COMMUNITY MEMBER SPOTLIGHT – MR. SAMUEL EYIAH, EKUMFI EGYANKWAA, GHANA
Mr. Samuel Eyiah is the Treasurer of the CDF in the community of Ekumfi Egyankwaa in Ghana. Since its initiation in June 2011, the 80-year-old Mr. Eyiah has been actively involved in running the CDF. Even before being involved with the CDF he has dedicated his life to the improvement of his community and its people. He is an inspiration to all.
Born and raised in this small community had the unique opportunity to go to school. Though he was in primary school, he was older than his peers as he started at an older age. After primary school, he commuted 12km everyday on foot to high school. Apart from attending high school in the nearby town he also worked till 9pm everyday at his uncle’s store to pay for his tuition, books and uniform. Soon after completing his high school he returned to Egyankwaa to help his family on their farm.
Being one out of a very few high school educated individuals in the community he understood the merits of sending young minds to school. A young Samuel single-handedly established a primary school within the community in September of 1961. For its first year, the school he established was not recognized by the Ghana Government so Samuel taught his first 68 students without being paid or for that matter even qualified to teach.
Seeing his dedication to education and community growth, the Ghana Education Service recognized the school and provided it with one teacher. Samuel assisted the teacher for a couple of years but soon realized his passion was teaching, so he moved to Swedru, a town in the Central Region for two years and got his certification to teach up to the Junior High School level.
He taught at the school for 38 years and helped it to grow into one that currently educates over 400 students to the Junior High School level. Apart from that he has helped establish the community church and introduced the community to citrus farming and sheep rearing.
He is extremely modest talking about his achievements and has always welcomed brigaders with a warm smile and open arms.
