Razak

Razak is 19 years old and is in P5. He is a very intelligent young man and school often comes very easy to him. He likes to learn but does not always like to do extra work outside of class. He is a very good student and answers questions but in Ghanaian standards he would probably be considered the class clown. I would just say he is an average teenage boy.

Other than the fact that Razak lives in Ghana he is still a teenage boy. He strives on the social aspect of school and has a lot of friends. Sports are a big deal to him and he is often found playing football (soccer) or goal ball. Razak loves to talk to his friends that are girls but according the school rules he is not suppose to have a girl friend.

Razak is from a small village in the Upper East Region. There is some civil war going on between his village and a few neighboring villages. Most of the people in Razak’s village are Muslim and he says that he is a Muslim. It seems to be more of a title, or heritage, rather than a religion to Razak. He sings in the school choir and says that when he grows up he wants to be a Christian worship leader. Occasionally he will say he is a Christian and even has a Christian ring. But he will never ‘slip up’ and say he is a Christian in front of a Muslim leader or teacher.

If Razak had glasses he would be able to see clearly but his family does not have enough money to pay for him to have glasses. If Razak was able to get glasses, and be able to see, he would have to stay home and help out the family. Since he is considered blind he has an opportunity to get an education. Even though Razak would really like to see clearly, he really enjoys getting an education because he knows how valuable it will be to him later in life.

Razak is the one looking at the camera.