aboutsummaryrefslogtreecommitdiffhomepage
path: root/markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
Diffstat (limited to 'markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en')
-rw-r--r--markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en/not_without_help.austin_amissah.sst12
1 files changed, 11 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en/not_without_help.austin_amissah.sst b/markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en/not_without_help.austin_amissah.sst
index d9886b5..ec92584 100644
--- a/markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en/not_without_help.austin_amissah.sst
+++ b/markup/pod/not_without_help.austin_amissah/media/text/en/not_without_help.austin_amissah.sst
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ make:
1~ Preface
-{nwh_amissah_austin.jpg 319x567 "Austin Amissah" }https://www.amissah.com/
+{nwh_amissah_austin.jpg 319x567 \\ Austin Amissah }https://www.amissah.com/
My justification for indulging in these reminiscences is simple. For many years, I have been trying to persuade our older people to write their memoirs. Most of them cannot be bothered to spend their time writing. For one thing, it is not easy to work oneself into that discipline which writing requires. But an even more serious objection they have is to enquire who would be interested in reading about their lives. They consider their recollections trivia. While I was a Trustee of the Valco Fund, I tried to do something about overcoming the first difficulty: if one could not write down regularly what would constitute a memoir, one could from time to time just talk about the events of one's past. With the support of my old teacher and friend, Dr. Modjabeng Dowuona, we got the Trustees to recommend and to fund the purchase of recording equipment and to appoint an editor who would visit the various personalities whose personal lives were to be recorded and get them just to ramble about the past. It was the editor's duty after that to edit what he had got and to make a consistent story about it. This was the beginning of the oral history programme which the Fund introduced.
@@ -64,6 +64,16 @@ Two institutions made the greatest impact on my life: Achimota School and Jesus
The reader might find my constant references to associations with successful Ghanaians, Africans or black people generally, whom I have known, rather trying. I cannot help that. The period I write about has been the period of black emancipation, offering vast opportunities and openings to us to handle all kinds of problems. The beginning of that period was with Ghana's independence followed by others in West Africa and the Caribbean. In this development, the role of secondary schools like Achimota, one of the few offering that level of education in Africa, and Oxford University, bringing together young men and women from all over the Commonwealth and Colonies and beyond, has been tremendous. I just happen to have been in both places during the relevant time.
+--~#
+
+{nwh_amissah_thomas_paine.jpg 560x471 \\ One of Austin's favourite quotes, in his handwriting. }https://www.amissah.com/
+
+"I believe religious duties consist in doing justice, loving, mercy and endeavouring to make our fellow citizens happy. My own mind is my church, and to do good is my religion." Thomas Paine
+
+"The world is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion." Thomas Paine
+
+--+#
+
1~ 1. Early Life in The Gold Coast
The earliest recollections of childhood that I have are of events which occurred when I was three. During that year I became a member of the Salvation Army School almost across the road from our home in Tudu. I do not remember learning anything in particular except singing in praise of God. I also remember being very fond of a girl my age by the name of Rose Allotey. My family used to tease me that if I went to school and Rose was not there, I came right back home without more ado. I also remember that I had a great fall on my head from the stairs at home. I understand that my mother had great anxiety for some time after wondering whether it had affected my brain. Perhaps it did, but not in the manner that my mother feared.