Meet Richard- The orphan with a book
"In fact, I was shy when I took a pen and paper to write about things I have been through. It was awful.
That night when I sat to write, I was short of words. It was hard for me to find the right words to express my pains and agony”
Richard Paa Kofi Botchwey is an
internationally known Ghanaian writer, a blogger, poet and a public speaker. He
is also the Chief Executive Officer of Orphan Trust Movement, an organization
established to give hope to young orphans like him.
Born in a modest but poor family, Richard has come out as a strong, moral and determined person. When our office hosted
him last Monday morning, Richard narrates the intricacies of having to live
without both parents at a tender age of eight.
He says “I lost my parents even
before I turned eight. My mother died when I was five and my father too when I
was seven. “Since then, life hasn’t been easier for me. My siblings and I were labeled
witches and wizards and accused of bringing misfortune into the family. It
wasn’t easy but we sailed through.”
After going through all the turbulence
and hardships that children of his age who found themselves in similar situations
went through, Richard have been able to write a book.
The Tale of an Orphan was launched last Thursday at the ICGC
Chapel, Spintex road-Accra. The ceremony was attended by representatives from the
Ghana Education Service. Participating schools were Chemu SHS, Labone SHS, Tema
SHS, Accra Girls, Accra High SHS, Nungua SHS as well as some selected primary
schools and orphanage homes.
Richard explains that the book is
a biography of what he went through as a child. For nine years he has been able
to put down his thoughts about everything that happened to him despite the
challenges.
"In fact, I was shy when I took a pen and paper to write about things I have been through. It was awful. That night when I sat to write, I was short of words. It was hard for me to find the right words to express my pains and agony” he writes in the acknowledgement.
Tale of an orphan gives a direct
insight into the life of a child after losing his parents. What he went through
in the hands of relatives and how he was able to rise above the storm. It comes
along with real life pictures of his family as it narrates in a chronological
order.
In the book, the writer reveals
that life continued at his grandmother’s after the demise of his parents.
Hard work, determination and
focus according to Richard are the three essential forces behind his
breakthrough. “As a child, I knew I had to study hard to make life somewhat
meaningful for me one day. I never joked with education because I cherished the
trying effort of our grandmother” he says.
After completing Batsona basic
school, he joined the SC Johnson award scheme; a scholarship plan aimed at helping
young ambitious children to realize their dreams. After so much effort, he was
selected as one of the winners for the prize. It was then that he had his book
published.
Richard believes his book will
inspire people all over the world and encourage young ones especially to see
beyond their current situation and work harder towards achieving their goals.
The
135-page book has received global recognition from some world acclaimed
writers and readers including CNN Multichoice Journalist Awards Winner (Arts
and Culture), Kofi Akpabli.
It has also attracted many
positive reviews from several writers too.
The book opens with a
profile of the writer which reads “I am a Ghanaian born on August 30, 1990 in Appiakrom, a
village in Bogoso in the Western region of Ghana. I was not born into a clinic
into the hands of doctors and nurses; rather I was born into the hands of two
village women in a gloomy hut. All welcomed me into the world as Dada Kofi.
Kofi is a Friday-born male and it implies wanderer.”
Copies of the book are available
at Legon book shop, Methodist bookshop, Silverbird and the challenge bookshop for
only GHC20.
Meanwhile, get ready for his second book “My shoes don’t fit.” It is a conversation between the writer and God. Here, he
asks his maker about the diverse situations of man; why some people are born with silver spoons whiles others are made to suffer.
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