Meet Ayine Akolgo, a lecturer and writer proving that disability isn’t inability

Ayine Akolgo is a man of many parts. A polymath whose intelligence, confidence, and strength of character cannot be missed. He’s a fast-rising academic, a writer, a preacher, a curator…an adorable father to his kids, and a loving husband.

Born in Bolgatanga in the early 80s, little Ayine blossomed like a flower in perfect conditions, walking steadily before he was two. But at about two years old, misfortune struck young energetic Ayine.

“I was barely two years old when I got struck by polio. According to my mum, I became completely paralyzed from up to down. My neck, hands, both upper and lower limbs became completely weak. I was taken to all the traditional healers and medicine people they could think of. Later, and thankfully, I regained 100% usability of my lower limbs, and about 45% – 50% usability of my upper limbs,” he recalled.

But our brilliant Ayine was not going to allow that disability to bog him down or inhibit him in any way. Proving his worth at home and in school, he had the full complement of confidence from his parents and siblings notwithstanding the pervasive discrimination at the time.

“Beginning right from home where my dad thought sending me to school was going to be a waste of time because he thought I would not be too able to write. Thankfully, he was convinced by some of my uncles and I got enrolled at the Anglican Primary School. That was another baptism of fire. I started school by sitting on the floor right in front of the class. The gaze of disdain, condescension, and discrimination from some teachers, students, and visitors was enough to have given up, but I was determined,” he revealed.

He excelled in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and proceeded to the Zamse Senior High Technical School in 1997, where he found his purpose in Christ Jesus and began preaching to students and every other person who cared to listen. He excelled at Zamsetech too.

“In 1997, I gave my hopeless life to Christ, and that is when I started feeling my life was not worthless.

I embraced purpose and a fresh sense of determination rushed into my system. Since then, I became zealous for Christ and approached life, especially my academic life with zeal and zest I can’t explain where it came from. I preached from house to house, village to village, and in hospitals. I preached at the Monday morning Assembly at Zamstech. This I started as far back as 1997 to date. I served in various departments in the church, that is Fountain Gate Chapel, Desert Pastures, Bolgatanga. I literally got every young person in my house, and immediate community into the church…

I was officially ordained a pastor of Fountain Gate Chapel in 2013. I continued to preach everywhere. Even in 2020/21, when covid-19 sent the church into a coma and the Word of God was so scarce like a famine in the land, I preached at the Bolgatanga Market consistently for months,” he told MyNewsGh.com.

Currently an Assistant Lecturer at the University of Education, Winneba, he is also a tireless advocate for the rights of persons with disability having worked in various NGOs working to better the lot of persons with disability and other vulnerable groups.

He is currently a fourth-year PhD candidate at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana. He also has a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in African Studies and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Sociology, with a minor in the Study of Religions (First Class Honours), both from the University of Ghana.

He’s definitely a great inspiration to many persons with disability and misses no opportunity to mentor and support them.

He’s been married for thirteen years with four kids.