The touching story of boy with wrong gender…
Hawa Kolah and her son, Tubare have not only tasted but have been in the hard grips of the hard life for so long now. The sad story is that which sees tradition and custom deprive a woman and her son of a good life, as well as the love and care of their people.
It all started when Hawa’s first husband died. According to their custom, the widow was expected to marry her late husband’s brother. Obeying the laws of the land she married the man. However, the same Brifon custom rejected her son, Tubare, born to her second husband. This is because she was forbidden to give birth to a boy as a first child in her second marriage.
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Hawa Kolah was forced out of the village with her son who was just three months old; as she was found guilty of a taboo. The nursing mother was driven out of Baabli and wandered in unknown territories until finally settling in Biihee, in Wa, the capital of Upper West Region.
Both mother and son experienced extreme hardship in the community, said to be the poorest in Wa. But despite the real lemons they were served by life’s unforeseen circumstances, Hawa made it a priority to give her son the best of everything. From farming to trading she did them all to take care of her son.
Tubare attended primary school in Biihe, after which he attended Junior High School in the same community. Being the only ones they had, Tubare joined his mother on the farm at a very young age. The rejected family who went through thick and thin succeeded in seeing Tubare through Nandom Senior High School, despite the trying challenges.
Some of Tubare’s sad story includes begging to stay in school, sleeping on hard uncemented floors, doing hard hoeing and experiencing so many forms of humiliation from his peers.
Tubare has proved that background and upbringing has got nothing to do with excellence in academics. The young boy who lived from hand to mouth completed the Nandom Senior High School scoring A1 in six out of the eight subjects he wrote. However, the foreseen challenges of raising funds for his university tuition became a cause for worry for the small family.
But Joy FM’s Manasseh Azure intervened when he created an awareness to the public about the family’s situation. After telling the sad story of the poor family, the journalist went ahead to urge the public to help send the brilliant fellow to a tertiary institution to help him achieve him achieve his dreams and make his mother proud.
Following the awareness created by the journalist, Ashesi University College has awarded a scholarship worth $50,000 to the boy with wrong gender, Tubare to undertake a four-year engineering program at the university. The school’s scholarship will cover Tubare Kola’s tuition and any other amenities needed to successfully undertake the degree program.
Finally, a happy ending to the family’s very touching story. Hawa and Tubare’s story has gotten to all parts of Ghana, motivating and inspiring others in similar circumstances to never give up.
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