AYEKOOO GIJ

Over the Afadjato Atlas Mountains, Adamawa Kenyan highlands,

Right to the roof of the Kilimanjaro,

A wind of tort sang your appellations,

Across the depth of the Nile,

Tangayika vibrated echoes from gorges of the rift valleys,

Through dense tropical woods of Congo basin

Whistling praise of your living virtues

In tunes of whirlwind carried on those

Dreadful light heavy clouds of storms from Saharan

Down to Kalahari.

Sphinx and pyramids revere

Accurate inscription engraved on Axum’s obelisk.

A reality of Afrika’s liberty dream;

O come, calm winds of our thoughts

Hold high your swords,

To dance away this battle of our destiny

And excite our celebration

For nurturing, our head, hand, heart

Drilling hopes of conscious reality 

Nature eulogize your supremacy,

As our hearts extols your duty

In ceaseless strings of affective salutation

Aggoo nami! Norviwoo and enuanom

Sons and Daughters,

Citizens of the realm,

Kinsmen of the clan

Remain seated, Remain standing

Your home deserves satisfying smiles

A worthy smile of admiration

A blessed smile of greetings

To cheer memorable thoughts

As memory bell tolls

Remember your day,

Five decades of nurturing

Brains that reads the time;

Eyes that sights the hidden;

Ears that sifts meanings;

Hearts that dare;

And hands that scripts;

Moulding precious dogs in one piece

To watch over the collective interest of

Mr and Mrs Humanity

Ayeekoo! GIJ for your progeny

Brags of better sight to watch

Quality listening ears,

Significant shrewd brains

Daring hearts that fires

And propels the hand to etch

Powerful historical pieces

GIJ shall be close to our hearts

Africa remembers you

Yesterday was late,

That citadel of hope

That kindled our reality

Is sickly malnourished

This bird ought to rise

This bird must fly

This flight is eminent

Our collective hold is prominent!

By Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng

On Saturday 27^th June 2009

Dedicated to the Ghana Institute of Journalism during its Golden Jubilee Anniversary

  

No toilet facilities for Pong-Tamale Senior High School

Posted on August 4, 2010 by westerhof| 1 Comment

Students of Pong-Tamale Senior High School (PONTASS) in the Northern Region are making do with free-range (open defecation) because of lack of toilet facilities at the school.
Most of the over 800 students have deserted the only toilet in the school which is near the boys’ dormitory because it is but a harvest of maggots. What is curious is the fact that the school authorities are aware that particular toilet cannot meet the demands of the student population.
The female students are even worse-off, because there is an uncompleted female toilet facility which has been abandoned since 2005. The facility is now a den of snakes and other predators. Students have, on several occasions, reported snake bites and scorpion stings while patronising the free-range or walking towards their dormitories.
The situation becomes very unbearable especially during the rainy season, as students try to evade notorious flies, as well as, device tactics to locate safe grounds to squat and do their own thing in an already messy one.
The school, established in 1991, is one of the two second cycle institutions in the Savelugu-Nanton District of the Northern Region. However, it is seriously reeling under numerous problems, one being the unavailability of proper toilet facilities.
Master Iddrisu Mohammed Rashad, the Senior Boys Prefect, expressed disquiet about the condition, explaining that the open defecation leads to the contamination of the major source of drinking water for the students, a dug-out dam.
Runoff water washes faecal matter into the dam whenever it rains heavily. A visit to the site confirmed that the dam, which lies on a lower gradient is constructed some 50 metres away from the boy’s dormitory.
Apart from the unbearable stench that emanates from the open defecation spot, Master Iddrisu Rashad, fears that a possible outbreak of cholera and other ailments are eminent if nothing is done about the situation immediately.
Other challenges facing the school include lack of accommodation for students and staff, lack of a library for the school and lack of potable water. Although the school has been running the boarding system for some time now, over-crowding at the dormitories is a major challenge to students, which sometimes compels them to sleep in their classrooms.
Also, students are forced to use the water from a dug-out dam together with cattle and other domestic animals in the community. It is distressing to learn that most students complain of stomach-ache and other water-related ailment from time to time. For instance, in a week an average of five students report of sickness at either the Savelugu Government Hospital or other health facilities in Tamale.
Source: Kwesi Yirenkyi Boateng, Public Agenda / (allAfrica.com, 2 August 2010