George was born outside Lawra here in the Upper West. He does not remember his father at all, and when George was 4, his mother ran away and left him alone in their small mud house. The neighbors knew George was alone, but could barely feed their own children. Sometimes they gave George scraps of food. Most often he foraged for whatever he could get.
Within a few months, George was so sick and malnourished that he could only lay on his mat. He was fullof Guinea Worms. He distinctly remembers laying on his mat "waiting to die." But God had very different plans for George.
One day, a man drove past the village and was lost. He stopped at the small mud house to ask for directions to the home of a particular artisan on behalf of the chief of Banga, but instead found George laying on his mat. This man's name was Philip Guri.
Philip was moved when he saw George, and after talking to the neighbors and discovering that George was alone, placed him in his truck and took him with him to the hospital in Wa.
George was treated for worms, eye infections and some other things, and then Philip took George to his home.
The Guris had 2 sons, both of whom had been orphans. Ben was 1 year older than George and Donald was 2 years younger. The Guris weren't rich but they were fortunate: Philip had a job. It was a job he had to travel to, but it was a job, he brought money and goods home to the family and was an interested and involved father and husband. The Guris also had sheep and a milk cow. Elizabeth Guri always made sure her sons had milk, and then sold the excess to the neighboring families.
George spent a couple of months recovering from his illnesses. He often laid on his bed listening to his new mother sing. When he felt better, he would help her with the chickens and with weeding the garden. Elizabeth took George on walks to help strengthen his legs and his spine.
One of the boys' jobs was to go to the local garbage pile to pick out things that might be able to be resold the the local junk man. Sometimes, the Guris would let the boys keep something -like a broken radio or some kind of gadget ON THE CONDITION that they try to figure out how it worked. It was from these experiences that George first was interested in science. He taught himself to fix a lot of those gadgets, then sold them to neighbors at a much higher price than he'd get from the junk man.
George enjoyed this new life very much. One day, Philip came home from his job as the bodyguard to the chief of Banga and told George it would be soon time for him to join Ben in school. George had no idea what school was but Ben told him Kindergarten was fun the previous year.
George did NOT think Kindergarten was fun at all. He disliked sitting at his desk, practicing numbers and virtually all the activities of the class. He disliked the uniform. He begged his father to let him stay home and be a houseboy, helping with the animals and the garden. But Philip told George that "the world doesn't need another servant, George. The world needs you to get an education and help your country." Still, George would sometimes skip school and just walk in the bush for hours. George describes himself as a "bad student and unruly child" the first three years of school.
One day on the way to school, George found a dead child along the side of the road and it brought back memories of his old life, alone in the small mud house. From that moment on, George realized that an education was the the only way to improve life and that he would not be a servant but a teacher. He realized how the Guris insistence on an education was a great gift from God.
George did well in school after that and eventually graduated from a teacher's training college. Then he went on the the University in Accra for more studies, and came back to Wa to teach in the secondary school.
It was on a visit to his father in Banga that George met Beatrice, the eldest daughter of the chief for whom his father worked. George remembers that the chief didn't like him much at first, but George's father put in a good word for him and told the chief that, with his education, George was a "modern Ghanaian" and would never mistreat a wife. Apparently, the chief took that into consideration and eventually gave George permission to marry his daughter.
Because of his history, George despises the Ghanaian cultural norm that says it's OK for men to take care of themselves but not support their wives and children. He notes how many more children would be in school today if the father used some of his earnings for shoes or school supplies or food...or at least showed some interest. And he goes out of this way to chastise parents who don't take care of their children. You really don't want to be a parent on George's wrong side. He's not shy about calling out parents, or children for that matter, if he sees that they don't value their education.
George Guri
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