FELIX NATALIS MAHMOUD JAJAH!

 Contrary to John Mahama’s assertion that Ghanaians suffer from amnesia, I have a serious photographic memory. And I am a human testimony to Ben Carson’s often used statement that “the brain acquires everything that we encounter.” My brain captures  things I pass through and encounter unwaveringly like the anchor in the hymn that is prophesied to “hold in the storms of life when the clouds unfold their wings of strife”. Like the Facebook button ‘see friendship’ that shows the interactions between two friends, I want to recount some of the moments I shared with you not forgetting the  impact they made  in my nascent life. 

A very powerful book every person alive should read

1.     One of the days I will never forget is 17^th May, 2007. That is the day together with seven school mates of mine, I was locked up in the Adabaraka police cells for a crime I never committed but decided to shield the culprit. We spent 24 hours and some minutes in that inhumane condition before we were released from custody. But the memory of that day pales in memory of the day I met you in August of the same year. We met on an excursion bus enroute to Elmina Castle via Kakum National Reserve. There was a quiz on the bus which I won. However, there was a question no one was able to answer and you were called in to help. That was how you introduced me to Helen Keller.

2.     You introduced me to AVERT Youth Foundation and I will forever be grateful for that. 

   AVERT Youth Foundation is a community-based, youth-led, non-religious, non-sectarian, non-political organization that gave the youth the chance to impact their community. Under your abled leadership, AVERT was awarded by the National Youth Authority in 2005 as the best Youth organization in Ghana. I learnt many things. How to work at a committee level, how to introduce a concept to people, how to lead people. I had the chance to meet Bernard Avle of Citi fm and Daniel Kokrokoo of Dafoko concepts in 2008, I met the women from Abantu for Development, and I met workers of Ghana Aids Commission through the numerous AIDS Candlelight Memorials we used to organize. I miss those candles. I learnt leadership also from the numerous Leadership Workshops we organized.  I am not a leader but almost everywhere I find myself, I end up being the leader because of the leadership qualities imbued in me at AVERT. I was a Science student when I joined AVERT. However, I could tell a good Financial statement and Budget statement from a bad one due to those moments at AVERT when a Financial secretary is grilled anytime he presents them. Thank you for introducing me to AVERT YOUTH FOUNDATION.

3.     One thing I will forever be grateful for is the  books you introduced me to. My mum introduced me to reading. From nursery, I was an avid reader. However, you revolutionized my readings by introducing me to books that blow the mind.  Long Walk to Freedom, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Malcolm X: The Life of Reinvention, A biography of Mandela, Letters from Prison edited by  Mac Maharaj, From Third World to First World, Think Big, The Power of Focus, The Magic of Thinking Big, Awaking the Giant within, Goals, 21 irrefutable laws of leadership, Seven Habits of Highly successful people, The Eighth Habit, Who moved my cheese?, Seeking Gaddafi, Soccernomics, Mandela’s way, Everyday Greatness, The Entrepreneur, The Art of War, 48 Laws of Power etc are some of the books you introduced me to. Most you gave me and I got my own copies later. Most could not be secured in our reading-deficient land.  The books I will be super-grateful for are The Greatness Guide 1 and 2. 

     

They really opened my eyes to life and made me realize there’s more to life than just existing.

4.     Through you, I knew Yussif Jajah. The man who helped restore my Academic life. I will forever be grateful and will forever support him in his endeavors.

5.     I can’t exhaust all the encounters. Forgive me for the day you witnessed a verbal fight I had with a very stubborn woman in Nima. That was on the 29^th of November, 2014. I still criticize myself for making you see me in that state. Only once you criticized me and you immediately followed it up with praise. The day I was in goal post for AVERT and conceded a goal I should not have at Al-Waleed. I later came on to strike.  You told me “ Maazi, you made them score us but you have done well.”  I happily laughed after that… hahahhahaaa.

Happy earthday boss! You are one in a million. You are a sun that never sets. If others are jewels, you are a treasure!  May Allah grant you more life and prosperity to positively influence more lives on earth.

 Felix Natalis  Abu Saamankusei!