On Wednesday May 31, the prolific writer, Prof, Ama Ata Aidoo, went the way of all mortals at the ripe age of 81.
Her death which her family described as peaceful, marked a decent end to a life well-lived to the fullest by every parameter of human expectation.
Ama Ata Aidoo, was not just another Ghanaian, she was a citizen of the world. Through her prowess in the literary world, she was able to breakdown boundaries and place herself on that great pedestal where only a few mortals tread, the world of immortality.
The Dilemma of the Ghost, was published in 1965, making her the first published African woman dramatist.
When asked in a 2014 interview if she saw herself as a writer with a mission, Aidoo responded, “In retrospect, I suppose I could describe myself as a writer with a mission. But I never was aware that I had a mission when I started to write. People sometimes question me, for instance, why are your women so strong? And I say, that is the only woman I know.”
Prof. Ama Ata Aidoo was born on March 23, 1942 in Abeadzi Kyiakor, near Saltpond, in the Central Region.
She was raised in a Fante royal household, the daughter of Nana Yaw Fama, chief of Abeadzi Kyiakor, and Maame Abasema. She grew up at a time of resurgent British neocolonialism in her homeland.
Her grandfather was murdered by neocolonialists, which brought her father’s attention to the importance of educating the children and families of the village on the history and events of the era.
This led him to open up the first school in their village and influenced Prof. Aidoo to attend Wesley Girls’ High School, where she first decided she wanted to be a writer.
Prof. Aidoo attended Wesley Girls’ Senior High School in Cape Coast, from 1961 to 1964. After high school, she enrolled at the University of Ghana, Legon, where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and also wrote her first play, The Dilemma of a Ghost, in 1964.
The play was published by Longman the following year, making Aidoo the first published African woman dramatist.
Prof. Aidoo was appointed Minister of Education under the Provisional National Defence Council (PNDC) in 1982 and resigned after 18 months, realising that she would be unable to achieve her aim of making education in Ghana freely accessible to all.
In 1983, she moved to live in Zimbabwe, where she continued her work in education, including as a curriculum developer for the Zimbabwe Ministry of Education, as well as writing.
In London, England, in 1986, she delivered the Walter Rodney Visions of Africa lecture organised by the support group for Bogle-L’Ouverture publishing house
Prof. Aidoo later received a Fulbright Scholarship award in 1988, and she was writer-in-residence at the University of Richmond, Virginia, in 1989, and taught various English courses at Hamilton College in Clinton New York, in the early mid- 1990s.
This newspaper joins her family, the government and people of Ghana in praying that she finds peace with the Lord.
