Changing lives through human rights activism: story of Joseph Wemakor

When it comes to changing lives through human rights activism, the story of Joseph Wemakor, a Ghanaian journalist and human rights activist continues to touch lives.

In this post, he inspires the world and shares some of his works as a human rights advocate with the humanrightsreporters.com.

Changing lives through human rights activism: The story of Joseph Wemakor…as he writes

When I ventured into the field of human rights reporting and activism in 2014, I started using every bit of knowledge I have acquired over the years with the support of my pen as a working tool to advocate for change.

This, I have acquired over the years through constant studies backed by research including various capacity-building seminars, conferences, and workshops I’ve had the privilege to attend

Of course being a human rights reporter and an activist for that matter the voice for the voiceless demands that you are always on top of your game when it comes to an acquisition of knowledge on human rights issues, human rights laws (both local and International) abreast with case studies on everyday human rights violations that may arise among others.

In all these, you constantly need to have your capacity built to the highest level in order to be well positioned to work diligently and execute your agenda towards achieving your goals of being that strong voice for the voiceless in our society.

This has really helped bring out the best in me as an advocate and a human rights reporter. As a result, I have been able to make an impact with my stories.

To be honest, most of my stories gave hope to the hopeless and changed the lives of many disadvantaged girls, children, women, and the elderly including some members of the minority groups in our society.

One of those who benefited tremendously through my advocacy work in 2018 was a former student of Ken Hammer Senior High Technical School (KENHASS) in Goaso, a community located in Brong Ahafo Region.

I’m talking about the famous Abudu Salah, the brilliant 22-year-old Kayayo (head porter) who scored six A’s and two B’s in the 2018 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations against all odds in life

The headline of my story: “Meet Abudu Salah, the Kayayei who scored Six A’s and two B’s in WASSCE” was first published by Ghana’s biggest online news portal, Ghanaweb.com on Monday, January 14, 2019.

It also found its way on the 3news.com portal a few minutes later with a punchy headline: “Kayayo with excellent WASSCE results needs help to be a nurse”

However, like wildfire, it spread quickly on most online and social media platforms in minutes, copied and pasted with different headlines by most bloggers, online journalists, and editors without giving due recognition to me as the author of the story as demanded by journalistic principles.

In all, I can beat my chest and say with confidence that this well-written piece of mine has really made a huge impact and completely changed the life of that child.

She quickly rose to stardom, when her name started making various news headlines both online and in traditional media outlets in Ghana and beyond.

This follows a phone call I received from the office of the Vice President of Ghana, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, requesting her presence to meet with the Vice President to discuss how she can be supported to go back to school to achieve her dream of becoming a nurse.

Since then, my phone has always kept buzzing with frequent phone calls from government officials, Civil Society Organizations, NGOs, International NGOs, banking institutions, individuals, and people in high places both in Ghana and outside with similar interest to support her going back to school.

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The turning point in the life of Abudu Salah was when she accepted a full scholarship offered by the Venezuelan government to study medicine in one of the top Universities in Venezuela.

The long and short of it all is that my advocacy is yielding positive results, changed the life of Ms. Salah and many other ordinary, disadvantaged, and vulnerable people in our society.