Features
A focus on Mr Stephen Atta Owusu
I continue with my narration of personalities and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland with a focus on Mr Stephen Owusu, aka Atta Mighty.
Mr Owusu is a prominent member of the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland and very much visible in many events organised by the Ghana Union Finland, an association of the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland.
He moved to Finland in November 2001, having also lived in Sweden from 1983 to 1994 and moved back to Ghana in February 1994 with his wife and children. He has four adult children and currently lives in Helsinki.
Accomplishments and honours
It is important to recount accomplishments as part of the success stories of the personalities of Ghanaian descent in Finland to highlight their exploits both within the Ghanaian migrant community and in the wider Finnish society.
Mr Owusu is a prolific writer who usually writes for the Ghanaweb online news portal and, occasionally for the Daily Graphic newspaper in Ghana.
He first went to Sweden in 1983 after his university education in Ghana. In 1984, he met a Finnish woman and they married. In Sweden, Mr Owusu wrote a book, “Dark faces at crossroads”, which won an award. He also worked as a train driver in Sweden where he also owned a shop.
Later, Mr Owusu went back to Ghana to embark on some projects, including, building a school for Atwima Asonomaso in the Ashanti Region. Mr Owusu told me that, in those days he also embarked on another project of training herbal practitioners from the Pharmacy Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Technology (KNUST).
At a point, Mr Owusu became seriously ill and he came to Finland, following an advice from one of his bosom friends who is like a family member alongside Mr Owusu’s four children.
As already mentioned, he came to Finland in 2001. He worked in a job and was also writing articles for the Ghanaweb, Modernghana, and the Graphic newspaper, as mentioned earlier.
Religious life
Mr Owusu is a committed member of The Church of Pentecost in Finland (COP), which was established about 20 years ago in September 2003 as a prayer group with a small number of devoted persons in Helsinki.
He worships in the English Assembly (or the PIWC), which is attended by other nationalities and African migrants, aside Ghanaian migrants. The other branch is the Akan Assembly of The Church of Pentecost in Helsinki, which is a branch where worship is done mostly in the Twi language.
His Working life
After recovering from the illness that earlier afflicted him, Mr Owusu worked for some time in Finland but went on early retirement.
Mr Owusu writes articles for the media portals mentioned earlier. In an interview a few weeks ago during a celebration of Ghana’s independence anniversary in Helsinki, Mr Owusu told me he had even completed an article he would soon send for publication.
His role in the Ghanaian community
As mentioned earlier, Mr Owusu is very active in the Ghanaian community. He is almost always present at events organised by the Ghana Union Finland, the non-governmental organisation for the Ghanaian migrant community in Finland.
He has been a counsellor and mentor who has guided many young Ghanaian migrants on their career paths and has also been part of elders in settling various kinds of conflicts between disputing parties.
As already mentioned, Mr Owusu lives in Helsinki with his four adult children.
In conclusion, I would say Mr Owusu has succeeded in embossing his name in the golden pages of visionary Ghanaians in both Sweden and Finland. Once a Chairman of the Ghana Union in Sweden, he was able to sow a seed which helped the entire Ghana Union to germinate there.
Email: perpetual.crentsil@ yahoo.com
By Perpetual Crentsil