Auto Biography
My Auto-Biography
My name is Abu Adam Abubakari. I was born in 1986, I currently live in Minnesota in the United States but permanently based in Ghana where I was born, where I have been all my life till 2013 and where I want to be spending most of my life.
Ghana, which lies in the center of the West African coast, 2,093 km of land borders with the three French-speaking nations of [Burkina Faso] (548 km) to the north, [Côte
d'Ivoire](668 km) to the west, and [Togo] (877 km) to the east. To the south are the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean.
With a total area of 238,533 square kilometers, Ghana is about the size of the United Kingdom, or slightly smaller than Oregon. Its southernmost coast at Cape Three Points is 4° 30' north of the equator. From here, the country extends inland for some 670 kilometers to about 11° north. The distance across the widest part, between longitude 1° 12' east and longitude 3° 15' west, measures about 560 kilometers. The Greenwich Meridian, which passes through London, also traverses the eastern part of Ghana at Tema.
I work at the MIT Fab Lab in Takoradi an town in the Western Region of Ghana and I want to be one of the best engineers in Ghana.
The dream of going to school and becoming at least an innovator has always been number one. It in fact runs through my mind like the water runs through the higher mountains (water full). The one question I always asked myself has been, how do I achieve this dream?
It is the twentieth of December 1986 in one of the remote parts of Ghana (Upper West Region). She was taken to the hospital for labor, not knowing what her last born child is going to be. Nnaa Liema gave birth to me. Being the last born child of my parent, my father I was told passed away when I was about a year old, I could barely walk. In fact I only got to know his name Abdulai Adam at the age of twelve. Knowing my name to be Abubakari, I came to be Abubakari Abdulai Adam. Out of my six siblings (Mahmub, Saeed, Maimuna, Hawa, Yusif, and Ayisha) I am the only one who really had the chance to go into education. My sister, Ayisha; whom I follow, did not live to see me. She died before I was born.
Casting my mind back to 1992, one of my Uncles (Alhassan Adam) who was then a heavy duty truck driver, one day come visiting home from Accra where he lived with his family. When going back, he decided to take me to stay with him and his family. We set off for the journey, being my first time, all I saw was that I was sitting and everything else was moving. A few months after I got to Accra, which is the capital of Ghana, I was told I was going to start school. As I was very happy, though I did not know what school was, I could not wait to see that day. Well I started school. I was then seven. It took me two years instead of the normal four years to move from kindergarten and nursery to primary one. Which was then grade one. At the age of eleven, I was moved to primary four instead of primary three. This was because I was very good in class. Always being between the first and third position in class, my Uncle would buy me eggs to eat every term I bring a prize home from school for doing well in school.
The unfortunate happened and I had to drop out of school. My uncle could not help me continue my school because he had a problem with his job and did not have the money to help me. The most painful part was the difficulty in sometimes getting three square meals for the family. Having so much love for school, I felt sad thinking I could never go back to school.
During the later part of the year 1998; out of nowhere, one of my cousins paid us a visit in Accra. He was not happy to find me dropped out of school knowing my performance in school, so he decided to take me to stay with him and go to school. It was one of the happiest moments of my life, getting to know that I was going back to school. Just when I was about to get back into school, He (my cousin) had a transfer to work in Takoradi.
It was September 1999, finding myself in a completely different environment, I was tested and managing to pass the test after almost a year and half of dropping out of school. I was repeated in primary four awaiting primary five the next year. Before I could get to my third year of the Junior High School; which was then Junior Secondary School, I had received over four prizes from the school. Popularly known to my best teacher and my class mates as navropio which now is my G-mail ID; I was always doing the writings and drawings on the board for my mates. Being closer to the teachers than any other students, I was almost always ahead of the class.
Not long after my third year in the Junior High School, I started developing very strong interest into knowing how things work the way they do. I remember long before this time, I would go as far as borrowing money from my uncle just to by toys. I would rip them apart using all possible means just to see what is inside them. Most of the time I succeeded in putting them back together and other times I would fail. You never get to learn until you make a mistake.
It was August 2004, as a fresh student, I was all excited, knowing that I had passed my final exams and was going to get into my school of choice. But everything changed, I could not go to my dream school. My cousin explained he could not afford taking me to the Senior High School, and that the best he could do for me was get me into the Technical Institute. Well he explained that was what he could afford. With no choice I accepted the offer. It is September 2004, after going through all the protocols, I find myself in the Takoradi Technical Institute.
During my first year second term, I got to know there was a Lab in the institute called the fab lab. Based on the rumors I heard about the fab lab, I took it upon myself to find out more about the lab, what the lab was, it purpose, who qualify to be in the lab, when we should be in the lab and the dos and don’ts in the lab. With the answers I got, I realized it was just the right place for me. I realized with the lab my dreams of understanding to make things work could come to pass. As novice as I was with computing, I never gave up. I decided to take it upon myself to learn to use the computer, with the belief that I can do almost anything with the knowledge from the lab.
Early 2006 while in my second year, my cousin took me to Kokompe (more like a market place where one can find almost every service) to learn car repair. This was to take place after I left from school. But wanting to realize my dreams, I decided to quit after two months just so I can use that time in the lab.
Being in the Lab, I got to meet so many people from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Some of these people include: Sherry, Amy, Manu, Prof. Neil, Martin, Janice, Edward, Anna and many others. Inspired by what they could do, I felt going to school in the U.S.A could do me and the people around me some good. But taking a look at my family background, I realized there was no one capable of helping me out. Even the payment of fee at my current institute was a problem.
On the August 2006 of my second year, there was a proposal that two administrators and a student will be taking part in the second International fab lab conference in South Africa. Little did I know I could be that student, I was chosen to join in the conference. I was very excited because of three things: the first being that it was my first time traveling outside my country, the second being that I was going to sit in an air plane for the first time and the third being that I was going to learn more about the fab lab.
Things started getting worse with me during my third year at the Institute, and this was in 2007. My cousin had stop paying my fees, stop buying me books and the worst part is that he sometimes did not give me money for food when going to school. Thanks to God and nature I managed with the help of one of my best teachers and advisers, to pay my final year examination fees, wrote the exams and I was able to pass all my exams. I did not give up my dream. All this while, I strongly believed that one day I will find myself in college and this I know will not be for anyone’s selfish purpose but for the good of all who are around me. I believe knowledge is worth more than anything.
Since 2008 after my three year program, Sherry Lassiter, the program manager at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms and whom to me is a friend, boss and above all mother; helped me to do some short courses. In fact she helped me realize my dreams. I have been trying to get in to the United State (U.S) educational system for the past three years to no avail. Not losing hope, I believe that one day not long from then, it will come to pass. We will find sponsors and together with Sherry I will get all the help I need to get into school. And when I do, I will with my skills and knowledge do all my best to make all my sponsors, friends, family and everyone around me proud. I will prove to them that there is always a reward in doing the right thing.
I always wished I was from a worthy family background, where I will have access to all that I needed to go through my education and above all help those around me who in one way or the other need my help. Unfortunately for me, I am from a poor home where everyone is fighting to survive and the survivors’ are not ready to help. It will surprise you to know that some of my sisters, brothers and even friends depend on me for help. I am most of the time try helping them and do so with my education at risk, because my conscience would not let me rest.
Really, life has not been easy for me at all. But one thing I know for sure is that it is worth it, for it is said that “nothing good comes easy in life and that no matter what, one must always fight for the best course”.
I just pray and hope, that my dreams will come true. This is just about it.