Ireland Join Hands To Celebrate A Life of A Dynamic Individual

It was Saturday, 20th October 2012 and the setting was the Crown Plaza

Hotel in Terrelystown in the Republic of Ireland, the venue that had hosted

many important visits of important persons from Ghana in the past and the

occasion this time was to join hands with friends and colleagues to

celebrate the life of a young and dynamic person who has always being there

for the Ghanaian Community. This fine energetic young man has against all

the odds, according to what we have learned from the family from his

background, in the early part of his academic life in the elementary school

was not all that brilliant and as all of us who were educated in Ghana

know, his teachers felt his parents were wasting their money putting him in

a private school, they felt he should be taken to a public school but against

all the odds, he proved that with dedication,determination,hardwork and the

resolve not to live by anybody’s standards and through the Grace of God as

he rightly put it, he is the one we are celebrating today.

Dr. Vincent Agyapong is the brain child of the Association of Ghanaian

Professionals in Ireland (AGPI). As it has always been the case with the

Ghanaian, anything that works need not to be supported so the knives were

out right from the inception of this unique association to make sure the

association never saw the light of day. The Ghanaian in Ireland was so

opposed to the word “Professional” forgetting that we are all

professionals in our own rights but God so good, it is the word

“Professional” in the association’s name which will endear us to our host,

the Republic of Ireland.

The Association has chalked so many achievements including getting the

Prestigious St. Vincent Hospital to team up with the association to sponsor

students in Ghanaian Universities to undertake a tour study in Psychiatry in

Institutions in this country. They have undertaking with the association

that they would send top experts in Psychiatry to Ghanaian universities in

introducing modern methods of caring for the mentally challenged patients

in Ghana, and for the past three years they have been honouring this

undertaking. Even when the Ghana government was enacting the Mental Health

Bill to repeal the one existing since 1838, they consulted Dr Vincent

Agyapong to garner ideals from the AGPI.

When the EU was looking for any minority organisation in Ireland to

spearhead the integration of the minority in Ireland into the mainstream

Irish society, they could not find any credible organisation than the

Association of Ghanaian Professionals in Ireland (AGPI). The EU was not

afraid to work with the AGPI under the able leadership of Dr Vincent

Agyapong for 18 months to educate the minorities in Ireland including

Europeans, Asians, South Americans and Africans in a form of play, “Where

the Rivers Meet” and the play, hosted in Spain was such a success that the

EU has adopted it to be screened in other parts of Europe in the near

future.

I am privileged to have worked first hand with Dr Vincent Agyapong and I am

not ashamed to say that he really is a fine human being, A man not afraid

to speak his mind when there is the need to effect a positive change in a

person’s life. He is not the type who thinks in terms of a person’s racial

background, he cuts across all races and it was not surprising to me at all

when the Deputy Head of Nigerian Mission in Ireland stated that: My first

encounter with Vincent was the day he called the Embassy to request for

assistance for a Nigerian who needed help” Here you are with a Ghanaian,

phoning our embassy that a Nigerian citizen needed help”. The kind of

person who cuts across all racial barriers.

Dr Vincent Agyapong, you have been maligned too much in the Ghanaian

society; there were those little minds who have always insulted you through

Ghanaweb but my encouraging words to you are. “You never give up on your

calling, we are all accountable to our maker but not to man. The Ghanaian,

giving the opportunity will most of the time choose being idle to doing

something to better the lot of others so the more they insult and criticise

you, rest assured that you are doing what your maker has instructed you to

do. You are not seeking glory for yourself, whatever positive thing you do

that inspires, encourages and allows the far-sighted to achieve their

potential, you are keeping the command of Jesus;. “Go ye therefore unto

every nation by preaching the Gospel to the entire universe” and you don’t

need to be a pastor before you can do the work of God, as you help people,

making sure they are integrated into the host society, as you seek help for

somebody from another country, as you make sure a person like me gets a job

to do, as you attend to numerous Ghanaians with their many challenging

issues in this country, you have done it for Christ. You are measured by

God’s standards but not by human standards. My family and I are privileged

to have you as a friend and a colleague. Happy birthday to you and May the

Good Lord continues to bless you and your family.