An Incident I Will Never Forget in my Life, by Sr. Agatha Mensah

When I was growing up, I learned a favorite Ghanaian adage: “Life in this world is a great struggle for both the young and the old, and even those who have great riches do have worries or troubles of their own.” A series of incidents do happen in human life, and these incidents can either be happy or sad moments. Whatever it may be, it stays in our memory and leaves an everlasting imprint for future reference.  

My own story was a sad one. It was an incident that I can confidently say delayed my education.  In 1993, I had a friend who was very good with mathematics, and this friend used to help me out if I had any difficulty with math. He actually helped me to pass all my math exams. I trusted this friend so much that, during the period to  register for the West African Examination Council Exam, which qualifies one to enter college, I gave him some money to register for me. My intention was to pass the exam and pass well, in order to continue my education to the Teacher Training College to train to become a professional teacher. One may ask, how could I not do the registration myself? My story was pathetic. I was then employed by a pharmaceutical company called, "That Same Jesus" Pharmacy. I was working six days in a week. The only free time for me was on Sundays, so I could not go and do the registration myself because school registration offices do not operate on Sundays in Ghana. I therefore thought it wise to ask my trusted friend to register for me. Unfortunately for me, instead of my friend going in for the registration, he chose to spend the money I had given him on his own needs, without telling me. 

All along I presumed that my friend had completed the registration for me. A week before the scheduled time for the exam, I had not heard anything still from anyone or received any necessary information about the exam, so it became necessary for me to ask for permission from my job to go and verify with  the West African Examination Office,  and I was told my name was not in the list of  names registered to take the exam. I hastened back home to question my friend why my name was omitted from the registered candidates for the exam. It was at this time that he boldly told me that it was unfortunate, but he had used the money for his personal needs.  

What actually saddened my heart was that I had no one to sponsor my education. I had to work too hard to pay for my tuition at school because my parents were poor. My life was almost ruined and I felt very sad about my situation.  I was advised by other friends to inform the police to arrest my friend and jail him, but I also considered the good things he had done for me in my life and allowed the pain to die a natural death.  

A few days later, The West African Examination Council wanted to send the police to arrest me because I had told them that I registered for the exam, while it was not true. But after they had given me time to explain myself, they got to know what had happened and they accepted my explanation and allowed me to go home. While I was going home, in my confusion, I was almost knocked down by a car. That day became the saddest day in my life, and I will never ever forget it. The driver who nearly knocked me down stopped and, in anger, questioned what was wrong with me. In shock, I narrated the whole story to him. He drove me to my home because he realized something was not going well with me. For three days I was not eating, and I was not sleeping either. I had to see a counselor, who helped me through my problems and, after a period of time, I came back to my normal self. The lesson I learned from this incident was that not all friends should be trusted.

My main reason for trying to go to college was to become a professional teacher so that I could pay my social security and also earn enough money from teaching to take care of my needs and those of my parents. When the incident described above happened, I lost all hope and I lost all confidence in my friends. I then turned to God in prayer for a new direction. Meanwhile, my friend who spent my money for his own needs came to beg for forgiveness and, trusting in the divine mercy and forgiveness of God, I did forgive him. I then advised him to change this bad attitude in order not to end up in jail one day..

After turning to God, my prayers were answered and I finally got admission to the Teacher Training College with the acceptable grades that I had wanted to improve. I became very happy and I believed the saying that “Where there is no hope, there God shows Himself in a mysterious way.” Within three years, I completed my Teacher Training Course, had my job, and I started enjoying a normal life. I could not believe how God had intervened and changed my life forever.

In conclusion, I would say that everybody has an incident that he or she may never forget in life. This incident that I have described above helped me understand that, in all things, we need to give thanks to God. I also learned that some humans are not to be trusted. Until I went through this incident, I thought friends are to be trusted, but I learned that not all friends are trustworthy. The incident has given me more insight into how the world is, and how one should be able to manage his or her own life, rather than  relying on others.