[ASU] Thanks for your support and Love!

[Prosper Yao Tsikata]

Dear All: 
It is my greatest pleasure to inform you all that I am heading for the academic
hat trick come June 11, 2010, when I graduate from Ohio University with a double
masters. It is not unusual these days for educated Africans like me anymore!

It has been two donkey years of self-denial, frustrations, and pains of staying
away from the very things and people I cherish so much. When I arrived on Ohio
University campus in the fall of 2008, the challenges ahead looked almost
insurmountable. Readjusting to the academic rhythm after a few years break was
not as easy as I thought it was going to be.

I bet it took something more than commitment to undertake a complete overhaul of
the independence I once enjoyed and to once again don the strict academic garb
with regard to schedules and deadlines. The first quarter was not without its
pressures and hiccups, especially the fear of underperformance. There is no
doubt that the American educational system is quite different from the systems I
was familiar with in myriad ways. These thoughts urged me along with anxiety. I
barely could do more than two hours in my bed each night and mostly woke up with
a start.  This lasted until the end of the first quarter.

When I even took a break with family in Canada, I could still feel my nerves
racking, as I logged on to the internet as frequently as I could each day to
check my grades. The grades finally appeared on the grades board and to my
greatest relieve I made my straight As. But that was the beginning of my woes.
Like every student with the promise of sitting on top of his class, the
challenge of maintaining the high standards I had envisioned for myself became
burdensome. I think it is easier to work upwards than to stay up there. The idea
of maintaining a good academic standing soon became a mania and sapped all my
energies. The library became a home away from home and that “particular spot”
became an office. At a point I wondered if it was necessary to even continue to
pay rent for a room a barely spend time in. I was not alone. We know ourselves.  

There have been a few humbling experiences, however. Indeed, behind the scenes
we all lamented over grades with professor we considered captious in the
academic sense. Obviously, if there were ways we could have avoided some of
them, it would have been the option. There are simply courses you couldn’t shop
and drop, they are core courses. So if a fastidious professor was your lot, you
accepted and make the best out of the situation.  

But all in all, as I reflect on the last two years, I have every reason to be
grateful to God that I am graduating within the stipulated time with a double
masters and in good academic standing.  With the question of what next, I have
never shied away from my interest in academic research and consultancy in my
area of specialization. But that definitely requires another three years of
further honing of my skills—a PhD. Although I have berthed a place with Ohio
University’s School of Communication for the PhD in Health Communication, this
is where I feel most Africans with the desire to make it to the pinnacle of the
academic ladder feel helpless. If you are fortunate to be funded by the
university that offered you a place, you are saved from the hustle of scouting
for funding on your own.  

Funding from our home countries is not a matter of who carries the most academic
potential, it simply resonate with the kind of politics that is prevalent on the
continent. I am, however, hopeful something comes through soon and I can move on.

I dedicate both my M.A. and M.S. degrees to my little daughter, Chantel Selikem
Gillison-Tsikata. She has paid most dearly for the absence of her dad. Her
lullabies from her dad to put  her to sleep were short-lived. But I do believe
strongly she will grow up to appreciate the conditions under which all this had
occurred. “My first love,” the purpose is definitely not to deny you a childhood
with your dad, but rather that I may become the better dad that every daughter
will be proud of.  I take pride in the fact that I have blazed the trail for you
and that path should lead you in the right direction—the refinement of the soul
through knowledge that radiates like a florescent lamp in the dark.

To you Heather, I appreciate your invaluable contributions to this achievement.
You have been a fortress and wherever this is mentioned, you name will
tag-along. But to you I also say “to love and be loved, is the greatest blessing
of existence!”

I am highly indebted to some of the magnificent professors who have helped in
various ways to shape my academic life here in OU. To you Dr. Rafael Obregon,
Professor Steve Howard, Dr. Nancy Stevens, and Dr. Lawrence Wood, I am very
thankful for the opportunity you gave me to prove myself.  And to you Dr. Robert
Stewarts, Dr. Hong Cheng Dr. Mike Sweeney, Dr. Michelle Honald, and Dr. Thomas
Suddes, I can attest to your great mentoring qualities. You have left an
indelible image on my mind!

Elizabeth Story, a special letter of appreciation awaits you for your great
works in the library. You made the most impression on me when you could spend
three hours helping me comb for non-existent data on internet spread in my
country. You are that great librarian of your time and even angels up above will
recognize your work.

To you Jill Mckinney, I hope you remain the livewire of the Center for
International Studies! 

To Dr. Sallar and Mrs. Doris Sallah, I say a special thank you for all the support.

In the far away West Coast, I salute you Paul Hynds and Debbie Reagan, you know
how it all started. Kathleen and Gary, and Andrea, take your appreciations, too.

I also wish to express my reflective appreciation to Mr and Mrs. Kuebunyah, Mr.
Raymond Okudjeto, Rev. Father David Amissah, Mr. Francis Segbedzi, for their
diverse forms of support without which this enterprise would not have been
possible. 

Kudjoe Kumassah, Charles Kpodzo, Yao Blebu, George Dzotepe, Selasies Mortoti,
Keli and Nono, and Ebenezer Yalley, your support and encouragement were
paramount in this endeavor.

Uche Onuzulike and Raphael Nyaguze, don’t lose your voices on Nigeria and
Zimbabwe respectively.  There is a bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Andrew Eisenman, you will always be remembered for your good manners.

To you Anthony Sam, Emmanuel Narh, and Richard Owuo, across the Atlantic pond,
even though I make friends in the scores, I do not intend to lose the old ones.

Savannah, Ebbe, Carolyn, Nancy, you are all great women with great potentials to
change our selfish world in your small ways.

Patrick Litanga and David Conrad, you guys are genuinely great stars in your own
rights. You carry great academic potentials, and I am glad that I have
encountered you on my way. Patrick, never jump ship; I see you becoming the
voice of your time, especially for the Congo!

Mayor, Chapman and Ken, I hope we will meet soon when we can share some green
bottles in celebration. To all my friends far and near, I am grateful for your
support. Your support made it happen.

Though I will not be going home to meet my dad, I say a big thank you to my mom
and siblings.

To myself, I say “the lizard that fell from the high Iroko tree said it would
praise itself if no one else did,” so it is in an incessant nod of its head at
each fall. Achievement is the knowledge that we have studied and worked hard and
done the best that is in us. Success is being appreciated by others, and that is
nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. I have always aimed at the
former, and if by any chance the latter tags along, so be it. 
Forever yours,
Prosper 


Prosper Yao Tsikata
Center for International Studies
Ohio University
Athens, Ohio