General News of Sunday, 20 August 2023

Source: www.ghanaweb.com

Why this Kwahu millionaire is single-handedly constructing a 5km alternative route in the mountains

Yaw Sarpong made the decision after he went to visit a cave with his family play videoYaw Sarpong made the decision after he went to visit a cave with his family

An unassuming millionaire and native of Kwahu, Yaw Sarpong, has recalled the beautiful experience he had with his family some years ago when they went to see a cave hidden somewhere within the mountains, and how that led to him deciding to construct a 5km road.

Yaw Sarpong explained that it was during an Easter visit with his family that they were informed of this cave.

He told video blogger, Kwahu Ambassador, that their journey to the cave in their car was cut short, and the rest done on foot because that was the farthest they could go by road.

They had to then walk through a forest, he recalled, adding that on reaching their destination, he felt strongly that the place should not be hidden from the world that much just because of the non-existence of a road.

“We came for Easter: my wife and our children. We were informed that there was a cave at Twenedurase and so we go and check it out. So, when we got to (sic), we had to get down and walk through a forest until we got to see the cave. The cave was so unique so much that if you decided to literally catch the darkness in there, it would be so possible.

“This cave is the kind that the Whiteman will call a tourist attraction, and according to the Kwahu people, they say during Okono’s time, that was where our ancestors used to camp. So, I started asking why something this beautiful was here but there is not proper road leading to it? The man who took us there said people had tried but it didn’t work, and that some foreigners had been around there in 1948 but couldn’t build a road.

“The man then said if we walked through the forest, we would get to another town called Akwasihuo. I told him I would try it out and when I did, I wondered what was so difficult about this that they could not build a road.

“One day, I came to church and after the service, I told the pastor, who was called Gyakye, that they should pray for me because I wanted to build the road linking Akwasihuo and Twenedurase. Whether the pastor believed me or not, he asked that the church bowed their heads and they prayed for me,” he explained.



Yaw Sarpong further explained to Kwahu Ambassador that he took a leap of faith and made attempts to start the construction.

He added that even though he had made his intention, the chief of one of the two communities his road would connect, said discouraging things to him, indicating that he (the chief) did not believe he (Yaw Sarpong) could construct the road especially when foreigners had not even been successful about it.

“And the chief of Twenedurase was sitting there and these are his own words: he said young children of today, when we get up, after going to drinking tramadol, then we come bragging. And that the road that even the Whiteman could not do, what did I have that I was claiming that I could build it,” he added.

Yaw Sarpong also spoke about how when he was a young man, he was a specialist in sewing ladies skirts and selling other women's attires.

Watch the full video below:



AE