Opinions of Saturday, 5 June 2021

Columnist: Rockson Adofo

Kumawuman citizens in the UK: Without your comforting support, the lone tree left standing would succumb to the tempest

Part of the Kumawu township Part of the Kumawu township

Hear ye me, all ye Kumawuman citizens in the United Kingdom, especially those in London, the following words. It is not easy for a lone tree left in the path of a destructive tornado to continue to stand whole without suffering any damage when the tempest does hit.

But as with God all things are possible, so could such a lone tree miraculously resist the ferocity of the storm without any damage when it does get hit.


The Bible does say in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, thus;


A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.

2 A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.

3 A time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build.

4 A time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

5 A time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing.


6 A time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away.

7 A time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak.

8 A time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

One tree does under no circumstance make a forest, although in any thick forest, one finds the trees standing individually. However, a forest of many trees does resist much better the storm than a tree standing alone, far separated from others and come under the attack of a violent storm.

It takes a few words of consolation from friends, sympathisers and the public, to dissipate the sorrows of a person robbed of his beloved mother and sibling within a space of one week, in what is a double tragedy, leaving him almost alone. Nevertheless, with your support and that of his nuclear and extended family, he could naturally be compelled to cheer up, if not now, eventually with the passage of time.

It is just wise to express deep gratitude for those who mourn with you, becoming the shoulder you cry on in times of tragedy, as in the case of unexpectedly losing your two loved ones to that wicked nocturnal visitor who calls at your door unannounced and takes no for an answer but executes his mission, regardless.

Much as death is a journey that any living human being currently on the surface of earth and yet to be born will take to, it is still just natural to suffer deep feeling of sorrow when it does happen to whom you know and love. Similarly, it is just right for us to offer our shoulders to those in sorrow to cry on, as a requirement in Romans 12:15 – “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep”

In order not to bore you with any lengthy narration, on behalf of my father Samuel Ankrah aka Kwabena Antwi, by extension of the Akan custom, I say, thank you to all those Kumawuman citizens and sympathisers in the United Kingdom who attended the public viewing of the remains of his younger sibling, the late Mr George Agyemang Dwuma aka Kofi George, on Friday, 4th May 2021 in London.

As said elsewhere, his body will be flown to Ghana on Thursday, 1st July 2021, for burial alongside his mum, Obaapani Yaa Asantewaa aka Yaa Ankrah, on Saturday, 3rd July 2021 in Kumawu in the Ashanti region.

Once again, on behalf of Mr Samuel Ankrah and others whose names time and space will not permit me to mention here today, I say, thank you to you and pardon him for the few glitches that occurred due to the rain and the heavily snaked traffic.