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My Northern Experience with Mr. Rauf Abdul-Rahman
Monday, March 28, 2022
Northern Heritage is pleased to host Mr. Rauf Abdul-Rahman. He is a Senior Nutritionist at Ghana Health Service. He will be sharing with us life journey, a touch on his perspectives on northern Ghana and his opinion on how we will help develop the place.
Shamuddeen:
To begin our discussion, who is Mr. Rauf A. Rahman?
Rauf A. Rahman:
I am Rauf A. Rahman, 31 years & the oldest of 4 children. I hail from Wa-Limanyiri, a Public Health Nutritionist and M&Eval. Expert (Consult privately in all). I believe in good mentorship, education and business ventures.
Shamuddeen:
Kindly take us through your life journeys capturing education, experiences growing up, accomplishments and your sources of inspiration and support.
Rauf A. Rahman:
I started my basic school at Kwahuman Int. school in Nkawkaw-E/R and later moved to T.I.Amass ‘B’ Basic school in Kumasi till my JSS. I developed the interest to pursue Science when I felt really sick growing up as a child and was admitted at the KNUST hospital for more than 6 months & also from my exposures to some teachers & several excursions that was undertaken. I then moved to Tamale Sec Sch which happened to be my first long stay in the North, although we used to visit Wa on few occasions as family.
I moved on to pursue Community Nutrition at UDS-Tamale Campus. I did my National service at Bole Hospital/District Health Directorate concurrently. I then joined DKM micro finance in Wa as an IT officer for almost a year. I later joined Ghana Health Service and was posted to the Maternal and Child Health Hospital (MCHH) in Kumasi and now at Nkawie Toase Government hospital, a community around Kumasi for over 6 years now.
I have Masters in Monitoring & Evaluation from Christian Service University College here in Kumasi & currently pursuing Master of Public Health.
I started RAF NUTRISTART FOUNDATION page on Facebook as part of my passion for PH, community development, maternal & child nutrition. I learnt a lot from my dad about his small business and to be independent in all aspects of my life. I believe in my roots & culture. My inspiration has always being creating a good environment for young ones.
Also, I have mentally positioned myself as a minority in all social aspects to encourage myself. Yeah support has been from my family a lot & friends i.e. networking wherever I found myself.
Shamuddeen:
Kindly share with members how those experiences shaped your personality and your perspectives about life and what to look out for?
Rauf A. Rahman:
My experiences up North is so memorable in-that I liked the people and culture there, it really highlighted a lot about my roots. I stayed in Yendi with my family for almost 5years when the Dagbon war was intense. I had to experience curfews and fleeing sometimes from soldiers who were on grounds to protect inhabitants.
I loved the cultural displays as I witnessed several Dumba (Wa) & Damba (Dagbon) festivals and also loved how the indigenes received us as part of the my dad’s transfer to that place.
Those exposures & experiences felt for sure increased my Northern traits & passion to protect & love my fellow Northerners regardless where I find myself.
Lastly, I have in my service in healthcare met my bosses who are our people & one of them kept telling me to acknowledge my fellow Northerners whenever the need arises.
Shamuddeen:
What do you aspire as a career, why your choice of career and where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?
Rauf A. Rahman:
Career aspiration is to be a PH Specialist and Consultant working across Ghana through my Foundation to help promote & protect maternal & child nutrition, community health, etc. Good population health is inevitable in every aspect of development, therefore, my believe in also establishing a business in healthcare either laboratory or pharmacy to enable the less privileged have access to some expensive services & medicines at an affordable cost to improve healthcare.
Shamuddeen:
Kindly share with members your fondest memories of northern Ghana, you can take us back to any point in your life?
Rauf A. Rahman:
Well, my fondest memories of course was the Dagbon chieftaincy dispute & Konkonba war of Northern Ghana as I mentioned earlier & also the food delicacies like wasawasa, gabli, gari+dried groundnut powder+shito.
It was such an unforgettable moments with peers in Tamale SHS & UDS Tamale campus.
Shamuddeen:
In your opinion what are the reasons behind the developmental gap between the south and north and how can we bridge that gap?
Shamuddeen:
This is my favorite part of the discussion. I personally observed as much as we proclaim to be the food basket of this nation have not really harnessed that much enough. We can create processing companies to process our produce into finished goods because in other places, plants are manufactured & available within the farming areas for such purposes unlike our situation where produce go wasteful when there are no buyers.
We have some of the brilliant brains in this country and we can maximize that as well. Most of our human resources are not capacitated & trained enough to promote & lobby for developmental projects to the North since that’s the way developed societies now do.
Our recreational & sightseeing centres should be well renovated with traditional molded designs in attracting foreigners, tourists & visitors to come see our rich culture, traditions & other recreational ventures for them to compliment, acknowledge & start developing this areas as investments. Our youth can also be either employed, educated or learn business skills through this opportunity.
Finally I see some of our seniors & elders in top positions do not support or assist the young ones in getting well educated or trained in skills development. Is sometimes very difficult to contact seniors in the industry even if u work in the same or close environment. We can do well in giving helping hands (mentoring) these younkers as a form of motivation. Let’s remember we can’t massively develop if we don’t develop our individuals/ indigenes first.
Shamuddeen:
Does Northern Ghana exerts economic importance that can contribute to national development, which sectors can we capitalize on and can the regions attract investments from both public and private sources?
Rauf A. Rahman:
Absolutely. It’s not going to be easy but some communities started with local funds & members’ participation. And now the politicians came in to help. We do have few areas we can capitalize on i.e. Our vast lands for industrial purposes including manufacturing plants. Our river bodies can also be redesigned to create serene centres for recreational purposes.
We can as well modify our rich festivals to attract investment & Lastly our foods can be promoted enough for investment.
Shamuddeen:
What’s your perception of northern culture, traditions and unique way of life? Does it wield positive or negative influence on our ways of thinking.
We have some beautiful cultures in this country and these effect on our way of thinking and development. We have the culture of unity & brotherhood but we have to intensify it if we need to fight for development in our schools, companies, societies through politics, endeavors as well… these can also be done through our chieftaincy powers.
We must know that we belonged as families before politics came to separate and that we must fight together regardless on issues that do not help build our communities & human resources than fight ourselves over political sentiments.
Again, we must also change from that perception that some gender based cohort cannot impact development, & that only elders & affluent persons can. We must break the odds & old ways of doing things if we need REAL development in our communities. In other countries I visited, community interests COME FIRST in every aspect of development before political influence i.e sometimes members leading developmental projects with their solicited resources.
Lastly, our chiefs and traditional leaders can also fight, lead, assess, monitor & evaluate political interventions than just accepting everything politicians throw at us which mostly are short term & not sustainable enough to impact the lives of our people.
Shamuddeen:
Can you please tell us something peculiar to your lifestyle that was as a result of the northern experience?
Rauf A. Rahman:
Well my lifestyle has always been Northern traits since day one, my simplicity & humility all from my grand father… he always said “we don’t have to grow to exhibit & acknowledge our roots because it portrays in us from birth. ”In fact people recognize me as a Northerner every time due to my height & looks.
Shamuddeen:
It was a wonderful encounter with you. I hope members are also enjoying your submissions. We are ready to listen to your final words before we call it a night.
Rauf A. Rahman:
I believe in EXPOSURE, NETWORKING & strengthened UNITY_ these are the best indicators for individual & community development.
QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE
Mr. Iddrisu
Can he please explain more on his foundation?
Rauf A. Rahman:
Well. It was founded with the intention of helping & giving caregivers the right nutritional messages and treatment in malnutrition cases in Bole where the idea first was thought of. I realized good and adequate nutrition among mothers and children below 5 years per my academic works and researches was very crucial in the total wellbeing & development of every individual, so the name ‘RAF NUTRISTART FOUNDATION’.
Therefore the need to educate and train people on proper maternal and child nutrition for better outcomes into the future. Malnourished mothers tend to give birth to malnourished children leaving a generational cycle of malnutrition among the community.