Women in the Media
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Hannah A. Amoah

Hannah A. Amoah is an Ashanti from Mampong Nsuta and was born on August 11, 1974. She is a Christian and married with one girl child. She is a reporter on children’s issues especially on child health and human relations.

She had her secondary school education at Ofori Panin Secondary School (OPASS) from 1987-94, did her national service at WAEC, Koforidua taught for a number of months and went to GIJ from 1996-98. After that, she did her national service at graphic (where she still works), went back to do a degree course in sociology at the university of Ghana, Legon. She deferred for a year to give birth and is now back and about to graduate.

She has encountered a whole lot of saddening experiences of child-suffering in various places in the country. She did a story at Donkorkrom in 2002 on “600 children in slavery at Donkorkrom”. These children are sold to fisher folks by their parents for some small amount of money. Many of the children do not know their parents and go to school sometimes on empty stomachs and would have to trek long distances to the nearest school. These fishermen do not care when the children are sick and force them to work. The most saddening part is when they die and are just damped into the river and nobody cares and these children are between the ages of 6-17. They are stunted, have wrinkled skins and all their ribcages are drawn out conspicuously as depicts serious hunger. She was so touched that she cried.

She did another story in 2006 on child labour. She went to a query site and met a young boy of less than 10 years with a speck of stone in his right eye. The child had to stop schooling because he could not stand his mates’ ridicule and his mother had no money to take her to the hospital for treatment. Apparently the boy’s mother had asked help from his (the boy's) father but he would not help. His eye had popped out like a frog’s eye and he was in so much pain. She therefore, set up a graphic needy child fund and contacted public affairs secretariat but they could not render any help. Later on the boy’s mother heard of the mercy ship and went there for help which she got. The boy had his eyes taken off and an artificial eye put in its place and he was so happy and decided to continue his schooling. She has arranged for support, for the boy and his mother so they would not go back to the query, and is awaiting response.

She would want to further her education in order to hold a managerial position. She hopes to educate her children to the highest level so they won’t be sidelined.

She won the best worker award in 2004 in junior graphic. She was challenged when she had to solely host a new column in the junior graphic, “I’ll tell my story”. This column is to inspire children with the experiences some people have had and have been able to succeed. This was at a time when she was pregnant with her first child.

She hopes Ghana will be self sufficient and independent to defray foreign bodies from dictating to us and by so doing the country will move forward.