|
|
Some Tributes
Book of Condolence for Archimedes
The 1979/80 Asst. Senior Prefect, Kwaku Berchi-Antwi (Archimedes) of Pearson House, founder of the Prempeh College SRC
and the best O' Level candidate for 1977/78 who died from his previously diagnosed illness
of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma on February 15th, 2000 in Kumasi, was burried by Amanfoo
on March 4, 2000.
At the time of his death, he was a brilliant Electrical Engineer with special interest in
Computers and ran a private Enterprise. He was survived by his wife and 2 year-old son.
He was laid in state and finally buried earlier today at which our Amanfoo brethren made a
significant showing to mourn with the bereaved family.
He meant a lot to us and a lot of present Amanfoo in the US received some 'tutoring' at one
point or the other, spurring them on to admissions to top US Universities. May his Blessed
Soul rest in Perfect Peace.
NAME: Patrick Asenso
LOCATION:USA
DATE: May 3, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
I never knew Mr. Berchie Antwi on a personal level. From afar as a
junior student, he exhibited high self esteem, and made academic excellence, a
worthy challenge to pursue, and also have fun doing it. The beauty of it all was
his ability to maintain his individuality and not submit to peer pressure. For
me these were great traits.
With a deep heart all the Asenso's of Ramseyer House send their deepest
condolences to the family for such a terrible loss to the Ghana community.
Our heart goes out to the surviving family, and we will continue to keep you in
our prayers. God Bless.
NAME: Albert Essiam
LOCATION: USA
DATE: April 30, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
I have been unhurried in presenting my eulogy to Kweku Berchie-Antwi
(aka Archimedes), someone I considered a friend, mentor and senior brother.
There is a particular silence which falls on one's soul after a life like
Archimedes'
and perhaps it should be observed.
It is an expectant and companionable silence, I think; It is like the silence
in a
concert hall when the symphony has just been played. The music has ended, but
it hasn't in any way ended. Beyond the silence, the music reverberates in the
hearts of its
listeners, it continues playing in one's head and heart.
Archimedes' life continues in one's head and mixes with the sounds of one's own
existence, bringing to light the profound graces that mark ordinary lives like
mine.
Archimede's life is akin to that stone dropped into a river, that instead of a
loud splash
makes a very quiet entry and moves silently and furtively to the bottom yet
sends its ripples over an ever increasing area. These ripples of positiveness
cascade from one life to the next without those impacted knowing that the source
was a quiet and thoughtful life like Archimedes'.
Is this perhaps the mystery of a human life? Vivid, touching, inspiring, atimes
haunting
and painful but always incomplete and unsatisfactory and sending echoes in the
future?
Waves that reflect in the lonely hearts of those who were close to him and knew
the
boundless potential that lay in the quiet personality that shied from the
limelight
and the superficial things of life.
My heart aches to think of Archimedes' life as an unfinished voyage. Is it with
such sense of incompleteness that David lamented after Jonathan's death "how are
the mighty fallen?" And yet beneath all my sorrow over his departure is an
eternal gratitude that a person like him would pass through this earth and that
I will be lucky
enough to know him.
For in his very special way he has made my life and the lives of many others
better.
A brief background:
I first knew Archimedes when I went to form one in 1979. He was the ASP and was
also in
Pearson House. My first few years at Prempeh were filled with disillusion about
the
nature of life in a boarding school. Archimedes noticed how lost I was at
Prempeh and
provided me with some measure of protection from the bullying seniors in Pearson
House.
I kept my chop box in his room, and he constantly gave me reading assignments.
His keen
understanding of the sciences inspired my own curiosity in this area. I visited
with him
often when he was an electrical engineering student at Tech. It was partly
through these
visits that I resolved never to attend Tech. Unfortunately after the A'levels
in 1986,
I never heard from him.
I was looking forward to the day when I could sit down with Archimedes and catch
up on the
times and experiences of our lives. To share with him the multitude of strange
and unexpected
changes that have occurred in my life since those adolescent years at Prempeh.
Would I have
had the words to capture the joys, sadness, times of confusion and fear,
failures, the uncertainty about the
future, the intermittent feelings about the hollowness of life, the heartaches
and unexpected
successes? How I wish it is true that there is life after this one, so that I
can tell you how heavy
my heart is for not saying goodbye. And yet I wonder if I could have said
goodbye, knowing how difficult
it was to part with you on those short visits I paid you at Tech? I pray that
we can be reunited,
take a stroll and share in laughter "Oh death where is thy victory?" Wherever
you are Kweku,
your memory and your impact lives on in the lives of those who came in contact
with you. May your
memory keep inspiring those of us who remain in this desert we call life. And
may we find
the occasional pause to remember you and tell you how much we miss you.
Affectionately,
Albert K. Essiam.
1985 ASP, Pearson House
NAME: E.C. Aikins
LOCATION:Australia
DATE: April 27, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
Kwaku Berchie Antwi will forever be remembered for his academic
brilliance, honesty and superbly modest character. Even though I was a just year
ahead of him at Prempeh, I never came very close to Archimedes until he came to
UST Kumasi for his undergraduate studies, where we happened to be in the same
department, the same hall and on the same floor. Undoudbtedly, he excelled to
become a Teaching Assistant at the School of Electrical Engineering after his
graduation and later relocated to Accra to begin a career in the computer
industry. His transition has indeed, left a black hole in the hearts of many a
people he came in touch with throughout his lifetime. May his soul rest in
eternal peace.
NAME: George Opoku
LOCATION: USA
DATE: March 27, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
Archimedes definitely brought honor to himself and to mother
Prenpeh as a whole. It's very unfortunate that bad things
happen to good people.
I extend my heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family.
He will definitely be missed.
NAME: Kofi Bobi Barimah
LOCATION: Canada
DATE: March 22, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
I started form one with Berchie in 1973 and left in 1980 with him
after our sixth form program. Although, we did not have much in common (Kwaku
will never knowingly break any school rule), l respected him very much for his
intellectual abilities. As a fellow prefect,l shared the dining table with him
and in all these situations, l found him to be a gentleman. Kwaku is noted for
preventing those of us who took advantage of the absence of tutors to skip
classes from doing so!!! He helped me to solve some of the difficult maths
questions that Opanin Koo Kyere and "Functions" gave us. Further, he helped a
majority of Amanfoo interested in "KOOMSO" to go through the SAT, GRE, etc.
successfully. We will definitely miss him. May his soul rest in perfect peace.
Kofi Bobi Barimah (Shanton)
Aggrey House (1973-80)
NAME: Ben Kwabena Poku
LOCATION: USA
DATE: March 12, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
BERCHIE WAS MY FRIEND. HE WAS A TRUE MATHEMATICAL GENIUS. IT'S UNFORTUNATE THAT HIS
DREAM THAT HE CONFIDED IN ME AS A FRIEND - TO BE A NUCLEAR SCIENTIST - DID NOT BECOME A
REALITY DUE TO VARIOUS VARIABLES. HE WAS REALLY A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF UNKNOWN
TALENTS. IN SHORT NO MEASURING TOOL CAN MEASURE HIS SCIENTIFIC ABILITIES. HE WAS MY
IDEAL ACADEMIC HERO DURING MY SCHOOL DAYS AT PREMPEH. MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
NAME: Dr. Kofi Appiah
LOCATION: USA
DATE: March 11, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
"Has anybody here seen my old friend Archimedes?
Can you tell me where He's gone?
He freed a lot of people, but,
The Good, they say, die young.
I just looked around... ,and He was gone."
I still find it hard to comprehend fully that Archimedes has already done his
time on this Earth in accordance with the will of the Lord, but I find it easy
to fit his name in the traditional Tribute to Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy
and Martin Luther King - He easily finds his place with them.
I got to know Snr. Kwaku Berchie-Antwi when as a Form 1 boy required to carry
out little chores in the dorm of Snr Effah K.A.M.,who he had come over to have a
discussion with, he spontaneously and in a very friendly manner (as a Lower
Sixth Former), began to 'interrogate' me. In no time we had a conversation going
after establishing that we lived in the same neighbourhood at home. The links
got stronger when after running into each other that ensuing vacation, he
invited me home, and sooner the mutual visits got more frequent and even
Business-like, none of which I ever regretted.
Through this period, I got to know Archimedes, the second and last son of an
unassuming Lawyer and a humble homemaker as his mother, to be an exceedingly
sincere, honest, very objective and naturally studious individual who always
made the best use of his time whenever he had it. He was one of the best
teachers I ever had, and all the Add Maths that I could ever successfully
comprehend (and which paid off BIG TIME!)I proudly attribute to him. I wasn't
the only one to benefit from his tutoring 'cos I saw lots and lots of folks come
and go through the gates of his humble home, each seeking some guidance or
teaching of some sort, and everyone of them leaving satisfied. Lots of them made
it successfully to Ivy League Universities here in the US and thrived there.
The Gentleman Archimedes and exceedingly brilliant Scholar went on to become a
remarkable Electrical Engineer, noted for being the 'spinal column' of Network
Computer Services in Accra helping it blossom, before setting up his own
Computer business - Unimark Services, noted for its distinguished services,
where he was until Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (the same kind of cancer which
snatched Jackie Kennedy Onassis from us) reared its ugly head, smiting him until
he finally succumbed after enduring several uncomfortable sessions of
Chemotherapy.
In his short but very fruitful life, Archimedes touched the hearts,minds and
lives of all around him, young or old, rich or poor, sick or healthy (including
his chronically ill older and only brother who passed away about a decade ago).
He was the pride of his family and I would have wished he could live to see with
his wife, the passing of his talents to his 2-year old son. For his mother and
father who once again have survived both of their sons, I cannot imagine the
load of grief they've had to endure. It is however the will of the Lord that he
be gone this soon to be in a better place and to claim the crown he rightly
deserves.
Kwaku, thank you very much for enriching the lives of all of us, freeing us
from the threats of Ignorance and Poverty and keep smiling for a job well done
till we meet again. We're all very Proud of you.
May your soul Rest in Perfect Peace. Amen.
".. I thought I saw him walking out over the hills,
With Abraham, Martin and John.
May the Precious memories of you forever flood
Our Souls".
NAME: Dr Kofi Busia
LOCATION: Middlesex, UK
DATE: March 7, 2000
CONDOLENCES:
It is with deep sadness and shock that I learned
today (via Harold's wonderful creation) of the sudden
death of one of the worthy sons of Prempeh and indeed
Ghana, Kwaku Berchie-Antwi. Berchie is a man I am
proud to call a friend,a classmate and mentor, for not only was he
a member of our graduating class, I worked with him as
a prefect in the Antwi S.F. regime and also belonged to the same great Pearson
House. In fact, I and Kwoffie S.F. were the people
who convinced him to accept the Assistant Prefectship
as he felt that huge responsibility would interfere
with his love of "sylla". In the course of time I got to know
the man who was affectionately called Archimedes.
He was one of the finest minds I have ever encountered
and undoubtedly one of the most brilliant students
Prempeh has produced. Kwaku was a man of high moral
principles and impeccable integrity, a repository
of learning and intelligence and a giant among his
contemporaries. He was very generous, a true gentleman,
and a strong believer in non-violent protests. I
remember with deep affection the role he played in
settling the Inter-co dispute between Prempeh and
Yaa Asantewaa, the peaceful march we made to the
Regional Office in 1979 to protest about the longest
strike action taken by the Graduate Teachers of
the Ashanti Region, and I shall always take with me
fond memories of his pivotal role in settling the
dispute between the matrons and the prefects-an event
which resulted in the forcible transfer of the matrons and
the subsequent founding of the 1st Prempeh College
Student Representative Council. At one of such heated
meetings, Kwaku in his characteristic soft-spoken,
foreign accent appealed for calm in the face of blatant
robbery with the immortal words "we should not allow
our emotions to override our conscience". His outstanding
performance in the 1978 GCE O-level exams is still
a landmark at Prempeh. Berchie to me was a phenomenon,
one of the great masters of this age, who unfortunately
was born on the wrong side of the globe. In fact, I am
lost for words to describe my grief at the loss of such
a remarkable man.
Losing one notable friend is bad enough let alone two!
A few months ago it was a brainy Amanfoo, Joe Sandy and
now it is another Amanfoo in the same mould
Kwaku Archimedes Berchie. Kwaku your death has left
your friends the poorer and as we sorrowfully mourn
your loss and reflect on the very meaning of this
hustling-bustle life, especially if it is to end this
way, we can only thank our maker for your remarkable
life and for the privilege to have known you. We pray
that in the fullness of time we shall all meet again
in the land beyond. It is just sad to comprehend that
our Archimedes is no more and that the brains that solved
many complex calculations is now a dead organ, all
signifying nothing, but the end of legend!
On my own behalf and on behalf of the 1980 sixth-form
graduating class of Pearson House, I wish you safe
journey home. To the bereaved family, especially the
wife and little one you have sadly left behind, we send
our heartfelt condolencences.
May you rest in peace.
|
