Banoebuuri appeals for more support for medical education
Peter Banoebuuri, a brilliant young man who attained A1 in seven subjects and a B3 in one at the 2013 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), enters second year at the University for Development Studies Medical School this month.
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While he shares his joy on the quiet about the opportunity to reach his dream, Banoebuuri continues to thank the many individuals through whom God saved his education from ending abruptly.
Although he has six more years ahead of him, he expressed the hope that he would continue to receive help from benevolent ones in the society to enable him to complete medical school.
Gratitude
"I will be reporting back to school for the start of my second year on Saturday, and I wish to express gratitude to God and all who have helped me in cash and in kind so far," he told the Daily Graphic in Wa yesterday.
"I thank President John Dramani Mahama, who personally intervened to ensure I got the scholarship which caters for my academic fees. I appreciate so much what the Daily Graphic and the personalities within the company did for me. I am also indebted to the Upper West Regional Minister, Alhaji Amin Amidu Sulemani, old students of Nandom Senior High and all who have supported me in diverse forms," he said.
Dream sustained
Banoebuuri, now 21, turned to subsistence farming in his native Nadowli-Kaleo District in the Upper West Region when financial difficulties appeared to cut short his dream of becoming a medical doctor.
Through President Mahama's intervention, the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETfund) awarded him a scholarship that caters for his academic fees, while individuals and groups who were touched by his plight and have since followed his progress make donations towards his other needs.
"I bought my books and paid for my rent from those sources in my first year," he said.
"Now that I am entering the second year, I look towards the same society for help," he added.
At the time Daily Graphic reported his touching story, the nation was united in empathy for the youngster, and pledges of cash donations and scholarships were made from various quarters.
Many, however, appear to have reneged on those pledges, leaving the former Nandom Senior High student facing an uncertain life in school, despite enjoying scholarship for academic fees.