A Tribute to the late Nana Dogo

(Mr. Evans A. Boateng, Toronto)

Driving home quietly past 8:30pm Friday, September 27, 2013, I was able to finally digest it all. The fragility of life, one day you’re here, the next day you are not. Then what remains of it all is this nothingness, a quiet eerie stillness that is so perplexing. The individual’s final journey towards the abyss of death: The end of life, the unknown, only delicately explained through one’s faith or religious belief.

This Friday night was not a common night; it was a funeral home visitation that was like no other, a viewing like no other. It was to view for the last time the body of Mr. Evans A. Boateng, also known as Nana Dogo. On this fateful night, at this visitation, there was no time to cry, which became the more difficult for most as mourners who could, tried to mourn silently, or to hold their breath, so we could do first things first. To attend to this unfinished business and see Nana Dogo off to the other side of the unknown, and properly too. In line with the way this great and special man would have operated, the program was orderly and uneventful. First there was the program to follow through to the end: the paying of various tributes, the long line up of sympathisers who waited anxiously for their turn to pay their last respects, with the organizers trying with effortless efficacy to meet the deadline of 4 hours; the funeral home time slot allotted, from 4pm to 8pm, which was exceeded by over a quarter of an hour albeit the carefully planned out order of events.
His, was a life well lived, where what memories remain are those that are long lasting and enriching. In death, this down to earth, humble man floored those of us who knew him once again for the last time. He made good the saying that “Our good deeds follow us even in death”. Since his death, there are many benefactors within and beyond the Ghanaian Canadian community who stepped up to the plate and covered the greater part of the funeral expenses as payback for his generosity at one time or the other. Yet giving a tribute for such an individual becomes so difficult - the simple fact that there is so much good that he did that one can go on and on to infinity.......... Perhaps the surest testimony of his life is the numerous photographs he left behind that gives a glimpse of his activities. For this amazing man who towers above most, left behind a large collection of amazing photographs – an assemblage of autobiographical evidence giving us an insight into which offices and personalities he was visiting and of his activities within the Ghanaian community. Indeed “a picture speaks a thousand words”.
In death his many accomplishments outside the Ghanaian community were also exposed as various City Counsellors, and others trooped down to pay their last. There were no embellishments for a tribute. It would not have been easy to make up anything about him, for everyone knew him, his good side and his bad. He was very transparent, so conspicuously human. It was so easy to see his insides, his heart. In death his big heart was exposed, for he was only a simple man, a kind hearted humble one at that, loved by all. By the end of it all, it came to light that all he wanted to do was to ameliorate what he felt was deficient in our community: our culture, our social inclusiveness within the Canadian context. At his death, we learnt that he was parading the halls of power in search of a place for our community and for our children, that when he went to some of those places, he was referred to as “Chief”, that his was a quest for the greater good of all Ghanaian Canadians (the cloth/kente wearers) in Toronto. We never knew he went that far, for he was only an “ordinary man”...............
Such was his character! He rose above us all not because of his wealth or social status but for the simple fact of his humility and the impact he made on all.

Nana Dogo, the Amammrehene of Okuapeman Cultural Association. The community you left behind bids you farewell, you have created a void within the membership register of Okuapeman Cultural Association (Ontario) and Okusaca (North America & Canada). You will be missed dearly by all. Dammirifa due! Nante yiye oo!. Nana Dogo, good bye! You made your mark!

Bellinia Asiedu-Young, Richmond Hill, Ontario