The ‘poor’ Ghanaian ‘hero’ rubbing shoulders at Johns Hopkins; the story of George Mwinnyaa

10 angels from heaven wouldn’t have been enough to ‘convince’ him that he would have the tiniest bit of chance at the world’s biggest health care university; the Johns Hopkins University.

Call it a dream come true from hardwork and perseverance; George Mwinnya, the last of 32 children, from a remote village in Nandom in the UpperWest, is making strides today and making a difference globally.

Electricity was a privilege in his village, in his case peculiarly, he literally had to put together pieces of used soap from his peers to be able to bath, beg for a pen in school to write and hawk on the streets of Accra to survive.

He travelled a rather long path for his education, first earning a slot from his ‘hawking-earned-monies’ for forms for school. He was given a chance as a health worker in a village in Takoradi after school and through volunteering he got a shot at studying in America.

His woes were far from done even at this point, he took up a janitorial job and subsequently applied for school. Classes, exams, name it, he fought his way through to community colleges in Nevada, finally earning a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University; the pinnacle of his goals.

George Mwinnyaa tells an intriguing story of his climb from the ‘mud’ to the ‘sky’ in this edition of ‘People & Places’.

Watch out for full interview on Tuesday August 13 on GhanaWeb TV