“This picture is from 1970. I was around 12 or 13. My family had just come back to Ghana from Australia. My dad had a scholarship so we moved Brisbane. We were there for 3 years. My sister and I were the only black people at our school but the other students were very friendly. Moving back to Ghana wasn’t stressful because we were young so we made friends quickly, but it was good to be around black people again.” – Yaw Atuahene

“This is my grandma, Elizabeth Akua Agyapomah. This photo was taken around 1955 in Accra. My grandma ran a small goods store in town and also sold bofrot in the mornings. She was a mother of 8…Just an all around graceful, strong, and hardworking Ghanaian woman.”-Maria Asare

“This was in my family house in Kaneshie. It was around 1964 so I was 6 or 7. It was my birthday party. I was the apple of dad’s eye so I got all of the cute things. I was the 3rd born but I was the first girl so I was pampered. We were 10 kids but I felt like I should be the boss of everyone. My father took my two elder brothers to England to study so then I did become the boss. I was around 9 or 10 when they left.”- Angela Appiah

“My great grandmother was a pillar in my family. She moved with purpose and ensured that her children and her grandchildren (and great grandchildren) had access to opportunities and education. When her husband told her that her daughter (my grandmother) shouldn’t go to school, THIS queen was like “oh really? Ok….Bye bye boo, bye”. She was not having someone tell HER what to do. I definitely got some of that in me! She was unwavering, committed, purposeful, steadfast, unapologetic and focused. Even though I didn’t get to truly know her in the physical form, I KNOW and FEEL her in the spirit form. I’m SO grateful that I have her blood running through my veins. I continue to look to her and all of my ancestors to guide me and whisper my next steps. I’m honored to know that I have this Queen holding space for me. I love you Grandma Ginger!”- Submitted by Akua S.

“I was 8 years old when I lost my grandmother to breast cancer. Her battle showed me a side of her I had never experience before. Her strength and hope spoke to me so loudly; it made me understand that no matter what comes our way, it is our duty and responsibility to fight without rest. This is what we do. This is what she did. Today I am reminded of her resilience and her tenacity, the same perseverance she gifted me through those difficult years, months, and days.” – Submitted by Benjamina Dadzie

“My grandmother Cecilia Akua Manu had no formal education, was married at 16/17 years old and married 3 times and had 11 children in all. Even without formal education my grandmother wanted what she didn’t have for her children. My mother Mary Appiah Kubi (pictured) is the 6th eldest of my grandma’s children. She is the only one with education beyond senior high school. My mother went to Osei Kyeretwie senior high school, OKESS and while completing she would go to the market to help her mother sell cloth and other items so she could supplement the partial scholarship she earned for senior high school. When she completed OKESS my mom was recruited into a banking training program, from which she became a bank teller for Social Security Bank Ltd. My mom was in banking for the most of her professional life until becoming an entrepreneur and managing our family business. My sister Agatha and I are the third generation of women from our maternal side. Because of my grandmother’s lack of education and my mother’s limited higher education both wanted better for their offspring. My father as well had 2 years of tertiary education. Coming from these backgrounds my parents wanted the best and highest levels of education for my sister and I. Today I honour the women from my maternal lineage. They are my motivation to continue to work towards quality, accessible, and inclusive education for girls in Ghana.” – Submitted by Elizabeth Patterson

The young woman on the far right is Rosina Mansa Bediako, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother of the co-founders of Lydia Anne (@lydiaannedesigns). This photo was taken between 1894-1898, at the Presbyterian Basel Mission at Agona Nsaba, a town located in the central region of Ghana. According to family lore, Rosina was an expert baker who could determine the optimal bread-baking temperature of a brick oven by simply sticking her hand inside. Submitted by Andrea Bediako

“Having a big family is a lot of fun. You get to follow the footsteps of your big brothers and sisters. You learn a lot. You learn to cooperate, you learn to share, you learn patience because sometimes you’re bullied. You also learn how to live together in a big family. You learn to support and to care for one another…Those are good habits you acquire from home.”

This is my mom in 1976 with her oldest son (my oldest brother) and her niece (my cousin). My cousin and brother were born days apart (literally) and they were raised together. The picture was taken in Ashtown, Kumasi at her mother’s residence. My aunt currently lives at that same residence and I visit it every time I go to Ghana. Submitted by Amma Appiah

“We had a lot of fun during Christmas because we had access to soda and growing up we didn’t get to drink those things often. You had to wait until the holidays to get a hold of soft drinks. So Christmas time was great because we got to drink a lot of Fanta, Coca Cola, biscuits, and we also had the chance to visit my grandmother in the village in the Volta region. I always looked forward to Christmas time.” Dr. Daniel Pryce, pictured at age 13

My grandfather, Frederick Opoku Kofi Gyekye, was a forester. He is the broader gentleman in this picture in shorts. This picture was taken in 1965 at the Accra zoo. The names of the other people in this picture are unknown, but I assume they are work colleagues in his field. I never had the pleasure of meeting my grandfather. He died just after I was born. I understand he was a stern man who broke my grandmother’s heart with his philandering nature. Now, that’s not the sort of thing one ought to readily admit to a bunch of strangers about one’s ancestors, but it’s the truth and that knowledge certainly has affected me – or at least my craft – today. After my grandparent’s bitter divorce, my grandmother found love again and married a man who treated her like a friend…which in my estimation is far better than being treated like a queen. Royalty can be so unapproachable. All the same, my grandmother never spoke of her second husband as often as she did her first. Because of this, several of his mannerisms, sins and quirks have manifested as (some) peculiar traits that the villains and heroes that populate my stories carry. My family is from Larteh (Kubease) and were of the Akantsane – the gold weighers. No one really knows what happened to all the gold. My father tells me it was lost due to “mismanagement”. All the same, my relatives still believe that there is a pot of gold my great-grandfather hid waiting to be discovered in the family house. You can see the concrete patchwork in different parts of the courtyard, where someone attempted (a failed) to a treasure hunt. These are the stories that affect what I do today. I have become a story teller, and since I am not in a position to carry out the family tradition of weighing precious metals, I try to make my written works carry their weight in gold. Submitted by Malaka Grant

This photo was taken in the mid 70’s in the USSR (now Russia). My mother is second from the left and is with her fellow classmates. Ghana and Russia had strong links in the 60’s and 70’s which saw a lot of Ghanaian students head to there for exchange programs and courses. I love this photo! I see how young my mum was at the time and imagine the fear but excitement she must have felt heading to another country in a time when Ghana was really in the throws of re-shaping it’s future after independence. My mother has been a traveler and a Ghanaian civil servant all her life. No matter where she went, sometimes for a year at a time, she always came back home to serve her country. I love that I get to see the beginning of that journey right here in a photograph and find a way to mimic it by returning home to sow into my country and live my dreams. Submitted by Maame Adjei

“My town was a small town. In Ghana, most of the towns are very small and in the villages we didn’t have electricity. So the children would go to the forest to cut bamboo and we would have a bonfire in the center of the town. All the kids would sit around it and sing and dance. Then we would have a barbecue or bake cassava or plantain. We enjoyed ourselves! And we were very thankful when it was high moon because the moon was our electricity. That was typical village life.”- Reverend Kwasi Gyimah on growing up at Assin Adubiase.

“I went to Aggrey Memorial Secondary School in Cape Coast. I started in 1968. It was a good time. It was a small school so you knew almost everybody. It was a rich environment and the education was very good. You would go and study and you would also have fun. On the weekends we had entertainment…It was really a great time for us. [Aggrey Memorial] shaped my life for the better.” Sophia Kwarteng, pictured at age 18 on the campus of Aggrey Memorial A.M.E. Zion Secondary School.

“I spent 6 years [1968-1974] at KNUST, and in those days things were very good. I remember when we went for our practical attachments. When we came back, they would pay us allowances. Students would use their allowances – the guys would go and buy stereo systems and make a lot of noise in their rooms. Girls would go and buy high heels and put on new shoes and new dresses. Those days were good days for university students, but by the time I was leaving the university there was a coup and things changed.”

“We rely too much on foreign things. As to who is responsible for it, I don’t know. Some things we can produce here; we can rely on our own [people]. We keep [importing] too many things from outside. It’s not helping us. The little bit of foreign exchange we produce, a lot of it goes out to bring unnecessary things we can produce ourselves. So we should try to have confidence in ourselves and try to do things for ourselves here. Have confidence and I think we should be alright.” Frederick Akwaboah, pictured 3rd from the right, at a student function at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

“[The Big Six] struggled for our independence and we need to make the best of it. Ghana is blessed with everything, natural resources, anything that would make a country prosperous we have. So we just need to make the best of it. I think the change will come with the youth because we are too old to do it. I am hoping that you all will take over the reins and do what needs to be done.” Nana Aba Naaman, pictured at age 16.

“I didn’t go to secondary school. I saved my money from being a pupil teacher*…to help my mother pay my siblings’ school fees. Some of them came to live with me. My mother was a trader. She sold cloth and did all sorts of odd jobs to take care of us which we appreciated very much.” Alice Boakye discussing her life in the Gold Coast after her father’s death, pictured at age 21. *a young person who plans to be a teacher and who spends part of his or her time in preliminary education undertaking teaching duties under the supervision of the head-teacher (Collins Dictionary)

Photo Stories

In our photo stories, our speakers share insights, words of wisdom, and memories along with a photo of themselves from their past.