overboard anymore.
These are thoughts that have been hovering in my mind for sometime now. It's worth sharing so I just did.

Daddy's Love

I respect and admire men who would not mind doing things seen as “feminine duties” to help out their wives.
Even as a little girl, I thought and felt so cool seeing my dad do for me, the things my mum is to usually do. I remember those mornings when he bathed me and got me ready for school. Getting three girls ready for school in the mornings before 6;30am whiles preparing for work also wasn’t a joke; his thoughtfulness of adding certain duties to his roles impressed me greatly.

I felt so attached to him; I was very close to him because I felt his love always through his actions. No matter how tired he was after work, he mostly made time to have a chit chat with “his little girl” about how and what went on in school. Some of these things made our bond stronger.

I remember one time my little sister used a “foul word” on me and I hit her. My dad hit me slightly on the arm to set my little sister at peace and that broke my heart greatly. “Why did he have to hit me? Did he hear what my little sister told me?” I asked myself. I felt our love was bruised. I eventually fell sick out of that. That was how dear his love was to me.
I also remember how he gave me cold baths and served me dinner all the time during my convalescence period, with him being close, my recovery was quick. There are countless precious moments I would want to share but would leave that for another post. That were little things he did for me that bonded us greatly till today.

Big things are great, but little things done out of love and thoughtfulness touches my heart a lot, they mean very big to me. They are those things that become part of me which I remember easily and talk about fondly.
Those are memories I wish to keep in a box, tie with a red ribbon and keep with me forever.

Super Wednesday- "That man, that inspiration"

There are people who can never be forgotten, they are just so special; not because they don’t have humanly characteristics or got the best of everything, but because they inspire change when they come into your life.

I have met a lot of people in life; those who live by what life offers to them, those who strive to change their status quo, those whose life is an inspiration on its own and those who brave through life, drive on, to make their dreams a reality and not stop there but make positive impact on those they come in contact with. I have known people who, for a long time, haven’t influenced me or made any impact on me and those who strive to make people better as long as you are in their lives and have contact with them.
Four days ago on I hinted on this write-up on Google plus “For a few months now, I have seen great positive change in my life. I have been inspired, pushed and guided to work hard, read widely and write more. I love the new me. That man, that inspiration”.                                                                                                    
I was not the laid back person who would not strive and better herself up, at least I have taken bold and difficult initiatives which landed me great opportunities and rewards but I have seen great, positive, rapid change in me within a short period of time. I have worked harder, read more, written more and have become a better person; because of someone I met who had great positive impact on me.

 It’s been less than half a year; a few months, ever since I came into contact with “That man, that inspiration” and there has been a new me. Let me share two aspects of my life that has experienced these changes. I had this blog, but hadn’t done this much on here. The first time I met “that man, that inspiration” on a one-on-one date, all we talked about was me, my talent, passion and ambitions. Then this blog came up. Though I had a few pieces here already, “that man, that inspiration” constantly injected into me and constantly reminded me on the fact that I had to grow this blog by writing more.

With his help, I have been able to create and introduce two segments here; Young Legends of Inspiration where I profiled Ato Ulzen Appiah in my debut and Super Wednesday, where I share a piece every Wednesday. There are a lot more in the pipe line. I love writing, it is goes beyond a hobby, and it’s a passion of mine. It makes me happy; it gives me great joy to know I am making progress with it. If someone is passionate about growing and bearing fruits concerning my passion, that means a LOT to me.

My reading habit has improved positively. I usually read once a while when I pounce on a book occasionally. Within this few months I have read books that I would have taken a whole year to read. I don’t only read but review them also. All of these happened with his constant encouragements, suggestions, advice, strict principles and supervision. This has increased my knowledge and vocabulary base and that I look back and find amazing.

There are other parts of me that has been affected positively too which I can’t talk all about in this post. I leave that for another day. This may not seem a great deal to someone, but it is to me. It means a lot to me for someone to take my passion and dreams at heart, work hand-in-hand with me in making them a reality. If everybody I had met had made such impact in my life within a short period of time, I wonder what kind of amazing person I would be now.

“That man, that inspiration” has helped me out a great deal, some; I can’t even talk about here because of their private nature. He has made me realised I wake up every morning with a passion to grow, a challenge to overcome and a dream to fulfil. Every fibre of me is grateful to him for his great help in making me a better person. There have been instances where he could have given up but he still forges on to make my dreams a reality. What better association could I have wished for?
Some people can never be forgotten, they are just so special; not because they don’t have humanly characteristics or got the best of everything, but because they inspire great change when they come into your life and “that man, that inspiration is undoubtedly one of them.

Super Wednesday- The Strange Proposal.

It was Super Wednesday, I was drenched in my birthday mood so much that I couldn't post this, but I have now.I have had some strange occurrences. I would like to share one, which I have had questions about, till now.

I was born into Methodism, my family was a very staunch one. I still happened to be in the children service because I was not yet of age to join the youth fellowship. Children service was interesting and taught me a lot of religious things. I was very involved in the activities in children service, till I had to leave for boarding school in Senior High and could only be part of them when it was vacation.

 It happened about six years ago. I was about entering form two in Senior High. It was vacation, had the opportunity to join the children service again, at least till school re-opened. In church, I was very sociable; I was opened to all. Though I was reserved (as usual), I was everybody's friend whether my age or not. I didn't have favourites (after all its church where people seek sense of belonging, why should favouritism be encouraged anyway?)

One day, a young little boy who was eight by then sent his little sister to bring me something. It was a folded piece of paper. Church was closed by then, I decided to open it when I reached home. "What could this little boy want to tell me which he couldn't approach me with but had to write?" I wondered. Well, I got home and opened it. What I saw surprised me; I have been amazed by it till now.

"Dear Sister Mabel, 
 I want to tell you that I have got feelings for you and I love you. I am shy and can't tell you in the face, so I wanted to write this."

Whoa! I was shell-shocked! An eight year old little boy could write this to me a seventeen- year -old girl? Was I dreaming? Lots of thoughts were running in my mind. "He had feelings for me? Could an eight year old boy in 'Ghana' have feelings for a seventeen year old girl?"  "He loved me"; did he really know what love is and really meant?  "Why not any of his age mates at least, but me?"
I have had a couple of boys who were my age mates and even older telling me that as at then but not someone younger than me, an eight year old boy!

I was so surprised, didn't know what to do exactly; whether to tell someone or not, what to tell my "little boy" in love, how to go about the whole thing. Gradually, another Sunday approached but unfortunately, he wasn't in church neither was his little sister (our betweener). I had to go back to school within that week which meant I would be in school by that next Sunday... 

I left for school and came back home for another vacation. I saw him in church, and decided to speak to him when church was over. Immediately church was over, my "little love" had rushed home, nowhere to be found! I wondered why. The next Sunday, same happened. He has kept his distance from me till now.
He is adolescent now, in Senior High. The last time I saw him, he was going home from school.  He was very grown compared to when he sent me the letter.

He had feelings for me, He loved me.... my little love!

Super Wednesday; Beatrice.

Its Super Wednesday! every bit of me is excited and my creative mind is willing to share this. Love isn't all words but actions. The actions will bring out all you want to say. Someone showed me love about seventeen years ago and I just can't forget it; its so engraved in my heart, I don't think I ever will.

It was in Creator Schools,preparatory one Rose, but I can still remember vividly what happened. She was in my class, she was my sitting mate. Her name is Beatrice, for her other names, I can't remember. She was my first friend in class because we happened to be sitting mates.

We are normally given homework to be done at home and brought back the next day for marking. I had two teachers in preparatory one; Celestine and Teacher Tina as we fondly called them. Teacher Celestine was always had smiles on her face, was approachable and very sweet to us whiles Teacher Tina hardly smiled and you dared not break any of her rules.

 Every morning, we were to put our homework books on our tables for inspection. Our teachers would then go round to inspect everyone's. I clearly remember one day, my homework books weren't in my school bag. I had left them at home. I checked my school bag several times just in case I was mistaken but the fact didn't change, they were just not there. I was scared to hell, I began to shiver because I knew painful lashes awaited me. Beatrice on the contrary,had brought hers and she had them on the table.

Unfortunately, it was Teacher Tina who was inspecting on that day, my fear increased. As she approached our table, Beatrice hid her homework books under our table. I looked at her confused; why would she do that when she had hers? Why would she  hide her homework books when she knew that meant trouble?    As I was just about to ask her about it she said to me " I don't want you to be beaten alone, I have hidden mine so we would all be beaten together." I was shell-shocked! I thought I hadn't heard her right. True to her words,she was also punished when Teacher Tina got to our table! It was so abnormal that someone would want to be beaten because of a friend. That touched my heart a whole lot! Never heard anyone did that for a friend in our class or any other class.

Another day in school, I wasn't feeling well. I had caught cold and was coughing real bad. It had rained earlier that morning and was very cold. Beatrice took off her pullover and offered it to me though she was feeling very cold too. Our teachers were even amazed! That was love! We became closer and were the best of friends. Unfortunately she left the school the next academic year, In preparatory two, my best friend was had left. She never returned to Creator Schools and never saw her again. Though she wasn't close to me anymore, her actions of love were engraved in my heart; I have never forgotten about her. I tried searching for her on various social media but to no avail.

A true friend she was!, she had a heart of gold. Today, I remember and write about this as though it happened just days ago. I hope and pray we meet once again. Please if you are a brother or sister to Beatrice, kindly tell her I miss her and haven't forgotten about the love she showed me.!

HAPPY SUPER WEDNESDAY!