I was in the midst of planning my birthday party with great excitement. I was brainstorming about the food, drinks, decorations, and the playlist. Everything seemed perfect until Cate suddenly appeared, announcing that she couldn’t attend. She explained she had an urgent commitment in Obuasi. I was taken aback and asked if she could postpone her trip to the next week, but she regretfully declined. This was particularly disappointing because Cate, having been my classmate at Holy Child School, knew howmuch my birthday meant to me. As I was grappling with Cate’s absence, more friends began to express their unavailability one after another. It felt like a disaster was unfolding. My birthday was unravelling right before my eyes, a situation I had never experienced before. I was utterly upset and frustrated. Then, one of the doctors, who happened to be my boyfriend’s brother, approached me and said, “Don’t worry, you can spend the day with me, and later, we can go out.” So, we spent the day at his apartment. However, before our planned evening outing, he mentioned that we needed to make a delivery to one of my friends on campus. We arrived at my friend’s room, but it was so dimly lit that I felt uncomfortable going in. He insisted, so we knocked on the door. To my surprise, when the door swung open, I was greeted with a resounding “surprise!” as all my friends emerged from the darkness, shouting in unison. They hadn’t abandoned me; they had orchestrated this to get me out of the way so they could throw a surprise birthday celebration! I was overwhelmed with joy and so touched that I couldn’t help but shed tears. It was a fantastic turn of events. We danced and celebrated throughout the night, making it a birthday to remember. My journey led me to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). You might wonder how I ended up there. Well, the story unfolds during the year I completed my ‘A’ Levels when science students, including me, didn’t performwell on a national scale. This posed a significant obstacle to gaining admission to the University of Ghana Medical School, which was my initial goal because, at the time, it was the main medical school. However, fate had other plans. Someone informed my mom about the newly established Medical School at KNUST, and it offered a glimmer of hope. Yet, even securing admission at KNUST was not a walk in the park. I was admitted to study Biological Sciences, a path that I reluctantly took. My mother’s determination knew no bounds, and she explored every avenue to make my medical school dream a reality. As luck would have it, she reconnected with an old classmate of hers fromHoly Child School, Mrs. Gyebi-Ofosu (now Professor Mrs. Addy), who happened to be a senior lecturer at the School of Medical Sciences (SMS). After persistent efforts, my mother gave me the incredible news that I had been accepted at the School of Medical Sciences, KNUST. I swiftly transitioned into the field of medicine. We marked a significant milestone as we had the highest number of female students ever admitted to the School of Medical Sciences at that time. Our group consisted of about twelve female students in total, with four fromHoly Child, four fromWesley Girls, and four from other schools. We were a vibrant, lively bunch, always up for some fun. I even reported a particular boy who used to give me a hard time to my father. My dad, who had a temper, didn’t hesitate to visit the school and give the young man a stern warning. In retrospect, it was quite a daring move. We 13 The Birthday Journal
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTAyMTM3NQ==