Timothy D. Amaglo-Mensah
Nov 8 · 4 min read

URBAN ASHAIMAN:IN THE EYES OF THE GOVERNMENT SCHOOL.

Official town, New town, Christian Village, Taifa, Taboo line, Middle East, Tulaku 1 and 2, Zongo Laka, Agege Market,Tsina gbe, Roman Down, Asensu Bar , New Quaters, Adjei Kojo, Kanawu, Valco flat, Lebanon, Zenu,Jericho and Afariwaa . All these are suburbs of the Inner City Ashaiman. The town Ashaiman came about as a result of migrating occupants of the now Tema Port area by Kwame Nkrumah to build the port, and the industrial area of Tema.

The early settlers were the family of Ashai hence the name Ashaiman. For over 5 decades, this city has stood it grounds being the hub of a lot activties and a nurturing grounds for great characters. As a young individual that grew in up Ashaiman, I constantly had to loathe the edge to be open about it to anyone with the mindset of avoiding a stereotype. I found myself associating myself with Tema so much that I wanted to move there. This was as a result of the perceptions, and mindsets that were out there.

Even though Ashaiman is a very tough city to live in and raise a child, I never regret having those experiences because moving up in life, a lot of hard situations came to me as fun-size. The Ashaiman living was akin to living in pure smartness. One had to look out for himself on every occasion. Every week one would here at least one “julor ee” at dawn or even at daytime, and it wasn’t news anymore. This brought a sense of love and Ubuntu to us. Every one was his brothers keeper. Growing up in Kporsu house was the most fun. I had the privilege of making friends from other tribes and religions. It imbibed in me the love for others Regardless of their background. The most pertinent reason languages come to me with ease.

Living the Ashaiman experience is compared to enrolling in a military academy. A lot of entries, few graduates. The dropouts are those who got pressured along line by the euphoria of vices and fall off, and the few are those who stand the test of time and develop thick skin to all the pressures of falling off. I am proud to say, I graduated. One place that has helped children in Ashaiman to graduate from the proverbial “ military academy “ is the government school. With 7 schools making the Cluster, it has proven it’s worth in helping curb a lot of menace in the community.

The Mixture of Celestial School and Clementina School was a nice pair of basic education for me as most of my friends were enrolled in the Government school and I must say having the shift system wasn’t enough, but it took most of them away from the pressures of engaging in vices. The “devil “ didn’t have an idle person to find a job for anymore. The famous Actor Abraham Attah was a student of the Ashaiman Cluster of Schools, and he got noticed in that school

This year, the school that had given hope a lot of children in the community was sold to a Chinese company to be used for a mall. School was to close down for the Chinese company to break everything. This is without recourse to the over 5000 children that will displace as a result of this decision. The Urban Ashaiman that is being gradually built from its ruins of vices and underdevelopment are on the verge of going back . Imagine over 5000 children displaced as a result of not having a place to nurture them.

The Urban Ashaiman Dream will not see the light of the day this decision. Our elders say that when a bird takes off, and lands on an anthill, it’s still on the ground. It goes to say that we might have started the dream very well by trying to build an Ashaiman devoid of filth but giving the Government school out is landing on the anthill.

I love Ashaiman because it thought me love and I believe strongly that if our priorities are set right, our aims are in full flight , the Urban Ashaiman Dream will be realized. It is a wake up call for all proverbial “military graduates from Ashaiman” to come together and help in the realization of this dream. Nobody owns Ashaiman, but we all have a duty to do right by it .

God bless the Urban Ashaiman Dream!

Timothy Dziedzom Amaglo-Mensah

Timothy D. Amaglo-Mensah

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Product of GRACE• Street Credibility •Leadership • Passionate Developer• Low Key Writer

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