Adoreum had the pleasure of welcoming Dr Bettina Andah, author of the President’s physician to our Women’s Thought Leadership breakfast series, hosted at The Club at Café Royal.
Dr Andah discussed the ‘importance of girls education in Africa,’ which raised some interesting thoughts and questions that we should all be challenging in today’s society.
Coming from an advantaged background and surrounded by a community of doctors, Dr Andah trained to be a doctor herself in Ghana, where, following a stadium disaster which saw many people injured, she met John Kufuor, Head of State in Ghana. Following this meeting, she soon become his personal physician, eventually crossing paths with the then Nigerian Head of State, Olusegun Obasanjo, whose charity, the Olusegun Obasanjo Foundation was extremely interested in girl child education in Africa and ultimately inspired her to become more involved in this cause.
Through her work in Africa, it soon became apparent that the attitude towards children, particularly girls, was that they should ‘be seen and not heard.’ She believes in the concept of being a role model, leading by example rather than the mentoring system, where she found many people do not have enough time to dedicate to this.
Now, along with other successful female professionals / role models, friends, entrepreneurs, nurses etc., Dr Andah has setup ‘The Story of our Lives’ project, where she works with local Ghanian boarding schools, inviting around 200 15+ years girls per region (totalling 1600 girls countrywide), to inspirational talks intended to inspire and educate with topics covering sexual health, relationships, career advice and basic social skills. The aim of this project is to build confidence and assertiveness in order to give these young girls a voice in a very male dominated society. Dr Andah has also teamed up with local hotels in order to carry out sessions with the girls educating them about basic table manners and etiquette in order to make them feel more comfortable in social situations where, particularly those from rural areas, may feel less at ease.
“Our mission is to encourage female students to focus and strive to achieve their vision, as well as to buttress the fact that hard work, determination and dedication yields positive results”. – Dr. BDr. Bettina Ama Boohene-Andah
The Story of our Lives launches this October.
For more information or to get involved in The Story of Our Lives Project, please do contact Dr. Ama Boohene-Andah directly on: storyofourlives@yahoo.co.uk
