To A Teacher and Mentor Par-Excellence

There are times when God, in His grace, brings people who wedge themselves into your life to rescue you from your myopic vocational vision. For me, this person was Rev Prof Kudadjie. Not only did he rescue me from the myopic vocational vision I had baptized in Christian language but cast a wider almost impossible to attain vision and direction for a vocation I would not have dared, left to my resources alone. Uncle Joshua as I often called him, gently but firmly side stepped all my feet dragging and excuses and I am who I am by vocation because he saw more for me than I dreamed.

I always knew I was called to teaching, and teaching in secondary school gave me two vocations in one: that I could teach English, because I loved words, and then I could also mentor Christian people for the Church of the kingdom in the nation. I was teaching at Aburi Girls when ill health sent me to Accra and to PRESEC. While there, I would attend Legon Interdenominational Church (LIC) for Sunday worship and had opportunity to sing. As way follows way, I entered the University of Ghana, Legon for a degree course, after much persuasion from friends, with hopes that a good Liberal Arts education would fur­ther my English and Psychology and hone my teaching and counseling of adolescents. I was offered a no brainer combination of English, Linguistics, and Psychology. Two weeks into the term, I was summoned to Mr. Kudadjie’s office for a chat. The short version of the conversation was the conviction he had for a switch of one subject to Religions. He understood my rationale for English and Psychology, but said I could do without the Linguistics.

Since Drop/Add period was over, he gave me a note for the Registrar’s office. On my way just around Commonwealth I took a peek at the note and promptly returned to register my surprise and protest. He had offered, in my mind, a ridiculous reason for why the Registrar should change one of my assigned subjects to Religions. The note merely said that I sang at LIC and he thought it would be a good idea to do Religions and thanked the officer for taking care of his request. Singing at church is not an academic reason for a course switch, I pointed out in my very nice way. He just smiled and responded in words that still ring in my ears and with what was a mischievous and indulgent look: “Who told you we go to school for only academic reasons?” Since his question was above my pay grade I left and took myself back to the registrar’s office, got a note for Linguistics which also had Prof Alan Duthie suggesting Linguistics was important for doing Bible translation work and for which reason I had to stay put.

Before I knew it I was in Religions, but in my mind I was just going to make Mr. Kudadjie happy for the year and go on to do what I always wanted, study English and feed my love of words and coast through Secondary School teaching. You see I had concluded by “O” and “A” Levels that academic study of Religion was not conducive to faith. But then I took a Philosophy of Religion course with Mr. Kudadjie that first year and the mixture of cogent arguments for and against the exist­ence of God from one I knew without a doubt was a man of faith had me sold. I would go on to learn many lessons from this man of faith and learning. I would sharpen my intellectual curiosity and learn to probe and question answers rather than find them in my the­ological explorations. In my teaching and writing, I am able to wear my faith on my sleeves and yet push students to think their faith and even celebrate doubt.

If I worked hard during my years at the University, I know I did it mainly for him, he was that kind of teacher you did not want to disappoint. Graduation came and went but his work to establish me in what he had intuited in my first year did not ebb. If I made it to graduate school in what is touted to be a great University and went on to a Ph. D and have a tenured Professorship today, it was largely due to his tireless effort and mentoring.

It was not only my academic life that Rev. Kudadjie guided and helped flourish but my familial life as well. Through family prob­lems, births, marriage and deaths, he and Auntie Miriam were there like my second set of parents. I claim, without apology, the place of first daughter in the Kudadjie house.

The last time I saw one who was Teacher/ Mentor/Father was 2nd January 2020, at a family gathering. It could have been a good­bye as we talked and sang oldies in Ga and took photographs with the family. My last communication was on 17th January, as he checked in about my extensive line up of programs in the US and Canada that week. I was able to accomplish some things but not all, but I was at peace and ready to give a lecture in Los Angeles, I said. “Thanks be to God for the peace. May the Lord, the Holy Spirit, give you utterance!” he wrote back.

Dear Uncle Josh,

Thank you for the journey, thank you for walking with me without fanfare and thank you for bringing me out. I’m paying it for­ward and I’m grateful you had a chance to see the fruit of your labour. I will see you in the resurrection.

Fondly, Esther