Educators From Ghana

"My main interest is in geophysical fluid dynamics, which is the study of the movement of air and water in the atmosphere and oceans. I am particularly interested in understanding how waves in the atmosphere interact and affect the general circulation of the atmosphere and influence weather and climate."

"I teach undergrad and grad mathematics courses, I do scientific research, I supervise grad students’ research, and I have some administrative duties in my department and university and within the larger scientific community. I am an applied mathematician, so my research involves using mathematical and computational methods to solve problems in science."

"I was born in Barbados. My father was from Barbados and was a math professor with a PhD in the area of math called group theory. My mother was a teacher from Ghana. My father studied in the UK and first worked in Ghana, where he met my mother, then eventually moved back to the Caribbean where I was born and grew up. I also lived in Ghana and in the UK before moving to Canada."

"When I am not working, I hang out with my son. We enjoy travelling, especially going to the beach, and going to music concerts and festivals. Our favourite trips have been to Barbados and to Prince Edward Island."

"I decided to make a career teaching mathematics when I was about 4 years old. It is the only career I ever considered. As a teacher who also grew up in a family of teachers, my mother noticed and encouraged my interest in mathematics from a very early age."

"To love truth, and to serve under its banner, come what may, that is courage truly, which will endure and stand the test of endless ages."

"In the beginning evil and good were created, and to man was given the command to rule and subdue the evil, and to foster and cause the good to prevail. That is the final reason of human experience, and man becomes a god when he has won the victory. It consists in the building of character, and one star may differ from another star in glory. When mortality fails, the immortal in man prevails and finds its home here where, in the cycle of the heavens, in the case of great souls, it becomes a god dwelling in the temple which character hath fashioned. The temple hath truth for foundation, love for superstructure, and child-like trust for apex."

"Unhappy they who raise their hopes upon the shifting sand."

"Have pity on my simplicity, for I am but a mortal."

"Call me a thinker, a teacher, call me anything that is of the earth, but a god I cannot think that I am one, or can ever be."

"Humility becometh well the triumphant."

"Love and Light dwelt together in the highest heaven."

"Mutual understanding, the true basis of all happy unions."

"I do know, that gods are wont to make use of human instruments in approaching men. The Infinite finds expression in the finite, and the ideal is realised in the actual."

"We worship that we do know."

"No people could despise its own language, customs, and institutions and hope to avoid national death."

"It had been felt for a long time by men of light and leading in Fanti-land that the salvation of the people depended upon education; that to educate the youths of the country properly depended upon trained teachers; and that it was the work of a university to provide such training ground."

"You are only drifting, drifting, drifting away from the ancient moorings that you Westerners built in sand. Jesus Christ came from the East. In Bethlehem he was born, and in Egypt was he nurtured; and, yet, you seek to teach Him us. We have caught His Spirit and live; you follow the letter and are tossed hither and thither by every wind. Forgive me when I say that the future of the world is with the East. The nation that can, in the next century, show the greatest output of spiritual strength, that is the nation that shall lead the world, and as Buddha from Africa taught Asia, so may Africa again lead the way."

"There has never lived a people worth writing about who have not shaped out a destiny for themselves, or carved out their own opportunity."

"Who says he is equal with God? Man is to-day, to-morrow he is not, Iam is from eternity to eternity."

"Bushido () offers us the ideal of poverty instead of wealth, humility in place of ostentation, reserve instead of reclame, self-sacrifice in place of selfishness, the care of the interest of the State rather than that of the individual. It inspires ardent courage and the refusal to turn back upon the enemy. It looks death calmly in the face, and prefers it to ignominy of any kind. It preaches submission to authority and the sacrifice of all private interests, whether of self or of family, to the common weal. It requires its disciples to submit to a strict physical and mental discipline, develops a martial spirit, and by lauding the virtues of courage, constancy, fortitude, faithfulness, daring, self-restraint, offers an exalted code of moral principles, not only for the man and the warrior, but for men and women in times both of peace and war."

"The work of destruction, speaking generally, goes on not in the light of day, but, metaphorically, in the dark hours of night. The mighty Titan does not knock down his victim and deprive him of life outright. Oh no! that would be too crude a way. With the gin bottle in the one hand, and the Bible in the other, he urges moral excellence, which, in his heart of hearts, he knows to be impossible of attainment by the African under the circumstances; and when the latter fails, his benevolent protector makes such failure a cause for dismembering his tribe, alienating his lands, appropriating his goods, and sapping the foundations of his authority and institutions. To apply Tennyson’s simile, the Titan only knows what the Titan wants, or what he means. And all the while the eternal verity remains that the natural line of development for the aborigines is racial and national, and that this is the only way to successful European intercourse and enterprise."

"It is a sad reflection, but a legitimate one, that in the present day the successors of the leaders, who bore the heat and the burden of the day in order that British commerce might gain a footing on these shores, are not remembered as they should be by the British Government. But it is true that they are protected; it is feared very much protected. To be accurate, they are remembered sometimes in the partitioning of their territories, the minimising of their authority, and, worse than all, in some cases, in the sowing of those seeds of discord, calculated to destroy the integrity of a people."

"If you know the history of this town, a momentary sweep of the eye will bring back to memory signs of a former strife; for overlooking the Bay, there stands the old Fort, a symbol of the strife between the Dutch and the English in pre-locomotive days. The struggle, in name, was between two European nations, in reality between two aboriginal factions, who, for aught one knows to the contrary, might have otherwise lived in peace. The Dutch or the English flag was the standard which drew the natives in thousands into opposing camps, and for which they shed their blood freely, only that the white man might obtain freer scope to barter spurious drinks for the precious metal which the torrential rains washed to the very doors of the aborigines."

"When there appears to be selective justice; when some offenders are not even placed on the hook but are hailed and promoted for being nasty and violent, the logical outcome is what we see."

"We must provide opportunities that transcend political patronage 'connection' and the practice of whom-you-know. Equal and fair opportunities based on merit are an imperative for sustainable economic growth. The time for a shift is now."

"“It’s all about putting the group above the individual and understanding that our actions today shape the legacy we leave for tomorrow”"

"“My age is not a nuisance, it is a blessing … I’m proud of every minute God has given me.”"

"“When you are going into an election and you are very sure that the right structures have been put in place … whatever outcome you get, you are compelled to accept it.”"

"“Politics should be geared towards development and devoid of insults and acrimony.”"

"“The NPP’s ‘It Is Possible’ is pure deception: look at their track record.”"

"“Politics about fighting injustice, hunger, hopelessness, arrogance, selfishness, unbridled greed, corruption, state capture, disrespect of fellow human beings.”"

"Governments must continuously demonstrate that education is the fulcrum of all development, the hub around which all spokes - security, health, the economy, climate change, equality, human rights and others revolve."

"I found school to be a fun place, making friends, learning and discovering new things. The most impactful teachers were those who smiled, encouraged, tolerated, and who recognized that some flowers take time to bloom."

"If we base our conviction on the premise that everyone can learn, then we can reach out of school girls too, with different modes of learning. The longer we keep girls out of school, the further the number increases and the more the desire for global peace will elude us all."

"A major pillar is effective public education on the importance of effective education for all, especially for girls and women to ground their central role in the life of the family, society, self."

"I am not an economist but I understand the economy. Naana Opoku-Agyemang to critics"

"Giving up is not an option. Stay the course. As a people, we have survived many unspeakable atrocities. Read and know your true history. We just celebrated the Year of Return. Read that history, very, very carefully. It has not been a nice cup of sobolo."

"Making history is gratifying; but what really matters is not to be first through the door. What matters is to hold the door open for those behind us and create other avenues for self actualization for many more."

"We are a people who jump over many hurdles. Walking that road is an act of courage. That experience is a forge of character."

"To all the little girls and boys across our country, always dream big; remain focused. You can grow to become anything you want to be."

"Believe that only you can stop yourselves. It is not going to be about your parents, rich or poor; not the region you come from and whether it is endowed with resources or not. Remember that natural endowment is what it is; it did not come from the effort of anyone. It is nature that placed those resources there. That is why we call them natural resources."

"The 2024 election is about "reversing the negative trend" set by the current government and emphasized the need for accountability, prosperity, and job creation."

"My late husband and I loved God’s word and after his demise, the Bible remains my most important source of comfort and encouragement; by the word of God, you can overcome any challenge that you face in life and it will help you take responsibility of your own lives."

"Investing in girl-child education has immediate and long term benefits. It does not only build the assertiveness of the girls, it also builds self-confidence and empowers them to properly position themselves to be active participants in nation building,"—— "As an educationist, my joy knows no bounds when I see girls excel and as First Ladies and agenda shapers of our respective countries, we must resolve to continue to give more meaning to girl-child education and not only pay lip service to it."

"Thinking through what makes a leader, how do you communicate and how do you organize yourself."

"A lot of work is being done by feminist because we have to think about breaking the glass ceilings and think about if the systems we have been living under will work for us what is different what to do."

"I am one of these obsessive people that find myself going back, going “Oh! Oh! Oh yes! That was that person’s classmate” and “Oh yes! It’s the same teacher.” Going through all of that and trying to understand. I wonder, what inspired you to create the book that way and what was the kernel that made you in a sense move out and flourish from?"

"It was a good piece because it creates the atmosphere and the vision. Carole is very interesting, of course, because she is the woman of disguises. The woman who has a secret that she needs to [or] feels she needs to keep quiet about in order to negotiate. I love her mother who is like, “I am a Nigerian and so are you, and we’re not going to get past this, so let’s...” The scenes with her mother and the ways in which the mother helps her re-find herself by dealing with, who is the person that you’re going to marry. I will ask you now about the structure of this particular book and the multiple voices, the twelve different voices, all of whom are connected – some intimately, some tangentially."

"Thank you! That’s a wonderful concluding statement. As always, moti-vating us to be inspirational and think about our own lives. On that note, I would like to thank all of you who are out there in different parts of the world, those of you who are in this room, for being here. This has been a privilege."