RITA

"I realised then that I was ready to address the issue of what I wanted to be in the future.  I wanted to be a medical doctor"

Growing up as a young girl was always going to be a challenge due to several factors including cultural gender stereo-typing in the choice of career, family responsibilities, even  in the choice of play toys, education and so on. It was not strange then to hear words like ‘Akosua what kind of job do you want to do when you grow up’? -‘A girl sells garden eggs not gun powder’ to wit, don’t bother doing anything deemed to be in a man’s domain since one is unlikely to get anywhere with it.

In education, parents tended to pressurise girls to take subjects that will give them time to assist in family chores at home. I was no exception; being the 10^th of 11 children and unfortunately for me the youngest of the girls. My responsibilities which were clearly defined by the time I turned 9 were many since my elder sisters were all grownups and most of them settled in jobs and marriages. I was the errand girl of the house; helping mum look after her grand children while my brothers had all the time in the world for their books, games and time to engage in other activities. Besides, I played nanny to my big sister when she was having her children and changed schools as often as she moved homes. Thus distracted, I kept repeating my class any time I was taken to another region to help look after my sisters’ new born babies. Indeed, I hold the family record of having attended primary schools in all the regions of Ghana. End results? I spent more than necessary years in  basic school until I finally got rescued by my primary class 4 teacher- Mr Mensah (now deceased), he stopped at nothing to convince my mum to ensure that I had time for my books since to him I could go places given the slightest push. That indeed was the turning point. I realised then that I was ready to address the issue of what I wanted to be in future. I wanted to be a medical doctor –as most kids in a Ghanaian primary school always said, anyway. Thankfully, my mum resolved that I’d had enough of the moving around. A new phase in my life began, I did read anything I could lay hands on, including most of the story books in the British Council library in Kumasi which fortunately was close to our residence and accessible on foot after school and on Saturdays.

Now to the choice of a career; I hated to see people going through pain especially the sick and I always wanted to do something to help out. I developed special interest in kids, probably stemming from my ‘childhood profession’ of looking after babies and did whatever was possible to soothe their pains especially the sick ones. I witnessed my father, auntie and grandma apply herbal remedies to treat ailments of common occurrence and was really fascinated to see how quickly relief was obtained. Going down memory lane, I think that is when my interest in pharmacy and for that matter medicinal plant research was conceived. I found myself choosing to read pharmacy at the university instead of medicine. Right after the first degree, through the national service period when I served as a Teaching Assistant and also as a Demonstrator for Pharmacy students in my home university (KNUST, Kumasi) and also at King’s College, London, as well for my PhD, my preoccupation has been to collate information on indigenous medicinal plants and scientifically validate their folkloric claims for the treatment of various diseases. For my Masters and PhD degrees, I researched some plants employed in the treatment of wounds and infections among the Ashanti ethnic group in Ghana. There has been no turning back since then. The last few years have seen a continuation of my research into Ghanaian medicinal plants for their antipediculosidal, anthelminthic and anti-inflammatory properties

I have sought for and welcomed every opportunity to learn more advanced research and development techniques. For me, becoming a 2011 Seeding Labs Fellow is a fantastic opportunity which would afford me the privilege to upgrade my skills in the use of the state of the art equipment vital to natural product research to make me a better scientist equipped to train younger scientists in the approaches to drug discovery from natural sources.

The challenges in my institution are similar to those faced by others in Africa; lack of expertise in key research areas, training opportunities, equipments to conduct research is indeed glaringly disturbing. I look forward to this Fellowship program as a platform to assist me in acquiring enough knowledge to hopefully, afford me and my colleagues , the necessary exposure  to attract some donations of essential  equipments such as  plate readers, IR, UV, NMR  and GC-MS, that would greatly assist our  research and training  in our institution and other sister universities in Ghana. Science and Technology determines the global distribution of wealth and power and poverty reduction. Africa faces enormous problems of shortages of food, health care, essential and affordable medicines, literacy, energy, security, water supply, sanitation, and many other issues pertaining to development. Africa must be seen to be rising up to the challenge of supporting more appropriate researches which would lead to the alleviation of these problems. I would like to witness an all hands on deck approach to science and technology in Africa with significant inputs from women for the advancement of society.

I am very passionate about post graduate training in natural product research and deeply committed to contributing my quota in bringing research at my institution to the highest possible standards. To this end, I look forward to the day when our laboratories would be sufficiently equipped to , for example, conduct our own analysis on pure isolates without them being lost in the postal systems when mailed to collaborating laboratories overseas for analysis.

Life outside the lab? My research skills are always neatly transferred from the university Lab to my home Lab, my kitchen! I love to spend time cooking traditional dishes with my girls, Akosua, Abena, Akua and Afia, to share with friends and hang out with my girls and my soul mate –Nana, the dogs-Roxy, Miijo, Biggie and Bailey Knight King I. I always look forward to these moments when we share a hymn, pray and read the Bible together and of course, the pursuit of my other passion; motivating young girls to make a career in science.

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