Ghanaian boy who studied with lanterns graduates from Harvard, Cambridge and Columbia Universities

Meet Mac Sarbah, a young man with a relatively poor background is the latest Ghanaian to graduate with a Masters degree from the Harvard University.

Sarbah who graduated on 30th May, 2019 took to his facebook page to express gratitude to all who supported him throughout this journey.

He admitted that the journey to getting a Masters Degree from one of the most respected universities in the world – Harvard – has been a rather lengthy one fraught with challenges and intense pain.

He says he was only able to successfully complete the programme at Harvard due to his perseverance adding that his mere admission into the school was nothing short of ‘miraculous’.

Giving a background about himself, the Harvard graduate explained that he grew up in Yeji, a small farming community in Ghana. He says he lacked basic amenities like potable water and electricity.

He recounts how he used to walk several miles to the Volta lake to fetch water.

“I would walk several miles to fetch water, with plastic or aluminium buckets, from the Volta lake. I would carry the bucket on my head, supported by a folded towel so that I don’t get bald as some of my friends from it’s weight,” portions of a post he put up on Facebook and cited by ABC News read.

Sarbah completed his basic education in Yeji without electricity.

That notwithstanding, the young chap managed to pass his exams by studying with kerosene lanterns.

He recalls the countless times the smoke from the kerosene lamps engulfed his eyes and turned his otherwise white cornea, red, with some extreme situations at times leaving his eyes drenched in tears.

“There was no electricity, but I enjoyed studying with kerosene lanterns. Sometimes the smoke from the burning kerosene would make my eyes red or teary,” he added.

Mac Sarbah had his senior high school education at a day secondary school in Adidome, also a rural farming community in Ghana. He explained how bad the situation was at Adidome day secondary school. The school lacked enough teachers, proper textbooks and school infrastructure. According to him, he resorted to the school because his family had no money to send him to a “good one”.

“At Adidome day high school we didn’t have enough teachers, we didn’t have enough books, we didn’t have classrooms,” his post read.

Despite all these setbacks, Sarbah endured to excel from Adidome day secondary school to be among the few to gain admission to the University of Ghana. It is interesting to note that, this young man from “nowhere” is a graduate of other world prestigious universities. He is also an alumni of Cambridge university and Columbia University.